Leaving On a Jet Plane

The last time I sat down to write a blog, I started the series with this same title. It was a few hours before the Impact India 2013 Team took off (on a jet plane) for the remote villages of Chennai, India and we established a blog so our friends, family, and Faith family could follow along. This is our FOURTH Impact India blog and…fun fact…I’ve used the SAME title for every kick-off post for every Impact India blog. Such poetry. What an exciting time to be alive.

As I write this, we are only 10 days away from our India mission team leaving on a jet plane (can’t stop, won’t stop) to join and continue supporting our India Pastor, David Rajan and the incredible work being done to push back the intense spiritual darkness in India. I am so excited that we are taking our largest India mission team since our first trip back in 2010, and the team has been prepping for this mission for months. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do.

As with every mission we have taken, we are entirely aware of our inability to do this on our own. We cannot express how much we depend on the faithful prayer support of our friends, family, and Faith family, so we are going to try something new this time around. Last night, as we hit the homestretch of our preparation, we dove into scripture together looking at the call Christ has given us to follow Him in obedience to make His Name famous around the world. Every day until we leave (on a…stop it), we are going to be working through a Scripture/Prayer plan, and we want to invite you to join us in this process.

This mission is a completely spiritual journey – a journey that does not require you to travel 8,000 miles around the world. We want you with us on this journey – reading with us, praying for us, asking God to move in the lives of those who are enslaved to the lies and the false gods that have gripped the beautiful people of India. None of us can set any of these captives free – we can only point to the One who can.

So, please join us. Read through the plan below with us every day. Pray for the team by name every day. When we hit the ground in India, we want to ask you to do something very special for us: please read and pray Psalm 20 over this mission every day. Eight of us may be putting our feet on the ground, but we want hundreds, if not thousands, on this journey to see how God reveals His glory in wild ways.

Check back frequently as our hope is to maintain a daily blog with updates and prayer needs as we serve in India. Right NOW, please be in prayer for the visa process. Even though our team submitted our applications a while ago, the process is taking much longer than usual and we need God to move in a big way so that everyone can go on this mission. We’re trusting and looking forward to seeing Him pull it off!

Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Impact India 2016 Team Members:

Jessica Baker, Betty Jo Bennett, Lindsay Diehl, Jeff Higgins, Chris Leabhart, Chrissy Parks, John Parks, Leslie Thrasher

Impact India 2016 Prayer/Devotion Guide

Tuesday, April 26 (10 days…)

Read: Colossians 1:9-20 (This is why we go and in Whose power we go)
Pray: Spend your entire prayer time pouring out your praise onto Jesus. Consider all that He has done for you, how you have seen His power and love in your life. Ask only to see more of His glory and to be used for His glory. Commit this trip and the remaining preparations to Him.

Wednesday, April 27 (9 days…)

Read: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30
Pray: Joyfully acknowledge our inability to accomplish anything on our own. Ask God to move in miraculous ways and commit to trusting Him no matter what situation He leads us to.

Thursday, April 28 (8 days…)

Read: Ephesians 6:10-20
Pray: Reflect on the armor of God and ask God for spiritual protection, especially related to the spiritual attacks we will face leading up to, during, and after the mission.

Friday, April 29 (7 days…)

Read: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Pray: Continue to pray against the spiritual forces we will be facing. Pray that God’s power would begin to break up the hold the false gods have over the villagers, that God would use us to communicate His truth, and that He would protect us from spiritual attacks.

Saturday, April 30 (6 days…)

Read: Galatians 5:22-23
Pray: Ask God to fill you with His Spirit and that as we serve Him, everything we do would be filled with His grace and love. Pray for flexibility and a willingness to go wherever He sends us to do whatever He asks of us.

Sunday, May 1 (5 days…)

Read: Philippians 1:3-11
Pray: Lift up your Impact India team mates. Pray this passage of scripture for them. Pray for them by name, asking God to use them, protect them, protect their families back home, and that together we will see great things done for God’s glory.

Monday, May 2 (4 days…)

Read: Ephesians 5:17-20
Pray: Continue to pray for your team mates by name. Ask God to unify us, to be in our conversations, and to be filled with His Spirit now and throughout our mission.

Tuesday, May 3 (3 days…)

Read: Isaiah 43:1-2
Pray: Give any fears or anxiety to God. Ask Him to go before us and be in every situation. Commit now to praising Him and being joyful in the midst of future trials. Give Him thanks NOW for how He will be with us in every situation.

Wednesday, May 4 (2 days…)

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Pray: Praise God for how He has made you new through Jesus. Commit that you will be His ambassador to do the great work He has called us to.

Thursday, May 5 (1 day…)

Read: Hebrews 12:1-2
Pray: Reflect on those who have gone before and commit to follow their lead in making Jesus famous. Ask God for the ability to keep our eyes entirely on Jesus and making His Name known no matter what.

Friday, May 6 (Let’s go to India…)

Read: Isaiah 6:1-8
Pray: Give thanks for God’s revelation of Himself and for being willing to take broken, weak people like us to proclaim His love and glory. End your prayer, as many times as you need to say it: “Here am I, send me.”

Psalm 20

May Yahweh answer you in a day of trouble; may the name of Jacob’s God protect you.

May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.

May He remember all your offerings and accept your burnt offering. Selah

May He give you what your heart desires and fulfill your whole purpose.

Let us shout for joy at your victory and lift the banner in the name of our God.

May Yahweh fulfill all your requests.

Now I know that the Lord gives victory to His anointed;

He will answer him from His holy heaven with mighty victories from His right hand.

Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses, but we take pride in the name of Yahweh our God.

They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to the king!