Praise God for bringing us to the start of a new ministry year. Pray for our preschoolers, kids, and students to grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s Word. Ask God to bless and strengthen all the volunteers in our age-group ministries as they serve faithfully week in and week out. Ask God to grow our unity and community as a church through our small groups. Pray for all those in our faith family who are not yet in a small group to find the right one for them to help them grow in Christ.

This week we are praying for Restoration Academy (restorationacademy.org), a K-12 Christian school located in Fairfield, AL as they start a new school year. Their mission is to provide an excellent, Christ-centered education to students predominantly from lower-income families. Restoration Academy is committed to meeting individual students at their point of need, providing dynamic instruction and curriculum, competitive sports, and outlets for kids to grow into all that God desires while breaking generational cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, and fatherlessness. We are also praying for Urban Hope Community Church and Pastor Alton Hardy.

DAY 1: Pray for the administration, teachers, and volunteers at Restoration Academy who daily pour into the students under their care. Pray they would walk in faithful obedience to God’s will and would be encouraged and strengthened by His Spirit.

DAY 2: Pray for the weekly tutors who invest in the students as well as the volunteers who serve as teachers, aides, classroom sponsors, and room moms. Pray for God to raise up additional tutors and mentors for this school.

DAY 3: Praise the Lord for the work being done at Restoration Academy. They have recently finished the new dining hall and gym space for the students. Pray for this space to be used to grow students in deeper fellowship and love for one another.

DAY 4: Pray for opportunities for the gospel to be proclaimed to students who do not yet know Christ. It is the school’s goal that, upon graduation, each student would have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be committed to following Him.

DAY 5: Pray for Restoration Academy as they seek to expand their impact and reach throughout the city. Pray for new programming, services, and opportunities for students so they may excel and fulfill the plans God has already laid out for them. Pray these new programs and services would help students succeed in life, grow closer to God, and grow His kingdom.

DAY 6: Pray for protection for the Restoration Academy students, staff, and the entire city of Fairfield, as school shootings and community violence are at an all-time high in our country. Praise and thank God for placing His arms of protection around the Fairfield and RA communities and ask that He continue to keep them safe.

This week we are praying for one of our long-term families in the Desert City, Chris, Leah and their children: James, Micah, and Grace.

DAY 1: Pray they will lead their team and serve well in their local church family. Pray they will be good listeners and intentional disciple-makers.

DAY 2: Ask the Lord to strengthen the church and believers in the Desert City through an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and for them to be bold and courageous in sharing the hope they have in Christ.

DAY 3: Pray for many to hear the gospel in Desert City neighborhoods. Pray for God to bless those who are going out weekly and sharing the gospel in low income neighborhoods. May many come to faith. May new seeker Bible studies form in the weeks ahead.

DAY 4: Pray for intentional workers to humbly serve in the Desert City for a long time. Workplace professionals and other gospel workers come and go often. Pray many faithful, intentional disciple-makers will stay in the city for decades.

DAY 5: Pray for their team to remain united and together push against the darkness across the city seeking to make disciples and plant churches.

DAY 6: Pray for churches to be planted across the city in many different languages during the next five years, especially in Urdu, Farsi, Dari, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, and English