News Articles in SBC Call to Prayer

The early church gained its power through prayer, contends Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn. Christians should not try to speak for God, until we've spent time speaking with God in prayer, Gaines exhorts in this week's CALL TO PRAYER.

Roger S. Oldham, vice president for convention communications and relations with the SBC Executive Committee, writes about how Christians can pray for the people in Ukraine.

Seminary president Jason K. Allen ponders why godly men seem to be lacking in today's churches, causing him to pray that God will "call forth a new generation of men consecrated in heart and devoted to His glory."

If we are praying for a revival in America, then we should beg God for the hearts and lives of college students, says collegiate minister Jeff Jones.

Author and Baptist Press editor Art Toalston writes that prayer can transform any irritation with God over His call to obedience. "God is far from the only one with an expectation of obedience in today's cultural milieu," Toalston writes, noting that a yearning for others to acquiesce to their moral code can be found among advocates for a range of social agendas.

Guided congregational prayer can unite the church body as God intended, even as Jesus and the Father are one. Roger S. Oldham offers encouragement and guidance for your church or ministry with nine prayer priorities that helped unite the membership of his second pastorate.

Elaine Helms, prayer coordinator for My Hope America with Billy Graham and director of ChurchPrayerMinistries.org, gives us seven Scripture-based keys to effective prayer.

In advance of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday Jan. 19, ethicist Russell D. Moore calls on the church to work within all its power to fight satan's attacks against little children.

For each "Elijah," God has reserved to Himself thousands of unnamed but faithful servants who have refused to bow their knees to the "Baals" of our modern era. In this week's CALL TO PRAYER, Roger S. Oldham asks us to pray in advance of a Jan. 13, Atlanta gathering of many of the faithful.

In the first CALL TO PRAYER of 2014, Roger S. Oldham calls on Southern Baptists to pray like never before, and offers seven spiritual suggestions for a more fruitful prayer journal.