On January 1, why not join with hundreds of other churches all across the North American Division to pray for community leaders, pastors and members of other faiths, your neighbors, your children, and colleagues in ministry. It's a great opportunity to launch into the new year tall on our knees.

As you plan a special Sabbath or an entire weekend of prayer emphasis for Jan. 1, you may want to think about having combined groups from multiple churches in your district praying together. This is a powerful way to get better acquainted and to join hands in ministry. A group praying together can "enlarge the territory" of the prayer effort while being a great encouragement to each other.

Contact: www.nadadventist.org/article/view/226 for resources. There you will find two new bulletin inserts for the Day of Prayer, 2005 — one for use on the Sabbath before Jan. 1, and the other for use on the Day of Prayer Sabbath. Both are in Adobe Acrobat format, duplicated twice on one 8½ x 11" page to help cut printing costs. You will also find sermons, a list of recommended books, and a CD that will provide resources for you and your members.

Encourage your workers and members to enlist as Prayer Warriors and begin a new ministry of intercessory prayer with the North American Division website prayer request ministry. Contact: www.nadadventist.org and click on "Prayer" and "Prayer Warrior." They also can request prayer by clicking on "Ask for Prayer." Listen to the five sermons in MP3 format entitled, "Raw Faith," by Dwight Nelson, senior pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich.

"Nearly two-thirds of Adventist churches have a prayer meeting or a small group devoted to prayer ministry that meets each week throughout the entire year. This is significantly different than the norm in America where a majority of local religious groups either have no regular group devoted to prayer or meditation, or have it only occasionally or during a season of the year.

"This is one of the strengths of the Adventist Church in North America. Prayer meeting is still a strong tradition for most congregations, although, according to other surveys, the majority of the members never attend. And in the last decade a variety of prayer ministries have blossomed in the North American Division, including prayer walking, prayer networking, concerts of prayer, all-night prayer meetings, and prayer groups that meet during the noon hour and other, non-traditional times and locations." - Creative Pastor, Sept. 8, 2004. Go to www.creativeministry.org/research/FACT/pdf/35-prayer.htm to see the graph. More research results are available in Adventist Congregations Today, book and CD-ROM, available at www.creativeministry.org/research/FACT/index.htm.