TOGETHER:
Prayerwalk Texas' border the day before Pentecost
___Can you imagine a prayerwalk around Texas?
___When Ted Elmore was asked to lead the Baptist General Convention of Texas' new office of prayer and spiritual development, he began talking about praying for Texas and exploring innovative ways to intercede for the state we love.
___Texas needs prayer. Our state is home to 10 million unchurched people. Our prison population is the largest in all the United States. The emotional needs of crime victims have only recently begun to be addressed. Children are at risk in Texas, and their medical and
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CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
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educational needs must be met.
___We want to ask God to increase the spiritual vitality and passion in all our churches to live and share the gospel with everyone. Every church can have a prayerfully developed strategy to bring its people close to the spiritual and physical needs of those who live and work around them. And Texas Baptists can participate in a cooperative strategy to touch their cities, counties, state, nation and the world.
___God has placed us in Texas for a reason. This is where we are to live out our faith and call people to a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Texas Baptists have a great history of compassionate involvement in the life of this state. Dedicated people in churches across Texas would love to see God bless their communities even more. They want to make a difference in people's lives. They hunger to see faith born in a soul and to see the change that comes when Christ becomes the living hope in the heart of a new believer.
___As I write this, it makes me want to pray for the people of our state.
___On June 2, the day before Pentecost Sunday, our associations, in cooperation with the office of prayer, plan to prayerwalk the perimeter of Texas. As the crow flies, the Texas Almanac identifies the Texas boundary as roughly 2,800 miles. Follow the meandering rivers and tidewater coastline, and it is more than 3,800 miles.
___Some parts of our borders can be "prayer boated," others "prayer driven." Some interior associations and churches may want to help walk a particular section of the border.
___Materials are being prepared to help enlist people to pray and to help them understand what a prayerwalk is and how to do it. It is an exciting idea and a mammoth organizational effort.
___But it can be done.
___Would you pray for Ted Elmore, the directors of missions and the associational prayer coordinators as they work to put this all together?
___And would you especially pray that the heart of prayer would not be lost in the details?
___What a great thing to do for the people of Texas and our neighbors. We will pray for Mexico, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana as we walk near them. And as we walk the Gulf Coast, we will pray for the rest of the world.
___We are praying that on Pentecost Sunday, June 3, every local church throughout Texas will plan a prayerwalk around and through its own facility. Why Pentecost? Because Pentecost is to the Holy Spirit what Christmas is to our Lord Jesus.
___If your heart is stirred to be part of this, contact your director of missions or Ted Elmore's office at (800) 288-PRAY or e-mail elmore@bgct.org.
___We are loved.
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