UNSUNG HEROES

According to Wiktionary, an unsung hero is “one who does great deeds but receives little or no recognition for them.” Often, these unsung heroes prefer to remain anonymous or to receive little attention or few accolades. They believe what they do is important, whether it is ever recognized or not. Across the Missionary Church we have an army of prayer coordinators who usually work behind the scenes to raise the prayer quotient in their local church. Many of them are committed intercessors who pray for their church, their community, missionaries and more.  Some of them actually spend hours each day in prayer. Some of these prayer coordinators may not call themselves intercessors, but they believe in prayer, and they work diligently to call the church to prayer and research resources to encourage and equip the church to pray. Their work — their ministry — is the lifeblood of the church. Most people in the church have no idea of the time these men and women spend in prayer. These praying people are rarely acknowledged, in part because they are not seeking accolades but rather are seeking to glorify the Lord and to see the advancement of the Kingdom. They want to see the church grow deeper in relationship to our heavenly Father. They pray that leadership will be fully dependent on God and that the church will grow to be holy people of God. They pray that the church will be broken for lost people and that the church will multiply disciples. These men and women are likely the greatest asset in the church. When the church faces a challenge or an opportunity, they will be the first to go to prayer. When they hear of needs in the church, they pray. We count on these prayer warriors not only to pray for their local church but also to pray for the Missionary Church as a whole and to pray that God will use the Missionary Church to multiply disciples around the world. Given the opportunity, they work closely with pastors to plan prayer events. They look for resources to teach people to pray and help promote denominational and national prayer initiatives. We encourage every local church to identify a prayer coordinator with whom we can share denominational prayer needs, global prayer needs, and national prayer initiatives. Some join regularly in a monthly prayer call that I host, where prayer coordinators can pray together and, in some cases, share ideas for promoting prayer. If you do not currently have a prayer coordinator, I encourage you to pray for one. When leaders begin to pray for a prayer coordinator, it is not uncommon for someone to come forward and ask if they can help any way in the area of prayer. When you identify your prayer coordinator, let us know. Send their name, email address, and the church they serve to tomswank@mcusa.org or to debbiecombs@mcusa.org. We would love to expand our team and build and support the prayer ministry in your church.