One of the Things I Love About Mondays (and you can love it, too)

On Mondays, DailyLife helps me pray for missionaries. It helps me do that consistently. Take a look below and pray for today’s featured missionaries. Subscribe to get DailyLife in your inbox here: https://www.fiveoaks.church/dailylife.

Kingdom Priorities

Week 2: Day 1

Prayers for our world | Pray for Five Oaks-supported missionaries Greg and Michelle Larson

Greg and Michelle Larson have been shining the light of Jesus in East Hollywood for nearly 20 years.  Greg describes East Hollywood as a crazy, dirty, urban, Latino, melting pot of cultures. It’s in this context that Greg and Michelle live and work to serve the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their neighbors. Their ministry includes serving two meals per day to the homeless, conducting GED training sessions, financial literacy classes, leading a youth recovery program (similar to a mini Teen Challenge), leading sports camps, and co-leading an English- and Spanish-speaking church in the neighborhood.

Last year, the Five Oaks small group that had adopted the Larsons sent two of their members to spend several days with the Larsons on their mission field. These Five Oakers experienced this mission field firsthand; they were able to help serve, and they were able to pray with the Larsons and their team. This was a great way to let our mission partners know that they are not alone. If your small group would like to adopt a mission partner, or would like to visit a missionary whom you’ve already adopted, please contact Dave Baar (impact@fiveoakschurch.org).

Take a few minutes to pray:

  • Praise that Pastor Victor from El Salvador could join their team in East Hollywood. He opens new doors by adding a strong Spanish-speaking presence to their ministry.

  • For Kairos Church in East Hollywood - that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be known and seen through this church.

  • That Jesus would shine through in all the programs: meals, training, education, counseling 

  • For Greg’s health, as he is dealing with cancer treatments and recovery.

Today's Impact prayer was written by Impact Director Dave Baar

Photo by Nathan DeFiesta on Unsplash

Snippet: On Venezuela

Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

No, I have nothing to say about the political situation regarding Venezuela except to encourage you to pray. But I’ve been wanting to write a Snippet post about this post by Trevin Wax, “The Pastor and the Pundit” (https://bit.ly/3YtYOsn), and this seems like the opportune time. Here’s the snippet:

“We shouldn’t expect pastors to be omnicompetent. Such expectations inflate the office beyond its biblical design and, ironically, flatten the contributions of lay Christians called to engage in law, politics, economics, and other fields.”

This reflects my philosophy on commenting on political policies.

And most people have no idea how hard it is to sort out what to even address as a matter of prayer. My thought: Why this, like taking Maduro, and not that, like bombing Iran?

My perspective was shaped by John Stott, who reminded church leaders that they are not policy experts, while some in their congregations are, and that aligning with political policy solutions that eventually fail brings disrepute to the gospel and the church’s ministry. In other words, when it comes to political policies and solutions to real problems, “stay in your lane.”

Staying in our lanes isn’t passive. We still address the problems as the Bible addresses them. And we encourage Christians to be informed citizens. We encourage Christians to think; we don’t tell them what to think.

And, yes, it’s not that simple. What if more pastors had addressed civil rights or Nazi policies? Those are real questions with complex answers, if there are any definitive answers at all.

So, pray for Venezuela. Pray for our leaders. As a Cuban-American, I’m also praying for the Cuban church and people because this has a direct impact on them.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash