Midland to host Day of Prayer
___By George Henson
___Staff writer
___MIDLAND--Midland has been chosen as host city for the 2001 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church to be held Nov. 4.
___The prayer event is the largest of its kind, with an estimated 300,000 churches from 130 countries participating in last year's event. The observance began in 1996 with participation from about 7,000 churches.
___A burden for persecuted Christians among both laypeople and clergy in the West Texas city led to its being asked to be the host city for 2001, said event coordinator Deborah Fikes.
___"Basically we had individuals and pastors with a heart for the persecuted church, and we sought out more information about those people, especially for those in southern Sudan," she said. The fact that both Midland and southern Sudan are oil-based economies provided a point of affinity.
___"Midland wants to become a voice for the voiceless," she added. In Midland, the twin rallying cries have been to "shatter the silence" through education and through mobilization of Christians to "revive the responsibility" to be active and bold advocates for the persecuted church.
___While the International Day of Prayer is widespread with participation from many churches, it has not yet caught fire in Texas, Fikes said. "There may be some churches that will have a special prayer for the persecuted church, or a bulletin insert, but in Texas it hasn't really caught on yet."
___That is one of the things the churches in Midland want to change, she said.
___"What we are hoping to do is become a model for other communities and also provide an information kit that can be sent to community ministerial alliances so they can do something similar," Fikes said.
___A number of resources are available to individual churches and Sunday School leaders at the website www.virtualservant.org/persecutedchurch/resources.html. Included are ideas for worship services, Scripture references regarding persecution and ideas to make ministry to the persecuted church a continuing activity rather than a one-day-a-year activity.
___The churches will come together Oct. 30 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church at 7 p.m. to pray for the prayer observance. A concert of prayer will be held Saturday, Nov. 3, with singer/songwriter Ken Tamplin at the Midland Convention Center. One of Tamplin's songs, "Heal our Land," has been designated as the official theme song for the International Day of Prayer.
___Midland will have more than 40 churches from various denominations participating in the Sunday observance, said Fikes, a member of First Baptist Church in Midland. About 20 of the churches will have guest speakers coming for the day, and those churches' worship time will be devoted to praying for persecuted Christians around the world. Other churches will have an information table and a special time of prayer.
___Preparation for the day has brought unity to the religious community of Midland, she added. "We have found it to be a real unifying thing because it's really hard to be against praying for persecuted Christians."
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