NAD Prayer Ministries Newsletter

Watching God from the Front Row

July 2015 Newsletter

Prayer Ministries

North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists

Whew, I feel like we've been drinking from a fire hose. God has done more than shower us with His goodness, He has heaped it on us. June and July have been "heavy rain" months. Many who receive this Newsletter have been part of what God has been doing corporately, but if you were not witness to the two major church events, I know He has been active where you are, too.

CALLED

For four days we enjoyed the presence of God and about 6,000 pastors and their families in Austin, TX. It was the largest conference of Adventist pastors in the history of the North American Division and one of the most significant any of us can remember.

Plenary sessions gave voice to some of the most powerful preachers in our field. And when you have heard 6,000 pastors sing "Amazing Grace," you've been to church. And hundreds of workshops from how to protect your church from lawsuits to how to lead you church into becoming a House of Prayer. Thank you for your prayer support for what happened there. (Speaking of a House of Prayer, three of our favorite people - Randy Maxwell, Jim Moon, and Freddy Russell - led out in one of the seminars...and we're still hearing about it.)

A unique experience was the Prayer Wall. You probably have never seen anything quite like it. See a photo of it here. Hundreds who attended brought their praises and their requests and wrote them on the Prayer Wall. On the final day a group gathered to pray for those who had left messages. It was an electric moment to see these church leaders interceding for the needs represented on the Wall.

Prayer Wall - Austin
Donna Jackson - ever mindful of pastors' spouses - and her team provided a roomful of helpful activities that were both inspirational and enriching:

Cindy Mercer = Building Blocks of Prayer

Cindy Mercer presenting the Building Blocks of Prayer

Anita Roberts and Karen Martell presenting Prayer Ministry for Children

For the Children's Prayer Ministry materials that Anita and Karen provided click here.

The prayer team, mostly from California provided powerful prayer support, praying with pastors and their families during registration as they first arrived, and also praying with many as they came to the prayer room. The Austin Prayer Coordinator Team was: Jean Tobuk from Alaska, Marian Parson from Ark/La, Joyce and Keith Mulligan from Central Calif. and volunteers from California (Joyce & Keith Mulligan, Karen & Lynn Martell, Ed & Lisa Walker, Florie Quinones, Jean Gobah, Akivah Northern, Abel & Ofelia Pangan and Kate Edwards).

Some of the NAD Prayer Team (from both locations) pictured below:

Ed &Lisa Walker, Keith & Joyce Mulligan and Karen & Lynn Martell

60th General Conference Session (aka GC15)

Then in San Antonio, the team again went into action - prayerwalking, praying with those registering, and praying with the thousands who came to the prayer room.
GC Prayer Room

GC Prayer Room

As you perhaps are aware, this GC Session focused on the exponential growth of this Movement during the last quinquennium. Our membership approaches 19 million globally, with more than 1.2 million baptisms in the last year alone. The prayer warriors gathered in the prayer room to thank God for His blessing on this people - and to pray for more. Requests for personal needs and appeals for God's guidance in the discussions on the floor of the session were on-going items for intercession.

This was the first time that NAD Prayer Ministries had a presence in the enormous exhibit hall with an attractive booth. (One of nearly 400 booths in the cavernous 300,000 square feet of Exhibit Halls.) We met countless people who were glad to get resources to take back to their corner of the globe. It was a great privilege to pray with the throngs of people who came by. People from Fiji, Israel, Republic of the Congo, Bolivia, Lithuania, and Pennsylvania, for instance. It's a great family.

NAD Prayer Booth - GC 2015

God's presence was obvious in Austin and in San Antonio, too. We thank God for faithful leaders such as our president, Elder Dan Jackson. God used him often and well during the sessions to bring healing and hope. He urged us in North America to go forward with faith.

Elder Dan Jackson

Thank you again for your prayers. The last all-night prayer call came on the night before the strategic nominating committee meetings in San Antonio - right on God's schedule. God is good.

Love to all of you.

Ruthie

Ruthie Jacobsen

NAD Prayer Coordinator

This Month's Zinger

Perhaps you have heard of the USS Constitution, the "world's oldest commissioned warship afloat." This ship is famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain. She earned the name "Old Ironsides" for her toughness in the battle against the British warship Guerriere in that conflict. She continued to serve in various capacities on through the nineteenth century... Consitution has continued to sail occasionally under her own power, as recently as August 2012. This is one tough old ship, with a history of successful service to prove it.

But the truly interesting thing you may not realize about "Old Ironsides" is that she leaks. And she has leaked for years. Two times each day "Old Ironsides" has to be pumped to empty the water that seeps into its hull. Even the tough ones leak!

Humans are very much like that, especially in the area of vision. It's forever leaking out of us. We may become thoroughly excited about prayer ministry or some other ministry in the church, but life steals our excitement and focus. So a part of the job of leading prayer ministry has to be constantly recasting the vision. Ministry, including prayer ministry, is sustained by the quality of the vision and how often it is reinforced.

~Paul Covert

Contents

All Night Call to Prayer, August 6

The Power of Praying Parents, by Nancy Canwell

Prayer Conference Videos

2015 Pray for Our Conferences, Calendar

Pray One Million

Calendar

All Night Call to Prayer

Phone: 404-891-6338

ID 772 937#

Our next all-night call will be August 6.

10:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. (EDT)
Mark that date on your calendar.

Reconnecting Ministries

Praying for the people we love who have quit coming to church

by Nancy Canwell

THE POWER OF PRAYING PARENTS

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20, NIV).

She knew the story of the prodigal son. She grew up hearing how he chose to leave home, lived the high life, and then decided to return to the love and safety of home. But could she count on her own son to do the same? She had been praying for so many years, and nothing had happened.

When *Dee's son, Austin, turned 13, she noticed that he was changing-and not for the good. He started hanging out with the rough group of boys in town. He wouldn't join the family for nightly worship, and he quit attending church with them. When he just was 14, Austin decided to leave home.

All through his teen years, Dee prayed for her son to return to God and to the church in which she had faithfully raised him. Even more, when he began smoking and drinking, she continued to love him and trust him to God. When he later married an atheist, it seemed as though her prayers would never be answered. But her mother's heart wouldn't give up. She could love and she could pray.

Dee stood by and watched her son gain a bit of wealth and social status. Life was going well for him and his wife, who were now the parents of four children. Theirs was a loving home, but it was a home that didn't know God.

The prayers continued. Finally Austin, at age 35, became dissatisfied with life. He "had it all" but felt that something was missing. Late one night, he fell to his knees on the living room floor. This time he was the one praying. He invited God back into his life, and later his atheist wife gave her heart to God, too. Their children soon followed.

From the time Austin was 13 to when he was 35, his mother prayed for him. That's 22 years! There is power in a parent's prayers! No one can match their love and compassion for their children.

A good text to remember when we pray for our children who have left God and the church is 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (NIV). God doesn't want your child to perish. I recently heard a pastor tell a mother who was weeping over the fact that her daughter had left the church, "You haven't died for her yet." In other words, Jesus loves this mother's child even more than she does.

So keep praying for your children. And when you're tempted to give up-don't. Even though it seems you will never experience the joy that the father of the prodigal son felt, keep praying. Keep loving. God is at work.

Prayer Focus: That we become praying parents for our lost daughters and sons. That we will daily commit them to God, trusting Him to work on their hearts and minds so they will return home.

Recommended Resource: The Prodigal Daughter, by Kay Rizzo.
Order from AdventsitBookCenter.com

*Names have been changed

______________________

Nancy Canwell

If you have missed any of the previous articles of the Reconnecting Ministries Series you may find them all here: Click Here

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Prayer Conference Videos

	I Go to the Rock Monterey, California Prayer Conference - 2014 Watch Videos Here
	Revolution on Our Knees Innisbrook, Florida Prayer Conference - 2012 Watch Videos Here