The Village Seventh-day Adventist Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States, held a seminar on a “Beautiful and Prayerful Life,” aimed at exploring the connection between physical bread and prayer. Just as bread making takes patience, so does prayer.

About 50 people attended each meeting during several Sundays. Dan Augsburger was the main presenter for the seminars, and three ladies gave various bread-making demonstrations.

Health educator Patricia LaVenture demonstrated two bread recipes, showing step by step how to properly knead bread. Rose Augsburger demonstrated Dan Augsburger’s wheat bread recipe, made almost entirely from sprouted wheat berries. And for the final demonstration, Bonnie Samples shared her late husband’s hearty, sprouted wheat bread.

“Guests had the opportunity not only to watch live demonstrations of how to make these different breads,” organizers said, “but also to taste the final products, sampling them with a variety of toppings, from sugar-free jams to tofu. As everyone enjoyed sampling the breads, they also fellowshipped with each other, connecting with new friends.”

Anna, one of the attendees who didn’t miss a seminar, recalled how valuable the sessions were. During the prayer session of the seminar, she was reminded that God longs to connect with us as His children, and all we need to do is talk to Him as a friend. If we ask for anything in His name, He will supply all our needs. As for the bread-making demonstrations, she said: "For a beginner like me, the step-by-step instructions on how to turn the dough when kneading were particularly fascinating and very helpful."

From an event planner’s standpoint, Brenda Kis pointed out how amazing it was to see the survey results from people after the event. She said, “They are interested in learning more about prayer and are looking forward to more seminars on the subject. We were so grateful to have members of the community join us as well.”

Vickie Hess, who was already quite familiar with bread making, still found things to take away from the detailed information shared. Even though she has been baking bread for years, she learned something new from each presenter, and she has since tried new techniques and recipes. Living a life of gratitude was one of the things Dan mentioned, and Vickie has since practiced this skill in her daily life and says it’s been a blessing. “A very special part of the seminar for me was the variety of breads and the emphasis on sharing with others. I was reminded of how much God loves us and cares about how we feed ourselves and others.”

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He said, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). When we pray this prayer, we’re asking not only for ourselves but for others. And so “the prayer for daily bread includes not only food to sustain the body, but that spiritual bread which will nourish the soul unto life everlasting.” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 112.2)

The original version of this story was posted on Lake Union Herald.