The importance of prayer - by Dave

Hello. Dave here. I'm one of the leaders going to Poland with Southern Gables Church's 180 high school group. This is the first of many postings by the team members going to Poland this summer. I've asked each member of the team to think through what is on their hearts and minds as they prepare for this trip. I will plan on posting their responses over the next couple of weeks. I've also asked them to list prayer requests so that if you, the readers, feel led to support us through prayer, you will have specific examples to pray for.

For myself, I've been thinking a lot about the importance of prayer. Two weeks ago, at our last Poland meeting, the subject of preparation came up. During our conversation, I began to think about how preparation for a trip like this needs to be a very intentional action. We were discussing evangelism and how letting our actions reflect the character of Jesus can lead others to question what is different about our lives. However, it is vital that each of us is prepared for those dialogues. This means that we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in everyday interactions. For me, this means spending time in prayer. Not just prayer for the rest of the team (though this is important), but prayer for myself: that I would be sensitive to the leadings of the Spirit not just in Poland, but everyday.

For my prayer requests, I would ask that as I prepare, I would continue thinking about how God has changed my life. The cliche aside, I believe it is important for me to really think through this so that I may explain it in a way that sounds genuine, and not as a sales pitch. For me, there is a bit of stigma surrounding evangelism. I often worry too much about how I say things, and forget that what I say is more important. I would also ask that as we travel, the Lord would grant me patience with the rest of the team. As I've already shared with them, I am an extreme introvert, which means there will be times that my patience with others will wear thin, especially after several long days and short nights.

Welcome back!

If you haven't visited this page in a while (and you probably haven't, given that the last posting was February 5th), welcome back! This page will follow the 180 team's trip to Poland this summer as well our process of preparing.

So stay tuned!