Being a light in our neighborhoods through prayer

It has been an unusual week in Texas and other parts of our country due to extreme winter weather. I have watched how churches quickly prepared for ministry last weekend and beyond.

Some churches prepared to livestream worship so that people could participate from home. While in-person worship is always best, online gatherings are a blessing when weather conditions keep people from meeting physically. Additionally, they provide an opportunity to witness to many others who may not be connected to a church.

Other churches moved worship from Sunday morning to Friday night to “beat the weather.” And yet others provided warming stations and/or ministered to the homeless during the extreme cold days.

I am thankful for Texas Baptists churches and their ability to adapt, their readiness to minister and their sensitivity to their communities. I have been praying for churches as they navigate these challenging days, and I hope that congregations, pastors and facilities are all doing well.

In my daily Bible reading, I came across Exodus 28:29, where the Lord instructs Moses to have Aaron the priest bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart when he enters the Holy Place. It reminded me that we, as Christ followers, are priests. With Jesus as our High Priest, every believer is now a priest!

We are reminded that worship is never just about ourselves. We carry the names of our people over our hearts: our family, brothers and sisters in Christ and our neighbor. We intercede. We represent. We are our brother’s keeper. We bring a heart of compassion to God as we worship. What a great reminder for us as pastors, ministers, leaders and church members!

I’m thankful for those churches that are using the Bless app to encourage church members to pray for their neighbors. Each person who signs up to pray adopts 50 neighbor homes to intercede for and look for opportunities to minister and have gospel conversations.

Nationally, 4,773,453 homes have been adopted, and 77,467,591 prayers have been reported. In Texas, 610,027 homes have been adopted by churches related to various organizations, and 9,618,782 prayers have been reported.

Specifically for those who have registered through Texas Baptists, 50 churches have signed up, 47 in Texas and three in Kentucky, Alaska and Florida. Together, these 50 churches have adopted 16,142 homes to pray for and have reported 19,405 prayers.

The free subscription BGCT is providing is good through our annual meeting this November. We still have 10 months to go! If more churches sign up, more homes are adopted and more prayers are lifted up, we could pray for every person in Texas by name by the end of this year! Texas Baptists churches in other states can pray for every person in their community as well.

If you are already doing so, keep praying for your neighbors. If you are not, start this week. Join the intercession movement. Those who sign up to pray are considered “lights” in their neighborhood. See the lights in Texas on the map above.

Let’s light up our state and our nation! Let’s bear the names of our people over our hearts before the Lord.