Recently I read a blog from a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, where I graduated from MANY years ago (Dr. C. Moore). This post hit me so hard I have sent it to all our pastors, but I also want every NKBA Executive Board member and leader to read this. It is posted on our Facebook page (Northern Kentucky Baptists) and now it will appear on my blog page on our website (www.nkbaptist.org).

“Professor Mark Buchanan talks about visiting the famous Tuesday night prayer meeting at Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. Thousands of people have been gathering there every Tuesday night for years. Buchanan calls it “3,500 God-hungry people storming heaven for two hours.” On the Tuesday he went, he had dinner with Jim Cymbala, the pastor. “In the course of the meal, Jim turned to me and said, ‘Mark, do you know what the number one sin of the church in America is? … It’s not the plague of internet pornography that is consuming our men. It’s not that the divorce rate in the church is roughly the same as society at large. … The number one sin of the church in America,’ he said, ‘is that its pastors and leaders are not on their knees crying out to God, “Bring us the drug-addicted, bring us the prostitutes, bring us the destitute, bring us the gang leaders, bring us those with AIDS, bring us the people nobody else wants, whom only you can heal, and let us love them in your name until they are whole.”

Mark Buchanan said that in the face of such a statement he had no response because he’d never prayed like that. So that night, he went home, repented, and began to cry out for those nobody wants.

There is no shortage of those people; the fields are full of them, Jesus says. There are fields full of people who desperately need someone who will claim the power of Christ over their broken lives, fields full of people whose salvation story has not yet been told. There are people still out there — in our own country — who haven’t been reached, who more than anything need a fair account of the gospel and a generous dose of grace. And we have lost touch with our heart for them because we have forgotten who we are.

It is time for American Christians to remember the Spirit we have and our call to the Harvest. It is time to cry out, to get on our knees and cry out for a neighbor or co-worker, for a brother or son-in-law … or I don’t know … maybe for your own soul. It is time to cry out for the people we tend to judge most and to seek God’s heart for them. It is time for us to set down our unrighteous judgment and begin crying out for the ones Jesus came to save.”

Friends, it is time for us as a people to get together and PRAY. I am calling on pastors and churches to begin with any warriors who will stand with them to meet weekly for prayer. I am going to ask our pastors/executive board members to work out a time in the Association schedule for us to have a service, or series of services across Boone, Kenton, and Campbell (and Grant) Counties, for the sole purpose of praying for the lost in our communities. The number of lost is somewhere between 68-85% of the folks who live in our area. Look for updates on this. We have done this in my first year of service, but I believe it should be done at least annually. Would you work and pray with me toward that end?

There is much to do…it can appear overwhelming, but let’s do for the one what we would do for the many…let’s begin to BLESS:

BEGIN IN PRAYER (for at least 5 lost people God has placed in your pathway of life.

LISTEN TO THE HURTS of the LOST

ENGAGE directly (invite neighbors for a meal, have coffee)

SERVE SACRIFICIALLY (find a way to serve to meet needs)

SHARE YOUR STORY (TELL HOW CHRIST HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE!)

Following Him,

JIM