I hope you've had a great week! We are now 13 days into our 21 days of prayer and fasting. 136 people are participating! I don't know about your experience but mine has been transformational.
I've been a Christian for close to 30 years. I've never fasted like I have in the past 13 days. It's been a "game changer" in my life and our church. I definitely plan to continue fasting on regular basis in my personal life. God has used it so powerfully over the past two weeks.
If the whole idea of fasting is new to you then I'd encourage you to watch the messages from the past two weeks. I tried to make a biblical case for fasting and why our church is doing one together. You can watch week one here and week two here.
If you haven't made a commitment about the fast but would like to you can do that here. Even if you only fast for the next seven days leading up to Easter it can still be a very powerful experience and used by God in our corporate life together.
A Crucial Week
This last week of the fast is especially important because of all of the special events we have coming up. That's the major reason for this email. I'd like to encourage you to commit the following four things to prayer.
Rise Up Easter Family Event (April 10th)
Good Friday Service (April 15th)
Saturday Outreach Event (April 16th)
Easter Sunday (April 17th)
I want to use this week's update to spell out the details of each of these four things as well as the specific ways you can pray for God's blessing.
Rise Up With Jesus
Easter Event for Families
April 10th | 3:00-4:30PM
The first event is the Rise Up Family Event. Our Preschool Ministry and Children's Ministry have partnered up on this event to create a compelling discipleship experience for newborns to 5th grade. Not only will they enjoy the experience, mom and dad will too!
Families will explore the important details of Jesus' resurrection. There will be seven captivating "hands-on" stations that allow kids to fully engage with the message of the Gospel. Not only will they discover the meaning of Jesus' death, they will also discover how his resurrection changes everything!
Here's how you can pray:
Ask God to open the spiritual eyes of every child who participates.
For those who are old enough, ask God to use His Word (through these stations) to spark true repentance and faith in their heart resulting in salvation.
Pray that parents will be able to use this experience as a diving board for "at home" discipleship.
Churches have big events all the time. But we don't want to just have an event for the sake of entertainment. Everything we do is filtered through the lens of our mission to make disciples.
Several of these kids do not have a relationship with the Lord. Others are just starting in their relationship with God. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to do what ONLY HE CAN DO. I'm trusting God to produce lasting spiritual fruit.
Good Friday Service
April 15th | 6:00PM
The second big event coming up is our Good Friday service on April 15th at 6PM. This year we're going to look at Jesus' seven "cries from the cross." We will have videos that correspond to each of the seven sayings followed by a brief meditation and time of prayer.
**DISCLAIMER **
The videos in the Good Friday service contain clips from the Passion of the Christ. They are violent and bloody portrayals of Jesus' suffering on the cross. We will have childcare for ages 3 and younger. However, viewer discretion is advised for young children who participate. The videos are around 60 seconds in length. You can just cover their eyes if you're worried about the impact (audio is just background music. No sound effects.)
This service is unlike any other service we do throughout the year. The mood is somber not celebratory. There will be periods of personal reflection, prayer and corporate thanksgiving. The Good Friday service will be followed by a Saturday outreach the following day.
Here's how you can pray:
Ask God to really open our eyes to the passion of Jesus on the cross. Pray that we not just be intellectually familiar but spiritually penetrated with the reality of Jesus' death on the cross.
Pray for every person to walk away with security in their salvation as well as an unwavering commitment to obey God no matter what. (repentance and faith that bears fruit!)
Pray that this night creates a true hunger in our hearts to share the Gospel with people the following Saturday morning.
Saturday Outreach Event
April 16th | 8:30-12:30
The THIRD thing I'd like you to know and pray about is our Saturday Outreach Event this coming April 16th. It's the Saturday morning before Easter.
We have printed 5,000 flyers and we have over 500 Gospel tracks ready to go.
Bonnie Barlow, our Bless the City Coordinator, has also mapped out the neighborhood around the church and broken it up into mapped sections for each team. We need at least 25 teams to cover all of the ground we want to cover so please RSVP and let us know if you plan to be there.
8:30-9:15AM:
We will meet at the church at 8:30 and have a light breakfast for anybody who wants/needs it. Tanner Clarke will do an evangelism training directly following that to help build your confidence and give everybody the tools they need to effectively engage in spiritual conversations.
9:15-11:45AM:
After the training, we will break into teams, assign maps and start going door to door in the blocks surrounding the church. Each team will have door-hangers, tracks and a recording system to note which houses were visited and any conversations that need follow up. Whatever houses we don't finish we can come back and do later. We're developing a master plan to hit every home!
11:45-12:30
Once you've finished your section you can come back to the church and join the prayer team until all other teams arrive. At 11:45 we'll serve a Chick-fil-a lunch and have teams give testimonies (if they have any.) We will close out by praying for our Sunday morning services and the homes we contacted.
PRAYER TEAM:
Even if you're not comfortable going out and talking to complete strangers, we still need you here for this event. Those who don't go out will gather in the Sanctuary and pray for each team and the homes they will visit. The more prayer warriors we have the better!
If you aren't physically able to go door-to-door but you can get to the church and pray then please RSVP.
If you and/or your family are planning on coming to the Saturday Outreach Event please RSVP so we can make sure we have plenty of food and supplies ready to go.
I believe we will meet people Saturday who don't know the Lord. Ask God to start preparing their hearts NOW for the conversation they will have.
Pray that God will raise up 100 people to go out and knock on doors or pray this next Saturday. We need a large turn out to cover the maps.
Pray that God would give YOU a burden for the lost and a zeal for evangelism. Ask God to give you the courage to be there Saturday to participate at some level.
Pray for Tanner Clarke as he trains us in evangelism and Bonnie Barlow as she organizes and administrates the event. (If you'd like to help with meals reply to the email and let me know!)
I think the participation and prayer behind this event will have a very large impact on the final prayer need which is Easter Sunday at Broadview.
Easter Sunday
April 17th | 8:15, 9:30 & 11:00
Small Groups: 9:30 & 11:00
Our 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting will culminate on April 17th. You may have lived through so many Easters by now that you don't get excited about it anymore. If so, let me encourage you to make this year the year you get excited AGAIN.
If you have an unchurched friend or unchristian neighbor then this is the year you want to invite them to Broadview. Not only will there be a sermon on the resurrection and presentation of the Gospel, we are also going to call people to obedience to Christ through baptism that very morning!
The waters will be warm and baptism T-shirts/shorts will be available for men, women, boys and girls. I believe there may be some in our congregation who've never followed Christ in believer's baptism by immersion. There are others who have never made any profession of faith whatsoever but Sunday will be the day that God calls them to respond.
I've been asking God for a fresh outpouring of his power in our worship services. It's been a big part of my fast. Since 2020 and COVID, we have seen a drastically smaller number of first time decisions for Christ and baptisms. We've not seen someone "get saved" on a Sunday morning in a long time.
I'm desperate for God to change that fact and I'm praying for a visible demonstration of his sovereign grace in our worship services these next few weeks. Good music and engaging sermons don't "save" anybody. Only the Word of God through the Spirit of God can make that happen.
But the Word is going to be preached and the Spirit is going to be present. So please join me in "believing God" for visible display of His power to save.
Here's how you can pray:
Pray for everyone who will be involved in leading worship at both campuses Easter Sunday.
Pray for our members to invite their unchurched/unchristian friends/neighbors to church.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to use God's Word to open spiritual eyes and convict hearts of sin.
Pray for people who need to obey Christ in believers baptism by immersion. Pray they have the courage to act.
Final Thoughts
You might read this email and think to yourself, "Geeze, Wes. Don't get your hopes up..." I get it! I'm not going to lie. That same doubt has cropped up in my own heart and mind as I've prayed over these four things.
But these 21 days of prayer and fasting have been teaching me to silence that doubt with a new seed of faith.
I know God is sovereign and He will do what He wants. We aren't going to twist His arm or force His hand.
I also know that merely asking for things in prayer doesn't mean they'll happen. God works in mysterious ways and being excited about something doesn't necessarily change his plans.
BUT...
Those truths must be held in tension with these truths:
Our Heavenly Father LOVES to give the Holy Spirit to those who will ask. (Luke 11:13)
God is not willing that ANY should perish but that all would come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
There's a relationship between the visible display of God's power and our faith. (Matthew 13:58)
There are promises of God to answer prayers, rightly prayed, for spiritual fruit. (John 15:7)
We do not have what we want because we do not ask God for it in prayer. (James 4:2)
When I think of these things alongside of Jesus' promise to be "with us" as we partner together in the Great Commission, I just can't help but get a little bit excited. He has ALL AUTHORITY to say yes to these prayers I'm asking you to pray. (Matthew 28:18)
So let's FAST & PRAY and BELIEVE God for something great.
Don't forget that we have additional announcements below. We also have a prayer meeting this Sunday night at 5PM so please keep that in mind as well.
If there is anything I can pray with YOU about please let me know by replying to this email. You can also post it on the prayer channel in our church app or website chat.
Looking forward to a great Sunday and hope to see you there.
Join us for the first class of "Emmaus Road: Finding Jesus in the OT." This class will explore Old Testament theme/types and discover how Jesus fulfills and completes them. Class will be taught by Jagger Gran.
Classes will be stand-alone and on occasion. The first class will be held on Sunday night, April 24th, at 5:00PM.
We are starting a new young adult small group at 11:00am on Sunday mornings! This small group will begin by studying through the book of Ephesians. The class will be led by Dustin Malone and consist of a blend between expositional Bible teaching and group discussion.
The book of Ephesians is one of THE BEST New Testament letters for understanding the truth of the Gospel and how it applies to your every day life. It's also a great book for understanding God's design for the local church.
No matter what season of life you find yourself in, you will benefit from this small group. The group is open to all (not just young adults). It will launch on May 17th. You can go ahead and preregister if you think you might be interested.
Contact Dustin at (325) 370-9777 for more information.
Throughout Scripture we find countless stories of God’s faithfulness. We also find countless stories of the people who remained faithful to Him.
Starting March 30th we will kick off a new women's Bible study to examine some of those "imperfect yet faithful" people. This study dives into Hebrews 11, examining the lives of Rahab, Enoch, Gideon, Sarah, and many more whose faiths withstood the tests of their days.
The name of the study is "A Great Cloud of Witnesses" and it was written by Trillia Newbell.
We've rescheduled our Men's Ministry corn hole tournament for May 21st. So bring out your A-game and compete in our corn hole tournament this coming February 5th. We will have at least four corn hole boards going at one time. Whoever wins the tournament will be eligible for a prize and bragging rights.
We will start the games at 3:30PM and go until whenever the tournament is over. This will be a laid back time of fun and fellowship. Food will also be provided (hot dogs, chili, chips, condiments and drinks.)
We will assign teams after everyone arrives.
There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Rangers Game
June 4th | $50 ticket
Rangers Stadium (Arlington, TX)
The Broadview Men's Ministry is inviting all men to watch the Rangers play the Mariners at the newly renovated Rangers Stadium in Arlington, Texas! We've got a block of 20 tickets in the "all you can eat" section. (so dinner is covered).
There are only 11 tickets remaining as of the writing of this email!
Tickets are $50. This covers the cost of the ticket plus $5 for gas. The game starts at 3:05PM. We will leave the church at 10:30AM and get lunch on the road. Games typically last 2.5 to 3 hours so we plan to be back in Abilene later that evening (8-9PM).
If you are interested in signing up please contact Brian at (713) 204-7458. You must pay your $50 to secure your spot. You can pay online here or in person at church (checks payable to Broadview Baptist Church.)
