By MICHAEL J. BROOKS

Special to the Reporter

NORTH SHELBY – Valleydale Church will sponsor a special weekend prayer conference for the congregation Aug. 11-12.

Author and speaker Allen M. Baker will meet with Valleydale leaders and members on Saturday, and will speak at both morning services on Sunday.

Church Elder Bob Waters said the church has hosted a major discipleship event for its members every year, and the prayer conference is another event designed to strengthen the congregation.

“We’re in a pastor search process current,” Waters said, “and the transition is a crucial time for us to prepare ourselves for a new pastor.”

Baker is an ordained minister and member of the Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He served as senior pastor in West Hartford, Connecticut before moving to Birmingham and is now an evangelist with the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship and director of the Alabama Church Planting Network.

He has also completed mission trips to Central America, Africa, Great Britain and the Far East.

Baker earned degrees from the University of Alabama and the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.

Baker is the author of “Revival Prayer—A Needed Paradigm Shift in Today’s Church,” published in 2013. Baker wrote, “Revival will not come without revival prayer and people will not seek God with such zeal unless they gain an intolerable burden. This book is a clarion call to revival prayer for the glory of God, the salvation of the nations, and the building up of the church of Jesus.”

Waters said members at Valleydale participated in the “Embers to a Flame” prayer event at Briarwood and thought the training would be helpful for their own church.

“While the event on Saturday is specifically for our congregation, the worship time on Sunday is open to the public, and we always welcome the community to worship with us,” he said.

Valleydale has morning worship at 9:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Baker will speak in both services on Aug. 13.

Valleydale Church is located at 2324 Valleydale Road in Hoover. The church website is Valleydale.org.