FRESNO—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 received from churches for prayer during December.
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.
During December, a 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.
E.M. Bounds, a 19th-century author of 11 books on prayer and a preacher, said, “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.
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 said, “It is a privilege and honor from our staff to pray for our churches. The CSBC exists to serve its churches and I can think of no greater or better way to serve them than to pray for them.”
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 use to work in unison to build Christ’s Kingdom here in California.”
To register a prayer request for your church, please take time to fill in and submit the online prayer form.
Terry Barone served as communications director for California Southern Baptist Convention for 30 years before retiring in December 2021. He now serves the state Convention as special projects coordinator. A graduate of Baylor University, Terry served as a Southern Baptist journalist for more than four decades. He and his wife, Linda, are members of Trinity Southern Baptist Church in Fresno.
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