Prayer Walk

I have been reading in Judges lately. It’s kind of part of my “entering into the history of Israel” to find God’s faithfulness. I was telling Melissa about the long haul, the long faithfulness of God. She mentioned that in her prayer life she keeps hearing God say, “Haven’t I been with you for 35 years? Even when you did not know it? Even when you turned away? Haven’t I answered every prayer?” In my mind, there’s all this doubt, even disappointment. And yet Melissa testifies He answers prayer.

We did something a little out of the ordinary at the Rock/La Roca. We hired a missionary. People have been talking for years about North America being a mission field, the kind of place where if you had told a women’s group or Sunday School class that there were 200 million unchurched people, they would have felt compelled to take up an offering for a missionary. Or maybe a young couple would have felt called to move to the distant land.

The distant land is right outside your doors!

So Curtis Book is on staff with us. He was born to missionary parents in Zimbabwe, and with his wife Les has been involved in missions in New York, London, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Colombia.

Curtis organized a prayer walk in our community. It was awesome. About 30 people gathered in teams of 2 or 3 to go into a prescribed area to pray for the families, and then if we saw someone on the street or a porch, we’d talk to them, take prayer requests. The prayer walk united a lot of important aspects of ministry at the Rock: paying close attention to the neighborhood, praying, inviting. The one goal is to draw people to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Almost 30 people. Awesome. The Little Seminary was in effect. John and Joseph went with me. They got to see the neighborhood and meet a little boy about their age. Of course, they got to playing while we talked to the parents. I think we talked them into a community church.

Norbert Itoula went with me. Norbert is the patriarch of the first Congolese families to come. Wow, did we have a great walk! We were assigned an area just south of our church, a place that the church has not really drawn from, a predominantly African-American area. I mentioned to Norbert the division of the neighborhood. He had an interesting take. He said it was so for God’s glory. It’s human to divide, to stick with people like you. But when the Spirit comes, then the divisions fall. [HAVE I SAID BEFORE THAT THE MOST MULTICULTURAL AND DIVERSE FORCE ON THE PLANET IS ORTHODOX—I.E. NOT AMERICAN MAINLINE—CHRISTIANITY? OH. I DID MENTION IT? SORRY.]

Norbert shared that it is by God’s grace that he is here. 8 years in a refugee camp in Gabon. 4 of his children are not with him here. He is here and he doesn’t think it is an accident. He says that he is here to work for God, to evangelize. “I am saved, and not because I am so good, but because of God’s grace. And others? Without Jesus, they are lost.” I’d challenge every church member to ask if they feel the same way. And if not, what is the Scriptural warrant to lay off evangelism?