Two Prayer Requests

Hello Everyone! I wanted to let you all know that we are heading to the hospital at 5:00 in the morning to induce. So we will have our little Noah tomorrow. Please be praying for us, and especially Steph and Noah, that tomorrow will be smooth and as ‘painless’ as possible. We are very excited! If all goes well, we’ll be coming home on Thanksgiving Day.

Prayer request number 2: We are praying about the possibility of beginning our church in two locations. Because this area is so multicultural, we believe this may be our best approach to bridging the gap. So we will be a single church body reaching out from two locations, both of which are only separated by about three miles, but are two different sides of the tracks--so to speak. Please pray for wisdom and discernment in this.

Prayer Walk

Our drive through and prayer walk today was a wonderful experience. It was a very moving thing for us all to see most of the surrounding area, and to take time specifically praying for different neighborhoods.

I believe we are all in agreement that we truly desire to have the 2nd Baptist Church building that has recently been vacated in Bessemer. It is in a prime place for ministry. We are praying for God to provide a way for us to have that building. Please join in prayer with us that God would show Himself strong and capable providing us this building that we might use it to reach the needy people in that area.

I am encouraged tonight in reading Psalm 146, where it speaks of God:

Psalm 146:7-9 (ESV)
⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; ⁸ the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. ⁹ The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

We are praying that God will provide us this building, that through us He may accomplish such things as mentioned above in this needy area.

Prayer Walk #1

Tomorrow is our first prayer walk. We will be meeting about lunch time, jumping in a van, and then driving around the different communities in the area so everyone can get a good look at everything. Then we'll split up in different neighborhoods for prayer walks. Please pray for God to use this to grow a passion for these people in this area (McCalla, Bessemer, Helena). And for an anointing to pray fervant, righteous prayers, as we do our walks.

The Week of November 6

Greetings, prayer warriors! There is much to pray for this week. We had our fourth meeting this past Tuesday night. From that meeting there are several things we'd like for you to please pray fervantly for us about. First, we are taking a prayer walk next Sunday, the 19th. We are going to get a van and drive through the entire area, then we're splitting up to walk through different neighborhoods praying. Included in our praying is the desire for God to raise up some other believers to join our launch team, specifically some African American believers. The area God has called us contains many African Americans, many who are from lower income areas, and many white higher income neighborhoods. This area has developed unlike anything I've experienced. God is clearly calling us to purposefully be a multicultural church--reaching across all races and income levels, for the sake of building God's Kingdom in this area and boldly proclaiming and living the Gospel here.

Just last week a church closed it's doors. They are located right in the middle of a lower income neighborhood, in what we believe to be an ideal location to begin our ministry. We are praying for God to give us their facilities. Since we have little financing currenlty, we need a miracle from God for this. Please pray for God to provide these buildings, if it is indeed in accordance with His will.

Please pray for the Carraways. I had the opportunity to minister at a praise service for them at their hospital. There were about thirty or forty hospital employees there. That day they were auctioning off the hospital, and it is clearly a difficult time for the Carraways--as the hospital is a legacy of their family and very dear to them. We experienced God's Spirit in a very special way during our time together, leading me to believe that God is using this difficult situation for something very special.

I have begun meeting with the Bessemer Baptist Association pastors each Monday morning. After much prayer, we believe God would have us affiliate with the SBC through this local association. Please pray for God's Spirit to move through these pastors that together we would truly be seeking His face and being all God desires us to be in this area for His glory. I pray also that eventually the dividing walls denominationally will come down--may it start with us.

I will also be putting together a CD for us to distribute on our second prayer walk. This CD will include some of my music plus a few tracks of me speaking. It's goal is to be a ministry in itself, and to invite people to be a part of God's work through Lifesong.