My Story
In May of 2007 our tiny organization [See “About Us.”] began to appeal to pastors to pray about the unreached peoples. Let me tell you how it all started. Sometime before 1996, I felt a strong urging of the Lord to visit pastors and tell them about the unreached peoples of the earth who have little or no gospel penetration. I wasn't happy about the idea of talking to busy pastors. Why should pastors listen to me? I've never pastored a church. In 1996 my beloved and I were in Bangkok on our way home to southern California. I decided to go to a big church I had seen nearby, to try to visit the pastor. I told him about the thousands of people groups who made up that hidden portion of the population missionaries are not yet affecting. He was interested, but not willing immediately to begin leading his congregation in prayer. Two things then began happening. In America, every night as I awakened at about one or two in the morning I found my mind inundated with thoughts about the Unreached Peoples. God began encouraging me, inviting me, to talk to pastors. He poured his thoughts into my mind and heart about the unreached tribes, peoples. God was very consistent about this! However, the second thing was this: I visited only about six or ten pastors… very sporadically. They all listened attentively. None of them seemed very interested in leading their people in prayer. When we moved to Oceanside I waited for an appropriate time to talk to my new pastor. It came in May of 2007. I sat in the eleven o’clock service and heard Pastor Iann say, “God speaks to me. I do what he tells me. Otherwise life is boring. Obeying him is sweet adventure. You may not like what I do, but I will obey him.” Hearing this I realized God was showing me, this pastor will listen to what I will say. He will understand when I tell him God has been speaking to me... for years! He will understand the agony of dragging my feet in feeble attempts to follow a dynamic master! The disappointment of delayed obedience! The guilt of knowing God was inviting me into a deeper walk of trust in him, and of knowing I preferred my comfort zone. I went to him. He knew all about the unreached people groups (UPs), 40% of the world’s population, having no gospel. With a smile he looked at me and said pointedly and sincerely, “Yes! I agree! But what are you going to do about it?” I said, “Pastor, a radical problem calls for a radical solution. I am convinced the problem is, people in the pews do not know about the UPs, and congregations are not praying for their salvation!” He agreed. Without hesitation he asked me to give him a brief email every Sunday morning before seven a.m. Which I’ve been doing. And he has been leading the entire congregation in very pointed and moving prayer for an UP on Sunday mornings, since. Don. Why churches do not pray for the Unreached Peoples. When Jesus ascended into heaven, and after the Holy Spirit descended upon the one hundred twenty in the upper room, the Church burst into life with magnificent energy. They understood well that their lives were all about God and about being his worshipers, his love slaves. They told others about the Lord because they were thrilled to know they were God’s possession, sealed for his ownership. That seal was the Holy Spirit of God! They were excited in the knowledge God lived in them. He was their glory and the lifter of their head. He held them by their right hand. They were honored that God trusted them to bring others into the kingdom. Over time, their energy for reaching all the Gentile people groups waned. Gradually, over the centuries, as the gospel spread, Unreached Peoples seemed farther and farther geographically removed from the flourishing Church. Pastors became more focused on showing their followers how great it is to understand God’s wonderful blessings they have because they are "in Christ." This resulted in more joy but less awareness of the tragedy of the Unreached Peoples, about 88,000 persons dying per day, belonging to a tribe with no understanding of the gospel. At some point in time, pastors became more and more aware that, as they focused on helping people change their self-destructive attitudes into attitudes that contributed to their joy, peace and love, the bigger their church attendance became. Many churches now take offerings for missionaries. Some churches encourage members to consider giving themselves through missionary service. Giving through congregational prayer is generally not promoted. Perhaps this is how it came about that the people in the pews do not know much about missions. Believers love missionaries and give generously to their work and their personal support. Have we lost our willingness to pray for those suffering the greatest conceivable loss? The gospel they don't even know they are without? Many churches have active programs to deal with mission endeavors. But few church members are aware of disturbing facts such as these:
God works wonders on the earth when significant numbers of believers pray. Two or three, meeting in the name of Jesus, might pray for your church or your family with remarkable effect. God responds to faith. But to effect a people movement of billions of unbelievers who have no interest in the gospel requires a radical change in the belief system of thousands of tribes. God is ready to help us bring this about if we ask him. Surely we do really desire salvation for the Unreached billions. We desire then a radical change that touches them to the very foundation of their humanity, their spirit. For that human spirit to come alive in Christ, they will have to change their belief system radically. I believe, for such a radical change, we need to change radically something we are doing [or not doing]. God looks for a significant number of believers who pray, with genuine desire, for the salvation of the Unreached Peoples. It will take a radical change in our values. Our ideas about what should happen in the church on Sunday mornings will, as I see it, have to include congregational prayer for the Unreached Peoples! We only really believe what we invest in. Pastors are generally willing to invest a few moments of Sunday pulpit time in this matter of highest, eternal importance. They know the lost are really lost, and they know the power of prayer, especially congregational prayer. Why not? Isn't the evangelization of the lost billions God's top priority? I'm saying it will take a radical change in our perspective on the value of a single soul. But is it really so radical? We already agree on the value of a single soul. God himself is radical! He made the radical move! He sent his Son to die for our salvation. It's not all that radical that we give a few moments of our lives each Sunday to get 10,000 tribes into the kingdom. God prompted me to initiate this website, which never asks for funds. I never ask to speak in churches because if the senior pastor does the teaching, preaching and leading about the Unreached Peoples, the people will understand it is important. They might pray along with another leader, but probably with less conviction, less heart, less enthusiasm. I only know of a few pastors who are actually leading their congregations in prayer for the Unreached Peoples on Sunday. There may be hundreds more but few have actually written to me. Three of them said, "This is God's heart!" don@prayforup.com. Don. Matthew 24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations ["ethne," or tribes], and then the end will come. Click on this link if you'd like to pray today for an Unreached People being prayed for today by 70,000 other lovers of the Most High God! http://global-prayer-digest.org Then click on "Today." |
