When Rony met a North American missionary who spoke his language in Sterling, Virginia, everything changed. "He pointed me to the Bible," he says, "and that was the beginning of my Christian journey."
When Elizabeth wandered into a new church that'd just started in her community, everything changed. "I found the one my soul loves," she says, "and it's Jesus."
When Maki started hanging out with neighbors who'd moved to Las Vegas to make Jesus known, everything changed. "I decided I wanted to be saved," he says, "and now I've totally turned around from where I used to be."
Right now, almost 3,000 Southern Baptist North American missionaries are starting new churches and meeting countless physical needs, all with the goal of making Jesus known to every man and every woman, everywhere.
That is a gloriously unrealistic yet completely attainable goal. Because we're promised that when we pray, gloriously unrealistic things will happen. What kind of things?
Rony, Elizabeth and Maki know the answer. When we pray, everything changes, and Jesus is made known.

PRAY FOR

• North American missionaries to reach more like Rony, Elizabeth and Maki who need the hope and love of Christ.
• North American missionaries to have the resources to plant new, vibrant churches.
• God to call and equip more missionaries to make Jesus known in North America.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Noelson Chery already had a demanding job and a busy life.
He wasn't looking to add to it.
The Cherys live in Philadelphia. Noelson works remotely as an academic advisor. "It's 40 long hours a week," he says. "That's why my wife, a respiratory therapist, and I resisted." Noelson and Edna are Haitian immigrants, and in 2019, when they discovered that most Haitian churches in their community worshipped only in Haitian Creole, they became church planters in the most unintentional of ways. "Everything in the churches was done for adults, whether the kids can speak Creole or not," Noelson says. "So, we started Bible study in English with our kids at home."
When other Haitian families learned what the Cherys were doing, they asked to join them. "It wasn't our plan, but we couldn't say no," Edna says. "And soon, our street was filled with cars." Now, they've planted a Haitian church that's making Jesus known and specifically reaching the younger generations.
And the Chery's have second jobs they didn't even know they needed. "The Lord has blown my mind," Noelson says.
"Despite our busy lives and careers, nothing excites us more than this ministry."

PRAY FOR

• Noelson to have time and energy to devote to First Haitian
Metanoia Baptist Church.
• A dedicated space where their new church can meet and do ministry.
• Growth of mentoring relationships between young and older believers in the church.

Jacksonville, Florida

The timing is what seemed odd. Four years ago, God told Josh and Beth Glymph to simultaneously do the two hardest things they'd ever done.
"Foster care and church planting," says Beth. "I thought there was no way He'd ask us to do both at the same time."
And yet, everything began to make sense after the Glymphs adopted three children, two out of foster care, while starting Refuge Church in the Jacksonville community of Ortega.
Ortega had almost no evangelical witness, but it did have families who looked as eclectic as the Glymphs..
"People here who were fostering and adopting said, 'Hey, there's a family that's doing what we're doing,"' Josh says.
"That's how the Lord began to build this church."
Now, the Glymphs share the gospel with families from all kinds of backgrounds. "We didn't set out to plant a church for foster and adoptive families," says Beth. "But now that it's happened, we get to see the Lord working right in front of our eyes."

PRAY FOR

• Foster and adoptive families like the Glymphs to grow in their love for Jesus and each other.
• New witnessing relationships to form out of Refuge's foster and adoptive care ministry.
• Families who'll be willing to help plant more churches in Jacksonville's other unreached communities.

Denver, Colorado

There are hundreds of stories about missionaries leaving America to share the gospel in Africa. But Alayu and Yegile Dubale have a story about what happened when they traveled in the opposite direction.
It began in 2015, when the Dubales left their village in Ethiopia and moved to Denver, Colorado.
"In Africa, I was traveling village to village planting churches," says Alayu. "But when I arrived here and saw all the Ethiopians, people who'd never heard the name Jesus, not even once, I knew I had to use every opportunity to draw people living here to Christ."
There are almost 50,000 Ethiopians in Denver. Many work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and for Alayu, that makes church planting here more difficult than in Ethiopia.
"In Africa, you can gather people anywhere, anytime. But here, you have to search for them because they're so busy," says Alayu. "I was aggressive in finding them, and we prayed, and we came together. Now, we're planting Ethiopian Gospel Believers Church and sending out to plant even more."

PRAY FOR
•  Encounters that will turn into witnessing opportunities.
•  A more suitable building where Alayu's church can meet and do ministry.
•  God to grow not just Alayu's church plant, but the two additional works they've launched.

Boston, Massachusetts

"The gospel-how does it work?" That's perhaps the most beautiful question Faith Garland has ever heard.
As a missionary serving at the Send Relief Ministry Center in downtown Boston, Faith often finds herself in alleyways and near strip clubs looking for women who are looking for help.
"In anti-trafficking and sexual abuse awareness work, you have to remember that everyone you meet is searching for Christ's perfect love," she says. "They just don't always know they're seeking Christ."
Not long ago, one of the women Faith met on the street showed up at the ministry center. Faith and her volunteers had invited her to come and help make jewelry that they hand out to women on the street. And God used bracelets and earrings to draw out that gospel question.
"We made jewelry and talked for two hours," Faith says.
"There's a stereotype that women who are homeless or working the clubs want to be there. It's because of tough life circumstances they find themselves there and looking for a way out."
"In this ministry, we get to do the loving. But ultimately Christ has to change their hearts."

PRAY FOR

• Faith and her volunteers to build witnessing relationships with people who are trafficked or abused.
• More churches to learn about and join the fight against human trafficking.
• Endurance, encouragement and safety for Faith and her volunteer teams and for future staffing needs.

Las Vegas, Nevada

If Joseph and Kristen Gibbons learned anything when they moved to Las Vegas, it was this: don't believe everything you hear.
"When people think of Vegas, they think it's just casinos," says Kristen. "But families live here. And we didn't fall in love with the Strip. We fell in love with the people."
In 2020, the Gibbons left their home in Alabama to plant Favor City Church in Henderson, Nevada. "The people who run the Strip live in the surrounding communities," says Joseph. "And we wanted to meet them in their fast-paced lives and slow things down enough so the gospel could sink in."
That was their recipe for starting a church; that, plus a lot of prayer, and a handful of easier-than-expected gospel conversations.
"One of the other misconceptions about Vegas is that people are rude," says Joseph. "But they're really not. People here are wide open to spiritual conversations. As a result, we've seen entire families give their lives to Christ. It's been incredible."

PRAY FOR

• Wisdom to effectively disciple new believers. 
• The people and resources Favor City needs to start more new churches. 
• Opportunities to share the gospel with leaders at the school where Favor City Church meets.
  

Sterling, Virginia

Five seconds. That's how long it took him to come up with a name.
Jefferson Hernandez had not given a moment's thought to what he and his wife Carol would call their new church plant in Sterling, Virginia. When he was unexpectedly asked the name, Jefferson said a quick prayer.
"I'd just read in John 4 where it says the fields are white unto harvest, and the phrase 'Campo Blanco' crossed my mind. So right then and there, that was the name given to the church-Campo Blanco, which in English is 'White Field'."
Jefferson and Carol live in one of the wealthiest counties in America. Lured by the promise of high-paying jobs, immigrants from Central and South America are moving there in recora numbers. Many of them are unreached by the gospel.
"Seeing this place fill up with lost people, I can see now that there's enough potential to start a church on every block. And still, we'd need more. 'White Field' was definitely a good name."

PRAY FOR

• Opportunities to build witnessing relationships with Hispanic immigrants.
• Leaders who'll one day leave Campo Blanco to start more new churches.
• Families in the church to grow in their devotion to Christ.

When Rony came to America, his worldly possessions fit inside one tiny carry-on. "I left everything," he said,
"In Venezuela."
When Elizabeth had her third abortion, she felt like she'd hit rock bottom. "I felt so disgusting," she said, "and so alone."
When Maki made it big as a professional fighter, he let a lie become his mantra. "God will never love a person," he said,"like me."
Rony, Elizabeth and Maki are remarkable because they are common. In what is perhaps the most technologically advanced and seemingly gospel-saturated continent on earth, how is it that there are hundreds of millions of more people just like them? How is it that in communities all over North America, Jesus is not known?
Rony didn't speak English. Elizabeth had no Christian friends. Maki wholeheartedly embraced the world's view of who God is. Rony, Elizabeth and Maki are North America's modern-day everyman and everywoman.
And because they are among us, North American missionaries are called to go to them and make Jesus known.

PRAY FOR