|
God has called me to the ministry of challenging,
encouraging and teaching His people to pray, especially for the lost.
Approximately 140,000 souls go to hell every
single day, with intercessory prayer as their only hope. In light of this,
everything else we do pales to insignificance. I wish we would make Charles
Spurgeon’s plea our motto: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to
hell over our bodies. If they will perish let them perish with our arms about
their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
Since prayer is so crucial to the advancement of Christ’s
kingdom, Satan fights it more than everything
else put together. That’s why God Himself could not find even one
intercessor in all of Israel (Isaiah 59:16) and why our Lord could not get His
top three apostles to pray with Him for just one hour (Matthew 26:40-41). So you
can readily see that I must have your help!
Let me begin by introducing myself to you. I am 58 years
old. My wife and I have been married for 38 years and we have four children and
eight grandchildren. I have a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in
Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Fort Worth
,
Texas
. I have been pastoring Southern Baptist churches in
Texas
and
Louisiana
since 1972. In September 2004, I resigned
the pastorate to begin a full-time itinerant ministry!
During these last few years the Lord has revealed to me
some helpful truths in the area of praying for the lost. Then He began to open
doors for me to teach it in seminars and prayer conferences. When I shared it
with Wayne Jenkins, our state Director of Evangelism, he said to me, “Lee, we
have over 1600 Southern Baptist Churches in
Louisiana
. You can’t get into all of them to teach this seminar and our people need
this material. Will you let us help you put it in book form?” Well, now it is
a book and we must get it into the hands of millions of Christians for God is
using it to stir the hearts of many to pray as never before.
Dan Garland, the Director of Evangelism for
Kentucky
, has sent out 14,000 copies to key people throughout the state. Here are some
excerpts from the letter he sent with the book: “Every now and then we come
across a resource that we believe will help our churches be more effective in
carrying out their God given mission. The enclosed booklet “Praying
Effectively for the Lost” is a resource that God is using to encourage
Christians to pray for their lost friends, neighbors, co-workers and family
members…Our prayer is that you will (1) read/pray through the booklet
yourself, (2) pray about how the Lord would have you use it to challenge
Christians to pray for those who need Christ as Savior, (3) develop a plan to
get the booklet in the hands and hearts of as many people as possible…We
believe the Lord will use this booklet to ignite the passion of His people for
prayer. We pray that your passion will be renewed and that you will join us in
the effort to call our people to prayer.”
A businessman in
Lexington
,
Kentucky
, was so moved by the book that he sent out 35,000 copies to individuals all
over the
United States
and now he is waiting for us to get more printed so he can mail out another
115,000. Pastor Ron Hill of Galax,
Virginia, sent me this letter: “ Thank you for your book “Praying
Effectively for the Lost”…It is having a tremendous impact on the local
harvest of souls. Flesh and blood did not reveal these truths to you but the
Father in heaven. In my reading of prominent Christian writers over the
centuries I have noted that about every one hundred years God imparts a nugget
of priceless value to the church. This book could very well be that treasure for
our generation…”
Last year at a
First
Baptist
Church
in
Louisiana
, I taught the conference on a Saturday and followed it up with a revival about
one month later. A 56 year old lady got such a burden for her family that she
kept asking the congregation to help her pray for her family members, calling
them by name. During this time she told her daughter that she wanted an “altar
call” at her funeral (though she was not sick). Four months later, she
suddenly died and 18 of her family members got saved at her funeral. At another
country church in
Louisiana
, I taught the material in April and the congregation made a composite prayer
list of over 100 names. I followed it up with a revival three months later and
during this time the pastor baptized 21 people. All 21 were from the prayer
list!
E.M. Bounds says, “Around us is a world lost in sin,
above us is a God willing and able to save; it is ours to build the bridge that
links heaven and earth, and prayer is
the mighty instrument that does the work.” I would appreciate your
consideration in giving me the opportunity to come to your church to teach this material . The personal teaching greatly enhances the
reading of the book. Also there are many testimonies resulting from the effects
of the book and the conferences I’ve taught that will encourage your people to
keep on praying for their lost loved ones.
Lee Thomas
|