International.
Southeast Asia

For the past year, Lisa and her team have been focused on mobilizing the Baptist churches in their province. Lisa has lived in her city for over 14 years now and feels like she has a pretty good grasp on the culture, but she is still regularly surprised by the various ways the honor/shame system plays out in church life. It can be very discouraging. One goal for this year is enlisting the help of partnering churches in the states to lead ongoing training sessions with local pastors which will hopefully lead to greater church health in our province.

By God’s grace, a local named Nora came to faith in early 2022. Her family didn't find out until six months later and they were both angry and felt betrayed. She was subsequently disowned by her family after several nights of intense questioning by religious leaders. Since then, she has been living with Lisa and her team.

  • Pray for wisdom as Lisa and her team seek to build up the local church.
  • Pray for Lisa as she seeks to love and counsel Nora well. Pray for God to soften the hearts of her parents and siblings so that they too would turn and follow Christ.
  • Pray that Lisa would focus on the good works God has prepared for her each day and not become overwhelmed by all the things that are out of her control.

 

North America.
Josh Barrentine // Bremen, GA

Josh serves as the Next Generation Pastor at First Baptist Church in Bremen. His main responsibilities center on youth, but he also works closely with the children’s minister to oversee everything from Pre-K to 12th Grade.

The youth meet in the old sanctuary of the church and the kids meet in the old education building. Both buildings have sections that are condemned due to mold and crumbling infrastructure. It’s only a matter of time before they will need to tear down these buildings and build new ones. It has been a trial for Josh and the rest of the pastoral staff since they are all very young and must make major decisions on a new building project. In the span of six months, FBC Bremen hired three men in their 20’s to make up the pastoral staff. After some initial excitement, the honeymoon period is now beginning to wear off and people are growing comfortable with being more vocal about things they don’t like.

Despite the trials mentioned above, Josh feels that God has been kind and gracious in answering his prayers. When he first arrived, he began praying that God would triple the size of the 7-student youth group and grow them in maturity. They are now averaging around 35 youth, and many of these are students who are being evangelized by others in the group. Praise the Lord! 

  • Pray for the high school boys in the youth group to grow in maturity and holiness.
  • Pray for wisdom, direction, and clarity on the proper steps forward in the building project.
  • Pray that Josh and the other two young pastors would humbly receive proper criticism as they learn how to lead the body at FBC Bremen.

 

Kentuckiana.
Immanuel Singles Ministry

The Immanuel Singles ministry desires to facilitate opportunities for unmarried saints to build community with others in a similar season and to encourage them to invest in deep relationships with those in different seasons of life. Why? We believe that God has uniquely equipped each Christian with particular gifts meant to build up the body of Christ. Therefore, we aim to encourage single Christians to exercise those vital gifts in the church, community, and their vocation for the glory of God.

  • Pray that deep relationships would be fostered amongst the entire body through this ministry. 
  • Pray that this ministry would increase our church’s ability to build one another up and carry each other’s burdens.
  • Pray for fruitfulness from the first Immanuel Singles Couch Talk (panel-style discussions) of the year on Saturday, March 11th. Pastor Ryan and Dom Cedillo will be leading a conversation on Engaging the Public Square.

 

Unreached.
Monpa of Bhutan

Location:

Bhutan

Population:

99,000

Ev. Christian:

<1%

Main Language:

Tshangla

Spiritual Beliefs:

99% Buddhism

Bible in Heart Language:

No

The Monpa live in Northern India and Bhutan. Most are spiritual people who align with Tibetan Buddhism. Bhutan does not provide a welcome to Christian missionaries, though there are some indigenous Christians there.

  • Pray a healthy local church would be planted amongst the Monpa.
  • Pray they would be given a hunger to know the living God.
  • Pray that God would save the souls of many from this people group.