Prayer is Making a Difference

When people pray, things happen!  

We are grateful that we are doing missions to share the Good News of Jesus together with you. We are better together. One thing I love is the connectedness of the media family that we live and move in. We have heard from several partners in Turkey. They have not lost any team members and are actively working to get services to people in need. We are praying for the media opportunities of our partners right now. When people are hurting and displaced it is an important moment to tell them of hope in Jesus Christ.  Our Spanish church took an offering on Sunday that will go directly to Turkey and Syria through mission's channels. It’s a small world in the kingdom of God and the generosity and big hearts of people never cease to encourage me. 
 
I don’t know if you have heard of a recent initiative started by the Assemblies of God World Missions headquarters. It is an emphasis on prayer and focus on Hindu and Buddhist people groups. They need more missionaries and outreach. Not long after this prayer focus began, we had a connection with some people in India through a member of our IMM Forever family. (That’s what we call the people who have spent time at IMM through the years.) In a God-serendipitous moment, we now are moving ahead to produce The Heritage Project in Hindi with a local presenter.  At the same time, one of our church partners sponsored a virtual team member to record the Parables of Jesus in India with a Hindi-speaking pastor.  (A virtual team member is someone who gives their time to work for IMM from the US instead living in Spain as a full-time mission's worker.)
 
I see all of this as a result of people's prayers. The coordination, the connections, the funds! Prayer is making a difference!  Please continue to pray.  This really could be the generation where all have a chance to hear the Gospel. 

Tiny Swords, Bigger Faith

One of the things I love about International Media Ministries – even where we are located in Spain – is the history. I wasn’t the kid who loved history but living where you see where things happened has really changed my perspective. I’m sitting near a plaza called Holy Children Plaza (Plaza de los Santos Niños). Two kids, young people, volunteered to stand for Christ at the cost of their lives during the Diocletian persecution in the Roman Empire.

At the 40th-anniversary event, we used a tiny sword to symbolize and help us remember the story of these two boys. Justo and Pastor were initially beaten to discourage their boisterous claim of Christ since they were only 9 and 13 years old. But they wouldn’t give it up. Angered by their display of bravery, local Praetor Daciano sought permission to have them killed, and the sentence was carried out secretly, away from the public. Some fellow believers in Christ found their bodies and buried them where they fell in the area where the local Cathedral is today.

Christ is close to the persecuted and so often their prayer request is to pray they stand firm. Justo and Pastor believed they could stand strong as much as any adult could and they did.

Volunteering to stand for Christ in such a dramatic way is not required of most of us today. We know parts of the world where it is. But with you we want to get the same message of hope out that makes people bold and strong in the power of Jesus Christ.

I imagine you know people who would be excited about putting Jesus on more screens and pushing back the darkness and lies of the enemy. Our tiny swords symbolized persecution, but they also illustrate the Word of God and how it quickens hearts and speaks about our creator and our souls to bring salvation. Could you be an ambassador for IMM by sharing our mission with someone who can pray, give, or volunteer?

We need people willing to volunteer. It isn't always comfortable to step outside of our normal lives, but God does amazing things when we do. IMM is stretching to do voice-overs for Iran and Ukraine, even as we continue with other projects for other parts of the world. We know that what we do is big in God’s hands and it’s impossible when we look at ourselves. Lives are being changed day by day and screen by screen as we join together with the sword of the Holy Spirit to share hope.