Author: amadmin

Pivoting for pandemic, Criswell College sees divine timing

Dallas  COVID-19 has impacted the entire world, and higher education is not exempt. At Criswell College, though, there are some indicators that God has prepared them for these days. 

Just before stay-at-home orders impacted Dallas County and the state of Texas shortly after, the college completed its accreditation reaffirmation—something all accredited schools must do every 10 years. When asked about the pandemic’s effect on the campus, Christopher Graham, vice president for academic affairs, noted what he believes was providential timing.

“The successful visit of the SACSCOC on-site committee with no recommendations in early March allowed us to focus fully on the emerging situation. God used the accolades received during that visit to confirm the mission of the college and the excellence with which the college carries out all of its operations in support of that mission.”

Like so many others, the college had to adjust in a very short time in order to comply with changing regulations, provide a safe environment for staff, and care for students who were no longer able to come to campus. Graham said that everyone’s response was even more remarkable than the complexities of the administrative work.

“When we moved from face-to-face to distance learning in the spring, students both witnessed the resilience of their instructors in completing the task at hand and manifested that resilience themselves as they completed the semester fully engaged. We didn’t have a single member of the class of 2020 who was derailed by the unexpected end of the semester. Returning students are already registering and enrolling to continue their fall courses.”

Among students nationwide, some worry about the safety of returning to campuses in the fall; others are concerned that campuses won’t reopen. Criswell College President Barry Creamer observed that the college is planning to offer on-campus classes this fall, but will also accommodate students who are unable to attend for COVID-19-related reasons.

“Like so many other schools, we have been vigilant not only to require masks but also to reassess our cleaning procedures and ensure that surfaces are cleaned regularly and thoroughly, both throughout the day and each night. But additionally, we formed a specially-tasked campus safety committee at the beginning of the outbreak to address issues related to COVID-19, and we give ourselves a rating at the end of each week to determine how well we are complying with these strict health and safety guidelines. We will have a safe campus and classroom environment for our staff and faculty as well as our students.”

Creamer also pointed out that the college has been blessed to maintain every staff and faculty member’s employment throughout the crisis, something the administration committed to from the beginning. Additionally, though, Creamer observed how the entire crisis has afforded staff, faculty, and students occasion to model the college’s graduate profile—the aim of preparing graduates to be ambassadors, cultivators, peacemakers, problem-solvers and professionals.

Similarly, Graham pointed out that challenges like working and studying from home, changing long-time routines and transitioning to courses offered remotely actually afforded staff and faculty the opportunity to demonstrate the college’s Christian mission. 

“Criswell College faculty and staff are in in a position to capitalize on the type of learning that can occur under adverse conditions. The inconveniences and annoyances required by staff, faculty and students to keep others physically safe is an opportunity to learn how to manifest the love and high regard we have for others through acts of humility and patience both inside and outside the classroom.”

“In short,” Creamer said, “being in the heart of a city itself unsettled by the current situation affords our students a unique opportunity to develop into exactly the leaders so desperately needed by this culture.”   

SWBTS readies for fall on-campus instruction

FORT WORTH As the first Southern Baptist seminary to announce plans to resume on-campus instruction in the fall in an April 29 message to the seminary community, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Adam Greenway reaffirmed those intentions in a June 26 message following an increase in Texas coronavirus cases.

As of late June, some details about the seminary’s reopening plans were not finalized, but Greenway said significant renovations to the residence halls and other campus improvements and a “deep clean of the entire campus” will be completed before the semester begins on Aug. 17.

“I want to assure you that we are doing as much as we can to make the reopening of campus this fall as safe as possible,” Greenway said.

In the case of on-campus classroom instruction, Greenway said, “[W]e are implementing various procedures by which social distancing can be observed while still receiving the highest quality educational experience in the classroom. In some cases this will include limiting the size of classes; in others this may include having a single course meet in multiple locations.”

Additionally, “expanded online course offerings” will be available, including “live online classes, where students will join a class taking place on campus through videoconferencing technology, as well as our new eight-week online course format,” launched in March.

Although a June 25 Tarrant County order requiring use of facemasks in businesses does not apply to the seminary, Greenway advised students and faculty that facemasks are recommended in common areas on campus and other settings where people are gathered together.

Reflecting on the disrupted spring semester, in April Greenway praised the seminary’s faculty and Campus Technology team for their shift to entirely online instruction necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have never been prouder to be a Southwesterner as our incredible faculty and staff seamlessly made this transition in the span of a few weeks to best serve our students,” he said.

Students and faculty also praised the transition.

Master of divinity student Brit Redfield from Mansfield admitted that while she missed the “person-to-person” interaction of the classroom, she said the seminary and professors made the fully-online spring semester experience a positive one.

“The school was very quick to get everything up and running so that we could seamlessly transition into our completely online portion of the semester,” Redfield said.

L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism Matt Queen said that because the seminary has had a strong online and distance-learning presence for many years, the change to online-only in the spring brought minimal problems.

Though COVID prevented an in-person commencement ceremony, the seminary awarded 336 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in May, the first time in 112 years the institution was unable to hold in-person commencement. Scarborough College, the seminary’s undergraduate school, saw its largest-ever graduating class.

In a video charge to graduates, Greenway expressed disappointment in not being able to celebrate their achievement together.

“This class will be one that will be remembered in the annals of the history of our seminary forever because you experienced a kind of disruption in the end of your studies as a seminary or a college student unlike anything we’ve ever known,” Greenway said.

He assured the graduates on behalf of the administration and faculty that “your alma matter stands with you. … Know that you are, indeed, Southwesterners. We are in this together as we work to continue to be found faithful.”

Spring 2020 graduates will be given the opportunity to participate in a future commencement ceremony.

Although the pandemic also prevented an in-person preview for prospective students, the seminary hosted a series of online “virtual previews,” resulting in a 165 percent increase in participation over spring 2019. Additionally, the seminary has received 63 percent more applications than the 2019 and 2018 spring previews combined.

Early indications are hopeful for a stable fall enrollment, although data will not be available for several months. Meanwhile, summer course enrollment saw a 24-percent increase in total hours taken by students compared to 2019, according to seminary officials.

In his April message to the seminary community, Greenway expressed the belief that God is at work through the pandemic.

“I am prayerful that God is using the coronavirus pandemic in a way that will make us more faithful ministers of the gospel and that will see the advancement of the gospel across the world,” he said. “As Robert E. Naylor, our fifth president, frequently said, ‘The sun never sets on Southwestern.’ That truism remains undiminished in our time, and it is our prayerful ambition that because of the training they receive here, our students will continue to be a part of fulfilling the Great Commission across Texas, throughout the United States and around the world.” 

Preach it brother!

The 20th century expositor Stephen Olford was known to say, “Only one thing will ever take the place of great preaching, and that’s greater preaching!” Is that still true today?

During the massive cultural disruption of COVID-19, every aspect of our lives has been challenged or changed. As Christians even our public worship habits have been tested. For a while churches everywhere were left with little choice but to close the doors to public gatherings and move to a completely online presence. Many are still in that mode now, and some others are returning to online-only as the virus stubbornly spreads. 

What does the coronavirus and the rapid conversion of churches to online platforms have to do with preaching? The two seemingly disparate issues are actually interconnected. For instance, early research demonstrated that only a minuscule fraction of Americans planned to attend an in-person worship service on Easter Sunday in 2020, since by then most states were already under a shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order. Yet, by contrast, a striking majority of people attended an online Easter service. The number of Americans who had never viewed church online surged. Millions of people signed up for online platforms to participate in church services, with one megachurch reporting that 10 million people went online to view their Easter services.  

While 10 million viewers is a notable exception to the rule, churches large and small have rapidly converted to an online platform to continue ministry and have experienced a surprisingly extensive reach. Even if a smartphone video camera and Facebook Live was the extent of the available technology, churches opted for it. In addition, it’s common to hear pastors report their online congregation is now larger than their in-person attendance had been prior to the pandemic. In other words, not only did churches rapidly transition to producing online church, the members (and others) just as rapidly transitioned to consuming online church content. We are witnessing a seismic shift in how we do ministry!

So, what has all of this got to do with preaching? If you watch online church, especially during the early days when we were all first getting used to the new option, the content was fairly consistent and mostly stripped to a minimum. Most churches offer some music, even if it’s a single guitar player singing a song of praise. Someone on camera usually offers prayer, and every church has a preacher. When millions of Americans, including many who rarely ever attended before, tuned in online for church, what were they coming for? The answer is clear. They were looking for worship and the preaching of the Word. Apparently, people’s need to hear the Word proclaimed is greater than even the most faithful practitioners of the ministry of preaching may have dared to hope.

In one respect, not much has really changed for the preacher since New Testament days. That sounds far-fetched, but after thoughtful reflection we realize it’s not. Certainly we have better technology and more immediate access to resources, but the work itself remains essentially unchanged. For instance, when Paul wrote his final letter to his younger apprentice Timothy, who was himself busy with the work of the church in Ephesus, one of the final instructions to the younger pastor was about the ministry of preaching. Paul said, “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). 

Ephesus was one of the megacities of the ancient world, the fourth largest in the Roman Empire. It was a cosmopolitan center of academia, boasting one of the largest libraries in the world. The city was also inebriated with sporting and entertainment events held constantly in the Great Theater of Ephesus, a magnificent 25,000-seat amphitheater, the largest of its kind in Asia Minor. Ephesus also had a dark side. Prostitution and sex trafficking was common and openly advertised and practiced throughout the city. While Ephesus may not be just like your town, one thing is certain. When Paul said to be ready to preach “out of season,” he knew Ephesus wasn’t exactly the Bible Belt. Timothy faced enormous challenges when he tried to minister. 

The challenges faced by our churches during a pandemic are different but not unrelated. Ministry can be exhausting, and now it’s even harder as some of our familiar habits and expectations have been knocked off balance. 

So when Timothy was called to minister in a hard place, what did Paul insist he do? Timothy was instructed to “preach the Word.” Obviously, Paul had decided preaching Scripture was a sufficient strategy to reach people in a tough context. Nothing has changed. The preaching of the Word is still what we need for hope, for encouragement, for instruction from the Lord, and for spiritual growth and renewal.

Preacher, we need your ministry right now more than ever. You may be preaching while staring at a cold, indifferent camera lens and wondering if it’s worth it or if there’s anyone out there; but we are watching, and we need a word from God. So give us the Word. Tell it like it is. Preach it brother!  

Hispanic pastors address stress and suicide

Pastoral ministry is often fast paced and high stress, from weekly administrative responsibilities to speaking engagements, unexpected late-night calls, counseling sessions and crisis management. While church members may be aware of some of the challenges their pastors face each week, many seem unaware of the taxing effect such a workload has on ministers. 

Ministers themselves are often hesitant to share such burdens with others. 

“This problem has always existed,” said Chuy Ávila, SBTC church planting associate. “The problem is that, for cultural reasons, it hasn’t been treated so openly as we are attempting to do. We wanted to provide a safe platform where we offered pastors the possibility to identify themselves with one of the areas we covered, even when they might not dare to express it publicly.” 

SBTC en Español talked openly about such problems with a number of experienced ministers and counselors as panelists. The discussion was recorded through Zoom and can be viewed online. The panelists included Edgar Trinidad, pastor of Second Baptist Church in San Angelo; Mario Martínez, pastor of The Good Shepherd Baptist Church in El Paso; Eric Puente, a trained pastoral counselor as well as the interim pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Dallas; Armando Vera, pastor of Power of God Church in McAllen; and moderators Ávila and Bruno Molina, an evangelism associate with the SBTC. 

At the beginning of the panel discussion, an often-avoided question was placed on the table: Why do pastors commit suicide? 

Puente noted that a fast-paced lifestyle filled with chronic stress, among other factors, can put a pastor’s life at risk. “It’s of uttermost importance not to spiritualize the matter, Martinez added. “It’s really delicate … [involving] factors that are outside of our control and are not necessarily related to spiritual/religious elements.” 

Indeed, pastors often face loneliness in ministry, Ávila said. “The pastor is often everyone’s friend, attempts to be everyone’s friend, but very few seek to intentionally befriend their pastor.” The panelists emphasized that one must have friends while doing ministry—particularly, trustworthy friends also in the ministry and who are able to understand the nuanced issues ministers face that are not as well known among church members. “Being in isolation or wanting to go solo is the worst thing a minister of the gospel could do,” Martinez said. “‘It is not good for man to be alone.’”

The panelists also recommended that all pastors have an emergency contact number belonging to a trained counselor they can call if they need help, a prayer team within the local church which specifically and actively prays for the pastor and a support group of other pastors with whom they can be accountable. 

Implementing all of these preemptive steps might be difficult, especially in a profession where one’s job is tied to one’s own moral performance, which in turn can discourage vulnerability among pastors. Nevertheless, as Puente pointed out, pastors have the example of Christ, who was open about his emotions, his sadness and his tears, particularly in Gethsemane.

Puente emphasized that in the gospels, “Jesus is speaking to you and to me.” 

Prestonwood Pregnancy Center opens across the street from Planned Parenthood

DALLAS—The goal of Prestonwood Pregnancy Center is to be available to as many people as possible, letting them know the options they have when encountering an unplanned pregnancy, according to director Leanne Jamieson.

To better accomplish that goal, Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, launched by Prestonwood Baptist Church in 1991, has opened its second location directly across from the largest Planned Parenthood abortion center in Dallas.

The expansion plan had originally been to revitalize another crisis pregnancy center located near the Planned Parenthood location. The struggling center was on the verge of closure. But when Jamieson discovered an empty building across the street from Planned Parenthood, she began praying that God would open doors and provide a way for the two crisis pregnancy centers to merge and open a new location.

“We were driving by the Planned Parenthood and at the time we were talking about the repairs that would be needed and how it wasn’t an ideal location,” Jamison said. “I mean we were looking at a lot of money. It needed a new roof, it need a whole update.”

As they drove past, Jamieson pointed to the empty building across the street and said if she could move the center anywhere, it would be there. Slowly, and by God’s grace, doors were opened for Prestonwood to open in that very building.

“God was just providing for us to be there,” Jamieson said. “We very quietly did the renovations. The last thing we did was put the sign up the weekend before we opened.”

Jamieson said they chose the location because when women are headed to the Planned Parenthood center, it is usually because they believe they have no other option or are looking for answers to a seemingly impossible situation.

“I really believe that most people seeking an abortion are doing it for some very fundamental reasons,” Jamieson said. “Often there’s a great deal of fear surrounding their pregnancy and because of that fear they’re really looking for some sort of answer, we might say hope. Hope that pregnancy does not have to change their life in what they view to be a disastrous way.

“We’re there because we want to provide them true choice. We want to be a light in what is often a very dark situation. In my experience, Jesus shines the brightest when the situation is the darkest. We thought, ‘Let’s position ourselves so those who are heading toward the abortion facility might see us and might give them pause and might end up coming to us instead of them.'”

Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham said the move is timely.

“I truly believe this relocation is the greatest opportunity we’ve had in our 29 years of operating,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News. “To offer hope where it’s been lost, to offer a better choice that leads to life instead of death and to show grace and love at the very moment when many women are their greatest need.”

Jamieson said the decision to open across the street was not motivated by a belief that Planned Parenthood is the enemy, but rather that they wanted to make people aware of their options.

“Planned Parenthood is not the enemy; we know who the real enemy is,” Jamieson said. “Planned Parenthood is staffed by people that need the love and grace of our Lord and Savior as much as clients walking through our door do. But we are moving in because that is a place where the enemy has positioned himself and we want to say we can serve them (clients), and that they have more options beyond just abortion.”

In 2019, Prestonwood Pregnancy center saw more than 12,500 clients, and through June, Jamieson reported they have seen approximately 8,000 clients, a 43 percent increase from 2019 at the same time. In June alone, they saw 269 clients, a 35 percent increase from the previous year.

Jamieson said people just want to be loved, heard and cared for, and to know they are not alone. Prestonwood Pregnancy Center hopes to meet those needs.

“Some of the stories we hear would break your heart,” Jamieson said. “But I’m so grateful to know that I know a Lord that specializes in the broken.”

Take some time off

Sometimes I have this uneasy feeling that if I’m gone for a week the entire kingdom of God will crumble. Bad theology I know, but many people have those moments of feeling like the most essential of essential workers. Elijah expressed the thinking during his complaint against God in I Kings 19 when he said, “I am the only one left!” But Elijah wasn’t. Neither are you. Neither am I. 

There’s a thing that happens to people when they habitually avoid taking their vacation time. The worst offenders like to brag about it. But the more humble of those who “just can’t” be gone from a ministry starts to resent it a little. Maybe you start to be discouraged because you aren’t able to get ahead even though you neglect non-ministry responsibilities. 

I’m not telling you that you aren’t overworked, but I am saying that burning out or losing touch with your family won’t solve it. Jesus was a good example of someone with a lot to do but who withdrew to pray, who went to a party with his mom and who slept while his students did the rowing. Go back to Elijah in the cave on Mount Horeb. It took him over a month to get there and he seemed to be seething with disappointment all the way. Have you considered that it took him a long time to get back to his ministry? After his little talk with God I imagine the Elijah who returned was energized and refreshed by the days he spent getting back to his ministry assignment. After he recognized the sovereignty of God, his burden had to be much lighter. It’s a pretty extreme example of getting away from it all but God restored Elijah after he got him away from his enemies, his stressful context. 

There are rocks on both side of this question. We’ve all known people who took every day of vacation as soon as they qualified and every sick day they accrue. But that slack attitude is never encouraged, even implicitly. I do hear people praised for “never going home” or “working way more than we pay him for.” We encourage burn out and then cluck our tongues when someone actually does burn out. 

Vacation, Sabbath and time away can come in big and small bits. You can train the people you serve to not call you at 8:00 p.m. by not looking at your email at all hours of the day and night or by (gasp) powering off the phone altogether at some part of the evening. You are not the only one, Elijah. At least you shouldn’t be the only one. Could there be a day each week when someone else did the hospital visits, someone else answered the phone, someone else talked about ministry stuff all day? Would your wife and kids enjoy talking about something else over dinner? And all of us, even bi-vocational ministry leaders should have some weeks, some Sundays with no responsibilities and no prep. 

I’m not a workaholic, gang. Those who are and who tell you they are engage in a humblebrag. But I am a hypocrite in this column. Tammi and I have shared a ministry for my entire ministry, especially for the past 30 years of it. Our friends, church members and co-workers have most often been the same people for both of us. Her day and my day were often spent on similar work. While watching TV, she’s sorting through Baptist websites and I’m looking at Baptist Twitter to see what folly my brothers have attained since I left the office. It’s not, “That guy never goes home (isn’t he awesome?)!” It’s, “That guy never quite stops thinking about it.” That’s not time away or time off. I’ll tell you, just between us, that there are predictable months each year when I want to go someplace where there are no Baptists and lock the gate. It’s my fault when that happens. Nobody does that to me but me. 

Take your vacation and take it in chunks of more than two or three days. It will take you more than a day to remove your mind from ministry issues and habitual thinking. You’ll have to log out of your email for more than a day or two to stop working on answers to what you saw in a message. You may need to go somewhere with terrible cell coverage. (Utah, Alaska, North Central Arkansas and Grand Prairie, Texas, have fit the bill for me.) Maybe give your powered down phone to your spouse. Let your sweetie decide who needs you most for a few days.

Most things will be where you left them and some things will have sorted themselves out by the time you find out about them. But you’ll be fresher and more creative if you’ll look at and think about something else for a while. You may love your ministry more than you did when you left. That’s a pretty practical reason for doing something impractical for a while.  

Do it again, Lord!

It was 50 years ago this month that I preached my first sermon at the Lone Cherry Baptist Church in Richland Parish, Louisiana. The pastor had accepted another church. My grandfather, who was treasurer and deacon, arranged for me to supply preach. It was August 16, 1970. My grandfather was very ill but he came. My dad brought him. They placed a loudspeaker on the outside of the church so my grandfather could hear me preach. This began my public ministry. 

During my college years I served as a student evangelist. In 1974 my wife and I moved to Crowley, Louisiana to plant a church. This was the beginning of a pastoral ministry that lasted 20 years. During my time as a pastor I usually had a vocational evangelist come at least once a year to lead in an outreach effort.

In preparation for my revivalevangelistic events I would read the book “Why Revival Tarries” by Leonard Ravenhill. In my opinion it is a classic. I don’t agree with everything Ravenhill said. I do agree with his call to a deeper walk with God. Reading the book got me in position to receive from the Lord.

Ravenhill lived in a different era, but his words still sting today. He said there were many players but few prayers. There were many organizers but few agonizers. He said preachers make pulpits famous but prophets make prisons famous. His call was to a life of surrender, fullness of the Spirit and seeking to reach those going to hell. 

What will it take to see an old fashioned Holy Spirit, sin-condemning, Jesus-exalting, hell-shaking, soul-saving move of God? Do we ever need it? Yes! Some of the barriers to seeing God move are the same as they were in Ravenhill’s day. Let me list some for us to consider.

Revival tarries because of cheapening the gospel. Easy believe-ism has caused churches to be filled with the unsaved. We talk about the unchurched but no longer about the lost. People without Jesus are not in need of a better life. They need eternal life. We have sought to meet needs. What people need is to know the bad news of judgment and separation from God and then the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. I know this is not true of all churches, but far too many have abdicated preaching the clear gospel. Call people to repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus.

Revival tarries because of fear. Public acceptance has caused churches to compromise the holiness of God. The proponents of American culture intimidate believers into silence. We are fearful of being ostracized while the saints of old were persecuted. Lifestyles are more in line with current culture than biblical norms. We want to fit in rather than stand up and stand out. May God give us courage like Daniel to be different. 

Revival tarries because we lack urgency in prayer. Prayer meetings have almost disappeared from our churches. Personal private prayer is crowded out by the demands of responding to the latest controversial thread on social media. When was the last time we actually shed a tear because someone we knew was going to hell? Personal repentance followed by passion for people would change our churches. We need the power of God in our places of worship. Only prayer can unleash his supernatural work.

Revival tarries because we steal the glory that belongs to God. 1 Corinthians 1:29 says “that no flesh should glory in His presence.” When God does move in our midst we try to think, “Which method was it that produced that reaction?” Or we develop a plan or some type of organizational strategy to try to duplicate the same response. God wants his people to wait on him as they did on the day of Pentecost to get a fresh breath from heaven. We will know when it is the Lord’s doing when it is something we cannot produce. 

It has been 50 years since I answered the call to the ministry. It has been 50 years since I preached my first sermon. I have seen the power of God displayed. I have seen believers get right with the Lord. I have seen scores of people saved at one time. But it has been too long. If there ever was a time for God’s people to be on their faces pleading for revival, it is now. All I can say is, “Do it again Lord. All for your glory!”   

Pray for Your Missionaries-in-Waiting

Over the past few months, my morning routine has consisted of the same few activities: exercising, reading Scripture, and browsing through news sites of my country of service. Every day I hope to catch something—anything—about borders reopening or visas being issued. So far, my browsing hasn’t produced any results.

In March of this year, my wife and I, along with more than 70 other missionaries, were packing our bags and saying our goodbyes as we completed the International Mission Board’s Field Personnel Orientation (FPO). Most of us from that FPO group still have our bags packed. As COVID-19 began to spread throughout the world, countries made the wise, albeit difficult, decisions to close their borders, barring many of us from entering the countries we’ve thought, dreamed, and prayed about for months (and sometimes years). 

Although some friends have made it to their countries of service in recent weeks, most in my new missionary group are still waiting for borders to reopen. And we’re not alone. Across the world, hundreds of missionaries have been displaced, evacuated or barred from readmittance. Every day we’ve been checking with our embassies to hear when we can be welcomed. That welcome seems nowhere in sight on most days.

COVID-19 has created more missionaries-in-waiting than any other event in recent history. As anyone who has gone through a waiting season knows, it presents its own challenges and struggles. With the difficulties in mind, here are eight ways you can pray for us—your missionaries-in-waiting.

Pray for countries to wisely reopen borders. 

The gospel remains an urgent message. Inside closed borders, people continue to die every day without knowledge of their Creator. Travel restrictions are preventing us from carrying the good news to those who desperately need it. Please join us in praying for admittance into these currently closed nations.

Pray that we can confidently rest in the sovereignty of God.

At the same time, we missionaries-in-waiting need to be reminded that the only reason we’re here is because God wants us here. The gospel is still bearing fruit around the world (Colossians 1:5-6) and our absence, if anything, is a reminder that God is the One who saves people, not us. Pray that we can confidently echo the words of Job: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). 

Pray that we can be good stewards of this season.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is that God’s calling for our lives is in the present tense, not the future. God has called us to be a light wherever we are right now, and he expects us to invest ourselves in the people right in front of us. Pray that we can steward our resources and current situations in a way that prompts the response, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” 

Pray against discouragement.

We’ve sold our houses and are living out of suitcases. We have no idea how long our current situation will last. We had expectations of how this year would go, and now we have no idea what next week will look like. Satan is quick to attack us with discouragement. Pray Philippians 4:4-13 over us, specifically that we will find contentment through Christ in these circumstances.

Pray that we will find community in our temporary homes.

While many of us have returned to our home churches during this waiting season, not everyone has that opportunity. Some missionaries are waiting in another country—neither their home country nor their place of service—while borders remain shut. Pray that we can find local churches to partner with and support, as well as a community to walk alongside us as we wait. 

Pray that God would give our IMB leaders wisdom. 

This pandemic has been a logistical nightmare for leaders around the world to navigate. As borders slowly reopen, new questions and challenges will emerge. Continue to ask God to grant wisdom to our IMB leaders as they daily make difficult decisions.

Pray that our love for Christ would deepen during this season.

While we’ll certainly never know all the reasons for the waiting, we do know of at least one reason: so that we can look more like Christ. As James 1:2-4 reminds us, this season has been given to us specifically to teach us endurance and to shape us into Christ’s image. Pray that we can lean into Christ as we endure an unusual trial.

Pray for gratitude.

Over the past few weeks I have been struck by the book of Philippians. Paul, writing from a prison cell, could have easily penned a letter to voice his frustration about how his work has been hindered. He chose not to do that. Instead, he chose to send a message overflowing with joy in Christ, encouraging his recipients to “rejoice in the Lord, always.” My prayer is that I, along with my fellow missionaries-in-waiting, would emulate Paul. Our season of waiting is not an easy one, but we have an opportunity to reflect gratitude toward the One who holds all our circumstances within the palm of his hand. Pray that we can see the care our Father has for us, and that we would rejoice entirely in him. 

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Joshua Alexander* and his wife, Margie*, will be serving among Central Asian peoples. (*Names changed for security)