At our church we have a team of over 100 people who've committed to fast and pray once a week, or one day a month specifically for the purpose of praying for our church. We provide this team of prayer partners with a private prayer list. The list is compiled by collecting prayer requests from church staff members. Staff share their requests both for their personal lives and for their areas of ministry. At the first of the list we include churchwide annual goals (what we update monthly). Each month we update our requests and list praises for the answered prayers we've experienced. 

In order for you to capture the spirit of this vital ministry, let me share the introduction I wrote for the first private prayer list we sent to our team members this past January 2022: 

Happy New Year! If you have just now joined our praying and fasting team, WELCOME! We are so glad you are here. This list is for your personal use as you fast and pray a day a week, or a day this month.

The best...

If you are reading this blog post, you have already allowed God to share His passion for a particular ministry with you.

And if God's shared his passion, He's chosen you to stand in the gap on behalf of others who are on the front lines of Christ's kingdom advance. 

Those others might be missionaries, pastors, teachers of pastors, strategists, supporters, or believers who are enduring persecution.

I've no doubt their resources are limited, their challenges are great and their dreams are large. 

They teach, and travel, and build, and recruit, and promote, and fund raise, and...do it over and over again, all day, everyday.

And you? You have been called to pray.

The enemy would like for you to consider your job insignificant. You're not like them. You've not sacrificed, or gone hungry, or slept on the hard ground under a star-studded sky. This praying job is the kind that can go undone and no one will notice if you don't show up to work. The enemy wants to convince you...