Dave Butts, 69, who started Harvest Prayer Ministries with his wife, Kim, in 1993, died Saturday morning, Nov. 26.
“His homegoing was peaceful and I was blessed to be with him as he stepped from this life to his eternal reward,” Kim Butts wrote as part of a caringbridge.org journal entry. Many friends and loved ones have left condolences and supportive comments there.
Visitation will be Dec. 9, with funeral services on Dec. 10; times have not been determined. Harvest Prayer Ministries is headquartered in Terre Haute, Ind. Butts had served the organization as president since its founding.
According to harvestprayer.com, the couple “felt the call into full-time prayer ministry, particularly focused on teaching churches and individuals to pray more effectively for missions. What they soon found was that people and churches needed more basic teaching on prayer before this could happen.”
“Harvest Prayer Ministries exists to equip the local church to become a House of Prayer for all nations, releasing God’s power for revival and finishing the task of world evangelization.” In addition to speaking and teaching, Butts wrote 14 books on various aspects of prayer.
Dave Butts earned degrees from Lincoln Christian College, Indiana State University, and Atlantic Coast Theological Seminary. From 1974 to 1992, he served in various pastoral roles in local churches.
Dave Butts served as chairman of the board of Pioneer Bible Translators for 20 years, “and [he] served in many other ways long before that,” said Greg Pruett, president of Pioneer.
“I will always be grateful to God for Dave’s emphasis on prayer in the way he governed and protected our ministry,” said Pruett, adding that Butts greatly impacted and influenced the lives of many people.
“He invested his life in inspiring the church to greater spiritual maturity and prayerfulness. But I will most miss his pastoral tender mentorship whenever I needed a word of wisdom to overcome a leadership challenge.”
Dave Butts also served on several boards of directors and committees, including as president of Gospel Revivals Inc. (Herald of His Coming); chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee; chairman of the board of the National Day of Prayer; and member of the America Prays board of directors. In 2014, he served as president of the International Conference On Missions.
“Where will we go to be so profoundly instructed about prayer?” Pruett asked.
Author: Christian Standard
Contact us at **@********************ia.com
We’ll miss Pastor Butts a lot! A true servant of the Lord. We rejoice in that we’ll see him again. Praying for his dear wife, Kim.
My deepest sympathy and condolence for your loss.
What a powerful man of prayer. There is no one who has influenced our church to become more dedicated to prayer than Dave Butts. My sincere sympathy to Kim and family.
My prayers go to David’s family as they deal with the grief of losing a good husband and father.
Praise the Lord he is no longer in pain and enjoying the Lord’s presence.
I’m thankful for his advice to attend Lincoln Christian University.
Dave – what a bright, kind, articulate person! Always enjoyed our times at Garfield and all the knowledge he had about a variety of sports, too!
In addition, when my brother was passing with cancer he reached and shared some uplifting comments about life and our time here!!
RIP DAVE
I will greatly miss my dear brother Dave Butts. When I joined Herald Of His Coming, as its representative here in Zimbabwe, brother Dave welcomed me by giving me a Bible. I will forever that Word of God, which my brother gave, and I shall try by all means to follow in the footsteps of my brother Dave.
RIP my dear brother…
I’m now reading & prayerfully using Pastor David Butts book “Asleep in the Land of Nod – Thirty Days of Prayer Toward Awakening the Church.” What a God-sent, timely gift to the sleeping-in-the-light American Church. All professed followers of Jesus need to be reading & using this Holy Spirit inspired prayer guide. …… Thom