We hosted a “Revive This Nation” student preach at our church three weeks ago. Pastor Omotayo is a PHd student working to get his Phd in Christian counseling. I would encourage every church to host a “Revive This Nation” preacher in March of 2020. It’s a great opportunity to encourage student preachers. The seminary matches up student preachers to smaller churches who cannot afford the expense of hosting a revival preacher. The seminary pays the travel expenses, and the host church is responsible for the lodging and food.
That’s just a plug for the program. The reason for this post is part confession and part announcement. During one of his sermons, Pastor Omotayo said, “If you feel stuck, do something.” I’ve been feeling stuck and stationary for the past few months. I decided to do something simple.
During our time together, Pastor Omotayo told me of the work going on in his home country of Nigeria, and how he intended to go back when he finished his degree. I told him I’d pray for him, but I wanted to pray for more than just Pastor Omotayo. I wanted to pray for our International missionaries.
I started a Twitter feed called @PrayerforImb. I wanted to post a specific request each day. I quickly learned that you can get prayer requests from the IMB five days a week via email. I thought about abandoning the Twitter feed, not wanting to double up on the IMB’s efforts, but there can never be too much prayer, and not everyone is signed up for the IMB’s daily email, nor do they send an email on Saturday or Sunday.
I continued the Twitter feed and after three weeks, I have met several missionaries, and received some specific prayer requests. The twitter feed has borne fruit, and this morning, I expanded to Facebook. I’ve learned three things from this experience:
- The first day the Twitter feed was on line, the IMB contacted me about security concerns. They were very encouraging and appreciative, but laid out some ground rules they’d like for me to follow. The safety and security of our missionaries is a constant concern and it takes teams of people to keep our people safe. They need our prayers for their safety. The IMB has been very professional, thankful, and encouraging as I’ve posted prayer requests for the last three weeks. They are a first class organization, and Southern Baptists should be proud of those who represent us to the ends of the earth.
- If you feel stuck, do something. Seek the Lord, and ask what you should do, but do something. I recommend finding a group or a cause for focused prayer.
- Our missionaries and their people groups need your prayers. They are under prayed for, but they are the best among us.
Will you join me in praying for these missionary requests? Go follow the feed at Twitter: @PrayerforImb or the Facebook group here, or head over to IMB.org and sign up for the email updates.
I’ve also learned that many missionary families send out monthly updates via email. If you know of any international missionaries who send out monthly updates, I’d like their information so I can receive their updates. You can sen me their information at JonesTonyL@yahoo.com
