The first portion of this chapter is organized around these four themes. Each is presented with the focus group comments to provide a brief definition of that theme from the perspective of congregation members. Each theme is then expanded with illustrative experiences to show how this main theme became a dominant characteristic in the life of our congregation in this decade. The annotation following the comments provides a single letter abbreviation for the generation of the person and then the initials of the person making the comment (C - Civic, birth years 1901-1924, A - Adaptive, birth years 1925-1942, I- Idealist, birth years 1943-1960, R - Reactive, birth years 1961-1981; two letters - Person's initials).

The following focus group comments isolated prayer as one of the four most significant characteristics of our congregation in the 1990's:

Everything done was "grounded in prayer" always praying to seek God's will regarding any event. (I-fp)

It began with Richard and Noreen. They prayed us into the place we are by leading one to prayer, that one leading another, and a third - the domino effect - we became a praying church. (I -ml)

We have become a praying church both in our groups and committees and individually. (C-fl)

In problem solving, "the emphasis was on prayer for guidance" (R-tg).

The confirmation, often through prayer, that, "If we believe in letting God lead us, then nothing is impossible." (A-ac)

Prayer led to our vision and then the decisions that led to our growth. (R-tg)

"Richard listened to God in prayer and carried this over to his love for people who did the same." (R-jw)