Give Me One More!

To what can I liken the work of a prayer mobilizer? He is like a captain in charge of the battering ram during the siege of a powerful, well-fortified city. His job is to bring the battering ram of prayer to bear on the gates of the enemy’s stronghold. He and his troops are the focus of every enemy archer on the ramparts. The burning pitch and rocks hurled from the battlements are aimed at them. Yet, to win the war the gate must be shattered. Because of the hazardous nature of the mission, this captain must enlist volunteers willing to charge the gates. The captain must enlist a lot of soldiers, because most of them won’t last for long.

“A bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t think it is.” Many people enter into intercession for Unreached People Groups (UPGs) casually, as if it was not that big a deal. Suddenly, things start going wrong. They have problems at work. The car breaks down. The air conditioner has to be replaced. The kids start acting up. The dog dies. Someone gets sick. And they stop praying and never see the connection. Or worse yet, they give up because they get bored. They expected a quick victory and weren’t ready for the long-siege. They weren’t ready for the fiery darts of the enemy.

Praying for UPGs is not like getting into a jet fighter, cursing in at 15,000 feet, pressing a red button, and watching a smart bomb take out the target. If you’re praying for a UPG, you’re taking up the battering ram. You become the enemy’s target.

“Well that’s certainly encouraging!”

“No, it’s not meant to be. But it’s realistic and in line with what I’ve seen mobilizing prayer over the past 12 plus years.”

Here’s how it works. To mobilize prayer you first have to get the prayer requests. Every month I send out reminders to workers to send in their strategic prayer requests. On average 40 percent or more don’t reply for a variety of reasons. So I take what I get and put together prayer guides, calendars, and people group profiles. And then I send the tools by email to over 650 people representing over 100 churches. As I send the email it is like I’m yelling, “Okay, on three. One, two, three, PRAY! BOOM, the battering ram of prayer smashes into the enemy’s gate!!”

Yet every month we have people unsubscribe. I think about the 40% of my co-workers who are not asking me to mobilize prayer. I wonder what they’re facing. Then I cry out to God, “Oh LORD, send me another intercessor to pray for the workers on Sumatra. Just send me one more today!”

There are 53 UPGs on Sumatra with over 40 million souls in them. As I coordinate photos and scriptures to post prayer requests on Facebook I am often overwhelmed by the lostness on this island. We currently have over 380 people who “like” our page. Last month we had over 6,700 hits on our posts. How many prayers does that translate into? I have no clue. But every time I hit post it’s like I’m yelling, “Okay, on three. One, two, three, PRAY! BOOM!!

Thousands of hits is great, but tens of thousands would be better, especially if it’s people that are praying. There are 15 people groups on Sumatra that are unengaged. I think about them and wonder how long before they will get the chance to hear the Gospel? Then I cry out to God, “Oh LORD, send me another intercessor to pray for the peoples of Sumatra. Just send me one more today!”

The church on Sumatra is often fearful and inward focused. Many Sumatran pastors are unsaved and don’t know the Gospel. Many other Sumatran pastors are more concerned about building a bigger meeting house than in reaching the lost. Precious few are interested in learning how to pray for and share with the UPGs of Sumatra. Those who do reach out, and those who believe from among UPGs are often persecuted. As I go to Twitter, I often mobilize prayer for the apathetic and the persecuted church on Sumatra. With every tweet it’s like I’m yelling, “Okay, on three. One, two, three, PRAY! BOOM!!”

I put together a virtual prayerwalk and post it on Vimeo. PRAY! BOOM!! I write a culture article and post it to the secure web page or to Blogger. PRAY! BOOM!! I pin another link for prayer to Pinterest. PRAY! BOOM!! I redo Fast Facts or prayer maps. PRAY! BOOM!! I journey out to gather 1,500 to 3,000 photos, prayerwalk, and share the Gospel with 200 people from 10 different UPGs within an average year. PRAY! BOOM!! I lead a prayer seminar at a local church. PRAY! BOOM!! I sit on the floor on a straw mat at yet another prayer meeting. PRAY! BOOM!! I produce scripture photos for Instagram. PRAY! BOOM!! I produce a prayer card or photo video for a field worker. PRAY! BOOM!! I write and design a Ramadan prayer guide and an Advent prayer guide and distribute them. PRAY! BOOM!! With every prayer request I plead with God. Send me one more to pray for the cities. Send me just one more to pray for the children. Please LORD, send me another intercessor for Sumatra today!

If you’re still reading, you’re likely one of my prayer warriors who’ve been charging the gates with me for the past six years. I know you’ve taken hits from the enemy for your efforts to bring down the gates and set the captives here free. I salute you, soldier.

The enemy gate still looks strong, but let’s keep on hitting it. With God’s help, who knows, it might fall with our next stroke. The fires of spiritual awakening might be ready to sweep from Aceh to Lampung. Millions of souls might be on the verge of being swept into the Kingdom. Don’t lose heart!

“So, what you’re saying is you pray and make prayer tools.”

After pulling an enemy arrow out of my shoulder, I grimace and then staunch the wound. I smile sweetly and say, “Yeah, something like that.” Then I turn to my troops and shout, “Okay, let’s hit it again on three, and give it all you’ve got this time!”

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV).

Pray for the gates to come down and the enemy strongholds to be demolished in Sumatra.

Pray for just one more intercessor every day to pray for the peoples, for the churches, for the persecuted, for the cities, for the children, and for the workers in Sumatra.

Pray for Sumatra’s prayer mobilizer to be strengthened in the LORD and filled with the Spirit.

Pray that intercessors will not lose heart until, with God’s help, we see the enemy’s gates fall.

Aneuk Jamee People Group Profile

“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God’” (Ruth 1:16, ESV).

The 65,000 Aneuk Jamee are a small and secluded people group on the west coast of Aceh Province in northern Sumatra. Their local dialect is Minangkabau, because they are descendants of people who migrated from Padang. Aneuk Jamee means “children of guests” in Acehnese.

The Aneuk Jamee earn a livelihood primarily from fishing, farming, and trading. Most of the fishing boats in the area are owned by Acehnese or business interests from Medan. There is a great need of economic development among this people group.

The Aneuk Jamee are predominately Muslim with a mixture of pre-Islamic animistic beliefs. It’s common to consult the spiritual leaders called dukuns for enchantments, curses, or healings. There are few known believers and no indigenous churches among the Aneuk Jamee.

Pray that:

Workers will hear and surrender to the call to reach the Aneuk Jamee with the Gospel.

Satan’s strongholds will be identified and brought down by specific, persistent intercession.

People of peace among the Aneuk Jamee will be identified by Spirit-led workers.

Gatekeepers to Aneuk Jamee areas will show favor to workers as they enter this unengaged area.

Aneuk Jamee believers will be gathered into house fellowships and taught to become passionate, vibrant followers of Jesus.

The first indigenous Aneuk Jamee church will be birthed soon.

The Aneuk Jamee, like Ruth, will have the loyalty and desire to follow the One True God no matter what.

Cosmopolitan Sumatra

These three high school boys are from three different people groups. The boy in the red is Minangkabau. The boy with 91 on his sleeve is Acehnese. The boy on the right is Javanese. There is another boy at the top of the picture frame. He is from yet another people group – Jambi Malay. This scene is not unusual in the cities of Sumatra. Many cultures meet and mingle in the cities.

The challenge of reaching people in the cities remains an enigma. All of the major response to the Gospel on Sumatra has come from rural areas among predominately homogenous groupings of people. Workers have tried several strategies to reach peoples in the cities, but none have been overly successful.

Because the cities have a lot of mixing of cultural ideas and identities it would stand to reason that the Gospel would gain an easier hearing, but that is not the case. Most people in the cities are more interested in seeking their fortunes than in hearing about their eternal destinies. City people are more mobile and have less time for chit-chat. They also tend to be more suspicious of people they don’t know. In effect, they are even more isolated and less open in the midst of a sea of humanity than those in hard-to-reach rural areas.

Pray for workers focused on the cities of Sumatra to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.

Pray for successful strategies to be developed for urban work on Sumatra.

Pray for the Gospel to be boldly and successfully proclaimed in Sumatra’s cities.

Pray for believers from among all 53 of Sumatra’s unreached people groups to be reached within Sumatra’s cities. 

PDA Rules

This Jambi Malay man was having some fun with the foreigner taking pictures in the traditional market. Many of the by-standers thought the man was funny for posing as if he were kissing the mannequin. Social etiquette in Sumatra regarding public displays of affection (PDAs) are much more conservative than in the states. It would be shocking to see a man kissing a woman in public other than on their wedding day.

In contrast, displays of affection between members of the same gender is normal. It’s not uncommon to see two men or two women holding hands, walking arm-in-arm, or even walking with an arm over the other’s shoulder. They don’t kiss on the lips, but women often greet each other with a peck on both cheeks. There are absolutely no sexual connotations to these PDAs.

The man likely posed as a joke about the sexual permissiveness in Western culture. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t sexual sin in Indonesia. It just means that God’s standard of sexual purity is more widely known and accepted, and that those who break God’s standards are still shamed by polite society.

Internet pornography is one of the hidden sins of many Sumatran youth. Parents are at a loss to know how to stop their children from this temptation of technology that they never faced because the technology wasn’t available to them.

Pray for Western workers as they struggle to break out of the stereo-typed view of Western men.

Pray for the hidden sexual sins of Sumatrans to drive them to confess their need of a Savior.

Pray for youth on Sumatra who have been caught up in the temptations of technology.

Kerinci People Group Profile

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1, ESV).

The homeland of the 311,000 Kerinci is on the border of the West Sumatra and Jambi Provinces. Lake Kerinci and Mount Kerinci are notable landmarks in this lush jungle area. The Kerinci have a unique dialect from the Malay language family; they also have a distinct form of writing called Paku which is similar to old Javanese script.

Most Kerinci are farmers who grow rice, coffee, cinnamon, and various vegetables. Those who live near the lake often work as fishermen. The land is fertile, but the Kerinci could benefit from more modern farming techniques to improve their crop yields.

The Kerinci are Muslim with strong animistic influences. They fear spirits and use magic for protection and to bless their crops. Sexual permissiveness, prostitution, and widespread divorce are serious problems in Kerinci society that have significantly weakened the family. There are believers among the Kerinci, but they are a small minority who are trying to shine the light of Christ in the darkness surrounding them.

Pray that:

Kerinci believers will live holy lives and share a bold witness with those living around them.

The Holy Spirit will break the spiritual stronghold of lust that is destroying families among the Kerinci.

God will call and send a mature couple to live as cross-cultural workers among the Kerinci to help strengthen the believers and to reach out to the lost.

Indigenous Kerinci fellowships will rapidly reproduce amongst the Kerinci people.

God will call and equip more Kerinci spiritual leaders to shepherd the flocks, disciple the lambs, and seek out the lost.

Kerinci believers will stand strong in their faith and not use animistic charms or rituals when they encounter problems.

God will bless Kerinci believers so that those living around them will see that God is stronger than the spirits they fear.

Photo from Bandar Lampung

Holy Frustration

These three Ranau men sat and talked with a worker about the problem of mankind’s sin debt. The worker shared about Isa Al Masih and His great sacrifice to pay our sin debt to God. The young man in the middle struggled to share about his beliefs. He sincerely wanted to see the worker come to his point of view, and the worker could see the frustration on his face.

When we hold a strong religious view it’s difficult to understand how people are unable to see what is so clear to us. This was the situation for this young man, and the worker identified with his pain. The worker was also touched that this young man cared enough to try and share his faith. After sharing with hundreds of people, only two Muslims have cared enough to try and share what they believe with the worker. Unlike America, religion here is not a private matter. It’s okay to talk about religion in polite society in Sumatra.

Ultimately, the issue isn’t about religion it’s about God and what He reveals as truth. The worker challenged the young man to pray to God and ask Him to reveal what road truly leads to heaven.  The worker also challenged the young man to pray for him that he too would know the truth and follow it with all his heart.

Pray with the worker that this young man will come to know the way, the truth, and the life.

Pray for workers on Sumatra to follow the truth of God with whole-hearted abandon.

Pray for workers dealing with the frustration of spiritual blindness among the people they share with to rest in the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.