July 25 : Passing the Baton. You prayed in May for a volunteer team that was coming to SL to lead trainees in house church-planting principles. The training was great! Thanks so much for praying! Instead of a “mass gathering,” the 30-plus trainees were broken up into three different small groups, which then became a “house group” led by one of the volunteer team members. Each of these men had been in a small group that an international Christian had led while he was back in the United States. Not only have these men been passing on what they had learned during that time to small groups in the U.S., but now they had the opportunity to teach these “house groups” on the other side of the globe! Pray now that the trainees will pass on these lessons to those they are leading, and that much fruit will come from it.

July 26 : Unity of Purpose. “As July comes to a close, our team will again undergo major changes. All cross-cultural representatives will be leaving for at least six months. This year has brought so many unexpected twists and turns in the work among the Muslims of K. Please continue to pray for former national partners who are no longer receiving support. Ask God to continue to provide for their needs, both physically and spiritually. Ask the Holy Spirit to continue to teach them the truth in Scripture and help them to know how to teach it to others. Please continue to pray for the many seeds that were planted over the last few months. Ask God to cause them to grow and produce a harvest. Also pray for the many Christians who have heard about the need to reach out to their Muslim neighbors. Ask God to call out laborers for the harvest that He is preparing in K. As the vision is shared in the United States, please ask God to burden churches to adopt the Muslims of K and to join the efforts to reach them. As representatives are away from their area of service, ask God to continue to use nationals who have already been trained. Pray for relationships between nationals and cross-cultural representatives to continue even while they are separated. Pray that cross-cultural representatives will be able to rest and return with a renewed passion and vision for the work.”

July 27 : Apostles in Bangladesh. There are a handful of people with nobody among them who would really warrant a second glance. They are average people who are not wealthy or famous, but who have normal jobs and lead a simple and fairly uncomplicated life. We are talking about the kind of person who gets lost in a crowd. However, these people are vastly different from the millions who mill about the streets of Dhaka every day. That difference is Jesus Christ. Pray for this group of believers as they begin a 10-lesson discipleship program using word pictures and stories communicated orally to encourage reproducibility. By God’s grace and power, they will go from believer to faithful witness to disciple to disciple-maker to church planter to church-planting movement facilitator and, finally, to “apostle” (cross-cultural church-planting facilitator). The program encourages high accountability and often weeds out those who are unwilling to count the cost of following Christ. Pray that God will bring those who are ready to take up their cross and follow Him. Pray that He will empower them to go and share of His love and sacrifice in a land desperate for a Savior. What can God do with a handful of average people indwelled with His Spirit and committed to Him? Ask Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon and Matthias. They may tell you that He can use them to start a “fire” that will blaze around the world!

July 28 : Widow’s Family Needs Prayer. F, one of the D Muslim men whom V, a Christian evangelist, had won to Christ, had been maturing in Christ over the last two years and had been inviting people to his home to share his testimony and the Gospel. One evening in mid-April, F conducted one of the seeker meetings in his home. The next morning, he was visited by several men who wanted him to return to Islam. When he refused and began sharing the Gospel with these men, the group was joined by some neighbors and they struck F with iron rods. They beat him so severely that he was hospitalized and succumbed to his injuries a few weeks later. F’s widow and two teenage daughters need your prayers. All of them had come to Christ before this incident. Several recent believers are handling this with courage and faith, revealing a depth to their faith in Jesus that only the Spirit of God can bring. Praise God for their depth of faith and God’s work in their lives in the midst of this tragedy.

July 29 : South Asians in East Africa. Pray that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the South Asian people of East Africa through prayer, networking, evangelizing and discipling that reaches into the South Asian communities. Pray that weekly radio broadcasts and the growth and multiplication of leadership and discipleship groups will develop into a church-planting movement among South Asians that spreads to all of East Africa.

July 30 : Turmoil Avoided in Nepal. In late May, the three largest political parties agreed to extend the completion date of the Nepal Constitution by one year. By this extension, much turmoil was avoided. Please continue to pray for the Nepal Constitution to be completed and for the many political parties to be at peace with it.

July 31 : D Digging in Deep. In light of recent persecution, there is evidence of new believers who are abiding in Christ (John 15:1-8). They are reading the Word of God, and what little they know and however imperfectly they know it, they are doing it; they are obeying God’s Word in faith. Praise God that in response to the days of persecution over the last few months until now – even with the martyrdom of one man, F – the small group of D Muslims who have come to Christ are digging in deep and not letting go of their Jesus!

July 18 : Medical Work Opens Doors. Dr. J, for whom you have been praying, continues to grow in her faith and is actively leading others to faith. The group that meets in her house is considering conducting some medical clinics in villages where there is no church or witness at present. Pray for wisdom in their planning, and ask that a volunteer medical team will come to work alongside them in the near future. Pray that this medical work will open many more doors in this rural area.

July 19 : Obedient Gurungs. There is a group of local Gurung believers who meet weekly to worship and make plans for their next trip into the villages to share the Gospel. Pray that they will continue to obey Christ in their passion to reach their own people for Jesus. Pray that those who accept Him will grow strong and share in their own villages, as well as those villages neighboring theirs.

July 20 : Family Follows Jesus. In May, you prayed for some new followers of Christ who were going back to their homes with a heart’s desire to tell their families about their new life in Christ. God heard this cry! Multiple people in one of these families made decisions to give Jesus full control over their lives. Please pray for this family as they learn what it means to live daily as a disciple of Jesus. Ask that they will have a strong foundation, and pray that many more members of their family, as well as neighbors around them, will make this same decision.

July 21 : Lost Souls in Sri Lanka. It was the Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization. Three children in an international Christian family sat around an outline map of their island. As they listened to Psalm 67, “May God be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favor so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, God; let all the peoples praise You” (Psalm 67:1-3, HCSB), they began to list the names of everyone they could think of whom they knew in SL who did not praise Jesus. From former neighbors to guesthouse workers, tuk-tuk (a passenger motorcycle) drivers, Montessori teachers and classmates, soccer-field buddies, restaurant waiters . . . the list grew and grew. At one point, one of the children said, “That sure is a lot of names!” But it wasn’t just names, the mother explained. It represented souls of people who, should Christ come that night, would live an eternity without Jesus. Just as the children lifted up these names before the throne, would you call out to God on their behalf as well? You cannot see the names, but our Creator God knows each one of these whom He has been pursuing. Pray that seeds that have been planted along the way will produce a harvest that causes this nation to know the salvation of their Redeemer. Continue to pray for international Christians to learn the language in a way that better equips them to speak to the hearts of the lost.

July 22 : Overcoming the Fear Factor. A cross-cultural representative in Gujarat reports: “I was in a town Sunday of approximately 80,000 people that, until recently, had no believers. I met in a small room with 80 people, with another 70 people on the outside. We sat on the floor and sang spiritual hymns in their heart language, and then a pastor and I taught. Not all attending were believers, but many were, and most of those were fairly new in the faith. One challenge we face is the fear factor. Pray that these people will have a strong faith in God that overcomes fear and leads them to tell others the Good News.”

July 23 : Play Produces Fruit. Last month you were asked to pray that those who saw a play about the crucifixion of Jesus would seek to know more about Him. Give thanks to the Lord that those involved in the production of the play report that a Bible study group has formed from those who saw the play and asked for a deeper understanding. Also, they are continuing to receive phone calls and email messages from seekers who are asking to meet and learn more about Jesus. Please continue to pray for fruit to come from this sharing.

July 24 : Openness in Village. “In April, a team of volunteers conducted water testing and water health programs in a North Indian Muslim village. This is a community that our health-training team has been working in for the past year. Because the health-training team is made up of women, they interact primarily with the women and children in the village. Male volunteers were able to have good discussions with many of the men in the village, including community leaders. Many of them seemed to be seekers of the Truth and were very open to stories of Jesus. We rejoice in the openness of this village! Please pray that our health-training team and community-development workers will continue to be bold and wise witnesses in this community. Pray that families in this community will be restless until they know the Truth. Pray against opposition that has already arisen. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of these villagers, and pray that soon we will see a church of new believers planted in this village.”

July 11 : Chariot Festival. “On Tuesday, July 13, thousands of Hindu devotees will make their way to Puri, a city in India’s State of Orissa, to take part in Rath Yatra. Also known as the Chariot Festival, Rath Yatra features the movement of three large idols from one temple to another temple a little over a mile away. Hindus believe that to catch a glimpse of the main idol grants deliverance from the cycle of death and rebirth. The chariots carrying the idols are 43 to 45 feet high and must be pulled through the streets by priests using giant ropes. Thousands of spectators join them, hoping for special merit from their efforts. Every 12 years, the wooden idols must be replaced by new ones.” The prophet Isaiah warned Israel to forsake their idols of wood and turn to God and be saved. Pray that Hindus celebrating Rath Yatra will realize that their idols of wood cannot save them from death. Pray that they will learn about the one true God who loves them and does not require them to earn merit, but simply to believe in His Son, Jesus. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22, HCSB).

July 12 : Expecting Fruit in Kolkata. Please pray for B, who is a young professional man in the city of Kolkata. Believers have been sharing with him about Jesus Christ for the last several months. Pray that God’s truth will bear fruit in his heart and that he will come to believe in Jesus. B is a Gujarati, which is a people group in the city that is not being reached.

July 13 : “This God Jesus.” Praise God for His amazing work in G city! Thank Him for answering prayer! A member of the strategy coordinator (SC) church recently returned from the city with an amazing testimony from the believers. A Hindu man in the city is an influential member of one of the Hindu temples. He had two sons, but the eldest inexplicably died. The father was distraught and asked the priest at the Hindu temple to ask the Hindu gods what he, the father, could do to keep his youngest son safe. The priest prayed and offered sacrifices for several days with no response. Then one night the priest had a dream while he was asleep. In the dream, he was face to face with one of the Hindu goddesses. He asked the goddess what the father could do so that the gods would keep his youngest son safe. The goddess said that the gods do not have the power to do that. She said that “only the god Jesus” could keep him safe! The priest immediately woke up. He didn’t know what to do. The next night he had the same dream. In the morning, he went to one of the Baptist churches in G city and asked if he could get the holy Scriptures that teach about “this god Jesus”! Please pray that this priest will come to know Jesus as Savior. Pray that God will continue to move in the city to bind Satan and to make His name known among the lost!

July 14 : Families of Peace. Several volunteer teams will be coming throughout the summer to serve in South Asia. Pray for safety in travel. Pray for open doors. Pray for “families of peace” (families who will open their hearts and lives to the Good News). Pray for house churches to spring forth for God’s glory throughout South Asia. “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 1:11, ESV).

July 15 : South Asians Everywhere. Have you noticed South Asians living and working in your city? Their clothing and thick accents seem to make them stand out as unique, but in fact, their numbers are growing. Millions of South Asians have emigrated to the United States and Canada, the Caribbean islands, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Please pray for volunteer teams this summer who are making contact with South Asian immigrants through Vacation Bible School outreach, Scripture distribution, medical clinics, sports activities, distribution of “JESUS” film DVDs, and nightly worship and preaching. Please pray that the Father will give many South Asian immigrants to Jesus (John 6:37), and that Jesus will build His church among South Asians wherever they live.

July 16 : Dreaming Big. This spring, the leaders of the team ministering among Bihari Muslims were invited to write their dreams for the Bihari ministry in a project proposal. Hesitant and with little faith, they started writing and adding up figures, growing more excited as they went on. Surely God’s dreams for the Bihari people are far bigger, and He can make it happen. Recent unexpected political changes for the Biharis suggests that the time is ripe for the Biharis. Please pray that God will bring to pass all things that He has in store for the Biharis. Pray that Christian believers from different organizations will be alert to the new opportunities for the Biharis. Pray also that the Biharis will be open for social, cultural and spiritual change. BihariBride@pobox.com

July 17 : Bihari Child Still Lives. You have prayed faithfully throughout the years for P, a Bihari Muslim-background believer who serves the Lord joyfully, and for his family and their health. When their second child, M, was born, your prayers sustained the family when doctors could not figure out why the baby was vomiting incessantly. After the diagnosis that her tiny body could not absorb fat and protein, you continued holding up the family in prayer, asking for healing and good medical care. Give thanks to God that M is nearly 7 years old and is completely healthy! Now she and her older sister, F, are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their newest sibling. Please pray that P’s wife, V, and the child she carries will remain in good health and that the delivery will go well. Ask that the child will grow to love and honor the Lord. Pray also that every Bihari child born will hear the Good News. BihariBride@pobox.com