What Can We Do But Pray? Join Us In Prayer in 2021
Dear friends and partners,
Do you ever feel the need to fight back against the constant drumbeat of discouraging events happening in the world? Well, God’s Word offers really good news . . . We can pray!
As Paul exhorted believers to put on the whole armor of God, he included prayer as a spiritual weapon for fighting the powers of darkness (see Ephesians 6:18–20).
Praying is often an exercise of walking by faith and not by sight. Why? Because it’s impossible to measure the full impact of our prayers. I’ve found two illustrations helpful in thinking through how God uses our prayers over the long haul:
- A Seed: One prayer is like planting an apple seed. Planting one seed today may result in an entire orchard in a generation.
- Compound Interest: I remember being fascinated by compound interest as a kid. A small investment could grow exponentially given time and a good growth rate. It’s the same with prayer, and God is the One in charge of the growth!
We hope these simple illustrations motivate you to pray. And we invite you to pray with us using the attached sheet of requests. God did amazing things through our partnership last year in over 60 countries in spite of the challenges of COVID-19, and we trust Him to continue His work in building His church.
We probably won’t hear about the fruit of these prayers on the news, but we will marvel for all of eternity at the wonderful works of our gracious God!
Seeking Him with you,
Craig Parro
President
Prayer Requests – (PDF)
February
- Pray for God to give us wisdom to know when and where to resume in-person workshops with pastors.
- Pray for wisdom in continuing to navigate the impact of COVID-19 on work in our home office, and pray for the health and safety of our staff.
- Praise the Lord for giving us the insight and wisdom last year before COVID to connect all of our key global partners on a common, secure communications app.
- Bangladesh – Pray for the four new training groups being led by national leaders.
- Ecuador – Pray for the various trainings that are being held, some online and some in person.
- A North African country – House churches have been poorly attended because of COVID restrictions and fear. Please pray these believers will find fellowship, encouragement in the Word, and perseverance through this difficult time. Pray that our work in this country wouldn’t lose momentum and would, instead, flourish.
- An Eastern European country – We give thanks for incredible multiplication this past year – from three groups to thirteen. Pray for wisdom to strengthen the national training team and appropriately pace further expansion.
- Central Asia – Praise God that in many of the persecuted countries of this region we are hearing reports that Muslim friends and neighbors are very open to hear about Jesus. The Holy Spirit has prepared the “persecuted church” in this region to continue faithfully in times like these. Pray for God to build His church in this region.
- Sub-Saharan Africa – Pray for God’s provision for many faithful pastors laboring in poverty-stricken settings. This can restrict the amount of time they give to training others as they eke out a living for themselves.
- Myanmar – Pray that Stephen* may adequately lead and disciple sixteen new believing families near his church. These new believers came to faith through COVID-related outreach.
March
- Latin America – Pray for countries to re-open allowing us to complete scheduled workshops – specifically Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru.
- India – Pray that the pastors we train would not be discouraged when timelines to re-start training are uncertain.
- Pray for godly wisdom for those who make decisions and prioritize how resources should be stewarded for the greatest good of our mission.
- United States – Pray for the development of a national training team to advance the movement of God’s Word in the U.S.
- Middle East and North Africa – Pray for God to direct us to partners of character, commitment, competence, capacity, and conviction – those who will equip many pastors in this developing region.
- Technology Team – Pray for wisdom to navigate cybersecurity issues around the world in order to protect our staff and global partners.
- Communications Team – Pray that God would guide and strengthen us as we work on new communications initiatives.
- Serbia – Pray for wisdom and discernment for our partner, Riste, and the team as they seek to expand training throughout Serbia and into Croatia. Pray that they will also encourage and strengthen the Roma churches in Serbia.
- Central Asia – Praise God that we have been able to conduct a week of online training with co-laborers in a security-sensitive country. They have received “essential worker” status (due to distributing humanitarian supplies) and are able to continue training pastors in remote corners of their country.
- Sub-Saharan Africa – Pray for the churches to embrace expository preaching from the pulpit and expository discipleship throughout their ministries.
April
- Pray for Tim Sattler and Dave DeHaan as they lead the work in North America.
- Communications Team – Pray that God would help us fulfill our #1 goal in communications: to put His glory on display.
- Finance Team – Pray that God’s Spirit would guard our organization’s integrity and reputation in the area of finance, protecting us from pride, fraud, mismanagement, errors, and compliance violations.
- Latin America – Pray for the weekly study in the book of Revelation with key training partners and that God’s Word would keep impacting lives in these uncertain times.
- An Arab-world country – Due to COVID-19, the third year of training was postponed with this multinational group. Despite the delay, we continue strengthening relationships with partners remotely. Please pray God will make a way to resume training.
- Indonesia – Pray for God to use online and in-person workshops to strengthen many ministries. Pray also for our national partners leading the workshops.
- Myanmar – Pray for travel to open, momentum with a large group of 35+ pastors to continue, and for the core team of trainers to grow.
- Sub-Saharan Africa – Pray for the strengthening of national teams to carry out ongoing and sustainable leadership in this region.
- Poland – Pray for the strengthening of our Core Training team as we move into the final year of our first training group. Pray for wisdom as we seek to multiply in Poland.
- A Near Eastern country – After two trips and several events introducing the training, we have met pastors with much potential. Pray for the right partners for future training.
*Name has been changed for security reasons.