40 Days of Prayer & Fasting

Our (First Baptist Jenks) 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting Begins tomorrow, here is an online copy of the guide:

40 Days of Prayer & Fasting (For our Relocation)
Wednesday, August 4 – Pray for Dependence (John 15:5)
Thursday, August 5 – Pray & Fast for Unity (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Friday, August 6 – Pray for Love (1 Corinthians 13)
Saturday, August 7 – Pray for our Community (Matthew 25:31-46)
Sunday, August 8 – Pray for Church (Mark 8:27-30)
Monday, August 9 – Pray for Boldness (John 14:12-15)
Tuesday, August 10 – Pray for Kindness (Romans 2:4)
Wednesday, August 11 – Pray for Sanctification (John 17:17)
Thursday, August 12 – Pray & Fast for Greater Things (John 14:12)
Friday, August 13 – Pray for our Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Saturday, August 14 – Pray for Preparation (1 John 5:14-15)
Sunday, August 15 – Pray for Blessing (Isaiah 43:19)
Monday, August 16 – Pray for Protection (Luke 10:3)
Tuesday, August 17 – Pray for Action (Matthew 7:24-27)
Wednesday, August 18 – Pray for Fruit (Galatians 5:22-24)
Thursday, August 19 – Pray & Fast for Repentance (Titus 2:11-14)
Friday, August 20 – Pray for Proof (James 1:22)
Saturday, August 21 – Pray for Perseverance (James 1:12)
Sunday, August 22 – Pray for Baptisms (Matt. 16:18-19)
Monday, August 23 – Pray for Effectiveness (1 John 4:9)
Tuesday, August 24 – Pray for Finances (1 Corinthians 16:1-4)
Wednesday, August 25 – Pray for Marriages (1Corinthians 7:1-5)
Thursday, August 26 – Pray & Fast for Freedom (Romans 8:1)
Friday, August 27 – Pray for Resolve (Matthew 18:19)
Saturday, August 28 – Pray for Wisdom (Proverbs 1:7)
Sunday, August 29 – Pray for Salvations (Matt. 16:18-19)
Monday, August 30 – Pray for Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Tuesday, August 31 – Pray for Giving (2 Corinthians 8:3-5)
Wednesday, September 1 – Pray for Endurance (Matthew 11:28-30)
Thursday, September 2 – Pray & Fast for Life-Changes (Ephesians 2:8)
Friday, September 3 – Pray for Graciousness (Romans 8:32)
Saturday, September 4 – Pray for Offering of Self (I John 4:10-12)
Sunday, September 5 – Pray for Strength (Joshua 1:9)
Monday, September 6 – Pray for Prayerfulness (Philippians 4:4-7)
Tuesday, September 7 – Pray for Holiness (Romans 12:1-2)
Wednesday, September 8 – Pray for Evangelism & Discipleship (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Thursday, September 9 – Pray & Fast for Service (1 Peter 4:10-11)
Friday, September 10 – Pray for Peace (John 14:27)
Saturday, September 11 – Pray for Power (Matt. 16:18-19)
Sunday, September 12 – Pray for Impact (2 Corinthians 4:5-6)

How To Burnout In 5 Easy Steps

From Serving Strong:

Staying strong is overrated. All this talk about avoiding the wall? Hooey. You were born to burnout. You were meant for serving weak. Want a quick way to burnout in ministry leadership? Here are 5 easy steps:

1. Seek Unforgiveness. Someone hurt you lately? Cool. Here's what you do: Hold a grudge. That's right. Don't give in to the temptation to be the weaker one. Keep steady. Better yet, give them the silent treatment. Yeah! It will teach them a lesson and you'll be well on your way to burning out.

2. Pursue Passionlessness. Ask yourself this question: "What ministry fuels my passion?" Got your answer? Good. Now do something (anything) that is the opposite of your answer. Do the thing that is a total drag for you. Give it your all. Seek the boredom. Revel in the difficulty. It will annoy those around you and you'll be well on your way to burning out.

3. Engage In Prayerlessness. Got prayer concerns? Want to touch the heart of God? Want to seek and sense His will for your life? Forget it. You're looking to burnout, right? Good. Then cut ALL prayer from your routine. Don't pray in the morning. Don't pray when you're stressed or sad. And don't pray when things are going well. Think of the time you'll save. It will grieve the Holy Spirit and you'll be well on your way to burning out.

4. Be An Impostor. Are you introverted by nature? Be extroverted. Are you methodical? Be spontaneous. Are you a people person? Then be a recluse. You have to understand that being yourself is simply going to keep you from burning out. So don't be yourself. Better yet, try to be just like someone else. It will irritate your loved ones and you'll be well on your way to burning out.

5. Over-identify. In your work with others, you will feel their pain. This is good. Dwell on it. Identify it so deeply that you begin to feel responsible for it. This will give you ownership of their pain, as though you were the cause. You will sink in the quicksand of their misery. You won't be able to help them because you'll be so depressed yourself. This will help others become co-dependent and you'll be well on your way to burning out.

So you see, if you are interested in burning out, it's quite simple really. Just follow these 5 easy steps and we'll see you in rehab!

Athens Trip – March 2010, Day 6

Today we started by going to my favorite place in Holargos, the local tennis club. For whatever reason, I find it to be extremely relaxing and enjoyable. The main worker there, Helen, remembered me when I came in and even asked if Christy was with me – pretty cool that she remembers her too! We visited for a little bit, but had limited conversation as the club was extremely busy. (Whenever we walk from one place to another in town, we have been trained to constantly pray for those we come in contact with, Raymond taught us that!)


Next we went to visit another friend over lunch, someone we had the opportunity to share with last May. As we came in, he was excited to see us (he knew we were coming). We spoke briefly before we ate, but spoke for a good amount of time afterwards. Long story short, he not only remembered our previous conversation, he had been thinking about it and reading his Bible. After going through the plan of salvation and what it means for Jesus to be Lord of your life, he thought about it and asked Jesus to be his Savior and Lord! This was so exciting!!!

Something else of note today happened on our way to the municipality, we saw a group of teenagers reading and passing around a Bible. We had no clue what they were saying, but we do know it was a Bible and we also know they were reading and talking about it. In the same way that God worked in the man’s heart in the restaurant, he can work in these teenagers lives as well! He is so faithful and so able to break through anywhere at any time through anyone for anyone! God is so much better and capable than we can imagine. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the hearts and lives of people, we just need to instrument who declare His glory and exalt Jesus.

After our incredible experience, we went to the school we work at and played basketball with the kids. Usually we will run drills or participate with them, but due to cold weather they typically cancel… However, today there were about 14 or so kids who showed up, “because they knew we would be there.” HOW AWESOME IS THAT!


Anyway, we played with them for a little over 2 hours and then had to leave… because Jamie got his lip all busted up! One of the kids accidently hit Jamie’s lip with his head going to a ball. Fortunately, we were able to get some ice from a local music café and stop the bleeding. The poor kid who messed Jamie’s face up felt terrible and profusely apologized. Jamie kept trying to reassure him it was not big deal and not to worry about it, but the guy still felt bad.


For dinner, we returned to the restaurant we ate at the other day with our friends Kostas & Catalina. Believe it or not, we order the goat again, with some pork as well. It was a good dinner and a fantastic day. God is good!!!


There are 3 other things you need to know about this day that are quite funny:
1. Jamie wore shorts today. He has been bound and determined to do so since we first decided to come, and today he did. Never mind that it was below 50* all day (except for 15 minutes, maybe). It was so cold, the sports academy in our municipality cancelled the programs… but Jamie wore his shorts. To his credit though, we did see 2 other people in shorts, in a city that has more that 5 million people! (Notice the heavy coats and scarves the people are wearing next to Jamie... who is in his shorts)


2. We saw a dude with a man purse or as Jerry Seinfeld calls it, a European carry-all!



3. Jamie got his tail whopped by a 10 year old… (ahem, suffering for Jesus) then proceeded to eat an orange in a quite humorous way.


(Goat, it's what's for dinner)
(A health club with an interesting name, Gym N' Tonic)
(The tennic club)

Athens Trip – March 2010, Day 5

Our time in Athens keeps getting better and better. Monday we had an opportunity to spend the entire day in our neighborhood. We started off with prayer walking. Going through the municipality, and asking God for opportunities for His light to shine and for favor in developing relationships. We even had the opportunity to hike up a small mountain that overlooks Holargos for pray for the entire community.


We were surprised to find that a market was going on, and had the opportunity to walk through that as well. Since it is in the end of the winter season here, I was not expecting it, but it is always interesting to see the various people selling fruit, flowers, fish, clothing, and random supplies. By the way, non-brand name sweat pants will cost you 5 Euros, but knock Puma sweat pants will cost you 8, which really amused me for some reason.


The funniest part of the day was visiting Kostas’ office to mess with a lady named Effi. She is the person in the office who said she thought we were some sort of s-p-i-e-s. Kostas had given me some personal information about her to mess with her a little, and it was quite effective. We went into the office and I sat down at her desk. Immediately I asked her specific questions about her family and told her I had been watching her. She and her coworker (our friend Nikki) looked completely stunned!


I went on and told her, “I don’t think we have officially met, I am Jason Bourne and this is my friend Bond, James Bond” (referring to Jamie). Immediately they knew Kostas had let us in on her conspiracy theory and we all had a good laugh. This might seem like a small thing, but to me, it is huge in deepening our friendship and relationship with the people in Holargos.


Later on, we made it to the schools where we played basketball and participated in the drills with the kids. Sophia, the basketball instructor, was happy to see us and had us play games that would involve us with the children. It was really cool to see some of them who recognized us and were happy we made it over again. Not only did we interact during the scheduled academy time (5:00-6:00), we played for about 45 minutes before and 90 minutes afterwards. We had a great time and are ready to return tomorrow!

Thoughts on Preparing a Lesson

The following was produced by my friend Jerry Adams during a recent leadership development meeting at First Baptist Jenks.

Preparing the Teacher

• Understand your Responsibility: James 3:1 & 2 Timothy 2:15
• Understand the Need to Pray
• Be Taught before Teaching: Be willing to do whatever God asks you to do
• Be a Servant Leader: Actions speak louder than words

Preparing the Lesson
1. Historical Background: Understand the big picture of the book your teaching
2. Observe: Who, what, when, where, why, & how of the passage
3. Interpretation: Summarize the main point into one sentence
4. Application: How did it apply and how does it apply today

Helpful Hint: Try to ask questions that drive people to look for answers in God’s Word.

Greece June 09: Prayer

Prayer was a major focus of our trip this year. We began our trip at the Acropolis, followed by a Bible study at Mar's Hill where we focused on why we were there and asking God for His favor throughout our trip.


The next day our leaders had us praying for the city of Athens,


the Greek government,


and their Orthodox Church.



Future Greece Posts: Our Partnership, Fun Times, New Friends, Shining Bright, My Fear & My Favorite Part of the Trip