Thank you for committing to stand beside the work here and pray for the evangelistic campaign we are conducting from May 24 to June 6. We will be sharing the message of Jesus Christ with thousands of people through website and social media messages with a goal for people to download Scripture and engage with us in spiritual conversations. Regular prayer updates will be listed below to inform your prayer during this campaign. To sign up for additional prayer slots please go to the page here.
Saturday evening, June 6
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creations revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God [Chris Tomlin]
We have this song in our thoughts, praising our Mighty God, as we also shout out to you, how thankful we are to have had you join us in God’s work through your prayers.
In the next couple of days we’ll send and post final thoughts from this concentrated evangelistic campaign. All that has been accomplished could not have come about without you willing to stand guard beside us. You have been such an encouragement and blessing in these current times.
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!” Matthew 25:23
Friday evening, June 5
God is still piercing hearts and calling on Vietnamese people to respond this evening. Sometimes responses are negative, like: “I follow the Communist Party, get out of my social media feed.” Or cussing (there are cuss words in Vietnamese) at the initial responses of the chat bot. But, more responses like: “I am not a follower of Jesus.” —and the chat box directs them to download a Bible or to a video for them to watch.
- Pray that each person is confronted with a decision—to choose Jesus or not (God’s gracious gift of choice)
- Pray for those looking for hope that they will respond to God’s leading
As we enter into the last day of prayer, remember with us, that God is in control. There is nothing that escapes His eye. His love is so great for all the peoples of the world.
- Pray for God to be glorified even in these last hours
- Pray for His name to be made known in the dark places
- Pray for lives to have been changed, by those seeing advertisements, responding, and even those who stand guard in prayer
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Thursday evening, June 4
“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.” Ephesians 1:3-6
God is God of planning, organization and design. We see it in creation, in His instructions, and His building throughout the Bible. Here’s a couple of statistics from our evangelistic campaign:
—Almost 9,500 clicks on videos about Jesus have been watched (does not mean they watched all the way through)
—Our advertisements or posts have appeared in the individual social media feeds of over 119,000 Vietnamese people in the areas where we are giving focus
—There has been an increase in activity by Vietnamese people sharing the ad on their own social media
Pray for Vietnamese to listen to leading of the Holy Spirit and be drawn to learn more about God.
Pray for Vietnamese to take next steps, if they have already initiated conversations, or if they have yet to reply.
Ask God to protect those He is calling to Himself to trust Him, in the face of culture and tradition.
There are messages again that cause ‘distraction’ from the Truth of Good News, only a few.
Pray for God to rule and be victorious, to guard those seeking and discovering Him.
Pray for Vietnamese to find hope in Jesus.
“For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Wednesday evening, June 3
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 Thanks be to God, who has heard your intercessions.
Over 90 people have entered into direct conversation (online) with us in this second week. This is a praise to God – many more than we expected. “Who was born first, Jesus or Buddha?” “How does Jesus help to have peace in life?” —-these are just a few questions that Vietnamese people are asking.
Pray for continued conversation with these people; for people to go further and deeper in conversations with us.
Pray for more new conversations as the week comes to a close and particularly on Friday and Saturday.
Through these conversations we’ve been able to direct many non-Believers to a short series of 7 videos that give a general background to the Bible, Old and New Testament stories—answering why it was necessary for Jesus to come and also including a simple plan of salvation and appeal to accept Christ.
Pray especially for those who have started in this video series to continue and be convicted to the point of placing their faith in Jesus Christ.
Pray for our ability to communicate clearly and continue following up in conversation with all of these contacts.
Several Believers have also been contacting us through this campaign, and we have been encouraging them to use the resources and videos we have put together to share the Gospel with their family, friends and co-workers. Pray that this will spark a vision for Believers to step up and more actively share the Gospel through their own networks of relationships.
Tuesday evening, June 2
It’s always good to praise our God. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.” Psalms 100:5 —We have passage to our God, and He deserves our praise.
Praise God for how He gives new opportunities to share the Good News. We want as many people to hear about God, know of His plan of salvation and grow in their understanding of Him through His Word. We also want to continue to learn how to reach people by any means.
—Pray for us to learn how to reach people using this new tool more effectively. Whether it is by our advertisements, reply to questions, or how we can filter people by knowing their spiritual interest, ask God to provide us His wisdom.
Vietnamese people are clicking on advertisements that lead to initial conversations, telling us that they do not follow Jesus, and also downloading a Bible.
—Pray for God’s Word to be read, for the Holy Spirit to remove veils and there to be understanding; for people to be convicted of sins, and for continued conversations after download.
Several local believers are helping to dialog with Vietnamese asking specific questions.
—Pray for our Vietnamese believing-friends to respond timely and with God’s direction to answer clearly with replies that will lead these with questions, further down the path to knowing God.
—Pray that God would call more Vietnamese believers into full-time ministry and work alongside us.
We continue to have great expectation of God’s miraculous work.
—Pray for God to move in Mighty ways, that could only be explained by Him at work. Results like: many new Vietnamese seekers or believers, many clicking to download a Bible, nominal believers having a passionate heart to share the Good News, new laborers into the harvest that want to work with digital engagement, and churches being started —-all that God would receive glory.
Thank you for Standing Beside and asking for the ear of God in all these requests.
Monday evening, June 1
Lots of victories in the name of the Lord our Banner this evening. God leads this battle, and we are in awe of Him working through this technology.
“The Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its fighting men over to you.”” Joshua 6:2 – Praise the One who leads and wins the battles.
Multiple people are in conversations with us and downloading a Bible.
- Pray for people to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and start conversations. Pray that God’s Word will be clear and offer them hope.
Several believers have clicked to go to online discipleship resources that we direct them to.
- Pray for believers to use discipleship materials to grow them into the men and women God will use to reach their family and friends.
As we interact with people, they ask questions about Jesus. We answer and point them to more of a step-by-step overview of the Bible that leads to the Gospel presentation.
- Pray for Vietnamese to continue through the process and gain and understanding of the Bible, God’s plan, and accept His gift of salvation.
God hears your prayers, and He has taken care of things.
“But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.” Psalms 66:19
Sunday evening, May 31
“Is Jesus sacred?” That’s a close approximation to the question Tinh* asked us in a direct message in Vietnamese. Tinh identified himself as not a follower of Jesus but interested in learning more. His lack of knowledge about Jesus being highlighted from the questions he was asking, basically wanting to know if Jesus is “a god”. Pray for Tinh and the many others he represents as we are beginning to get more messages and questions. Pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through us and give us discernment in how to help Tinh and others learn about Jesus Christ and be drawn to place their faith in Him.
Praise God for all of you standing guard. You thwart the enemy from gaining ground. Even this past week, there have been small attacks, which we attribute to your prayers and nothing big in nature—that’s a good thing, that God is pushing the darkness.
Praise God for Vietnamese people who are downloading the Bible. His Word will not fail. Continue to pray for those who will hunger and thirst to know Him.
Pray as a new advertisement goes out to those who responded during the first week, ask God to give hearts to those who would ask good questions, for us to give clear communication, and the Holy Spirit to convict and many accept salvation.
*name changed for the sake of security
Saturday evening, May 30
Week 2 evangelistic campaign is happening.
- Pray for God to direct paths of Vietnamese people to Him and have contact with us. God knows hearts and minds.
- Ask God to work in lives, so that His name is known and He receive all glory.
Messaging and comments from those seeing advertisements continues to come in through the evening.
- Pray for clear communication when people connect with us.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to guide conversations to answer questions well.
Praise God for His continual goodness. He is Lord Almighty over all the nations. He loves people to provide redemption and salvation in order that we might have a relationship with Him.
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” Romans 11:36
Friday evening, May 29
Praise God as the first week of our online evangelistic campaign begins to finish. Thank you for standing beside us and joining us in the work through prayer.
We thank God, as several thousand Vietnamese people have seen at least part of the Gospel and video about Jesus. Thousands have visited a website where they can see more videos about Jesus. Several hundred people have directly liked or followed items on social media. These numbers are just the start of a process, as we continue to develop relationships from this initial interaction.
The real key is on-going interaction and commitment on the part of these new contacts to study and explore the claims of Jesus Christ. We have been able to start that interaction in this first week including: both those who say they are not followers of Jesus and some who say they already are.
Pray for conversations that have already started to continue. Pray that those who say they are not followers of Jesus to allow us to guide them to specific material, giving them a solid understanding of the Gospel and leading them to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Pray for those who say that they are already followers of Jesus; that they will likewise take advantage of the information we are sharing with them on discipleship and worship; and that they will use our materials to likewise share the Gospel with their own family and friends.
Our online activity in Week 2 of this campaign shifts slightly to give a greater focus to beginning more of these conversations. While the website and social media pages are still being promoted where people can see videos about Jesus and hear the Gospel, our main objective this week is to have people message us privately to talk about Jesus. Please continue to pray that advertisements will be seen by the right people whose hearts God has prepared. Pray that many people will take the steps to begin conversations with us (online) and move through the initial questions which help to identify the best way we can help them. Pray that as these new contacts move through these conversations they will also watch more videos explaining the Gospel and download the Bible to their phone and begin reading God’s Word.
We have been encouraged as many have emailed or texted us that you are praying for the people of Vietnam and the blessings you are receiving.
You can still sign up for slots or more slots in Week 2 (31-May to 06-June) and join with us. Link to sign-up page here: https://reachingvietnam.com/pray/standing-beside/
Thursday evening, May 28
—Pray for God to do amazing things more than we request or expect, in order for Him to receive all praise. Though numbers are increasing, we long to see the miraculous, only explained by God-at-work results. Our hearts’ desire is for the Gospel to go out. Each prayer, each hour, each day is important.
“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
—Pray, asking the Holy Spirit to direct people to videos that He is calling to Himself.
“A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul.” Acts 16:14
—Praise Him for how He is using technology to offer the Good News to many. This is a new tool for us to see how God will use to share with those we might not have a chance to meet. Pray that He would use all things for His good.
“Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13
—Praise God for those Standing Beside us. You are serving as guards against the enemy—like the building of the wall at Jerusalem found in Nehemiah, the work continues. Those serving to pray have filled all time-slots through both weeks! God is listening to us.
“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” 1 John 5:14-15
Wednesday evening, May 27
Praise God for hundreds more liking and especially watching videos.
- continue to pray, asking the Holy Spirit to draw those to the advertisement in their social media feed; those that are seeing the ad to be prompted to want more information, ask questions about what they are seeing in videos
Just like the Ethiopian had already started reading God’s Word, ““The Spirit told Philip, “Go and to that chariot.”” Acts 8:29
“When He [the HS] comes, He will convict he world about sin, righteousness, and judgement.” John 16:8
- pray asking God to use His Word and pursue those who would download a Bible
“…but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word that was preached as the Gospel to you.” 1Peter 1:25
Pray for wisdom as we work on phase 2 for next week, what advertisement will be based on from what we’ve learned
- pray that this advertisement will be a draw to many in areas of the city we are targeting
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6
Pray for God to do the miraculous that we could only give Him credit.
When the two men were sent to Jericho by Joshua, Rahab told them the people of the city had already heard what God had done, “we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because the Lord your God is God in heave above an on earth below.” Joshua 2:11
- pray for people of Vietnam to hear what God has done and only trust in Him
Tuesday evening, May 26
—“I am not a follower of Jesus, but I would like to learn more about Him.” A few hours ago, we received this direct message from a young man responding to our videos. Please pray for him and others like him that we can have the opportunity to have conversations to help move him and them to have relationship with Jesus Christ.
Please continue to pray that God would connect us with people whose hearts He has prepared. Our goal in this campaign is not numbers or how many likes or follows we can get. If all of the technology and media pieces do what we intend for them to do, they should help to filter down from the large numbers and connect us with only those people (like the young man above) who are genuinely seeking and ready to explore what it means to follow Jesus.
—Thank you for your prayers for the technology and particularly the speed of our online components. Everything seems to be working well and with what we have been testing, the speed is very good, even above average.
Praise God, this is an answered prayer from Him.
—We are also very thankful for the many hundreds of people who have already watched the videos of Jesus during the short time.
Please continue to pray for the advertisements to be seen by even more people, because the ones who watch videos this week, will help to define our focus in who we reach out to next week, during the second half of the campaign.
Monday evening, May 25
Thank you for continuing to Stand Beside us in prayer as we utilize a new tool for us to engage people of Vietnam with the Gospel.
Praise God as more people have seen items in their social media feed that points them to Jesus.
- Pray that the Holy Spirit will lead those who are spiritually interested to see evangelistic items in their feed and seek more.
“The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up.” Psalm 19:8
We re-worded phrases to engage more people into conversations with us.
- Pray that our message is clear for them to know how to ask questions or how to receive more information about Jesus.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
- Pray for God to be victorious in targeted areas, that hope in Him and His salvation will be a result.
“but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:13
Sunday evening, May 24
We began our online evangelistic campaign on Sunday. Already more than 100 people have positively responded to the advertisement —Jesus and his disciples with their great catch of fish. Many people have continued to watch videos about Jesus. Praise God!
Please pray for:
- more opportunities for people to see the advertisement (some items are out of our control) and click to see more videos
“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 —we may not be in control, but God is in full control
- wisdom as we tweak prompts that might cause people to ask for additional information
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5 — that we would have wisdom to write prompts that would be understandable and lead them to additional information.
- more people to get into a conversation with us online (ask for the Holy Spirit to move in hearts)
“You are the God who works wonders; You revealed Your strength among the peoples.” Psalms 77:14 —for God to work amazingly and we all give Him credit
- videos or webpages to load at a quick speed so that people will continue wanting to watch or read
““But Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.”” John 5:17 —for God to be above and beyond technology and use this to call people to Himself
- God to be in control
“and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.” 1 Samuel 17:47 —David’s stand against Goliath
Updated Requests
May 23, 2020
Thank you for committing to pray for our evangelistic campaign, as it starts these next 2 weeks (May 24-June 6). We would ask that you take a moment to pray for:
- God to be glorified through all the pieces in this evangelistic campaign
- Technology components: advertising, social media channels, videos, and the messaging response be protected by God and work effectively
- People whose hearts God has prepared to: see and respond to advertisement they receive by downloading the Bible, watch videos that share the gospel with them, or reach out to talk with us directly
- 3-believers who will respond online to those who are interested in knowing more
- That many people will place their faith in God
May 5, 2020
In the days leading up to the evangelistic push, please pray:
–Pray that God will even now be opening the hearts of those who will hear and read the Gospel.
–Pray for our continued preparation to be completed and all of the technical pieces in place.
–Pray for the recruitment and training of local Believers who are partnering with us in this campaign.
–Pray for the recruitment of those who will stand beside and pray for this work.
