I am not a “prayer warrior” as many call it.  I like to pray, but I am not as reliant as I would like to be, so please pray that I would pray more!  And while you’re at it, read this unique top 5 and please lift up these things that I feel are at the top of our prayer list!

The criteria for todays list:  The things that immediately come to mind that I would like you to lift up on behalf of me and the ministry of Youthmark.

Without further ado, the list…

Five: Prayer! This may seem  like a weird thing to pray for, but I do pray that hundreds, no, thousands more would join us in prayer.  I am praying that Youth Pastors who are training students RIGHT NOW, would utilize the youthmark.com blog website and that YOU would go there and begin praying for a team.  We have over 40 churches doing trips, but as of right now, only two churches have started the prayer blog.  Pray that they would get started on the communication side of prayer requests.  Prayer IS the fuel for these students, parents and leaders!  As soon as you’re done reading this post, I invite you to go there and pick a team to pray for!

Four: Spring Retreat; Challenge 2010. There is much “finish work” going on right now for the 2010 Spring Retreats.  They begin in less than a month and I feel fantastic about them, but as I stated, there is still much to be done.  Pray that the six retreats serve as a great training tool for missions here, missions now!

Three: Writing 2010 RoadGrip, HomeBase and Merge. The devotional guides for the trip and the following the mission trip are being written right now.  Pray that the writing process goes well and that the Lord gives us the insights we need in leading people through His Word during and after the trips.  RoadGrip and HomeBase are going to concentrate on key characters early in Acts and Merge this year is going to look at the life of Joshua.

Two: Receiving Towns/Churches. We are in the middle of the “scouting” season.  This is where we are looking for the connection places for our sending teams.  Pray that the right churches/pastors are open to receiving a well trained team to help reach their local community for Christ.  Because our teams come in and provide a spark, we need to be sure we’re connected with the right places equipped for the follow-up work.  Pray specifically for Alaska right now.  Because the Alaska Marine Highway dictates where we can go/when we can go, it is a difficult land.  Pray God opens the right doors in His timing!

One: Missionship! Youthmark does send teams out on trips, but his is NOT what drives us.  We are committed to the “training for the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip.”  Missionship is a term I came up with to describe a “missionary always, all-ways a missionary.” In Matthew 28:19-20 we read about THE Cause of Christ and Christians–our calling to make disciples all the time (wherever we are).  So, please pray that the students and leaders we train would understand that though they have the privilege of a trip, that they’d be about Missionship!

What can I be praying about for you?

Grace,
Brian