September 2000
All of us know that God "is able to do exceeding abun¬
dantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20), but
we are still amazed when we see the magnitude of
His work in response to our prayer and faith. It has
been a year since we released the first of the new pocket
prayer guides, Days of Awe. This little guide enabled us
to pray with insight for the Jews of the world who do
not yet know the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The apostle
Paul said concerning his Jewish brothers and sisters,
"my prayer to God for them is for their salvation"
(Rom. 10:1), and tens of thousands of us joined our
prayers with his as we prayed first for the Jews and
then later for Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists.
To outside observers, it at first seemed that the
result of this prayer initiative was great misunderstand¬
ing, followed by slanderous condemnation. Actually,
the results were quite different. The prayer guides stim¬
ulated an intense dialogue that resulted in evangelical
Christians reiterating and recommitting themselves to
the biblical truth that Jesus is the only way to God and
that, as Christians, we are to pray and labor for the sal¬
vation of all peoples.
The Days of Awe are now upon us, and it is time to
give ourselves again in prayer. If you do not have a copy
of this prayer guide or any of the others, please call us at
1-800-866-3621, and we'll send them to you free. Then ...
Let's pray,
Randy Sprinkle, Director
International Prayer Strategy Office
1 COLOMBIA (northwestern South Ameri¬
ca). The Nicodemus team rejoices that "the Lord has
made provision for the production of a prayerwalking video
whereby we can take [a major city] to our prayer watch¬
men in the United States. The production of this video is
scheduled for the first week of September. Pray that God
will guide our hearts and minds in the planning of the
video, that the camera will capture God's vision of the city
and that all production details will be worked out in God's
time and God's way. Pray, also, that this video will serve as
a tool for guiding many to respond to God's call to faithful¬
ly pray for the lost professionals of this and other major
cities throughout the world."
2 ZULU OF SOUTH AFRICA (ZOO-loo). Mis¬
sionary Alan Locke writes: "The evangelistic drama
Heaven's Gate, Hell's Flames was recently presented in
Dundee. Please pray that the Christians will be faithful to
properly follow up on the 500 people who responded dur¬
ing the drama. Discipleship classes currently are being
started for them. Please pray that those who responded
would be willing to learn more about being a Christian.
Especially pray that the Zulu people would understand
'true' Christianity."
3 UNITED KINGDOM (northwest Europe).
Baptist representatives Gary and Delores Bishop of
team England thank God for recent networking opportuni¬
ties among Christians in the area of their new church plant.
God has provided them a support group partnership with
three area Baptist churches, including two pastors and a
retired British Missionary Society missionary. Pray for the
Bishops as they meet to lay out a vision for their future min¬
istry in the Grange Park housing estate. They also thank
God for leading them to a small, core group of Christians in
Wooton Fields, adjacent to Grange Park. Please pray that
God also will give them the words to say to excite this group
with a vision for reaching the lost in the housing estate.
4 MESTIZOS OF PERU (mes-TEE-zohs).
Praise God for two Mestizo men who recently were
baptized in the isolated community of Trapiche Bronze!
Not only were they the first new believers to follow the
Lord in believer's baptism in the Morrope area, but they
were baptized in the first water from a new well provided
through a joint venture of International Mission Board mis¬
sionaries and Living Waters International in Houston,
Texas. Prior to this, people had to walk about a mile and a
half to haul buckets of non-potable water from a hand-dug
well. Praise God for clean water in the community, as well
as for the testimonies of these two men!
5 BRAZIL (eastern South America). In addi¬
tion to teaching in the seminary, missionary Shawn
Buice leads a team composed of Brazilians working in the
severely deprived area of the northeastern city of Recife.
Pray for Shawn as he begins training the team members to
use home Bible studies to reach those who live in very diffi¬
cult circumstances.
6 TANZANIA (eastern Africa). Missionaries
Charles and Cheri Orange covet your prayers for the
four churches in the refugee camp in the Biharamulo dis-