Join us each Wednesday at 9AM in the sanctuary for a time of focused prayer. We take prayer requests and read over the verse(s) in the prayer guide for the week. Then we take time for corporate prayer. Everyone who like to pray may do so. This is a great chance to learn how to pray and be encouraged by fellow church members. If you have any questions or would like to request prayer, see Bro. Will. Also let us know if there is a specific area that you would like to recommend be the focus of our weekly prayer guides.
 
If you have a specific need, we encourage you to reach out to your Deacon and Sunday School class. You may also let us know specific prayer requests here. Be sure to note if it okay to share the request with the weekly prayer group.

2024 Myers-Mallory Week

Each year, cooperating Baptist Churches across the state of Alabama take a week of September to focus our attention on state-wide ministries. We take time to pray for a different ministry each day. We also collect a special offering to go towards state-wide missions. For more information, visit https://myers-mallory.org/. To give, simply use an envelope with your normal offering or specify Myers-Mallory with your online giving.
 
Check out the daily prayer guide information below or pick one up in the church lobby.

2024 Myers-Mallory Week for Kids

There is also a special coloring sheet to help as we learn about WMU’s effort for Christmas Backpacks. We will pray over his ministry on Day 3 (Tuesday).

Day 1 – Sunday, Sept. 8

How you can pray…

  • Pray for Alabama WMU as they encourage missional living by challenging, equipping and empowering Alabama Baptists.
  • Pray for Disaster Relief efforts that will bring hope and healing to the hurting.
  • Pray for Church Planting efforts among the unreached and unchurched in our state.
  • Pray for Church Revitalization to take place in churches and leaders across Alabama.
  • Pray for relationships between Alabama churches and missionaries around the world to be fostered through Partnership Missions.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Week of Prayer Overview

Making a difference. If we’re honest, we all aspire to that goal in one way or another. We want our lives to count, to have a positive effect on others. As Alabama Baptists, the Week of Prayer for State Missions and the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering provide us with specific and tangible ways to not only make a difference, but an eternal one, in the lives of others.

It all starts with prayer. James 5:16 teaches us that when we pray fervently, it accomplishes much! During this Week of Prayer, we unite our hearts in a spirit of prayer for a lost and dying world. Then our collective gifts help equip Alabama Baptists to take the healing hope of the Gospel to our local communities and beyond.

Will you commit this week to make a difference by boldly praying for the ministries and people listed in this guide? Then will you prayerfully consider your generous gift to the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering? As we pray, give and go, we are making a world of difference in a world where a difference needs to be made!

 

READY, WILLING AND ABLE

Disaster Relief

Mark Wakefield said when he called Becky Noland with the request, her response was, “You’re joking, aren’t you?”

But he wasn’t. Mark, who serves as Alabama Baptists’ state disaster relief strategist, had just gotten a call from Mississippi Baptists asking for a favor. It was a Friday evening, and they asked if Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) could have a team in place on Sunday to start preparing 3,200 meals a day in the community of Rolling Fork, which had been hit by a large and deadly tornado.

“It was going to take a lot of volunteers on short notice,” Mark said. “Becky leads our feeding crews on a volunteer basis, and I told her to start calling people and I would get my counterparts to pray for God to provide the people.”

And God did — 17 ABDR volunteers were in place in Rolling Fork the next day. Mark said he was grateful for their willingness to go — and also grateful that it was possible because of the volunteer network that’s trained, safety screened and ready to go, thanks to the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering.

“Having an infrastructure in place, having resources already around and having trained volunteers makes all the difference,” he said.

Day 2 – Monday, Sept. 9

How you can pray…

  • Thank God for the disaster relief volunteers who are trained and ready to respond to disaster.
  • Pray for Mark and for volunteers like Becky leading the state’s disaster responses.
  • Pray for more Alabama Baptists to volunteer to help with disaster relief.

Day 3 – Tuesday, Sept. 10

How you can pray…

  • Thank God for the churches of all sizes who work together to make the Christmas Backpacks project possible.
  • Pray for God to continue to provide the resources needed to get backpacks into the hands of people in need.
  • Pray for the hearts of the backpacks’ recipients to be open to the truth of the Gospel.

CHRISTMAS BACKPACKS

Alabama WMU

Pat Ingram said when you hand children a backpack full of Christmas presents, it lets them know they’re loved — and it’s a great open door for the Gospel. Last year, Alabama Baptists packed 15,023 backpacks, which opened just as many doors to share hope with children and their parents.

“It’s a tangible expression of the love of God,” said Pat, who serves as missions and ministry consultant with Alabama WMU and leads the Christmas Backpack project for the Missions Mobilization Team.

Each year, churches and associations across Alabama partner to fill backpacks with toys, hygiene items, art supplies, candy and food, as well as a copy of The Christmas Story. The bags are collected at 13 sites and then brought to the Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief facility in Prattville for sorting.

From there, they go to areas of greatest need — in the Mississippi River Delta, Appalachia and areas served by Alabama Baptist church planters. Funds from the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering provide for copies of The Christmas Story and identification bands, and also help cover transportation costs.

Pat said the sites reported more than 400 salvations in 2022 and more than 350 in 2023, with reports still coming in.

THE CHURCH AT OLD TOWN

Church Planting

In 2021, the congregation of First Baptist Church Helena was experiencing what their pastor at the time called a “slow bleed.” In three years’ time, they had declined from 170 in worship to 90, and they didn’t like that trend — they wanted to turn it around.

So in partnership with Valleydale Church, they decided to replant, which meant Valleydale would provide a fresh vision for the church, a new pastor and staff, and a team of volunteers to help.

And now The Church at Old Town, led by Lead Pastor Josh Knierim, runs about 400 on Sundays, packing out two services. Josh said he’s grateful for the help of partners like Valleydale as well as the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

“Brian Harper and the Alabama Baptist church planting group, they coached, they jumped in. Their preparation, their cohort — that was a huge help,” Josh said. “And through the church planting grants we were given, we were able to do a lot.”

Brian, who serves as lead church planting strategist for the SBOM, said the church is now “a community church that is blessing the community.”

Day 4 – Wednesday, Sept. 11

How you can pray…

  • Pray for The Church at Old Town as they continue to grow and decide their next steps to reach their community.
  • Pray for God to help churches who might need to consider a replant to have wisdom in making decisions.
  • Pray for Brian as he equips and encourages church planters around Alabama.

Day 5 – Thursday, Sept. 12

How you can pray…

  • Pray for the pastors who went on this trip to continue to encourage and model missions involvement in their churches.
  • Pray for churches across Alabama to grow in passion for God’s work among the nations.

  • Pray for more churches to start partnerships with missionaries overseas.

A CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE

Partnership Missions

For years, Terrence Jones has been passionate about pushing back darkness in Montgomery and beyond. That’s why he planted Strong Tower at Washington Park and has been instrumental in planting other churches, too.

But Terrence didn’t have much of an idea of how God was at work on the other side of the world, and ever since a recent trip to Central Asia, he sees things differently.

Scotty Goldman, director of the SBOM Office of Global Missions, said the idea for the trip came about at a retreat for Alabama Baptist missionaries serving overseas.

“We had an African American missionary who was there, and he asked me how many African American churches we mobilize through our office,” Scotty said.

The answer? Very few. So with funds from the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering, Scotty was able to provide some scholarships for a group of African American pastors to visit the missionary in his country of service and catch a vision for what he’s doing there.

For Terrence, it’s impacted the way he’s encouraging his church toward international missions. He’s also gotten together with other church leaders to create a fund to expose minorities to state, national and overseas missions.

CAMDEN BAPTIST CHURCH

Church Revitalization

Pastor Justin Nelson said before he arrived at Camden Baptist Church, a group of women was meeting regularly in the church nursery to pray for God to fill the room with babies again.

“And the Lord has done that,” Justin said. “We went from literally no children to going, ‘Hey, we’ve got to have help in the nursery.’”

This has been happening as part of a church revitalization process with support provided by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Rob Jackson, director of the SBOM Office of Evangelism & Church Revitalization, and George Yates, former SBOM church health strategist, have mentored Justin over the past couple of years, and Justin said it’s been a huge encouragement.

“One of the reasons I wanted to do the church revitalization process was to get coaching,” Justin said. “Whether you’ve been leading the church or a student ministry or worship ministry, whether it’s been for one year or 50 years, you can always learn more.”

Camden Baptist, which was averaging about 50 in worship when Justin arrived, now runs more than 160 on Sunday mornings.

Rob said it’s a “tremendous amount of growth, and we just praise the Lord.”

Day 6 – Friday, Sept. 13

How you can pray…

  • Pray for Justin as he continues to lead Camden Baptist to reach their community.
  • Pray for other churches in the state that are currently in the revitalization process.
  • Pray for state missionaries as they assist pastors leading their churches to become more effective in their communities.

Day 7 – Saturday, Sept. 14

How you can pray…

  • Thank God for providing the new incident management trailer that will make work easier for disaster relief volunteers.
  • Pray for His continued provision for the ministry of ABDR.
  • Pray for the volunteers who will work out of the trailer and the people they will serve.

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TRAILER

Disaster Relief

When a disaster happens and Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers respond, the requests for help start pouring in from the community.

And Mark Wakefield, disaster relief strategist for Alabama Baptists, said handling logistics is a big job.

“Every time we go to a response, we have to have some place to set up our office, our incident management site,” he said. “From there, we manage the job requests coming in and the volunteer teams who are coming and going.”

Usually their office is a church in the affected area, but it can be a lot to ask of a church when a response can take up to eight weeks, Mark said.

So he’s excited that Alabama Baptists have a new resource — an incident management trailer that can serve as their field office. The trailer has a conference room, desk space and white boards that can be used to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

It also has a generator as well as cell phone boost capabilities and access to the Starlink satellite system, all of which are especially helpful as cell towers are often not working after a storm hits.

“This trailer will be a huge help, and it’s available directly because of the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering,” Mark said.

MISSIONS CALLING AT WORLDSONG

Alabama WMU

Sonali Albus grew up going to WorldSong Missions Place, and after she took her first missions trip at age 15, she sensed God was calling her to missions.

“I felt the Lord saying, ‘This is what you’re going to do with your life,’ but I was so shy I was like, ‘No, it’s not, Lord,’” Sonali said. But that summer when she returned to WorldSong’s Missions Adventure Camp, God spoke to her again through a song lyric that said, “It’s Your breath in my lungs.”

“I thought, ‘If it’s Your breath technically, Lord, I guess I can do this,’” she said.

So she did. Sonali kept going on missions trips, and after
high school as she worked as a WorldSong staffer, she gained experience sharing the Gospel with children. She said that gave her even more preparation and boldness.

Then last year, she served for seven months in Chile, and now she’s applying to serve as a Journeyman with the International Mission Board.

Candace McIntosh, executive director of Alabama WMU, said Missions Adventure Camp is intentional not just for the camper but for the staff as well. She said it’s an “incubator for them to deepen their walk with the Lord and explore a greater calling.”

Day 8 – Sunday, Sept. 15

How you can pray…

  • Pray for Sonali as she continues to prepare for her assignment on the missions field.
  • Pray for God to call more young people to missions through Missions Adventure Camp.
  • Pray for God to provide the resources WorldSong needs to continue its ministry in the future.

National Day of Prayer 2024

Join us on Thursday, May 2, 2024 for national day of prayer.
 
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Our Task Force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America’s leaders and its families. The Task Force represents a Judeo-Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.
 
For more information about the history of the National Day of Prayer, check out the official organizational website.
 
Just after the Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem, the Lord appears to Solomon and gives a warning about why He has answered his prayer for a place to worship. He tells Solomon to follow God. He and the people of Israel will either be an example for the nations of God’s favor or God’s wrath. In the midst of these directions, we find 2 Chronicles 7:14. Today (and everyday) we choose to serve God and call our nation back to Him in prayer.
 
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV
 
 

 

2024 National Prayer

Jesus, we profess our faith in You. You are the Light of the world, and in You there is no darkness. For You are our lamp, O LORD, and our God who lights our darkness. Forgive us for fearing and focusing on the darkness around us instead of being filled with faith and shining like the city on a hill You have called us to be. Forgive us for the times when we have been the absence of light, allowing darkness to dwell in America. Lead us forward to dispel the darkness and bring light throughout the Church, Family, Education, Business, Military, Government, and Arts, Entertainment, and Media.

We are saved by grace through faith, released from the darkness that once held us captive and now free to walk in the newness of life in You. Light dispels darkness and exposes what is hidden and wicked, so we commit to rise and shine! For by You, Lord, we can take courage to run against the enemy, and by our God we can fight the good fight and keep the faith as living lampstands in our communities and country. We fear no evil for You are with us.

Lord, Your way is perfect, You lead us on paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Your  Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Your Word is Truth, instructing and inspiring us to live in the abundant life You gave when You saved us from the death and destruction of the enemy. Fill us with Truth as we read, study, and live Your Word.

God, You are a shield for all those who take refuge in You. As we abide in You and Your Word abides in us, we take up our shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and run boldly into the darkness to Lift Up the Word and Light Up the World!

In the Mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen!

 

Written by NDP Task Force President, Kathy Branzell