Frontline Testimonies on The Pray For Me Campaign

We asked two youth pastors the question, “How has the Pray for Me Campaign impacted your youth ministry?” Their responses were powerful. So we thought we’d share them in their entirety with you.

“Tim Keller, in his book on Prayer said, “Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves… Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.” The Pray for Me Campaign has had a deep and lasting impact on the life of our church. Students and families have seen and experienced change. Older generations, through the catalyst of prayer, have been folded into the mission and vision of the student ministry. Prayer, using the prayer guide, reorders our lives and takes us farther away from the sin that entered in the garden, namely, that you can’t trust the goodness of God or His commitment to our happiness and well-being. It is easy to sometimes forget our role in the life of the church. We just show up on Sunday and allow the professionals to handle the rest. The Pray for Me Campaign “reorders our loves.” Our church, in the midst of transition, has seen the student ministry remain constant in Kingdom impact. I have no doubt this is a direct impact of the Pray for Me Campaign. Having an army of Prayer Champions praying Scripture-saturated prayers has aided in the student ministry. Part of my vision for student ministry is to impact the community our church resides in. This shift would not have been as successful without the Pray for Me Campaign being launched in my first year at the church. If prayer is not a central part of your student ministry, Tony Souder has given you an opportunity to change that with the Pray For Me Campaign.”

— Ryan | Student Pastor in Chattanooga, Tennessee

“Since launching the Pray for Me Campaign in September, we have seen an untold impact on what I would call the invisible link between teenagers and the church as a whole. Too many times, youth ministry is done in a vacuum or a silo as if what is done at the youth gatherings has no significance or bearing on the church as a whole. Launching the Pray for Me Campaign has brought the needs of students to the forefront of the thoughts of many adults who were previously disconnected from our youth ministry. This past year, there are several examples where the bonds of the Pray for Me Campaign literally became the spiritual glue that would bind up wounds and bring healing. For one eighth-grade girl, her prayer champion served as a pick-me-up when she was feeling alone and isolated in the midst of middle school drama. Another tenth-grade boy needed his prayer champion in a way that no one except God could have fashioned. After suffering the loss of a friend to suicide, this young man reached out to me for prayer, and I was able to connect him to his prayer champion, a fifty-two-year-old lady, who had recently lost her nephew to suicide. The Pray for Me Campaign has impacted at least three facets of my youth ministry: 1) the spiritual growth of students, 2) the awareness of student needs, and 3) the spiritual lives of adults in the church as a whole.”

— Bobby | Student Pastor in Ringgold, Georgia

We pray you are encouraged by these frontline testimonies from the Pray for Me Campaign. If you would like to see this kind of change in your church, you can find out more about the Pray for Me Campaign by clicking HERE.