UBC Workshop on sharing your faith: Share Jesus without Fear

You could begin to make an eternal difference in the lives of others in just 4 Wednesday night sessions right here at Urbancrest! Sign-ups begin in our UBC foyer Sunday March 27th. Workshop sessions are scheduled to begin Wednesday, April 6th 6:30-8 PM. Learn in just 4 weeks!  Workbooks are included and paid for by UBC.

Acts 1:8: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (NKJV).

Three times in this short biblical passage we see the word "you" mentioned. Since God does not waste words in the bible, this particular emphasis of repeating "you" three times teaches us that "you" and I are to be Christ's witnesses. You and I are critical ambassadors to God's mission to share the gospel so God can add more believers into the Kingdom of God.

In addition, the scripture found in 1 Peter 3:15 teaches us that we are to always be ready to give the reason for the hope we have in Christ. Therefore, learning from this workshop on sharing your faith helps prepare you to give an answer for the hope you have in Christ as His witness.

Here are just a few highlights from the DVD and interactive workshop series to further develop your interest:

• Do you know the average number of times a person hears the gospel before they choose Christ?
• Learn 5 basic questions to ask in order to learn more about a person's Spiritual condition rather than having them ask all the questions!
• Have problems remembering or quoting scripture? You need to attend this workshop.
• This is a highly recommended workshop for UBC folks involved with local missions, global missions and for our UBC counselors at block parties, Judgement House, VBS, etc. Be prepared to counsel others directly from God's Word as well as learning to share the gospel.
• How about learning answers to people's questions and objections? Answers to objections are included in the back of the New Testament resource (additional available resource).

Be prepared.......make an eternal difference in sowing the gospel seed so the Word of God and the Holy Spirit can yield a great harvest! Sign-up today! I look forward to seeing you there!

Prayer-Walking: The Prayer of Jericho

On April 10th this year, we will launch our local mission's prayer-walking ministry. We plan to prayer-walk strategic target neighborhoods for 7 consecutive weeks (representing the 7 times around the walls of Jericho.) We often refer to this ministry initiative and experience as "The Prayer of Jericho"

We are beginning to recruit prayer-walkers now. On March 27th (Sunday after GIC), we will have a display in our UBC foyer and you can sign-up to prayer-walk within our community of Lebanon. Please stop by and sign up to join us. We begin our prayer-walking at 4:30 PM on these Sunday nights and return to hear the personal testimonies of our encounters with God working within our community of Lebanon.

Why prayer-walk? From the passage in 2 Corinthians 5: 12-21, we learn that we are God's ambassadors and as His ambassadors, we are to intercede on behalf of the residents and children within our community to be reconciled to God. God's love compels us to go, pray, and share the gospel.

Here are some key aspects of prayer-walking which you can develop in your life as you join God in His work through prayer-walking:

"Prayer is not incessant talking with God but unceasing walking with God" 1 Our mission is to develop our personal walk with God through prayer-walking.

"We define prayer-walking simply as praying on-site with insight" 2

Praying:

a. "Prayer-walking is genuine prayer--God working with and through people, on earth and in heaven--prayer-walking is essentially relationship with God--talking and walking with God Himself through Jesus". 3

1. Directed, intercessory prayer: praying for others, neighborhoods, homes, and people encountered while walking.
2. Intentional prayer

On-site:

b. Praying where we expect our prayers to be answered.

c." Sounds, sights, and smells, far from distracting your prayer, engage both body and mind in the art of praying." 4

d. "Walking seems to create opportunities to help or to pray for new friends on the spot, right at the times of great need." 5

e. "The act of walking emboldens pray-ers to push through feelings of futility and intimidation...Prayer-walkers gently defy such fraudulent claims of darkness over their community." 6

With Insight:

f. Responsive insight. "Prayer-walkers do their work with their eyes open, allowing the sights of people, objects, events and entire communities to flood their prayers with significance. Ordinary powers of observation yield abundant insights about the best focus of prayer."7

g. Researched insight. Examine history and settings, determine influence of crime, injustice, occult practices.

h. Illuminated insight. "When believers pray according to the Bible, very often God's Spirit illumines His Word with extra candlepower." 8 They subject themselves to God's Spirit.

To sign up Sundays for our Prayer of Jericho (prayer-walking) please see our prayer-walking team in our UBC foyer March 27-April 10th, or contact Sandy Huddleston: SCHudd1@yahoo.com or contact Mike Wright: mwright@urbancrest.org

 1 Sprinkle, Randy. Follow Me: Lessons for becoming a Prayerwalker. New Hope Publishers, Birmingham: AL, 2001 p14  

2 Hawthorne, Steve & Kendrick, Graham, Prayer-walking: Praying on Site with Insight (Lake Mary: FL. Charisma House, 1993)

3 Ibid., p.1

4 Ibid

5 Ibid., p. 17

6 Ibid., p. 18

7 Ibid

8 Ibid., p. 20