Today's Prayer Requests

We are praying with you

"Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." Romans 15:30 

Kimberly cancer Rankin | Please pray forme. I have do?on cancer and please pray The LOrd takes me soon. I am really suffering. Also please pray people start treating me better that mea me Christians. God bless you.Kimberly

Appah Mensah Bismark | Please am Bismark from Ghana, please help me in prayer because now am not able to prayer as I use to pray. I want to be revived again.

DanizeObama | We pray at this hour that God , our Heavenly, most high Father can lift up the Clouds that has plague all nations from this Pandemic. We pray that God can trust M/D. with more knowledge in proving better medical care effects to our patients. We pray that God can send his Sea Angels to cleanse our waters from bacteria diseases. We pray that our ocean is less polluted and more water fresh resources to regions all over the World. God give us the strengths, and knowledge mentality to combat this war.

DAVIDMCCANN | PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS TO OBTAIN WISDOM FROM GOD AND PRAY THAT MY FAMILY OVERCOMES FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND I OBTAIN GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT SOON.GODBLESS YOUR MINISTRY WTH GRACE AND BLESSING AMEN

RB | thank you all and God for helping me with the needed guidance I was asking a d so badly in need for. Please pray with us to help me keep my strength up on my journey in life. Thank you God.

THERESA | PLEASE PRAY FOR ME I AM TRUSTING GOD FOR A MY OWN HOUSE.BLESS YOU MAN OF GOD

Jose | please pray for my wife Dina. She just finished last night going thru a Liver transplant operation and she is in stable condition but she needs every prayer possible. Thank you and God 3

THERESA | PLEASE PRAY FOR ME I AM TRUSTING GOD FOR A MY OWN HOUSE.BLESS YOU MAN OF GOD

vijay | Worried about debts heart squeezes plz pray for a financial miracle in my life

Tina Thorwaldson | Please pray for my friend Frank  Morrill. He might have pancreatitis cancer. Thanks

BELLA | For healing on Rowan Louie Kappelmann that he will overcome every obstacle

Teressa | Could you please put Dale Doss and june Doss for a good job for dale and vehicle to come their way. and their marriage of 33 yrs the devil not to destroy through technology 

Karen | I need prayers for my son William going through some hard times, and homeless and need prayers to help him fine a good paying job.

Athreya | I pray, Oh! Lord, that I find the sufficient strength of mind to repent of my sin and find peace in our Lord Jesus. I pray that I find sufficient strength of mind to turn away from Satan and the multifarious temptations that he has to offer. Oh! Heavenly Father, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. SHALOM

Patricia | Kindly Pray along with me for the Lord to direct my grandchildren on the right path and deliver them from all the works of the power of darkness , leading them to their destiny and testimonies in Jesus Powerful Name  AMEN.

Jasmine Padilla | Juan and jasmine padilla perez perez pray for healing and our marriage to grow in Christ. And health to be healed from all pain and memory loss

TB | God, please continue to guide us though our lives and to help us convict the unjust of your righteous.

Keri Williams | prayer for several very serious diseases in my whole body these are live and death diseases please pray for mercy and grace and big healing miracle from the Lord Jesus Christ desperate and very afraid need prayers and healing miracles please pray for me

Vijay | Worried about debts heart squeezes plz pray for a financial miracle in my life

LF | Pls pray for my family divine protection, spiritual strenght and approval for our land to install a satellite, for building our church and my promotion for my job and to give our diferencial.. Thank you andGod bless

Mike |  I may lose my home, on the verge. Please Pray that a miracle comes my way so I don't become homeless

Michael | My niece's boyfriend is under going cancer treatment Please pray that God gives him the strength that he needs to go through this and beat this disease

Vijay | Worried about debts heart squeezes plz pray for a financial miracle in my life immediately

If you have a prayer request, feel free to reach via the contact form or send an email: businessofchrist@gmail.com 

Church Cares for Pastor Family During Cancer Battle

Bless Your Pastor

Brian and Sandi felt called by God to pastoral ministry when they were both 45 years old. Brian left his leadership position with a national nonprofit and took a $70,000 pay cut to become a pastor.

Two years into accepting the call to become a pastor of a 250-person church, Sandi was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was told she would only live about another year. In addition to dealing with the tragic news and fighting cancer, they also were parents to three school-age children who were 9, 7, and 5 years old.

The cancer was taking its toll on Sandi and Brian in every way – physically, financially, and emotionally. Sandi went through surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, which left her feeling fatigued on a regular basis. Additionally, more than $100,000 in medical bills were beginning to pile up. They were having a hard time making ends meet with the medical bills, five mouths to feed, and Brian’s income. But, they were not alone.

Church families and others voluntarily rallied around them to provide financial support and free meals. They paid all of their medical bills and provided so much food that it left their refrigerator and freezer overflowing.

While much appreciated, Brian and Sandi realized that the food preparation, clean up and returning dishes were sometimes creating more work, not less. What was the solution? Church families started providing gift cards to all of the local restaurants and fast food establishments. All that Brian and Sandi had to do was pick up the kids after their school activities and ask, “Where do you want to eat tonight?” No food prep, clean up, or dishes to return. 

Instead, they were able to spend quality time as a family eating hot meals together and feeling loved and cared for by their church families and friends.

And, that’s not all. Miraculously, it turned out that the doctors were wrong. Sandi didn’t live just one year she lived eight years before God called her to heaven. And, they had a year’s supply of restaurant gift cards after Sandi passed away. As a widower and new single dad, Brian could ensure that his three hungry children, who were now teenagers, were fed.

Many churches have limited budgets and are not able to compensate for their pastors, or church staff very well. But the Bless Your Pastor's movement is mobilizing Christians and churches everywhere to show and share God’s love for their pastors and church staff. 

What can you do to bless your pastor with your time, skills, and resources? The Bless Your Pastor's website has free video training and a toolkit of resources that will encourage and empower you, your church board, and families to care for your pastor and church staff.

Churches Report Giving Boost Months after Pandemic Started

State of the Plate research

(Religion News Service) — Giving to congregations has shifted upward after churches closed their buildings earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a survey shows. The new State of the Plate research finds that close to two-thirds (64%) of churches across the country reported in August that giving is either up (22%) or steady (42%). By contrast, in April, a similar share of churches (65%) said they had seen a drop in giving.

“This is encouraging news for churches across America,” said Brian Kluth, a former pastor who is now a national spokesperson for the National Association of Evangelicals’ Financial Health initiative. “These new findings show that most churches and their families are figuring out ways to survive and even thrive in the midst of all the challenges that the pandemic has thrown their way.”

The findings are based on responses from 1,076 mainline, evangelical, and independent Protestant churches. Seven in 10 of them had less than 200 attenders before the pandemic. A third of the responding churches were in cities or suburbs, almost another third were from towns, about a quarter was from rural areas or small towns, and 9% were from large cities.

The vast majority of respondents — 87% — said their congregations are currently meeting for in-person worship services. But more than half (58%) said the attendance in person is half or less compared with pre-pandemic times. Six percent said they had seen an increase in attendance.

A survey released in July by LifeWay Research found that 71% of Protestant churches met for in-person services in mid-July, with almost all taking some precautions to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Barna Group, in a similar survey at that time, found 49% of church leaders said they were meeting inside their buildings.

Despite the upturn in giving, Kluth said pastors continue to face financial pressures from disruptions related to the pandemic.

“Even as finances stabilize for many churches, our research prior to the pandemic showed that 90 percent of pastors feel some level of financial stress in their family and church work,” Kluth, who also is the national spokesman for the NAE’s Bless Your Pastor movement, said in a statement. “This has been an especially stressful year for pastors and church staff.”

The research, conducted Aug. 7-30 in partnership with Christianity Today’s Church Law & Tax, had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Corona Visas for Evangelical Volunteers Leave Catholics Frustrated

Courtesy: HaYovel

But Israel Today confirmed there is no conspiracy to favor Evangelicals over Catholics or Orthodox

Waves have been made in the Israeli media over an Evangelical Christian group managing to secure visas for its foreign volunteers at a time when the country’s borders are closed to non-citizens.

HaYovel is a US-based ministry (though the core staff resides in Israel much of the year) whose primary mission is aiding Israeli farmers in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) during the annual grape and olive harvest seasons. While here, the group’s volunteers are also educated and equipped to become ambassadors for what God is doing in Israel today.

Needless to say, the coronavirus policies that have shut Israel off to all but returning Israeli citizens were a devastating blow to HaYovel’s vision and mission. Or at least, they would have been. Instead, the closure produced what could be seen as a tremendous testimony.

“We were worried about having to shut down the operation since we only had eight of our staff members in the Land. Normally for a harvest season, we get 300 volunteers coming through in addition to staff,” HaYovel’s Executive Director, Zac Waller, told Israel Today. “So we talked to the vineyard owners to figure out a solution, and at one point even considered bringing in a mechanical harvester to complete the mission. We also reached out to our contacts in government, and finally started to see miracle after miracle. In the end, we were able to get 50 volunteers here.”

The use of the word “miracle” here is not an exaggeration. As noted, Israel has closed its borders to all non-citizens. The obvious victim of this policy has been the tourism industry. But no less impacted have been Israel’s small farmers, many of whom rely on foreign volunteers and laborers to tend and bring in seasonal crops. In the best of times, Israel’s government pays inadequate attention to these farmers. So for HaYovel’s petition to get before the right eyes, let alone be considered and approved, is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle.

Even with a Divine hand opening doors, everyone assumed to be shut and locked, this is still Israel. The bureaucracy is thick, and the feet are often dragged. And though the approval for HaYovel’s volunteers came in what many would consider record time for a visa matter, the mandatory quarantine for all incoming passengers still meant they wouldn’t quite get to the vines in time. But then another miracle occurred – the grapes waited for the volunteers.

“We always base the timing of the harvest on the biblical feasts,” explained Waller. “And every year we hit it spot on, but this year the grapes just weren’t ready. They were about three weeks later than normal. But it just so happened that the first day of the red grape harvest was the first day that our volunteers got out of their mandatory two-week quarantine after arriving in the Land. Thank God, it’s just all coming together.”

In addition to being the fulfillment of prophecy (see Isaiah 61:5), the work of HaYovel’s volunteers is crucial to the success of small farmers in the biblical heartland.

“We need volunteers, too!”

HaYovel’s incredible story did not go unnoticed. Sadly, the only bit that the secular Israeli media focused on was how these Christians had somehow sidestepped restrictions under which others have been left groaning.

And that caught the attention of other Christian institutions that likewise run volunteer programs, and who felt that in light of HaYovel’s success, they were being unfairly denied visas by Israel’s Interior Ministry.

“We need visas, too!” read the headline of a letter sent to the Israeli government by The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.

The Catholic officials said they were “astonished” to learn that American Evangelical volunteers had secured visas, while they have been unable to do the same for volunteers that normally serve at hospitals, schools, and elderly homes that are administered by the Catholic Church.

“We have been repeatedly told that visas cannot be given because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Catholics complained, seeming to suggest that the Israeli government was giving preferential treatment to more pro-Israel Christians.

Waller proposed a simpler answer.

“Agriculture is kind of a special category,” he noted. “Even in times of lockdown, agriculture has got to continue so that the stores can stay stocked. In addition to that, we are living and working in rural areas, aren’t doing tours, we aren’t around a lot of people or going into populated areas. Our risk of exposing or being exposed is minimal.”

Israel Today can indeed confirm that there is no special consideration being granted to Israel-supporting Evangelical ministries in regard to volunteer visas. Many of the Evangelical ministries based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have had to operate during this period with greatly reduced staff numbers due to the blanket ban on entry visas.

Ayo Mary Laurent, A Royal with a Royal Inheritance In Christ and Ministry

Family and Ministry. Photo by Luis Quintero (pexels)

In Deuteronomy 8:6-7, the Scriptures commanded parents to teach diligently our children the way of the Lord. This is ultimate in Christian upbringing.

“6. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7. For the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills”

Family is the principal plan of God’s for the happiness and growth of His children. 

The fact that God Himself established families from the onset of creation and shows us various examples of strong families. It also teaches us how to have a loving, happy, and successful family. God made it very clear that families are fundamental when he created Adam and Eve. The Bible calls them “man and . . . wife” (Genesis 2:25), and the first commandment  He gave them was to "...be fruitful and multiply...", meaning to children ( Genesis 1:28).

According to a study, Christian upbringing contributed towards a number of positive outcomes as well, such greater happiness, more volunteering in the community, a greater sense of mission and purpose, and higher levels of forgiveness

God promises blessings for your children when they know and obey gospel truths: “If your sons will keep My covenant, And My testimony which I shall teach them, Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.” (Psalm 132:12).

For Christian parents, the main objective is to establish and develop in their children’s early receptive years, so they will consistently have the hunger and desire to wholly seek God as their Father. That is the ultimate goal.

Family and Ministry

The personal example set by parents is of the utmost importance! Children must see the real God through their parents.. children’s’ knowledge of God is predominately by their parents’ example. "go into all the world and preach the Gospel" (Mark 16:15). Christ made it clear that "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

Every Christian parent wants their children to grow up to love God and His Word. We know the immersed benefits that God’s law will bring to Ministry and children, both now and in the life to come—a firm and fulfilling life now, and in due course, eternal life in God’s family at Jesus Christ’s return.

Ayo Mary Laurent, Photo by Pereza Zang

In Nigeria, Ayo Mary Laurent, whose family background as a ministerial one, her late dad, was a Senior Evangelist of The Celestial Church of Christ, the mum, a Minister of God, and her grandmother Elderly Princess Florence Oni is the Chairperson of the very renown Cherubim and Seraphim prayer movement, white garment church with Headquarters in Osun state Nigeria is an example of Christian upbringing and ministry.

She is today, a devout Christian, an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and an anointed evangelist from the Zion International School of Evangelism. There is no richer inheritance that parents can give their children than to see, hear, and experience the fullness of the blessings that come from choosing obedience and fulfillment in God. 

Parents who are in ministry and devote the time and the commitment—showing genuine love and interest in their children—will receive a reward that will bless them, and their children, to the end of their days! "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them" (Psalm 127: 3–5).

Children stepping in parent’s tracks, taking the mantle of leadership on the great commission is of great joy to parents and Hosts of heaven.