By John Pearson — 
Ryan Skoog writes about being at the National Prayer Breakfast “in a breakout session for business leaders. A French Canadian businessman stood up to pray. He was a wise and accomplished leader with thousands of employees. But what most affected the room was his prayer—more specifically, the single word he prayed.
That moment was an example of a “fast prayer” and a “slowing-down” type of prayer. The authors explain on pages 25-26 (there’s that page 25 rule-of-thumb again) in this powerful book just published Jan. 16, 2024:
The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders
by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle
The authors add, “Saying the name Jesus and pausing was a fast prayer for this leader, but the power of that moment came from this deep well of extended slow praying for years.”
Oh, my. When I read the last page of this very special book, I wondered how-in-the-world I could communicate its importance to you. Should I take a page from the French Canadian businessman and just write a one-word review? Maybe not. But if my review is too long, you might just delete—and move on.
Then (duh!), I prayed. The Lord prompted me to email a few friends—asking them to pray for me as I prepared to write this review. So this morning, I began with this prayer, “Lord, I can hardly wait to see the review You’re going to write!”
Lead With Prayer is not formulaic. Lead With Prayer is not a guilt trip. Instead, Lead With Prayer will open the doors wide to new possibilities for leaders who know God—and want to summon the Powers of Heaven for their relationships, their to-do lists, and their leadership competencies. Think you know what a book on prayer looks like? Think again. Oh, my.
The authors invested three years in research and over 100 hours of interviews with leaders across the globe.(I love the international stories.) They asked leaders about their very personal and private prayer habits. How? When? Where? Why? You’ve never read anything like this. And Ryan, Peter, and Cameron transparently share their own missteps in prayerlessness. (Amazing.) The reality: none of us are spiritual giants. And this I affirm: learning more about the spiritual habits of God-honoring leaders—it changed me.
We learn that God’s creativity shines in the prayer lives of many of His highly creative leaders. (Attn: Pastors! Every chapter will preach.) In Leaders Practice the Presence of God, the authors share prayer habits for Meals, Meetings, Moods, Moments, and Reminders.
The “Meetings” notes reminded me of the time I asked Scott Rodin to pray during a training session with leaders. I suggested that Scott might pray for this, and this, and this, and this… (honest—I did that!). So Scott simply prayed, “Lord, what John just said—ditto!” And then he sat down. And yes, everyone laughed!
The book’s section on “One-Sentence Prayers” notes Ernest Hemingway’s boast to other authors that he could write a short story in six words. His entry: “Baby shoes. For sale. Never used.”Do you every talk to our Holy God with one-sentence prayers? The authors list six times Jesus used a life-changing single sentence. The chapter concludes with 33 one-sentence prayers. My favorite: “Lord, what do You want?” (This reminded me of the “Tap. Tap. Tap.” principle I learned from Steve Macchia.)
Lead With Prayer features dozens of authentic moments into the private prayer lives of leaders. (Just stunning.) An oil company CFO confesses he was “a left-brained accountant from a left-brained faith tradition” and considered himself an unlikely advocate for prayer. “I concluded we were functional deists. We believed God existed, but we didn’t really believe He did anything—or at least that He did anything in response to our prayers. Otherwise, we would pray more.” (In the chapter, “Leaders Kneel Before the Lord,” you’ll read about this CPA’s dramatic turnaround and his new prayer habit when invited to team meetings at his church. You won’t believe it!)
Each chapter concludes with a prayer and a prayer tool.There’s something for every unique leader—and every unique learning style. Have you ever prayed with someone using the “Hands Downward, Hands Upward” prayer habit?
Chapter 5, “Leaders Pray Through Tough Times,” quotes St. Oscar Romero, “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.” Ryan Skoog agrees. He writes, “The year 2020 was when I (Ryan) got used to the smell of my carpet. Night after night, I lay on my face crying out to God to save us.” COVID had devasted his international travel technology business—and his family had lost their life’s savings.
He shares a poignant family moment. His daughter was plagued with nightmares every night with “graphic visions of evil spirits coming to her saying they were going to torture young girls in Nepal.” (Ryan’s family prays regularly for their nonprofit that rescues young women from trafficking.) His daughter would wake up “so traumatized that she would run to the bathroom and vomit.” Many mornings she would plead, “Daddy, make them stop, make them stop…” (Do you believe in the power of prayer? You must read Chapter 5.)
The book features three sections:
• How Leaders Prioritize Prayer
• How Leaders Grow in Their Prayer Life
• How Leaders Multiply Prayer Within Their Organizations (Example: Is prayer a line item in your budget?)
Warning! I regularly urge leaders to “delegate their reading.” But…you might not want to do that for this book. The bookends in Lead With Prayer are memorable. The front bookend features the verse from Jeremiah 10:21. “The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the Lord; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.” The back bookend features a convicting case study with a noble initiative. The executive director of a grant-making foundation hatched a plan “…that would unleash prayer across America to transform the nation.” The board approved a $1 million budget.
Oops! They funded a gathering of CEOs of major American prayer ministries, built a strategy, produced a vision-casting video, and funded grant requests. Yet! “Despite these strategies and a lot of compelling ‘activity,’ the efforts stalled after months of work. Wanting to kindle a fire, they barely lit a spark.”
Fast forward. As the foundation executive prepared to give his board the bad news, he asked God why their bold plan had not worked. God’s response to the exec: “You’re multiplying by zero.”He learned that his “efforts to replicate prayer across the nation were doomed to fail because he was not yet a person of prayer. He felt that the Spirit was instructing, ‘You can’t replicate what you do not possess.’” (Read the case study for the good news that came later.)
I pray that this review will prompt you and the leaders and people you influence to read this powerful book. And me? I plan to read this book again on weekends over the next few months—slowly. My prayer: “Lord, what do You want?”
