Prayer for our East Asia Team

This morning, I accompanied a team from our Association to the airport. They will be leaving for a country in East Asia within the hour, and will be there for 10 days.

Driving back to the office, I was struck by how blessed I am to be able to work with churches that, for the most part, understand what we are here for. In particular, our East Asia efforts were initiated last year when I accompanied one of our pastors and a lay person to this same area. This year, seven people from three of our churches will be engaging this city of more than 2 million people again. Their primary work will include prayerwalking and student evangelism.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be in the Carribean with another of our pastors to explore church planting opportunities. And just a few weeks ago, I returned from Chiapas, Mexico with a team who trained more than 100 potential church planters. It's exciting to see so many people in our association involved in missions.

When I came to MMBA nearly four years ago there was already a very healthy International effort going on in Mexico. Since that time, our international reach has expanded, as our churches cooperate in the Carribean, East Asia, India, and the Pacific Rim. When you include places where our churches are working individually without the Association, you discover that our churches now have a substantive Gospel effort on every inhabited continent!

I believe God is at work among our people, and the recent emphasis on taking the Gospel to the nations is but one evidence of this. I am proud of our people, proud of our pastors, and proud of our churches. Most of all, I am thankful we serve a great God who allows us to play a part in His mission for the world. Over the next few days, be in prayer for our folks who are on the ground in Asia. I am sure they would appreciate it.

-Pray for their health. The city where they will be is terribly polluted, so pray that all of them will stay healthy and be able to focus on the task at hand.

-Pray for synergy. This is a diverse group from three different churches. Somebody is bound to tick off somebody else before the trip is over. It's a simple fact that all of us have idiosyncracies that bother someone else. We do our best to train well before people embark on a trip like this together. Nevertheless, pray that God's grace would allow them to work together well.

-Pray for the advance of the Gospel. Pray that our folks will take advantage of strategic opportunities to talk about Jesus, and that the students they encounter will have their hearts opened to the Gospel. Pray for indigenous leaders to spring up quickly, and for the rapid planting of house churches that will eventually change this entire city.

-Pray for God to be glorified. He is not yet worshipped as He deserves to be in this city (or any other city in the world, for that matter.) Pray that our people will make Him more widely known and adored by those who live in this area.

Next on our agenda are places like the Carribean, Puebla Mexico, Gulfport, Mississippi, and the Pacific Rim. God's spirit is moving, and it is our privilege to play a part in His work.