A Man of Prayerful Dependence – Ryan Fullerton on Daniel 9

By Matthew Barrett –

One of the events I look forward to every year is the Men’s pancake breakfast at Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, where I have been a member now for almost six years. This year was an exceptional one. Ryan Fullerton, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, also located in Louisville though in a unique urban setting, was the speaker.

Ryan spoke on Daniel 9 and his message is titled, “A Man of Prayerful Dependence.” The message draws our attention to the prayer life of Daniel. One of the things I appreciated about the message was how Ryan, though affirming a Christ-centered, gospel-focused approach to all of Scripture, nevertheless shows the importance of looking to certain figures in the Bible as examples to us as believers. Daniel is one of those figures. I would encourage men everywhere to listen to the insight Ryan has drawn from Daniel 9 (listen to the audio here). As men, there is nothing so important as being men on our knees in prayer to God. 

Here is a little about Ryan Fullerton:

Pastor Ryan was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up all over Western Canada. Throughout his teen years he looked to political causes to make him feel righteous and drugs and sex to make him feel happy. Thankfully, by the time he was 21 he found his righteousness was a joke and his happiness had turned sour. Then, through the simple and intelligent witness of his step-mom he came to trust Jesus Christ late in the evening just before Good Friday in 1995. Following that Ryan began to grow, to tell people about Jesus, and to study his Bible. Shortly after his conversion he studied for a year at Prairie Bible College, in Three Hills Alberta, and then for two years at Tyndale College in Toronto, Ontario. In Toronto, Ryan had two life shaping experiences. First, he got to work in a downtown urban Church under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Beck. Second, he got invited to be in a ‘study group’ by the godliest and the prettiest girl in the college. A week after graduation the lovely Christy Joy Teal became Christy Joy Fullerton. The next eight years have been a whirlwind including drilling for oil, pastoring a Church in a town of 311, finding out he was naturally a bad husband, God giving miraculous and happy grace in his marriage, having four children (Jordana, Luke, James, and Christopher), starting Seminary, stopping Seminary, and becoming (somewhere in there) the Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church.

Since 2002 Ryan has been the Pastor of Immanuel. In that time God has blessed him with many trials, incredible Co-Pastors, and an amazingly loving Church. On top of all this he has had the privilege of seeing Immanuel Baptist Church take some small steps towards bringing the heartbeat of the Cross to the Streets of our city and the ends of the earth.

Right now at Immanuel Ryan has the primary responsible for preaching the Word of God Sunday Mornings, equipping others to preach God’s Word on Wednesday Nights, shaping our Sunday Morning ‘Discipleship Classes’, and leading our public services. He is also beginning to spearhead evangelism, and to cultivate and articulate the vision of the Church.

Also, you may want to take note of another event on prayer:

Here is the plug: