The Next Town Prayer Guide

MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT UPCI · NORTH AMERICAN MISSIONS

There are towns, communities, and counties within Mississippi that still need or are without a United Pentecostal Church as a witness.

Mississippi’s population is appx. 2.95 million souls.
Over 300,000 Mississippians live more than 10 miles from a UPC work.
- 61,000 live more than 15 miles away.
Amite, Montgomery, Carroll, Tunica, Choctaw, Sharkey, Issaquena, and Benton Counties do not have a UPC witness.
MS NAM’s current Target Cities — towns and communities being specifically prayed for and pursued for a new gospel witness — are Central Jackson, Diamondhead, Fayette, Flowood, Leland, Lexington, Mantachie, Rolling Fork, Success, Tunica, and Winona.

Pray through this guide alone, with your family, or as a church.

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For the Lord of the Harvest to Send Laborers

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”Matthew 9:38

That God would call out young men from Mississippi pulpits and pews, and that our churches would recognize and confirm those calls, releasing them into fields of harvest.
For men already stirred but hesitating, that fear of failure or lack of funds would not quench what God started.
That planters would come with calloused hands and thick skin, ready for slow soil.
For wives and children of planters, who carry the weight without the platform.

For the Counties with Little to No Gospel Witness

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed.”Romans 10:14

For rural communities where the last truth-preaching church closed and nobody replaced it. Name the ones you know.
That God would raise up works in the Delta, in the Pine Belt, the Coast, the more densely populated cities and counties, and in the small towns way off the four-lane.
For dying congregations to consider replanting rather than locking the doors, releasing buildings and legacies to a new work.
That we would not measure a county’s need merely by its population.

Against Cultural Christianity

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”2 Timothy 3:5

That revival would begin in our own hearts before we ask God to send it to our neighbors.
For the lost man who thinks he is saved because he was raised in church, baptized at 12, and can quote a verse.
That conviction would come to people who have been inoculated by religion.
For preachers to have courage to preach the New Birth plainly in a state where everybody claims a home church.

For the People Most Churches Are Not Reaching

“Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.”Luke 14:23

Mississippi’s growing Hispanic communities, and Spanish-speaking works and pastors to serve them.
Campus ministry at our universities and community colleges, where thousands leave the faith of their childhood in four years.
Prison and jail ministry, and churches willing to receive men and women when they come home.
Those caught in addiction, and families quietly wrecked by it.
The working poor, stretched between two jobs with no time left to look for a church home.

For the Practical Needs That Sink New Works

“And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”Philippians 4:19

Meeting space. Many church plants die over a lease.
Bi-vocational planters who preach on four hours of sleep, that God would sustain their bodies and guard their marriages.
Wisdom to know when to stay and when to move on, and grace to accept small numbers for a long time.
For established churches to partner with these works financially and prayerfully, not merely to wish them well.

For Fruit That Lasts

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”John 15:16

That new converts would be discipled, not just counted.
That new churches would themselves become sending churches inside a decade.
For unity among planters and established pastors.
That local leaders would be raised up within each congregation, so no work depends on one man alone.
That God would get the glory in our state!

For Our Church Planters

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”1 Corinthians 3:6

For strength and endurance for each of these couples in the work God has given them.
That God would protect their marriages and their homes from the pressures unique to planting.
For provision, and for God to supply what each of these works still needs.
For fruit that remains: souls saved, believers baptized, and works established for the long haul.
That laborers would rise up alongside them to help carry the load.