Wes Lane
President
Burbridge Foundation

Until recently Wes Lane served as Oklahoma County District Attorney, following 16 years as a highly respected prosecutor in the D.A.’s office. No stranger to pressure, one of his first challenges in the top post was deciding whether to prosecute convicted conspirator Terry Nichols on state murder charges in connection with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

A second challenge he faced in his high-profile position was spiritual—protecting the time He spends with God. "For years I’ve gotten up early each morning for prayer," Wes says. "But when I took this job it felt like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose. It was coming at me pretty fast. I was bombarded with so much I couldn’t concentrate. I’d be on my knees praying and find myself thinking about office stuff."

The Gift of Accountability

One morning over breakfast, his assistant pastor—one of his prayer partners—confronted Wes. "The Holy Spirit tells me you’re not talking to Him much these days." ’

"He read my mail!" Wes said. "I knew I needed to do something about it. I’m a fisherman, so I scheduled a little time to get alone with God, sit by a river and reflect on what He was doing in my life. And I asked Him to help me refocus. Losing focus on the Lord is a constant danger."

Wes strongly believes in surrounding himself with trusted people who help him stay on track. "I give license to certain people within my office such as my chief Investigator and my secretary, who are both godly people, to kick my spiritual rear-end if it needs kicking. I’ve specifically told them that if they’re not being straight with me, they’re not doing their jobs." In addition, every Friday morning at 7 a.m. Wes meets with his chief investigator and assistant pastor to pray and talk over what’s going on in their lives.

Winsome Faith

Wes says he’s always been open at work about his faith. "There are a lot of Christians who consider themselves ‘secret agents for the Lord’ on the job. But sometimes they’re so secret not even God knows it. I don’t do the ‘Convert or die!’ routine," but everyone in my office knows where I stand. More importantly, they know I care about them. I don’t treat them differently if they are not Christians. They know if their father was sick, they could come to me and ask me to pray with them. The key is being sensitive to when it’s time to share and when it’s time to care."

Wes challenges other Christian leaders to be alert to how God might want to use them--to see themselves not as leaders-who-happen-to-be-Christians but as Christian leaders assigned by God to their posts. He loves seeing the "light" go on when they "get it." He describes a lawyer friend who always kept a little spoon on his desk as a reminder to pray, "Lord, give me a little more of You each day." But now," the lawyer told Wes, "I’ve replaced it with a sword."