Project: Pray for every church

As part of Arizona Southern Baptists’ year of prayer in 2020, a Pray for Every Church Project was launched Jan. 2. The goal is to pray for every Arizona Southern Baptist church and its pastor before the AZSBC annual meeting in November.

“I hope people all around the state will join in the Pray for Every Church Project,” AZSBC Executive Director David Johnson said. “Individuals can participate daily just by using their phone or computer, and churches can publish the list of churches to pray for in their bulletins or newsletters.”

The names of churches and pastors are posted through Arizona Southern Baptists’ social media channels — Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. One church is featured on Sunday, two each day Monday-Friday, with Saturday as a review or catch-up day. The entire dated list is available at pray2020az.org, where a prayer guide — Praying the 4 P’s (prayer for pastors, God’s people, God’s providence, the perishing) — is also available.

“We are already hearing testimonies of what God is doing in the churches we are praying for,” Johnson said. “It will be exciting to see what happens in our churches this year as we pray for each one.”

Last year, AZSBC President Ashley Evans, pastor of 22nd Street Baptist Church, Tucson, designated 2020 as a year of prayer for Arizona Southern Baptists.

At the AZSBC annual meeting last November, Johnson presented strategic goals related to the values of the updated Centennial Vision 2.0. He noted it would take “an act of God, or a movement of God” to accomplish them.

“Let’s spend a year of prayer, praying that God would use us to reach our state and to reach our world with the gospel,” Johnson said at the annual meeting.