We are finishing up our last week of summer vacation before school starts for the kids on Monday. And we have thoroughly enjoyed our break and rest from the busyness of life with a schedule and school. But we are excited about what the Lord has in store for us this coming school year. And so we wanted to share with you a longer list of things that you can pray for us and our ministry here this year.

One thing that we love to do is pray Scripture. We learned how to do this through the book “Praying the Bible” by Donald Whitney. Dr. Whitney was one of Eric’s professors at Southern Seminary, and his example is something that has revitalized our prayer lives. The concept is basic but life-changing. The idea is this: use the words and ideas of Scripture to form your prayers. So here are some suggestions along that line so that you have some new ways to pray for us and the ministry here. Our requests are organized by category with specific requests and a Scripture included.

Ministry Prayer Requests

1. Pray for the ministry of Reaching and Teaching International Ministries in general. You can pray that what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and the gospel that comes through faith in Him. Pray for our new president, Dr. John Klaassen, as well as for wisdom for leadership and for the many ministries and missionaries worldwide that are expanding and growing.

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 4:5-6 ESV

2. Pray for the biblical training sites in the north of Argentina that Eric and our teammates travel to regularly. Pray that the pastors and leaders would trust in the Word that they are being taught and that they would be able to model and teach the same to their congregations.

“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

3. Pray for the network of churches that Eric is involved in leading. Pray for their health, growth, and unity. Pray that God fills them with joy and peace, and they would be filled with the hope of the gospel.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Romans 15:13 ESV

4. Pray for biblical counseling ministry here through our church in Cordoba. Pray that many would be able to see the sufficiency and relevance of the Scripture to all aspects of their lives.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

5. Pray for our relationships with our neighbors and friends from the kid’s school. Ask our Father that he would give us many wide-open opportunities, and we would be responsive to the Holy Spirit in this.

“for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

1 Corinthians 16:9 ESV

6. Pray for our missionary team. We are serving with Reaching and Teaching alongside two other families, the Wrights and the Leaches. Pray that we would be unified in love and that our ministry to each other and others would be full of love and fruit.

“I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV

Church Prayer Requests 

1. Pray for Iglesia Biblical Bautista Centro Crecer. This is our church family here in Cordoba. Pray that we would encourage one another and build one another up. Pray for our pastors and other church members, that we would be a united church, glorifying the Lord in our lives and city.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

 

2. Pray for Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, Washington, our beloved sending church. Pray that the leadership would be watchful and stand firm in the faith, being strong against the current of the world. Pray that, for the leadership and all the congregation, that all that they do be done in love.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

3. Pray for the body of Christ in our other supporting churches: Hayden Bible Church, Rogue Valley Community Church, Coeur d’ Alene Bible Church, & Cornerstone Baptist Church. Pray that these loving churches would continue to grow in love and that they would hold fast to the confession of their hope. And that they would continue to spur one another one to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV

Personal Prayer Requests

1. Pray for our marriage. Praise God for 14 wonderful years of marriage this year! Pray that we would continue to daily love each other with our words and actions. And that we would be a picture of the image of God to the world around us.

“By this, we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

1 John 3:16-18 ESV

2. Pray for our five boys, Josiah, Jackson, Isaac, Benjamin & Logan. Pray for their salvation and their healthy development. We are burdened that they would know really come to know Christ Jesus as their Lord and that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. Pray that they would have a vibrant personal faith in Christ, not just something that their parents believe. They also have challenges in learning language and making friends. And they are active boys so we are always praying for their safety.

“For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV

3. Pray for our coming “stateside assignment” trip to the United States from May to August 2020. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends and pray that we would be able to encourage and be encouraged on this trip, that the words of our mouths and our actions would give grace to those around us.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

4. Finally, pray for our spiritual lives, that we would love the Word, grow in prayer, faith, and faithfulness to the Lord. We want to know Him and want His word to be our sustenance and our delight. We want to have a daily, continuous relationship with him in prayer and we want to seek Him in everything, with every challenge we face.

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

Psalms 42:1-2 ESV

 

We know and believe in the power of God working through your prayers! Thank you so much for taking the time to minister to us in this way!