2014 Prayer Guide
Day One : Language Ministry
The Mid-Atlantic region has a heritage of immigrants enriching our communities with their hard work and creative spirit. That strong drive to start something new has helped advance the Kingdom of God as believers newly arrived to this region form new congregations and reach out to others of their culture who do not yet know Christ. At several times during the year, the “language churches” come together to celebrate what God has done in their midst, to grieve for other language groups who are not yet engaged with the Gospel, and to pray for more churches to be planted so that every group in the region can hear the Good News.
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionaries Robert Kim and Rolando Castro as they provide leadership to the language church community.
• Pray for our language pastors, many of whom are bi-vocational. Ask God to provide additional leaders to start new ministries for unreached language groups.
Day Two: Language Ministry
Annie Armstrong urged churches to reach out to immigrants, believing that since Christians weren’t sending missionaries fast enough overseas, God was now sending “foreign peoples” to Christians in America. Today churches in even rural areas are welcoming international neighbors and finding ways to love, serve and share Christ with them through such ministries as English as a Second Language (ESL), citizenship classes and children’s ministry.
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionary Wendy Mindte as she gives leadership in the area of ESL ministries.
• Ask God to open new doors of opportunity for your church to love and serve the international community around you.
Day Three: Language Ministry
Every year thousands of international students, business people and tourists spend time in the Mid-Atlantic region. Because they are only in our area for a short time, they often go unnoticed, yet they too need Christ. Ministries to seafarers, international students, athletes and resort workers are some of the ways Mid-Atlantic Baptists are stepping forward to love and serve our guests from around the world.
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionary Lynn Davis and her team as they minister year round to thousands of young adults from over 40 countries working in the Ocean City, Md., resort area. Ask God to provide avenues to follow up with new believers and “seekers” once they return home.
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missions volunteer Julie DuVall and her team as they minister through acts of kindness and bold witness around Deep Creek Lake, Md. Ask God to embolden them as they love and serve athletes, coaches and supporters from 35 countries at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championship held in Garrett County this September.
Day Four: Legacy Churches
When faced with the challenges of cultural shifts, changing neighborhoods and unused baptismal pools, churches may be tempted to hunker down rather than reach ahead. Legacy churches are courageous congregations who say “no” to idealizing the past and “yes” to advancing the Kingdom of God. By gifting their church facilities to new church plants, legacy churches demonstrate both their great faith in Christ and great love for the lost people in their community.
• Pray for Mid Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionary David Jackson and his team as they walk alongside congregations facing difficult “end of life” decisions.
• Thank God for the legacy churches who have chosen to “live on” through a new church plant. Pray for churches facing this decision—may God grant them the wisdom and courage to say “yes” to something new.
Day Five: Legacy Churches
Most new church plants must rent meeting facilities and are often forced to move again and again as landlords raise rents or the congregation outgrows the space. To be given a building of their own is gift beyond measure. Yet with the facility comes the challenge of building on the ministry foundation faithfully laid down by the legacy church over many years, now going forward to proclaim Christ in a way that makes sense to the people in that community today.
• Pray for Jesus Our Redeemer, Gallery Church Eastpoint, The Village, Freedom Church, Grace Place and Gallery Patterson Park and others as they step into “big shoes” left by legacy congregations. Pray for the young pastors as they lead their congregations to go forward: loving and serving their new neighbors, sharing Christ and displaying God’s greatness throughout the community.
Day Six: Leaders of Tomorrow
“Making disciples who make disciples” is a key strategy for Baptist Campus Collegiate Ministry. Last year the collegiate missionaries and their students recorded 3,561 personal gospel presentations with 66 decisions for Christ. Seventy-one “new units” including evangelistic dorm Bible studies, peer discipleship groups and new campus ministries were begun.
• Pray for Mike McQuitty, Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionary and his team of collegiate ministers across the region who are investing their lives in leading students to Christ and developing leaders. Ask God to give them strength, energy and discernment.
• Pray for collegiate ministry interns Joey (U.S. Naval Academy), Charlie (Univ. of Delaware), Justin (Towson University), Olivia (Univ. of Maryland, College Park) and Joo Eun (Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County). Ask God to deepen their love for Him and for the young adults they are serving.
Day Seven: Leaders of Tomorrow
One hundred and eight high school students from 39 churches voluntarily attended leadership training sessions at 6:30 each morning during the Network’s reCHARGE camp at Skycroft this summer. Many of these young people will choose to continue with BCMD’s Leadership Lab throughout the year which will allow them to participate in experiences designed to develop leadership skills and help them focus on leading like Jesus.
• Pray for these students as they return home and begin to put their new awareness and skills to practice. Ask God to develop their minds, hearts and character so that they will truly “lead like Jesus.”
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionary Doug DuBois as he and his team invest their lives in reaching young people for Christ and equipping them to lead in their churches, schools and communities.
Day Eight: Go Forward
Annie Armstrong said, “The future lies all before us . . . shall it only be a slight advance upon what we usually do? Ought it not to be a bound, a leap forward, to altitudes of endeavor and success undreamed of before?” So often we are content with slight advances in our ministry here and there—but what if, at the end of the year, every person in your congregation had a story to tell of how, in ways great or small, he or she changed the world by loving, serving and sharing Christ with those around them?
• Pray for your church’s ministry to those who live, work, play and go to school in your community. Ask God to give you vision and courage as you go forward into new avenues of mission.
• Pray for Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network/BCMD missionaries Ellen Udovich and Melody Knox and their teams as they assist churches in leaping forward to bless their communities by loving, serving and sharing Christ.