MAY 2013

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS: A PRAYING PEOPLE IMPACTING A LOST WORLD

Christian workers Shane and Morgan Paisleycom-mitted to serving in Western China after hearing ofthe great Gospel need. They contend with isolation

from other Westerners and struggle with understanding theculture. Yet their heart cry is for the salvation of the Chinese.They pray foremost for "fruit," new believers in Christ.

Stephen D.Gai estimates that lessthan 3 percent haveeven heard the Gospel in his area. "Our greatest prayerneed," said Gai, "is revival and renewal for those who havealready come to know Christ. Believers greatly need moreteaching, training and discipleship. They need a greaterburden for the lost around them."

If not me, who?Chinese Christians - from within and without China-

are answering Hiscall to Western China. Many are praying

fervently. Some are making short-term mission trips, cross-ing cultures to impact unreached people groups and cities.Others are contributing to locally instituted mission offer-ings, and some are preparing through indigenous mission-ary training for long-term ministry in Western China.

A Taiwan Baptist pastor's wife told about her recent tripinto a remote area of China. The grueling journey includeda 20-hour bus ride; the altitude was so high that every teammember had headaches and nausea.

Yet God sustained them to minister joyfully among thepeople during the weeklong stay. Relieved that she wouldn'tbe expected to go next year, she sensed God's Spiritprompting her to question, "If not me, who will go?" Praythat many will continue to respond to God's call to the lost ofWestern China.

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"Blessed be the LORD, because He hasheard the voice of my supplications!"

Psalm 28:6, NKJV

1 AKSU, XINJIANG.* As water flows freelyfrom the Tianshan Mountains into

Aksu, Xinjiang, pray that the inhabitantsof this city will drink Living Water that willquench their souls for eternity.

2 AMAZON PEOPLES IN COLOMBIA. Prayfor a Colombia Amazon Team member

who is training indigenous believers totake the Gospel to other unreached peoplegroups.

3 HIGHLAND SINGERS OF CENTRALASIA. The fighting of last summer has

stopped. Many people are now more opento hearing Truth. Requests are heard moreoften for prayer. Please continue to pray foropen hearts and for spiritual blindness tobe healed.

4 KAMUL (HAMil, XINJIANG.* Kamul,Xinjiang, is well-known for its sweet

Hami melon. Pray that the people of Kamulwill desire to offer up a sacrifice of praisethat is a sweet taste to our God and King.

5 CATALONIANS OF WESTERN EUROPE.Please pray for the Catalonian people

who are steeped in atheism, asking thatthey will respond to the One who is Truthand become followers of Christ Jesus.

6 HADRAMAUT YEMENI ARABS OFYEMEN. The Hadramaut's landscape

is rich with places to keep hostages, andevil men are holding several foreignerscaptive. The Lord instructs us to "love yourenemies and pray for those who persecuteyou" (Matthew 5:44b, HCSB). Pray that God

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will speak to the captors through visionsand dreams, through radio and televisionprograms, through a verbal witness andeven through God's Word being givento them. Pray that they will confess theirsins, receive the Savior and release theircaptives.

7 XINING, QINGHAI.* Qinghai provinceis home to the city of Xining, a name

that means "peace of the west." Pray thatthe people of Xining will come to know thePrince of Peace.

8 MUMBAI, INDIA. A missionary writes,"Pray for the four new cross-cultural

workers who recently arrived in this city,interceding especially for their continuedlanguage learning, continued motivation,and endurance to keep studying."southasianpeoples.imb.org

9 BALINESE OF INDONESIA. The Balinesepeople, numbering approximately

4 million, live primarily on the islandof Bali in Indonesia. Few places in theworld incorporate their religion into theireveryday lives as much as the Balinese.Religious activities consume much of theirtime and money. They make offeringsevery day to their ancestors, gods (forprotection) and demons (to appeasethem so they. will not cause trouble). Uponaccepting Christ, new believers usually facedeep persecution in the form of isolationfrom family and friends, loss of a job andloss of property. The Bible is availablein the national language, but very fewBalinese have ever heard about Jesus.They live day to day in an endless cycleof offerings and trying to earn merit tomake their way to a better life in their nextincarnation. Please pray for the salvation ofthe Balinese.

10 GE'ERMU, QINGHAI.* Ge'ermu,Qinghai, is a city wealthy in natural

resources, but its people are spirituallyimpoverished. Ask that the residents ofGe'ermu will ponder the Source of theserich resources and come to know Him asMaster and Lord.

11 COASTAL SWAHILI PEOPLES OF EASTAFRICA. Christians and Muslims

MAY 2013

tend not to mix in this culture. Therefore, ifMuslims are to be reached with the Gospelof Christ, then local believers must betrained to reach out to their lost neighbors.Recently, women from a local church weretrained in Muslim evangelism. Pray thatthese women will "catch the vision" andthen share the Good News with at leastone Muslim as a result of the seminar.

12 QUILOMBOLAS OF BRAZIL(key-Iohm-BALL-uhs). Qui 10mbo Ias

of the Tocantina region of Para arebeing engaged with the Gospel. Fourpartner Brazilian Baptist churches areregularly conducting Bible studies inseven qui/ambos (communities), with anexpanding vision of engaging the dozensof others nearby. Please pray as Rand Jwork this month to assist these partnersin seeing how they can move from wherethey are to "church" using chronologicalBible storying.

13 LHASA, TIBET.* Pray thatTibetan Buddhists who spin

prayer wheels in the city ofLhasa will realize the futility ofthe ritual and will seek the One whohears and can truly answer theirprayers.

14 PERSIANS OF IRAN. Persecutioncontinues in Iran. Authorities actively

look for Persians who have "changedtheir religion" from Muslim to Christian.Believers are turned in by family memberswho feel shamed by their commitment toChrist. Pastors are regularly detained bythe police for questioning, and several areheld in prison. Pray that the believers inIran will be comforted by the Holy Spirit.They often feel alone. Ask God to makeHis presence known to them in tangibleways and help them to be faithful. Maytheir faithfulness be a strong example ofChrist's love, and may they lead many moreto faith.

15 EUROPEAN UNENGAGED PEOPLES.More than .5 million Armenians

live and work in France. Yet as recentlyas 2010, there were less than 150 knownArmenian believers in the three evangelicalArmenian churches in France. Intercede

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17 HIJAZI SAUDI ARABS OF SAUDI 21 NU OF COLOMBIA (noo). There areARABIA (hi-JAH-zee). The accessibility now two villages of Nu people who

of the Internet has opened the eyes of have received the Gospel and who aremany Hijazis to the realities of the outside growing in their faith. Churches have beenworld. (It is estimated that 90 million planted. When the Gospel first arrived,YouTubevideos a day are downloaded in people prayed that God would help theirSaudi Arabia.) Many people, especially the family members in other places to know

youth, are searching for something about Him, but they have not gone to tell 25 GUYUAN, NINGXIA.* Fifty percent ofdeeper. A growing number of them. Traditionally, the different clans of Guyuan, Ningxia's, population is Huipeople are quietly professing to Nu people do not mix and they do not visit Muslim. Praythat the Hui Muslims will no

1~ ••• ~~b~e~at~h~e~is~ts=.~P~ra~y~t~h~a~t~th~e~ir~__ ~e~adchl{Q~y_~theGodofunit~a~n~dL- __ I~o~n~g~e~rb~e~b~o~u~nd~b~y~th~e~i~r~ls~la~m~i~c~h~e~rit~a~g~eL'~search for deeper meaning will oneness will put His burden on their hearts but will become citizens of the Father's

lead them to websites and YouTube to share the Gospel stories with other clans kingdom through faith in JesusChrist.videos that will lead them to the of Nu people.

truth of Jesus.

MAY 2013

for followers of Christ to arise with a desireand passion to impact Armenians in Francewith the Gospel. Petition the Lord to raiseup intercessors who will faithfully gobefore the Father's throne through prayeron behalf of this unengaged, unreachedpeople group. prayerthreads.imb.org

16 WUWEI, GANSU.* Protestantmissionary efforts in Wuwei, Gansu,

began in 1888, but the population ofChristians in this city of 1 million is still lessthan 1 percent. Praystrongholds keepingmany from professing Christ will be torndown and that many will believe.

18 WESTERN PUNJAB IS OF PAKISTAN(pun-JAH-bees). There is a new religion

that has started in Pakistan. It claims tobe able to unite all religions under oneumbrella. Many are seeking out the leaderfor a blessing. Praythat people will not bedeceived by these false teachings that allroads lead to God. Prayfor God's truth tobe revealed.

19 L1NXIA, GANSU.* Han believers ofLinxia, Gansu,have seen no results

from sharing Jesuswith their lost Muslimneighbors and fear that reaching themis nearly impossible. Prayfor the God ofthe impossible to visit salvation on thisunreached people.

20 ISAAN STUDENTS OF THAILAND(EE-sahn). The boldness of a ninth-

grade student, B,to share her faith withher classmates has opened the door tomore ministry and witness. Eventhough B

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was ridiculed by some of her classmates,she and several youth ministry leadersapproached a new church start in thearea about helping with outreach at herschool. They were happy to go, and theministry team was well received at theschool on their first visit. One Christianleader said, "God had gone there first andpaved the way!" A camp for students atB'sschool is now being planned with thehelp of yet another church. PraiseGodfor faithful witnesses, and pray that manywill come to faith asa result of Hisworkin all that is being done in this setting.pray4isaanstudents.tumblr.com

22 WUZHONG, NINGXIA.* The peopleofWuzhong, Ningxia, are strongly

impacted by Buddhism and Islam.Ask Godto raise up workers to go and share thelove and grace of Christ to these who arewithout hope.

23 EUROPEAN PEOPLES. A missionarywrites, "Much of our 1MBwork in

the Western Med Cluster is seeing smallamounts of growth. However, it is notenough. Praythat in 2013, there will be anamazing work of the Holy Spirit and thatthe tiny groups meeting in these countrieswill explode with growth so that moreSpaniards, Portuguese, French, Belgian,Dutch, Italian, Maltese and British peoplewill be rejoicing around the throne one dayin heaven!"

24 SWAHILI-SPEAKING ARABS OF EASTAFRICA. Broad seed sowing has

been a focus among the Swahili-speakingArabs, with more audio Scripture portions

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and DVDsof special movies recentlybeing distributed. Praisethe Father thatthe materials were well received! Pleasepray that these materials will be circulatedamong the people. As families, friends andneighbors watch the movies and listen tothe Scripture, ask that the Father will movemightily and that many will come to faith.

26 DECCAN I MUSLIMS OF INDIA (deh-KAH-nee). Several Deccani Muslims

who have come to Christ remain fearfulabout revealing to their family and friendsthat they have become followersof Jesus.Though they freely share about Him withothers when they are away from theirhometowns, they keep their loyalty toand faith in Jesussecret when it comesto their own communities. Praythatthese new believers will trust in the Onewho can protect them. Praythat this willmature their faith in Jesus,who can do themiraculous - bringing salvation to theirloved ones. southasianpeoples.imb.org

27 SOUTHEAST ASIAN PEOPLES. Amongthe people groups of the Thai/Lao

Cluster, there are many growing Christiangroups in villages, towns and cities. Pleasepray for them to mature and multiply.

28 WEINAN, SHAANXI.* Weinan,Shaanxi, is a city with many factories

that produce billions of dollars for the city

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30 DEAF PEOPLES.Among theDeaf peoples, the Good News is

reaching into new places and people aremeeting the Son! In Mexico, new leadersare empowered to learn the Word in theirheart language; in Europe, the Word isbeing translated into three languages; inEast Asia, nationals are fulfilling the GreatCommission; in South Asia, Muslims areasking about the Son; in Southeast Asia,students are starting new groups; and inNorth Africa, 14 people were baptized!Praise God for what He is doinql

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each year. Ask God to raise up believersin these factories who will begin Biblestudies among the many lost workers.

29 JAHANKA OF SENEGAL, GUINEAAND THE GAMBIA (jah-HONK-kay).

The Jahanka Team writes, "We arethankful to God for the opportunities tospread His Word this month. A new radioprogram is being started. Please prayfor the Jahanka who will be hearing theGood News through this avenue. Maymany come to Christ. ... "

MAY 2013

31 ANKANG, SHAANXI.*Ankang lies in the province of

Shaanxi where Christianity made its firstappearance in China around A.D. 635.Only 1.2 percent of its people follow

Jesus. Ask the Lord to stir within thehearts of Ankang's people a longing toknow Him.

*Featured in 15 Cities of Western China,available in the 1MBResource Center, May 2073.

A prayer of desperation(Excerpt from a prayer by the 1MB strategy leader for Western

China, featured in Desperate Prayers from Leadership.**)

Dear heavenly Father,Werejoice at Your movement across the vast

expanse of west China. From the muggy ancientvii/ages of the Yangtze River,where Chinese have-dunq to idols that cannot speak, to the arid westerndesert that is home to Muslims and adventurers,You are moving! The church has sprouted whereonce there was no worship!

Redeeming God, Youare spurring the hearts ofYour children - Chinese, Korean, Westerners - tothe long-ignored Western region. Give us ears tohear Your voice direct us in fruitful service to Christ.

Youare the one who brought us here. Let us notbe those who shrink back.

Our gracious Father, open wide the doors forYour kingdom! May we be able to say that fromShenzhen all the way to Kashi, we have fully pro-claimed the Gospel of Christ.

In Jesus'name, Amen.

**Available from the 1MBResource Center.

CG SSM 3/13 P6412-S

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