- Courageous’ ‘Snake King’ challenges men at Brooksville church
- Straight talk with Pastor Michael Catt about the movie ‘Courageous’
- Q&A with Robert Amaya, AKA Javier Martinez, the ‘Snake King’
- Hialeah couple featured in week of prayer for North America
- 2012 AAEO Prayer Guide
- Gifts to Annie
- First Baptist Plant City to host State Evangelism Conference
- ‘Iron Sharpens Iron’ men’s rally designed to draw non-believers
- Florida Focus
- House leader says casino bill ‘dead for this year’
- Latest Stories...
RSS News Feed (What is it?)
 |
| Click on image for related coverage |
Their tasks?
• Give entire people groups and cities the chance to worship Jesus - from African tribes to Asian mega cities.
• Study cultures, learn languages and develop master plans for reaching every individual in their people groups with the Gospel.
• Enlist other missionaries, volunteers, local Christians and prayer partners to help carry out those plans.
The goal?
• To see the Book of Acts come alive - as the Gospel spreads quickly and churches multiply rapidly in church-planting movements that can only be explained as works of God.
• To leave their work in the hands of Christians from their groups and move on to others still in darkness.
Carter Bolin—Muslims of West Bengal, India
Southern Baptists volunteering in India and an Indian Christian named Sam* had a lively conversation with Abu*, an influential Bengali Muslim cleric. Abu accepted a Bible and, a few weeks later, wanted to see Sam again. Sam asked Carter Bolin*, strategy coordinator for Muslims of West Bengal, India, to meet with them. Before Bolin arrived, Sam led the Muslim leader to Jesus! Bolin’s team is working among 27 million Muslims, and they want to see churches of Muslim-background Christians in every Muslim village and neighborhood. They’re partnering with Indian churches and Southern Baptist volunteers to evangelize, train leaders and plant churches. Though they’re seeing great response, Bolin’s team constantly faces frustration, isolation and sickness. Pray they would draw strength from God as they rest in Him. “Pray for our national partners. They face persecution and financial hardships. Pray that they will grow in their faith and multiply other national leaders,” says Bolin. “Pray for the nearly 800 new believers in our area in the last two years to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.”
prayThough they’re seeing great response, Bolin’s team constantly faces frustration, isolation and sickness. Pray they would draw strength from God as they rest in Him. “Pray for our national partners. They face persecution and financial hardships. Pray that they will grow in their faith and multiply other national leaders,” says Bolin. “Pray for the nearly 800 new believers in our area in the last two years to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.”
Mark Caldwell—Tsunami victims in Thailand
For most of his life, Mark Caldwell has longed to partner with diverse Christians to introduce the poor and oppressed to their Redeemer. After the Asia tsunami, God made that dream come true. Caldwell temporarily left another assignment to coordinate tsunami response in southern Thailand. Working with Southern Baptist missionaries, volunteers, Thai Christians and other organizations, he looked for needs that weren’t being met and sought out the best ways to meet them while expanding the church. He wants the Southern Thai people to know Jesus as Creator and Redeemer. But he also prays that new Christians will witness to their friends and neighbors while starting simple, reproducible house churches.
prayCaldwell asks Southern Baptists to pray for ongoing relief work carried out by a local Baptist church and volunteers. And he asks for prayer for long-term missionaries to address the ongoing crisis—that the large majority of the southern Thai people are separated from their Creator.
Lori Funderburk—Banta Themne of West Africa
Six years ago Lori Funderburk became strategy coordinator for Sierra Leone’s Banta Themne people, though she was living in Cote d’Ivoire. Though civil war prevented access to Banta Themne villages, Funderburk built a prayer team of three American women and an African man. For three years they prayed and enlisted others to pray for the 40,000 Banta Themne with no known believers. When Banta Themne villages opened, hearts were ready. Hope Baptist Church in Sierra Leone sent a missionary, and today 200 Banta Themne follow Christ. Now Hope Baptist Church has completely taken on the responsibility of reaching the Banta Themne. “There were times I just wanted to go in and do things myself,” says Funderburk. “But watching God work in African Baptists and then seeing them take up the responsibilities was worth the wait and frustration.”
prayPray that Funderburk’s team will be a model for others. As the Funderburks are in the United States for several months, ask God to give them many opportunities to celebrate His work with their prayer partners.
oliver grahamCity in China
Oliver Graham* says he has the front row seat at a “God Thing.” In 18 months, he, his wife and six Chinese partners have seen 1,500 people come to Christ and 23 churches planted in a Chinese city of 750,000. Their vision is to see 300 churches planted in 2005. “I am a simple man, not from the professional ministry but from a sales background, who simply followed God to where God wanted us to be,” says Graham. Graham worked with his Chinese partners to develop a church-planting strategy for their city. Every week they meet and share how God has worked miracles but also how Satan is trying to interfere. “Yet we see people daily being added to the number of those being saved,” says Graham.
pray“Pray that our churches and leaders will be strong and numerous and that every man and woman will be an evangelist,” says Graham. “Pray that we will keep our eyes focused on the task of seeing 750,000 people told of our Lord—no distractions, no excuses!”
percy “boots” holderUnreached People Groups of Peru
They travel by plane, truck, horse, foot, boat and canoe into Peru’s jungles and mountains. They’re REAP (Rapid Entry Advance Plan) North: Southern Baptist churches and missionaries and Peruvian Christians taking the gospel to isolated people. Boots Holder leads REAP North. His team relies on Southern Baptist churches adopting groups of unreached Peruvians. Once a church has adopted a group, Holder’s team helps the church develop a strategy to reach the group and works alongside the church on volunteer trips. They hope to see a church planted in every village among the people groups they’re trying to reach. So far, 27 Bible study groups have started; four already are churches. The people’s poverty, lack of education and geographical isolation makes work slow. But a greater barrier is that not enough churches have volunteered.
pray“Pray for more stateside churches to be involved,” says Holder. “Pray for more national workers to help us. Pray for God to soften the hearts of the people groups.”
Marty hunter—Lingayats of India
In a small building in India, Marty Hunter* and 10 Lingayat Christians sing, see Scripture and share how God is working through their ministries. When one man tells that he and his partners have led 70 Lingayats to Christ, Hunter prompts them to discuss how the new believers can become multiplying house churches. All day long they share reports and discuss next steps. When they finish, the men return home and share what they learned with other Lingayat Christians. The Lingayats are Hindus who worship only one god, Shiva, whom they believe to be destroyer, creator and preserver of the universe. Just 10 years ago many Christians in India believed Lingayats were hardhearted. Today more than 3,000 Lingayats are Christians. In the next couple of years, Hunter will turn his work over to Lingayat Christians and go to others who haven’t heard the gospel.
pray “Please pray for a full-blown church-planting movement among the Lingayats,” says Hunter. “Pray for the next generation of leadership to be trained, and pray that new believers will continue sharing their faith in Christ.”
daniel peters—Madrid, Spain
Six million souls call Madrid, Spain, home—business professionals, taxi drivers, university students, and immigrants. Daniel and Teresa Peters’* job is to make sure each of them has a chance to understand the gospel. As strategy coordinator, Daniel leads five teams, each focusing on different populations, like students or professionals. Though many people in Madrid know about God, less than 2 percent are evangelical. “I see millions of people here who often think that religion and ritual is enough,” says Daniel. “I want them to experience that the only way is through a relationship with Jesus.” Daniel pours his life into others. He mentors church planters, helps Christians work together, and teaches new churches and other Christian workers how to be most effective.
pray He asks Southern Baptists to pray that new church plants would multiply into many churches and that a group of North Africans studying the Bible would believe and be discipled. Also, says Daniel, “Pray that each of our five teams would have strong partnerships with churches back in the States.”
mike and molly turner—Megacity in North Africa
Mike and Molly Turner* expect to see God work miraculously in the city where they live—a Northern Africa megacity made up mostly of Orthodox and Muslims. “Our dream is to see truth take root in this city and beyond, where people are becoming believers at such a rapid pace we can’t keep up,” says Molly. “Our hope is to see churches in every neighborhood and community.” They keep that vision before them as they lead their missionary team, disciple local Christians, plan strategy, work with volunteers and partner with other Christians. Because North African culture revolves around relationships, spending quality time with people always takes priority over to-do lists. The Turners and their two young children frequently visit in homes, sharing meals, coffee or celebrations.
pray “Pray that we will seek His plans and not our own,” says Mike. “Pray for 15 students who have been hearing our Father’s Word for almost a year—that their hearts would accept the truth.”
first baptist church, powell, tenn.—Lost City in India
When Jay Adler* heard a missionary describe how a church could reach a city in India with the gospel, the hair on his neck stood straight out. Soon Adler and others from First Baptist Church, Powell, Tenn., were in India on their first trip as strategy coordinators for the “Lost City.” Now a team from First Baptist visits India about once every three months. They prayer walk, build relationships and research and map the city. Back home, the rest of the church prays for them. The goal is to see house churches multiplying and Indian Christians equipped to evangelize. “None of us are professional church planters,” says Adler. “We believe God has given us a great God-dream that only He can accomplish.”
pray “Ask that our church pray. We need prayer ‘missionaries’ that will ask for God’s Holy Spirit to be poured out on this city,” says Adler. “We ask for the city that seekers will run to the gospel and His church will grow rapidly.”
Source of all profiles: IMB
For online information about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, go to:http://ime.imb.org
You must be login before you can leave a comment. Click here to Register if you are a new user.