Baptist Pastor Launches Early Morning Mideast Prayer Initiative
WASHINGTON – The second vice president of the largest U.S. Protestant denomination recently launched an early-morning prayer initiative for the Middle East.
The week-old prayer program encourages churches nationwide to join a telephonic prayer meeting with Mideast church members every morning at 5 a.m PST to pray for peace in the region. U.S. churches are connected to Mideast churches through the program and both parties gather on the phone each morning to pray for the end of violence in the region and the safety of Christians there.
“It is sort of easy for us to say that ‘our hearts are with you and we are praying for you’ way over here because we don’t have bullets flying at us,” said Wiley Drake, second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of first Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., on Sunday.
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“But on the other hand, we just really believe that the Bible is true and that the Bible says we are to bear with one another’s burden. Even though we can’t go over there and stop the bullet or even to send money, we can help bear their burdens by taking it to the Lord in prayers.”
The telephonic prayer program is not new to Drake or his church which has been involved in prayer initiative on different issues for about three years. However, this is the first time the Middle East is the main program topic.
Drake, though an SBC leader, says the program is open to all denominations and welcomes churches of all size. As example, he pointed to his own church, with under 100 members, which has partnered with the Gaza Baptist Church in Gaza city.
There are currently about 6 churches involved with hundreds of Christians expressing interest in joining.
People have questioned the initiative’s decision to hold 5 a.m. telephonic meetings. Drake responded that the program’s early morning prayer models after the Scripture.
“Some people said that the prayer time is too early,” noted Drake. “Well, we just believe it was Jesus’ practice to get up early and prayer even though it is early,” he said, explaining that though it is early on the West Coast, it is 8 a.m. on the east coast and around 3 p.m. in the Middle East.
Prayer topics besides peace include protection for all Christians, finances to help the region’s poor, and prayer for both sides of the war especially for U.S. forces.
“We may not be able to stop the bullet, but we can say ‘hey, we are praying for you and you are not in this alone,” concluded Drake. “‘You are part of the body of Christ and we are praying for you.’”
The telephone number is 605-772-3900 and the access code is 399430.
