This week we join with thousands of SBC churches in praying for Gospel work around the globe. Here is a guide to praying along with videos for each day. Check out the links for each day for more information and more prayer requests. You can GIVE all month long ONLINE HERE or by texting LOTTIEMOON to (804) 657-9333.
IMB President Dr. Paul Chitwood knew missionaries faced challenges in taking the gospel to the unreached. But on a recent trip to East Africa, every ride down a dusty road and every walk down a city street was a reminder that every single missionary faces unique struggles. And every single prayer for a missionary matters.
It’s tough to live where Kristin Luttrell and Rachel Sebastian serve as IMB missionaries in Mexico—there’s not much they can change, practically speaking. They can’t change the fact that people there do back-breaking work in the fields. They can’t change the fact that after that, the people work night shifts at the packaging plant, then get up early to fix food for their family. But they can bring them the hope of Jesus.
It takes tents, sleeping bags, and a lot of food for Peter Station* to get out in the remote areas of his East Asian country—the places where the herdsmen live. He throws all his gear in the back of an SUV, drives several days into the wilderness, and camps beside them so he can share the gospel with them. Sometimes they’ll choose to follow Jesus, and Peter will make plans to come back and start discipling them. And then when he drives out there again, there’s nothing but grass. They’re gone.
Hun Sol has a lot of favorites. He loves seeing students sent out through the missions program he runs in South Korea. He loves seeing them work alongside IMB missionaries to take the hope of Christ to parts of Asia that haven’t heard it yet. But most of all, he loves seeing students learn to share the gospel for the very first time. He believes it could change South Korea, and from South Korea, the world.
“Venezuelans are more open now than they have ever been in their history, but they are open to anything—good or bad,” Robin said. “This is a historic moment where Colombian believers urgently need to share the gospel.” Though the Tinleys are stretched thin, they serve tirelessly alongside Colombian churches to offer food, child care, trauma counseling, and Bible study. They’re also working to help Venezuelans start microbusinesses to support their families. “We’re trying to offer them very practical help and also a source of comfort,” Robin said.
Donka knows what it’s like to wonder if life could be better than what she’s experienced. She lived most of her younger years under the stifling rule of communism. She’s lived many of her older years as a widow. And on top of that, she can see that Brian and Mandy Davis have something in their life that she doesn’t. The Davises, IMB missionaries to Bulgaria, welcome Donka into their home every week for Bible study. Donka, 85, is a self-proclaimed atheist, but Mandy says she’s hopeful that’s changing.
DAY 7 – ANSWERING LIFE’S QUESTIONS
“So many of my friends, when they hear me give a gospel presentation, they say, ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for,’” he said. The catch is just getting them to hear it—to really hear it. “They have lots of questions about life, and not that they’re necessarily searching for it in the church, but when they do run into us and we start a dialogue, it really connects with them and they want to know more,” Robert said. “They have an open heart right now.”
Masuda San was a broken man when he showed up at Mark Bennett’s sidewalk chapel for the homeless in Tokyo, Japan. “It was a typical story. They come for the food,” said Mark, an IMB missionary. “But while they’re there, we give them a portion of Scripture and share the gospel.” And Mark learns their names—a big deal when you feel nameless and faceless, not seen by anyone. It got Masuda San’s attention. It brought him out of the shadows, and he just couldn’t get enough.
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