Sovereignty, Prayer and the Pastor Search

My local church is currently searching for a pastor.  Another I know of is about to begin this process.

I have been through this many times before.  At one church I was even on the search team.

One of the things that I hear and have heard is that God already has this pastor chosen.  It is just the job of the team to find this man.  They have to pray, seek suggestions and speak to different men in the interest of finding the right man.

We have even begun to meet and/or pray at 11 am each day to see this man.

My question is this:  Why should we pray for this when God has already chosen the pastor for us?

My answer is this: This is exactly why we should pray for this process.

If God has chosen the man, then by praying we are admitting that we cannot control this process and that it is up to Him.  We trust Him with guiding the process.

However, if we don’t believe that He is in control of the process or that it’s up to man’s free will, then you shouldn’t pray for the search of a pastor.  You would be violating what you believe by asking Him to be involved in the proceedings.

Things like this tell us what we really believe about God.  Is He a God who is involved and decrees what happens?  Or is He a God who allows man to make choices on his own.

Which will it be?

What do you believe about God’s sovereignty?  Is God in control?  Or is man?