Prayers for a search team to find a new pastor, for church growth, for new leaders and for children’s ministries were a few of the requests California Southern Baptist Convention staff have recently received from churches.
However, the CSBC staff wants to hear from more churches about their prayer requests and needs in the new year so they can pray for the churches during the CSBC weekly prayer time at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays.
A recent call was issued through “This Week @ CSBC,” the weekly CSBC electronic newsletter asking churches to submit prayer requests which are from where those mentioned above came.
Power of prayer
E.M. Bounds, a 19th-century preacher and author of 11 books on prayer, noted, “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil.”
If the world, the United States and California ever needed prayer to push back evil, it is now.
The CSBC staff wants to pray for its churches throughout the year to push back the darkness and impact the lostness in California. To do that, the CSBC staff needs to hear from its churches.
Each week, the CSBC staff prays for each other’s needs but also for its member churches and the Southern Baptist Convention at large.
‘Better together’
Roger Byrd, CSBC prayer ministry coordinator, said, “Our work’s strength comes from our prayer connection with God. As a staff, we meet regularly to pray for church and pastor needs that are before us. We depend on God’s hand to touch, heal and provide as only He can do.”
CSBC Executive Director Pete Ramirez asks churches “to give us the opportunity to pray for your church this year. We are better together and I believe prayer is the best way for us to work in unison to build Christ’s Kingdom here in California.”
For more information about the online prayer form, click here.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Terry Barone and originally published by California Southern Baptist Convention.