Awesome Prayer Walk!

We'd like to thank our friends from the ABF we attend at Northwest Chapel for joining us on August 25 for a prayer walk in our community. We targeted about 5 different areas and prayed as we walked or drove through these sections of our community. We believe that prayer is THE essential work to our ministry and that God will move in people's hearts as we beg Him to work here. We had a great time getting to know our new friends better, seeking God, and having lunch together at our house afterwards. We're so thankful for Northwest Chapel as our principle sponsoring organization is so many ways...but having people come and pray on sight was an over-the-top blessing. Praise God!

If you'd like a copy of the list of requests we brought before God, please post a comment here or e-mail me at andywirt@sbcglobal.net. I'd love to send you one.

New Soccer Season!

I just sent an introductory e-mail to soccer parents for our new season, Fall 07. As I was writing, I realized I had forgotten to add this season as a prayer request in our prayer update that I sent out yesterday. Please pray with me that our contacts with these 8 families would be positive and honoring to Jesus. Pray that we would be sensitive to spiritual movement in people's lives and be used by Jesus to move people towards Him. Pray also for Seth, in his first soccer season and for me as I learn how to be Dad AND coach! :) Thanks!

Area Prayer Walk- August 25

We're planning a prayer walk with our Adult Bible Fellowship (Sunday school class) from Northwest Chapel in the New Albany area neighborhoods this Saturday (August 25) from 9:30a-12:30p. We'll do a brief orientation at our house, walk various neighborhoods and pray (easy- anyone can do this- we'll teach you how!), and end with a cookout back at our house. Children are welcome!

So, if you are (or could be!) in the Columbus area this Saturday, PLEASE JOIN US! If you can make it, e-mail me so we can plan to feed you well!

Please Pray With Us for the Presleys

I met Chad Presley a few months ago at a church planting training event. Chad is planting a Grace Brethren Church in Fort Worth Texas. He has frequently asked prayer for some health concerns of his wife, Christina, who is also pregnant with their second child. Here is an e-mail from Chad today on an urgent health concern. Please pray with us for healing for Christina and protection for their baby.

From Chad Presley (church planter, Ft. Worth, TX):
Christina is currently in Oklahoma City visiting her mother with Autumn. While there, she began to have lots of pain in her side and so was admitted to the hospital. It appears she has a staff infection in both of her kidneys and the infection is resistant to antibiotics. The doctors are worried about kidney failure, which could be fatal. As you know, Christina is pregnant and the doctors are also worried about the staff infection spreading to the baby, which would be fatal to it as well. Please pray for us and ask for prayer from others where appropriate. This is a trying time for us..

Block Party a Success!

We're praising God for answering prayer and working in a big way during our block party on August 18. We met new people and deepened relationships (and hopefully trust) with existing contacts in our neighborhood. Almost 50 people showed up from 14 households. Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoyed great food, getting to know one another, and playing some yard games.

Thanks for praying! Here are some answers to prayer:

• We met one new family.
  
• Several families came to the party that have not responded to other invitations we have given them.
  
• People enjoyed connecting with others they hadn't met before.
  
• Several missional believers helped us by cooking and inviting others to come.
  
• Our patio, poured by a friend on August 11, was ready to go and was a super tool for entertaining a large group.
  
• We were able to invite several people to our spiritual formation group and discuss our work of beginning a new church with others.
  
• God brought out 14 families even though only 4 R.S.V.P.d.
  

Thanks, Lord! Please continue to pray with us that God will work in our neighborhood and draw people to Himself. We'd love the privilege of continuing to be used as a light for Jesus in Asbury Ridge (our subdivision).

Lexington, OH GBC

I was thankful to God for the opportunity to preach at this Grace Brethren Church on August 12 (Jason Carmean, Pastor). The people were very warm and seemed to respond well to what God has been lovingly drilling into my soul from Acts 4:23-31. We discussed a path to prayer that rocks the world and how God accomplishes His mission when believers come together in prayer. We looked at 4 traits of powerful prayer:

1. Urgency from mission. Prayer is powerful when it is urgent and urgency comes from a concern for the souls of specific people that God has placed around us to reach through us.
   
2. Unity with partners. Prayer is powerful when we pray in harmony with key friends for God's missional movement in our local context.
   
3. Faith from good theology. Prayer is powerful when we pray prayers shaped by our view of God. When we see God as sovereign, Creator, fulfiller of prophecy (faithful to His Word), and director of a perfect plan...our prayers lead us through obstacles to mission.
   
4. Supernatural results from a Kingdom perspective. Prayer is powerful when we're more concerned about the advancement of God's Kingdom through God's power for God's glory than we are about our personal welfare.
   

Take a close read of Acts 4:23-31 and see if the same principles shake out for you. Through this passage and what He's taught me through it... God is helping us forge ahead through obstacles to church planting and missional living. My prayer is that He'll encourage you in the same way. I've found that things appear brighter when I pray with urgency (there are people Jesus loves to reach), pray with other missional people for God's movement, pray with respect for Who God is, and pray with a mind for God's agenda, not my comfort. See what you think. I'd love to hear your comments (click "Comments" below and leave note).

Can 7 People Change The World?

I'm contemplating this question this week. My response comes out of the sense of energy and excitement I drew from the meeting we enjoyed with our spiritual formation group this past Sunday evening. 7 adults present...all illustrating God-stories of how we met them and how God drew them to our team. As the gathering progressed, I punted what I had planned as a Bible study/discussion and the Holy Spirit led us through a time of discussion around the purpose and methods of church planting, missional group activity, and how we can help each other be better missionaries in our own personal environments. Really, to God's glory, one of the best small group meetings I've been a part of!

I should share a bit of context on God's school of church planting- tailored to Andy Wirt. I've been battling frustration and periodic discouragement over why our group isn't growing faster and why people aren't responding to the many invitations to check out our group that we and our fellow groupies have handed out. That's a whole other discussion. BUT, as I sensed God moving in our meeting Sunday night and I realized that the people God HAS given us really want to make a difference for Jesus- THEY ARE LIVING ON MISSION- I was energized by a sense of thankfulness to God and hopefulness with what our all-powerful God can do with 7 missional people. It's like God set up a neon sign with bold letters screwed to my thick skull that said FOCUS ON MISSION THROUGH THOSE I HAVE PROVIDED INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT WHO'S NOT HERE.

So, can God build a healthy, vibrant, reproducing church around 7 people? Yes. Because nothing is impossible for Him (Luke 1:37). Because even where a few are gathered in His name to do His work...Jesus is there with them (Matthew 18:20). And, because God cares about the prayers of 2 or 3 or 7 and promises (Matthew 18:19) that ...if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven.... God doesn't promise to tell me when it will be done or how it will be done or allow me to SEE it being done...but He does promise to answer the prayers of people who meet together to seek Him and accomplish His assignments.

God, here we are. Send us. God changed the world through His 12 disciples, surely He can build a church from 7.

Little (?) Blessings

As I know many of you can relate to, money has been especially tight the last few weeks for us. Today I put on a pair of pants I hadn't worn in a few weeks and found $6 in the pocket. I praised the Lord! We needed milk and dishwasher detergent at the store. So, I took my new-found fortune and ventured out. Not wanting to put these little purchases on a credit card or take money out of emergency savings...I was hoping my $6 would cover what I needed to buy. What did I find? By God's grace, milk was $1 off regular price and detergent was $.60 off. Way to go Meijer! Total purchase price: $4.97. With that remaining $1 in my pocket...I feel like the richest man in the world!

I was thinking about how silly this praise is... OR IS IT? Isn't that what Jesus was speaking of in Matthew 6:11? "Lord, please provide us with the resources we need to live TODAY..." (Wirt uninspired, possibly errant paraphrase). God knows exactly what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:32)...even if its just $6 to buy some milk and dishwasher soap.

Preaching at Lexington, OH Grace Brethren Church

I'm thankful to God and our friend Pastor Jason Carmean for the opportunity to speak at Lexington this Sunday, August 12. God is still stirring my heart around and using principles from Acts 4:23-31 in my heart, so I plan to rework that message and present it again. I'd appreciate your prayers for my own application of this passage and God's grace and strength to present it clearly to the good people of the Lexington GBC. Pray that a powerful movement of prayer is mobilized in me and those who listen on Sunday- for the advancement of God's Kingdom through the bold, loving witness of His people.

Some Things To Pray For This Week!

August will be a key month for us. We were energized by time in Winona Lake, IN for the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches annual conference and are back ready to pour ourselves into loving people to a clear view of Jesus and His mission.

Along those lines, please pray with us over the next week that:

• God would work in a breakfast meeting I have with a neighbor. We have built a good relationship and I am praying that Jesus would be clear in our conversation and that my friend would move closer to a relationship with Him.
  
• God would cause our Block Party invitations to stand out in people's schedules and piles of mail and that they would plan to come.
  
• God would open doors at places like Home Depot, Meijer, local car washes, and YMCA pool as we strategize how to love and serve people that do not go to church. We're thinking of Sunday a.m. coffee give aways, snow cones, car washes, etc. to serve those who are not in church. We'll be talking to managers of these stores/places soon to seek permission/team-working.
  

Thanks for praying! James 5:16!

Thanks, God, For Acts 4:23-31!

I was thankful to God, and my friend Dan Gregory (Pastor), for the opportunity to speak at Community of Hope Grace Brethren Church on Sunday, July 29. God used the message from Acts 4 greatly in my life and I was thrilled to be able to present what God has been teaching me to the good people at Community of Hope. If you, like me, are looking to spice up your prayer life and see God change your world through you... check out how Peter and John (Acts 4:23-31) (1) moved with urgency to pray; (2) prayed with partners; (3) prayed to a God they viewed as sovereign, Creator, fulfiller of Prophecy, and as having a perfect plan; (4) and prayed for supernatural results out of a Kingdom perspective. Your prayers just might rock the world! :)