By Corey Bailey
Trafficked children in Bangladesh
More than 140 children have been rescued from Islamic training centers (madrassas) in Bangladesh in the last nine months, with a majority of the children targeted because of their Christian faith. The females, accounting for nearly half of those rescued, report that they were used for forced labor and sex slavery.
Filed under missions, persecution, prayer
By Jerry Dykstra 
“We will all pray together in Syria, but we need every Christian in the world to pray. Please pray that the problems will come to an end and those causing the problems will stop. Pray that Syria will find Jesus.” –Open Doors contact in Damascus.
According to a press release by Open Doors, a day of prayer for Syria has been set up for Saturday, May 11th, for Believers everywhere to join in prayer with the Christian Church within Syria.
Filed under evangelism & outreach, missions, Muslim conversions, persecution, prayer
The National Day of Prayer in the United States is this Thursday, May 2, 2013. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, with many observances on city hall steps, in front of state capitols, at schools, as well as in thousands of churches. By going to the National Day of prayer website, www.nationaldayofprayer.org, a search of events in your local area can be made.
This year’s Honorary Chairman is Pastor Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California.
Filed under evangelism & outreach, prayer, revival
Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
The following are prayer points and a prayer for Israel, from “Christian Friends of Israel” based in Jerusalem:
1. Pray for God to continue to perform His Word and to bring it to pass as He has already told us it will definitely be. Pray that His Messiah/Son will be revealed in order that an immeasurable number from the nations of the world will see who He is.
2. Call out to God for many souls of the nations, for a humbling of their spirit before the One True God of Israel, the Almighty is his Name–the Great I AM. There is no other God like Him. He is the King of the Universe and all knees will bow before Him (Philippians 2:10) even if their wills are very stubborn and evil.
Filed under evangelism & outreach, missions, Muslim conversions, prayer
by Diana Chandler
Faith and godly compassion are guiding principles in the life of Dr. Hannah Gay, the University of Mississippi Medical Center Pediatrician at the forefront of the reported cure of HIV in a 2-year-old girl born with the disease in rural Mississippi.
Gay and her husband Paul served as Southern Baptist representatives in the Horn of Africa 25 years ago as HIV was taking root there, but Gay’s interest in the disease is driven more by a desire to achieve the best for children, rather than a desire to find a cure, her husband told Baptist Press.
Filed under encouragement, evangelism & outreach, miracles, missions, prayer, tributes
By Elizabeth Kendal 
Historically one of the safest, most hospitable places for Christians in the Middle East, Syria, is descending into “hell” as reported by pastors in the area and persons involved in the Middle East. By their testimony, Syria has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, as the “Arab Spring” has morphed into a Sunni Ascendency in which (as they report) intolerant, totalitarian, fundamentalist Islam is rising to subjugate all moderate, secular and pluralist elements, all while terrorists seek to eliminate them. Continue reading
Filed under end times, evangelism & outreach, missions, Muslim conversions, persecution, prayer
When in sorrow… call John 14
When men fail you… call Psalms 27
When you have sinned… call Psalms 51
When you worry… call Matthew 6:19-34
When you are in danger… call Psalms 91
When God seems far away… call Psalms 139
When your faith needs stirring… call Hebrews 11
Filed under encouragement, evangelism & outreach, teaching
By Mark Ellis 
After a seemingly routine and successful prostate surgery, Pastor Charles “Chuck” Kelley returned home after a brief stay in the hospital. Little did he suspect an oncoming health crisis that would nearly take his life.
“I felt the surgery was a great success and felt so happy,” says Kelley, president of Bridge Builders International. But a few days later, he developed a fever of 102.7 degrees. “I felt a bit sick but I wasn’t so concerned about it.”
Filed under encouragement, prayer
By Bobby Ross, Jr.
Lula Wallace
Margaret Cooke felt numb. She could not believe what she was seeing.
For more than a half-century, Cooke, 78, had prayed that her mother, Lula Wallace, would accept the Gospel.
Now, five months shy of her 109th birthday, Wallace — still in her wheelchair — was being lowered into the chilly water at the Norris Road Church of Christ in Memphis, Tenn for her baptism.
Filed under encouragement, prayer
