Visit http://courageousresources.com/churcheventsformen
for Father’s Day resources for pastors and teachers including
free video clips, sermons, and much more!

Join us in Israel, November 10-20, 2014. Space is limited, so sign up today!
Email Debbie (debbiet@sherwoodbaptist.net) for more information.

Why Men Desperately Need the Church 
Bill Elliff

I have met many people through the years who see little value in the local church. “I can worship anywhere,” is their common excuse. But is this really true? While all of us should be involved in consistent, daily, personal worship, there is no substitute for the local church. Christ proclaimed that the church was something He was building, and He did nothing without great intentionality. Look at Paul’s divinely inspired description:

But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15 NASB).

The Household of God
The Church is a family, and God is her head. It is to function like the deepest family in all the world—full of love and caring and fellowship. The reality is that, for believers, the church is ultimately and eternally more of a family than their biological family, for it is the one family that exists beyond time. Soon, in heaven, we will experience in God’s true church what a family is to be all about! Also, since it is GOD’S household, He is watching over her with the care of a perfect Father.

The Gathering
The word church is “ekklesia” in the Greek language, and literally means “assembly” or “gathering.” The very name itself implies being together. I know that the church is still the church when it is scattered, but why would God choose this word to describe us? It is because we are to not forsake “our own assembling together … and all the more as you see the day [of the Lord] drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25). Part of the weakness of the American church is her unwillingness to gather. It is the last item on our priority list. The slightest excuse pulls us away. The average church goer in America attends once or twice a month—and usually for just one hour. How in the world can our spiritual lives subsist on such a meager assembling? We NEED to gather together. There are vital things that happen in the presence of the church gatherings. Paul called it the gathering of the living God. What a description! It is a gathering that He calls and superintends.

The Pillar and Support of the Truth
God’s truth is God’s truth, whether there is a church or not. But God has entrusted its propagation and defense to redeemed people—to His household, His assembly, His church. We are to hold it up before others and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). We do not make the truth or create the truth, but like multiple pillars on a great temple, we support it and hold it up before a watching world. Who else in the world will support, uphold, defend, and communicate the truth of God if the church does not? If the truth is not being upheld in our nation, it is not the world’s fault! It’s not the world’s responsibility! In fact, secular people have no ability to uphold God’s truth, because it is spiritual truth that is only spiritually understood by those who possess the Spirit of God (see 1 Corinthians 2).

We All NEED the Church!
The church is imperfect in this age because it is composed of people who are still in their earth-suits, beset with the weakness of the flesh. In fact, 1 Timothy was written, as were many other books, so we would know how to conduct ourselves in the church (1 Tim. 3:15). There are proper ways we are to function, and we must constantly study Scripture to adjust our behavior. As pastors and leaders, we lead people there. But never forget: The church of the living God is filled with GOD! She is so powerful that she will exist beyond time, kept and carried by her Great Initiator and Life. She is the family, the gathering, the communicator and support of God’s truth, and indispensable in your life and the lives of others!

https://www.lifeaction.org/blog/2013/4/12/why-men-desperately-need-church/

Sherwood Baptist Turns Outreach from Movies to ‘My Hope America’
More than 200 from Sherwood Baptist commit to Be ‘Matthew’ hosts
By Cicely Gosier

“My Hope is going to let us know if our churches really care about lost people or we just talk about it.”
— Michael Catt, Sherwood Baptist Pastor

With part of the parking lot gone and a rerouted entrance, it’s evident Sherwood Baptist is doing a little remodeling.

Temporary trailers and chain link fences will greet visitors for a while as the movie-making church takes time to revamp its children’s areas.

But the building project isn’t the only construction underway for this Albany, Ga., congregation. After Sunday’s visit from Jim Wood, mobilization director for My Hope America with Billy Graham, members are ready to be part of some relationship building as well.

“How could we possibly be satisfied to believe the Gospel is true – that people who don’t know Jesus are going to hell – and not be willing to connect the dots and connect with people?” Wood asked from Sherwood’s pulpit.

“That’d be like watching your neighbor’s house burn down and say, ‘I think they’re in there. I bet they’re just going to be roasted alive. That’s a shame. Somebody really ought to do something,’ ” he continued. “You’d have to be a monster!”

But to Wood, that is precisely what Christians do by standing by as others self-destruct. And that challenge is what’s driving My Hope America, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s latest nationwide evangelism project.

Participants – called “Matthews” – are encouraged to reach out to those who don’t know Christ, just as the disciple Matthew did in the New Testament. They’ll pray for and develop relationships with those people between now and November, when My Hope America culminates with a video presentation of a Gospel message by Billy Graham in Matthew homes.

“My Hope is going to let us know if our churches really care about lost people or we just talk about it,” said Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist. “Whether we’re going to engage our friends we say we’re concerned about or whether we’re just going to talk about them.”

Wood echoed the stance of putting the church into action.

“It’s not their job to do this so you don’t have to,” he said, referring to church leaders. “We are the body of Christ and it’s our job to live so close to the Lord that our faith is contagious.”

‘The Need to Know’

Ken Bevel starred in two of Sherwood’s movies: “Courageous” and “Fireproof.” Having never acted before, he knows about stepping outside his comfort zone. And it’s that leap of faith that Bevel is hoping people will take to participate in My Hope America.

“There are a lot of people that were sitting in the congregation and probably wanted to sign up that said, ‘I don’t know if I can invite someone into my home and tell them about the Gospel,’ or ‘I haven’t studied enough,’” Bevel said.

But for that, his solution is simple: “Don’t worry about it.”

“Allow the Lord to do the work,” Bevel explained. “Have confidence in the Gospel and not in yourself.”

Bevel and some of the other church leaders wore nametags and earpieces as they sat in the sanctuary and listened to Wood talk about My Hope America.

The “official” appearance can seem daunting to some. But when asked what My Hope America means to him, Associate Pastor John Spencer proved that underneath it all are compassionate people committed to God’s eternal construction in Heaven.

“We have a neighbor that my kids have prayed for since they were little,” he said, choking up with emotion. “And I want to see him saved.”

“I have other neighbors,” Spencer added. “I don’t want to sit in my house, in my neighborhood, and never let them know the hope that I have.”

“They need to know,” he said. “So my hope for My Hope is to see my neighborhood changed because people come to Christ.”

Pastor Catt set a goal for his church to have 150 “Matthew homes” by November. But by the time Sunday school was over April 28, they’d already passed that goal with more than 200 names on the sign-up list.

Now that his congregation is on board, Catt plans to write a letter to other Southern Baptist churches letting them know about My Hope America.

“It’s one thing to say we care about a lost world, and we care where people will be for eternity,” Catt said. “It’s another thing to say, ‘I’m willing to get out of my comfort zone and invite people in my home who I may’ve never shared Christ with but have lived next to for 30 years.’

“Now is the time, and this is the opportunity to do that.”

Why did God tell Gideon to cut down his numbers? The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me’” (Judges 7:2). In other words, if Gideon had won the battle with a large army, he would have taken the credit and the glory and stolen it from the Lord God of Israel.

The battle was then, and is now, the Lord’s. We can’t fight the battle against the culture, depravity, or carnality in our flesh. We have to fight by the Lord’s power. The old saying is true, “One plus God is a majority.” The question is: “Where’s the one?”

As the church, we are in a battle. We aren’t fighting against flesh and blood. These are what we see on the surface. But it’s what’s behind it that we are fighting. The powers that control the darkness. This fight is in the spiritual realm. The reason churches are declining and dying and communities are decaying is simple: We don’t have a clue about the battle. We think we’re in a parade on our way to glory. In reality, we are in a battle. Yes, the victory has already been won and the outcome has been determined, but we are to remain vigilant.
The battle is not political, social, or philosophical. It is spiritual. Therefore, the size of the church or community doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are in the fight. That we have our armor on and are engaged.

Unfortunately, most people on a church roll (notice I don’t call them Christians) are totally clueless, unprepared, untrained, and unequipped for this warfare. The problem with many churches today, especially larger ones, is we as pastors can begin to think of ourselves as CEOs rather than shepherds. We lead this way and then our members begin to think of the church as just another big business run with a quick nod toward religion.

It’s a deadly and dangerous assumption to assume you can have a church with no prayer meeting, and have thousands in worship, a big budget, and win the battle. That’s no different than David fighting Goliath in Saul’s armor.

Vance Havner said, “Most of our army has to be conscripted and may desert at the slightest provocation. The victory God is out to win is not won by a mob but by a miracle, and we are not operating on a miraculous basis these days. . . . We have mob-ilized instead of mobilized. We do not need a host outfitted from the arsenals of earth, but a handful armed on Paul’s pattern in Ephesians. We cannot gain heavenly victory with a worldly army.”

God sent most of Gideon’s army home. They weren’t willing to stand up and be counted. Today the church is ill-equipped to fight a sustained battle. It’s not that we are battle weary. We like R&R too much. The church is increasingly filled with jellyfish and cowards on social and moral issues. We back down to the culture and let the world around us decay.

With Gideon, God sent another wave home because they weren’t alert. They weren’t paying attention to their surroundings. They were self-centered, just wanting water. Doesn’t that describe the average church today? Self-centered. What’s in it for me?

Gideon got down to 300 who were committed to take the battle to the enemy. They weren’t cowards, and they weren’t careless. They were committed. The battle we are in calls for a new Gideon’s army.

This battle is the Lord’s. He’s not impressed with numbers. He’s looking for a certain kind of warrior. One with grit, determination, and at the same time desperate dependence on the Lord. Gideon’s army had to know, “If God’s not with us, we are dead.” Is it any different today?

We need spiritual Navy Seals. We need Christ-centered commandos—people who will pray, serve, and work knowing there is no substitute for victory. As the old preacher said of a captain who shouted to his men, “Men, we are surrounded…don’t let one of them escape.”

Yes, we are surrounded. The enemy is attacking on every side. The world, the flesh, and the devil are engaged in a full-out frontal assault. But we should not be dismayed. The last chapter has already been written. In the last two chapters of the Bible, there is no devil. His doom is sealed.  We need to stop looking at our churches like people holding the fort and praying for Jesus to return. We need to storm the gates of hell.

So let’s go back to where we started. You may be in a little place. You may have a handful of members. You may feel like there’s no hope. LIFT UP YOUR EYES! Join in the battle with the Captain of the Lord of Hosts. Get out of the pew and into the fray. At least live and die believing God for a breakthrough. Don’t find yourself facing the King of Kings one day and being called a quitter.

Because of the size and scope of the ministries of Sherwood, it would be easy to challenge that statement. But, you need perspective. The population of Albany has declined by over 20,000 since I first move here in 1989. We’ve lost major plants and factories like Cooper Tire and Merck.

In addition, Albany is in the top 10 in identity theft in America. We are the 4^th poorest city in America, yet we are called “The Good Life City.” Most folks have given up on that thought. A column in the local paper called The Squawkbox is a place where negative people vent, complain, and throw stones while remaining anonymous. I am convinced 90% of those complaints are from a handful of people who have no life except to tear down others. Having that column on page 2 of the paper doesn’t help our image. It may sell papers, but it destroys a city.

Most of the churches in our area are declining or just swapping members. Eighty-eight percent of our tri-county region would be classified as lost and unchurched. Our community is dying spiritually and economically…yet I have hope. God is not done with this city.

In the midst of all this, we are expanding for the future. We are in the process of tearing down fifty-year-old one story buildings to build state-of-the-art three story facilities for every generation. We are expanding our ministry to the hurting and homeless in the inner city. We sponsor church plants in San Francisco, Baltimore, and Cleveland. We have taken the challenge of the International Mission Board to embrace an Unreached People Group and an Unreached Unengaged people group. We are building a strong home base (Jerusalem) so we can reach the uttermost parts of the earth.

I will not go silently into the night. I will not stand and pound the pulpit complaining about the darkness while we have an opportunity to turn on the light. Too many pastors and churches have given up, settling for status quo and wallowing in the pits of a defeat.

Nor will I assume that God can only do things in big ways. Yes, we are a “big” church by some standards. Yes, we are the largest Southern Baptist Church in this region. But God measures sort, not size.

I’m a member of several mega and large church organizations, but I do not believe that size is what God is looking for. You can have a crowd and never have a congregation. You can be ten miles wide and one inch deep. I can watch some of the most successful churches on TV and rarely hear a definitive word about the gospel. They have a crowd, but do they really have a church or just a group of positive thinkers?

It’s gotten to the point that we think God can’t bless anything under 1,000 people. We look to statistics and numbers as a sign of success. In some ways, they are. In other ways, they can deceive you.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a crowd. I love to see strong attendance at anything we do. However, I don’t buy the line of using “where two or three are gathered in His name” as a justification for a poor attendance at prayer meeting or visitation. It is possible to be more conscious of the absence of people than the presence of the Lord.

Sunday nights are a prime example. We still have Sunday night services. We average close to 700 on Sunday nights. It’s obviously not the same size crowd as Sunday morning. But I can say without reservation or hesitation that our greatest services in my 23 years as pastor have been on Sunday nights. It seems God lets us get through the Sunday morning service and waits for us on Sunday nights to meet with us. We see it over and over. The House of Prayer before our evening worship sets the stage for what happens when the worship service begins. We have more time, there seems to be more freedom.

Most importantly, those folks want to be there. I don’t have to beg them. They aren’t living the lie that Sunday night is family night when they’ve had other nights during the week to focus on family. As a side note, family night usually means every member of the family is doing their thing in separate rooms and they order pizza and share 15 minutes together at the dinner table.

Okay, I’ve digressed and chased that rabbit, now let me get back to the main purpose for this blog.  Some of the greatest moments in the history of the people of God and the church have happened in small places and small meetings. Sometimes it only took one to see a move of God. Think of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist. What if they had waited for the majority to catch on? They would have missed God.

What about Gideon? He was a nobody, but because He yielded to God we remember him even today. Gideon wouldn’t have been asked to speak at a church growth conference. He started out with 32,000 soldiers, which was nothing compared to what he was facing in the Midianites. God said, “Too many.”

Think about Pentecost—just 120 people started a worldwide evangelism and missions movement. Study the church planting of Paul and his small team. They moved in and revolutionized cities immersed in paganism. Think of Martin Luther, one man who stood against the established church and brought us back to “the just shall live by faith.”

Charles Spurgeon was saved in a meeting where you could have put everyone present on one pew. Think of the small start of the Wesleys. I can go on and on, but you get the point.

You can also watch on the American Family Radio website: www.afa.net/radio, or listen on American Family Radio. (Click here for a listing of AFR stations in your area.)

Michael is scheduled to speak at 7:00pm EST tonight.

There have been times when I’ve forgotten to step outside our place in the mountains and look up to see the stars. In the area where we go to retreat, there are very few lights. The darkness reveals the splendor of God’s creation. I can miss that in the city. I can get too busy walking in manmade light that I forget the one who lights the sky with His glory every night.

Sometimes even sincere believers can miss Jesus. We get so caught up in things that are secondary. The list is endless, but let me name a few that are good…but if we are not careful they become like little gods in our lives that block our view of Jesus.

• Our favorite author
• Christian entertainment (movies, dramas, etc.)
• Our denominational preference
• Our worship preferences
• Our theological bent
• Our preferred translation
• Our preferred end times position

We can get convoluted and tangled up in secondary things and get diverted on the road of life. There’s a simple formula for life: look to Jesus. If you look to anyone else, they will let you down. You don’t need a middleman; you have a Great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for you. He is your Advocate.

We need to be like the woman with the issue of blood in the Gospels. She had tried every doctor, every method, but nothing worked. Finally, in desperation she pushed through the crowd, using every ounce of strength she had just to touch the hem of the garment of Jesus. As it states in the King James Version, many “thronged” Him that day, but she “touched” Him and “power” came on her life and she was healed. What if she had bought the lie of the faith healers of that day who were imitators? What if she had sent that seed faith gift, believing the words of a TV preacher? She would have died broken and broke. Instead, she walked away whole.

With the plethora of TV and radio preachers, hundreds of Bible study resources, dozens of different kinds of study Bibles, Christian fiction, and more, you can see how we could miss Jesus. Who do you listen to? Vance Havner said, “Even Bible scholars sometimes hinder more than they help. I have read books about guidance, healing, assurance, and power that confused more than they clarified. I had to lay all that aside and come firsthand to the Lord for myself.”

Some people teach and act like they’ve got it all figured out. They don’t. If they are honest, they are fellow strugglers. They don’t have all the answers. They aren’t even sure of all the questions. Sometimes you just need to lay aside the commentaries, turn off the TV and radio, and get to Jesus.

When’s the last time you cleared your head enough to read John 3:16 without trying to fit it into your system of salvation theology? When’s the last time you read John 14 and didn’t think about a funeral message? When’s the last time you looked at Psalm 23 and never got past, “the Lord is MY shepherd…” as you thought about all the things a shepherd does for his sheep?

Today we’ve got arguments, blogs, and tweets for our preferred positions and doctrinal preferences. While doctrinal integrity is essential, we may, in fact, get to heaven and find out we overanalyzed everything. Some folks obsessed with theology are like a sponge. They’ve soaked up a lot, but they need to get squeezed out in real life. They sit, soak, and sour. They stink because their contrived theology of the classroom doesn’t work in the coal mine, on the back of a garbage truck, in a hospital room, at a hospice bed, or in the death of a child.

Dr. Havner used to say the Lord healed three blind men in three distinctively different ways. I would say, if it were left up to the 21st-century clowns of Christianity, we’d have three different seminaries for healing the blind—the one-touch school, the two-touch school and the go-wash-in-Siloam school. It wasn’t the method; it was Jesus. They just had to get to Jesus. All three were blind, and all three got their sight. Isn’t that the point?

Is there any passion in your heart to get to Jesus? Are you trusting Jesus or your ideas about Jesus? There are two gods being worshiped today in our churches and seminaries: God as He is and God as we’ve created Him in our image. Make sure you are worshiping the right one. Just get to Jesus. On the way, make sure some Bible scholar doesn’t tell you it can’t be that easy. It is. That’s why the simple and common people of His day loved Him so.

Just remember, the Pharisees breed. They will take you on detours, or they will keep you so busy with their systems of thought you never stop to look up and see the wonder of it all. In the race of life, make sure you slow down enough to get to Jesus. It would be a shame to accomplish much in man’s eyes and find it to be wood, hay, and stubble in the eyes of God.

Watch out for Pharisee’s—they breed their preferences and arrogant positions and often fail to see the naked, cold, hurting people of this world. Thus, the world has a hard time seeing Jesus because Pharisees are blocking the view. Push them to the side. Look full into the face of Jesus. You’ll find in Him all you need and all you’ve ever wanted.

I’m now to the point where I realize I’ve wasted a lot of time in ministry pursuing secondary things. I’m working hard not to do that anymore. Life is short. This is not a dress rehearsal. There are no do-overs. Maybe you’ve been guilty of some of these secondary traps. I certainly have.

• Wanting to be liked and accepted by my peers
• Wanting to make a name for the church
• Wanting to focus on church growth, instead of church health (Only healthy churches can grow New Testament churches. Anyone can get a crowd—just look at the circus, a rodeo, or a sporting event.)
• Feeling the need to be at the denominational meetings so people know me
• Feeling the need to please people in the congregation
• Feeling the need to fit in and look the part
• Longing for the approval of family and friends.
• Oiling the machinery so the system keeps working
• Fighting with people over theological differences, knowing they aren’t going to change and I probably won’t either
• Looking for the hip conference where I can find the latest method

All this is vanity. It’s secondary. It’s useless, meaningless, and gets our eye off of Jesus. We settle for the grind of serving our church or denomination rather than the joy of serving Jesus. Don’t confuse the two; they are worlds apart. Their paths rarely intersect.

It’s time for me – and maybe for you – to get back on the simple path. It’s time to look up to Jesus. It’s time to lay aside sins that easily beset us and secondary things that easily entangle us. It all begins in an honest confession of our desperate, absolute need for Jesus. Vance Havner said, “Blessed is the man who wakes up in time to see how he is being deceived by these peddlers of new light.”

Spurgeon said, “In the days of Paul, the sum and substance of theology was Jesus Christ. If you ask what is my creed, I must answer Jesus Christ.” A. B. Simpson noted, “Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord.”

There is one plumb line, one center for us to focus on, one person, and that is Jesus. Anything else, no matter how good or sincere, will get us off balance. Paul said it best, “Christ, who is our life…” Lord, may it be so.

It was electric. I’ve not seen anything like it since then. The church as a whole wasn’t ready for a bunch of former drug addicts and hippies coming into the “sanctuary of God.” The church was so arrogant that they felt people should clean up before they get saved. Obviously, they hadn’t read the Gospels. Just as obvious, we lost many in that generation who were turned off by prideful, well-dressed legalism. Many became disillusioned with organized religion. Lacking depth and discipleship, they came up with a hodgepodge of theology and philosophy that kept them off the straight and narrow.

No movement is perfect, but we had a chance in the Jesus Movement. In those days we saw the moving of God at Asbury College and other places around this land. I wonder, could God trust us with one more wind of the Spirit before He returns?

Below is an excellent article by my friend Gary Miller. Read it. Heed it. Pray over it.

We need another Jesus Movement.

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Harvest

“So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.” Luke 10:1

Jesus called The Twelve, but He also chose 72 other disciples to go ahead of Him, in pairs, to all the towns and places He planned to visit. His primary instruction to those He called to announce His coming was…PRAY!

When I arrived at seminary in 1974, the atmosphere of the school was electric. I had been in East Africa for two years, wrestling with God’s call to ministry. I arrived in Fort Worth, Texas with a clear sense of direction and a firm determination to follow through on what God had called me to when I was an eight year old boy. The journey from hearing God’s voice to obeying it had been a long one, but there was something liberating about being where I was supposed to be, and focused on what I was supposed to do.

I was surprised by the family reunion experience that was generated by the gathering of the called from every corner of the map. Men and women from every state and nation appeared on the doorstep of the school, and they came from every level of socio-economic background. Some had recently been saved from the mean streets of life, and still carried the rough edges of the contemporary culture. Others were smoothed stones of the system, and looked the part of the typical seminary student. Classes were overflowing. Chapel was packed. Professors were a bit bewildered by it. Administrators scrambled to find classroom space for it.

It was announced that the seminary enrollment that fall, 1974, made the school the largest seminary in the world. It wasn’t hard to see that God was up to something big. It was a little harder to tell how it had all begun.

Through the rearview mirror of life, it becomes a little clearer. What was taking place on our campus in Fort Worth was a result of what God had been doing on high school, college and seminary campuses, and throughout communities large and small for half a decade.

His movement was called the “Jesus Revolution.” It was a wild and crazy time. Right in the middle of the Sexual Revolution, the Vietnam War, the exploding pop and drug culture of that day, God had begun a work among the youth of America. Initial signs of it began in California, but it spread all over the nation. It brought a new sound of worship, a sense of freedom in worship, new instruments for worship, and a passion to tell others about Jesus. It was often rough around the edges, and greeted by the established church with mix signals. Arms were open, but a bit stiff. Most were willing to welcome these new converts into the house, but they wanted them to get over what had happened to them as soon as possible. This usually meant a haircut was needed ASAP.

Among Southern Baptists, baptisms spiked dramatically during this period of time. They didn’t reach the heights of the post WWII 1950′s, during the heyday of the Student Revival Movement, but it was a huge surge. God was reaching a new generation of leaders, and pointing them towards His church.

Note: God calls the saved to minister in His name. If denominations experience a drop in baptisms, their seminaries will experience a drop in enrollment. It is not a result of abortion, the death of denominationalism, but a loss of a movement of God. God moves when His people pray.

Since 1974, almost 40 years, in spite of a huge increase in student ministry budgets, more sophisticated programming, more accessible technology, more rock-praise bands, better t-shirts, more hip conference speakers, and an increase in student ministers, these baptism numbers have never risen to previous heights. Contemporary youth culture and church youth culture are virtually indistinguishable. It is sad, but true. This is often, not by accident, or default, but by design.

It has been a long dry spell, and though the harvest is still plentiful, the real workers are very few. Harvesting is hard work, and culture wars are a long fight. Those who are called to both are an answer to prayer. Those who enter into either are sustained by prayer. Prayer is the trumpet call to workers, and it is the weapon of the warrior. Without prayer the church will gain precious few workers, and it will lose its warrior class. Jesus said, “Pray!”

Jesus called His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the fields. The church need only look at the state of prayer in the life of the church to recognize the reason for the state of the harvest. Little prayer. Fewer workers. Smaller harvest. Church loses. Culture wins. Can you see a pattern?

The birth of a movement of God begins with a rebirth of a call to prayer, individually and corporately. Jesus said His disciples were to do it. He has never rescinded His call. The next Great Awakening is only a prayer away. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Dr. Gary and Dana L. Miller
www.garydonmiller.com

In the early 1990s I served on the IMB Board, then known as the Foreign Mission Board. For part of that time, I served on the Personnel Committee. I would listen to individuals and couples share about God’s call on their life. I would see bright young adults heading off to foreign lands away from home, comfort, and anything familiar. I never dreamed at that moment that one day one of those best and brightest would be one of mine.

Hayley has a heart for Africa. Everyone I’ve ever talked to says that Africa changes you. That makes sense. You see the poverty, sickness, living conditions, tension, AIDS epidemic, refugees, and you can’t be the same. I don’t know what God will do with Hayley in the coming years, but I do know this: I love the heart, the honesty, and the humility I see in her.

Below is a recent blog. I wanted you to get to know Hayley today.

Brokenness Behind the Smile

We visit the township of Alexandra every week and hear story after story of brokenness.

The pastor of that church down the street molested children, so they burned down the church.
Those siblings were locked in a closet for days by their alcoholic aunt.
That young girl was burned with scalding hot water by her uncle.
That six year old girl is now the head of her household, ever since their mother committed suicide.
That boy raped his little sister, because rape is all he knows.
That young woman was forced to get pregnant, to prove that she was fertile.
And the stories crash into one another in my mind and I cannot seem to comprehend.

How can such brokenness be hidden behind these smiling faces?
My heart hurts for the people of Alex, and I ask myself how God must feel.

In Africa, I tend to see people’s physical needs before I recognize their spiritual needs. But both must be addressed, and I don’t know what that balance looks like quite yet. Or if I will ever fully know.

I want to give everyone begging on the streets money, food and clothing… I want to hug every suffering child and tell them it will be okay… I want to rescue them all from their despair and give them better lives. But a shirt on their back, a full belly, and a hug will not be enough.

One day, I will leave this place. And I will ache to be back here. To hug on the babies at Lambano and laugh with the boys at Ratang Bana. And I will pray that they remember me. But I do not want to be known as the person who gave them biscuits or made valentines with them. I want to be known as the person who brought them Jesus. The only One who can rescue them.

So I am asking the Lord to fill me with a sense of urgency and to give me the courage to make hard decisions. My time here is short in comparison to eternity, and I long to make the most of it.

“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:16-17