P.R. on two people who seem not far from the Kingdom

Dear friends,

I wanted to take a brief minute to send out TWO prayer requests before I send out the update in a few days. Some young women in our busy sharing the Gospel. Praise the Lord.  This is so exciting to see and hear His Gospel go forth. Our prayer requests revolve around these women and those they have shared with.

1) Please pray C, K, and R as they haved shared the Gospel with a college student named A.  A is very open to the Gospel and has asked to study the Bible together.  K has regular talks with A about Jesus.  A studied the virgin-birth, and the first chapter of Mark with C, K, and R.  She believes the truths she is reading about Jesus and isn't trying to compare religions, but longs to know and follow Jesus. Praise God. She is also asking how to pray to God.  Please pray for A that God will create a new heart in her. It seems that if she hasn't already believed, then she is very close.  Please pray for those that share with A. Pray that the Lord will give them wisdom and guidance as they work with A.

2) Please for T & R as they have shared with J- across seven encounters. J- knows a lot about the Koran and when T & R speak of Jesus, he knows right where to go in the Koran that speaks of Jesus.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move J-'s heart.  He has heard the full Gospel presentation repeatedly and has studied what the Bible has to say about Jesus. We are very aware that the One who will convince J- of his need of the Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Lord Himself. Please pray that this will happen soon. Please pray for T & R as they continue to meet with J- and point him to Jesus.

We desperately long for the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts of these two individuals.  We also long for the Lord to continue growing R, K, & C and T & R in their faith in Him. Please be in prayer for these precious friends.

Thanks friends.

Prayer update - Feb 20, 2013

Dear prayer partners,

Please join us in praying for salvation for the PB peoples and for a great movement to spread. Just in the last week, I heard national partners speaking of sharing the Gospel with those from several different people groups. From the Paycall, the Ruhjohn, the Lembox, the Ben people, the Trans people, and more. It was so exciting to hear how the Lord continues to embolden His believers to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who have not believed! Praise the Lord!

But please join us in praying that the Holy Spirit will go before us and penetrate hearts, taking blinds off the blinded, hardened hearts of our PB peoples. The Holy Spirit must go before us. Please join us as we and our nationals are praying for the Lord God to save our PB peoples. We cannot fulfill this task, only He can.

But for now, let me tell you an interesting story:

Mr. Alfred has been a Christ-follower for several years. Alfred and his wife felt the Lord leading them to move to our area of this country.  They moved into a remote village and began working as farmers, as is the occupation for most others in their village.  Their hearts desire was and is to see people become followers of Jesus Christ. They began sharing the Gospel and talking with neighbors about what the Lord had done in their own hearts.  Over a period of a year or two, one family went from persecuting and publicly speaking out, very negatively, against Christians to slowly over time becoming open to Christians.  Last Sunday, Mr. Alfred and his wife brought Mr. Ben and his wife (the family that publicly denounced Christians) to CHURCH. I noticed them as I walked in the church, the wife more noticeable, wearing a Muslim head scarf and the man, having a longer beard as some Muslim men have.  During the service, Mr. Alfred shared how Mr. Ben and his wife were mean people but that God saved them and gave them a new heart and they are now Christ-followers.  It was beautiful. The Gospel is beautiful. Christ takes our wretched, sinful hearts and gives us His pure, sinless beautiful standing before God.  It is an unfair exchange - our nasty, sinful, wicked hearts for his spotless, sinless, beautiful heart. However that is EXACTLY what Jesus did on the Cross.

It is amazing, the PB team tries to reach people from all angles: house churches AND the traditional church.  Here it is plainly seen, the Lord is using whomever and whatever has a heart to make Him known and to call others to repentance and belief upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please pray for these new believers, that they would continue following Christ. Please pray for those that disciple them, that they would be consistently following-up and discipling Mr. and Mrs. Ben.

Lastly, please pray for this village, that the Lord will continue to call out people to believe upon His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Pray for Mr. and Mrs. Alfred, Mr. and Mrs. Ben, and another couple Mr. and Mrs. G as they continue to put their lamp on the stand for all to see, and as they call others to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

And may God get all the glory!

great read on "how much is left to do in the Great Commission"

Here is a great article on what is left to do in the Great Commission. Take a minute and read it.  And then pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the field. And be a "radical, sacrificial goer, or a radical, sacrficial sender."

Here is a blurp from the article:

"But if God would grant the passion and courage and wisdom, the remaining task is neither vague, nor enormous, nor unattainable. Would you join me in obeying Matthew 9:38, “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”?

And then be a radical, sacrificial goer, or a radical, sacrificial sender. Jesus has all authority to accomplish this. He promises to be with us to the end of the age as we mobilize for this. What a thrilling prospect! What a cause to live for! What a holy ambition.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-much-is-left-to-do-in-the-great-commission

the persecuted

Dear prayer partners,

Please pray for a people group not too far from us that the Lord is working among right now.  That people has seen a few hundred people profess belief in Jesus Christ.  Praise the Lord for how HE is moving in the hearts of peoples not too different from our PB peoples.

Not surprisingly,  with this wonderful news of new brothers and sisters in Christ has come persecution from the local community (government, police, religious leaders, etc).  PLEASE take time now to pray for these new brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray that the Lord will strengthen the believers in their faith in Him. Please ask that the new believers will have boldness, love, and compassion to continue sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those around them... even in the face of persecution. Pray that the gospel will spread like wild fire during this time and that LOTS of people will come to faith in Jesus Christ because of this!

Ultimately, let's praise the Father for His mercy and grace in drawing sinners to Himself.  Praise Him that He is mighty and amazing to turn cold, hardened hearts into new creations.  God is mighty to save!!

Pray for our PB peoples, that this would have happen here. That many of our own PB people will come to faith in Jesus Christ, whatever that may bring.

For His Glory,
the PB team

PR for this week

Dear prayer partners,

      Thanks for stopping by. I wanted to ask you to pray specifically for an agricultural training that has started today and has drawn some 21 people from all over our PB peoples. Please pray for the Christ followers that eagerly await these trainings and look for opportunities to share the Hope that we have through Jesus Christ.
       Please pray that The Lord will move ahead and penetrate the hearts and souls of those here at the training and lead His followers to those whom He is working in their hearts.

Thanks friends,
PB team

update

Hello prayer partners!

Here are a few names of people that we would love to have you join with us in bringing before the Father:

* Mr. Dar - please pray for Mr. Dar as months ago he said he wanted to be a follower of Jesus but since then he has been difficult to follow-up with in discipleship.  Please pray for those that are trying to meet with Mr. Dar and continue teaching him about Jesus and His teachings.

* The 2 local partner training - This training ended today.  The last information I received was from this a.m. From this event, the 2 partners trained 6 college students about God's heart for all peoples, evangelism methods, being obedient to the Scriptures, and discipling new believers.  The very FIRST day one of the trainees (who is from a known Christian people group in another part of the country) stated that she had never truly followed Jesus for herself... she was riding on traditions from her parents beliefs. That very day, she became a follower of Jesus and was baptized.  Two other attendees confessed that they had never been baptized and desired to follow Jesus' teaching about baptism and they also were baptized the first day of training.  Since that time, two of the six attendees have shared with their families (who are supposedly Christians) of their new desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others and their new beliefs about Jesus, salvation, baptism, and evangelism and have met great difficulty. Please pray for these two young ladies (D & L). Please pray that through this training, these trainees will continue their passion for the Lord and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those around them. Praying that the Lord will save many and all this for His Glory!

* The training for several of our national partners was said to be very good.  Please continue to pray for our local partners that they will continue to boldly share the Gospel with others and be faithful to follow-up those they have shared with.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will move in mighty ways here in PB land.  Without the Holy Spirit's movement, our Gospel presentation going forth are just words. We need God to do a mighty work here. Please pray that He will draw TONS of people to Himself, and that as we open our mouths to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is going forth convicting hearts.

Thank you friends for your prayers. We need your prayers and appreciate them so much!

With love,
PB team

update

Greetings from PB land,

The PB team prays that you had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ AND a happy New Year's day!  I wanted to update you with some requests for the next month and months to come.

1) Two local partners have created a "m" trip that will be a week long trip for 6 local college students. This "m" trip will happen around the first week of February with a week long training the week prior. This "m" trip will focus on our Ruhjohn people group. PLEASE take time now and over this month to pray for the local partners logistically planning for this trip. Please pray for this trip as these 6 students will be tasked with sharing the gospel each day for 7 days. Please pray that the Lord will go before this group, preparing hearts, giving dreams and visions to the Ruhjohn people that this group will encounter.  Pray that the Lord will breakthrough into this people group and use this time as a life-changing time for the Rujohn people and this group that is being sent out.

2) Please pray for some of our national/local partners as they go to a training beginning on the 14th. Please pray that the Lord will continue to grow their hearts and give them guidance as they seek to be used by God among the PB people groups.


3) Please pray for Mr. Market, a seller at a local market. He is from the Ben people group. He believed just 2 months ago. He continues to be followed-up by a local partner.  Please pray for Mr. Market that the Lord will grow his faith, that the Lord will raise Mr. Market up to share the gospel to his Ben people.  A people, whom the ONLY believer we know is Mr. Market himself. Please pray for the partner that is discipling him that they will continue to meet with Mr. Market.

There are many exciting plans made to reach out to the PB peoples over 2013. Please join us in praying the Lord's guidance.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit will go before us and open hearts to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you, partner in the Gospel, for praying for the PB peoples and our PB team.

All for God's glory,
the PB team

Persevere in prayer

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7

Dear prayer partners,
   Such rich wording for those of us who follow Jesus, for those who the blood of Jesus has washed us and made us clean. BUT for thousands and millions... yes millions... around us, they do not know this mercy, grace, this hope that those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb have in our lives.  Therefore, I plead with you, that as we have this awesome grace and mercy upon us and the millions around us do not yet know, that we would be on our knees praying for God to remove the blinds from the PB eyes.  Have you grown tired knocking on the door of God asking for the salvation of the PB people?  Persevere, dear friend. Let us not grow weary on asking our Lord God to redeem these people. Let our "impudence" or "persistence" cause the Father to answer our prayers (Luke 11:5-13). Keep asking.
    Please join us in falling on faces before the Lord God for the salvation of millions of PB peoples. Praying that they too would know the joy of reading the rich words in Titus, that God desires to save them not because of their works but according to His mercy and grace. The PB peoples coming to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is only part of the prayer, but that they would taste and see that the Lord is good and that they will follow Him all the days of their lives, including to go, disciple, and baptize and teach others to obey all that God commands (Psalm 34:8, John 12:26,  Matthew 28:19-20). 
   
"For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people..." Titus 2:11
 -- bring it to the PB peoples, O Lord --






   

Thankfulness and petitions

Dear faithful pray partners,

    Happy Thanksgiving. Well it's getting there right. We have much to be thankful for this year. We are beginning to see mor national partners beginning to focus strategically on the PB peoples. We are seeing our national partners taking on Gods heart for the nations. They are longing for all things to be done for God's glory. It is a beautiful thing that God is working in the hearts of children.
      We are also beginning to see some people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And praise the Lord we are beginning to see more of the new believers follow in baptism. Still we are struggling to see them be grouped together for discipleship. Please pray for this as we long to see our new followers in Christ being discipled. 
   Some of our harder to reach people groups, with no Gospel bearer living among them, still are quite resistant to the Gospel. Please pray for a follower of Christ to move into our hard to reach people groups over this next year. Please pray that The Lord will open these UPGs hearts toward Him. We are still praying for new believers among all our unreached people groups.
    Still yet,we are very thankful for the work The Lord has done in PB land over this past year. Please join us as we praise and thank Him for the work He is doing. And praise and thank Him for the work He will do in the year ahead.
    Please do not grow weary in praying and asking The Lord for our PB peoples salvation!

Thank you prayer partners. Happy Thanksgiving... We indeed have much to be thankful for to our Great  God.

-the PB team

recent training among students and a new believer

On Saturday, a evangelism training was held for college-aged students.  Around 10 students came. On the following day,  around 8 of the 10 gathered to go out and one of the students that was trained then believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and was baptized that night. Praise the Lord for clearly making Himself known to this student, and bringing this student into His kingdom!

Please pray for this new believer.

As a result of this training, these 10 students are being gathered into two Bible study groups. Please be in prayer for these groups as they study God's Word and learn about His heart for the nations.

Praise the Lord that for many of those trained, this is the first time that they have shared the Gospel with someone they had JUST met.

Please join us in prayer for what the Lord can and will do as a result of this training.

Hallelujah!