Praise God for the faith family He has gathered together here at Brook Hills. Ask Him to help us all care for one another well. Pray for all those within our church who are hurting and struggling to know the comfort and provision of our God.

As part of our February orphan care emphasis in City Ministries, we are praying for Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries (alabamachild.org). ABCH exists to protect, nurture, and restore children and families as a faith-based foster care provider. These Christ-centered services seek to provide homes for children, offer professional counseling, and provide educational services and family assistance. They ultimately desire to see children and families experience hope and wholeness through knowing God. We are also praying for Hunter Street Baptist Church and Pastor Buddy Gray.

DAY 1: Pray for the 6,000 foster children in Alabama. Pray for them to be welcomed into Christian homes across our state and experience holistic healing. Ask God to soften their hearts and reveal His love to them, and pray they would enter into a personal relationship with Him through Jesus.

DAY 2: Pray for ABCH’s former foster kids pursuing college degrees and certification. Pray for God to continue to cultivate spirits of endurance within them and for them to graduate. Ask God to provide abundantly for College Care so ABCH can continue to support former foster kids pursuing higher education.

DAY 3: Pray for the biological parents of foster children. Pray for God to use these challenging experiences to draw them to Himself and transform them. Pray for their salvation. Ask God to reunify families. Pray for Christians to take opportunities to love these families.

DAY 4: Pray for ABCH’s foster parents. Pray for God to continue to daily replenish parents with love, strength, and perseverance to support the children He brings into their homes. Ask Him to rally churches and support systems to faithfully come alongside and serve these families.

DAY 5: Pray for the leadership, staff, social workers, and other professionals leading and supporting ABCH. Ask God to guide them, protect them from burnout, and renew their strength daily. Pray for Him to continue to provide for their needs as an organization and broaden their resources statewide.

DAY 6: Pray for churches in Birmingham serving foster families. Pray they would be quick to pray for and serve foster children and families. Pray for them to seek to cultivate supportive and welcoming environments for families to be encouraged and for children to feel safe and loved.

This week we are praying for our long-termers Patrick and Vivian serving in Southeast Asia.

DAY 1: Pray for Patrick and Vivian in their occupations. They have both been in their work context for more than seven years and have long-standing relationships with coworkers and friends. Ask God to help them be faithful witnesses at work and in their ongoing relationships with non-believing friends. Pray for Patrick and Vivian to be faithful in continuing to pursue opportunities and conversations about the Good News with both old and new friends and coworkers.

DAY 2:  Patrick and Vivian are members of an international church where Patrick serves as an elder. Pray for Patrick in his role as an elder and for the Word to be the primary driver and foundation for everything they do as a church. Pray this would be true of them corporately as well as members individually delighting in being subject to the Word and the gospel.

DAY 3: Consistent with the urban and international culture of their city, Patrick and Vivian’s church has a steady stream of visitors and new families in addition to people leaving after only a short stay. Pray their church can love and serve these people well despite the ongoing change and inconsistency. Pray for the Lord to use the constant transition of people to His glory and praise as these individuals and families move to new places or back to their home country.

DAY 4: Patrick and Vivian lead a small group that meets every other week. Pray for them as they walk alongside these brothers and sisters with varying life situations, spiritual backgrounds, and maturity. Pray they would sacrificially do life together with them and point them to the Word.

DAY 5: Ask God to enable Patrick and Vivian to be faithful and consistent in their personal spiritual disciplines. Pray they would delight in the Word and be quick to turn to the Lord in prayer instead of striving in their own efforts. Pray for them to sacrificially and hospitably use their home for engagement with church and friends and also support visitors passing through their city.

DAY 6: Pray for their marriage, for them to love and serve one another consistently despite being pulled in a lot of different directions with kids, work, and living in a large, international city. Ask God to work through them in their roles as parents, and pray they would be faithful to consistently speak and live out the truth of the gospel with their kids. Pray for their girls to see and understand the gospel, responding in faith and trust of Him.