We’re only 9 days away from Challenge. Challenge is more than merely a conference. At it’s core it is a catalytic environment that challenges students to live on mission with Jesus everyday, everywhere, and with everyone.

As we are united to Jesus we are swept up into his mission to reconcile all things to Himself (Colossians 1:20). The gospel becomes a catalyst for a missional way of life. Each day at Challenge nearly 2000 students will be sent out into New Orleans to pray, serve and share the gospel.   Pray for open doors (Colossians 4:3) for the gospel and many divine appointments.

The missional focus cannot end at Challenge. Pray that the gospel takes such root in every person’s heart that it results in an inability to keep it to themselves. Ask God to grant every youth pastor and youth worker intentionality in how they plan to intentionally come alongside students after Challenge. Join us in asking God to move Challenge from a mere mountaintop experience to building true missional momentum back in every student ministry.

P.S. We’ll have a lot of communication in the next weeks –as well as during Challenge– on our facebook page and twitter feed. You’ll want to make sure you (and everyone you know) is connected!

The countdown to Challenge 2012 is on! And we’re super excited about the tunes we’ll be worshiping Jesus with. We want to hook you up with one of them now.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from Kristian Stanfill; but in the meantime, you’ll want to grab this free download and start singing “Like A Lion” from his Mountains Move album.

You’ll need a password to get that download. Don’t have it? You can find it on the Challenge facebook page.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you play guitar, you can find the chord charts for “Like A Lion” and a bunch of Kristian’s other songs here.

But the fact remains– the larger the group of people, the greater the need for clear communication and working well together. In other words, “Face, prepare to meet your palm.”

Thankfully, Philippians 4:6 reminds us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

Choose one of the groups of people below and pray for them this week.

City Services:  It’s our desire to represent Christ well to all the hotel, convention center, food services, and city workers who will be serving our Challenge participants.  Thank God for them.  Pray for God’s blessing in their lives and pray for opportunities for us to be able to share Christ with them.

Youth Leaders:   Praise God for the pastors, trip leaders, and volunteers  who are working hard to get their groups to Challenge.  Pray that all their transportation and planning issues would fall into place smoothly.  Ask the Lord to give them wisdom, faith, and love as they walk along side students before, during and after Challenge.

Challenge Volunteer Staff:  Thank God for the 130+ adults who will serve as housing, security, medical, office, recreation, training, prayer, and backstage volunteers.  Pray that as  they serve God would enrich their own hearts, strengthen their bodies for the long days and equip their hands to execute their role with excellence.

Trainers:  Praise God for the dozens of trainers who will facilitate Equipping Labs through the week.  Ask God to give them wisdom, creativity, and intentionality as they put final touches on their seminars.   Ask the Holy Spirit to empower them so that young people will truly be equipped with skills to live out their faith back home.

P.S. We’ll have a lot of communication in the next weeks –as well as during Challenge– on our facebook page and twitter feed. You’ll want to make sure you (and everyone you know) is connected!

For the next few weeks we’ll be zeroing in our prayers on some of the details for Challenge. Join us and let us know how God is preparing you!

Specific focus of prayer this week will be on the Challenge speakers: Francis Chan, Eric Mason, Craig Gross, Bryan McWhite, and Shane Stacey. We need to pray for these servants. Why? Because preaching the gospel is war. While it may seem glamorous to be up on stage at a huge event, these men are stepping out of the bunker to serve at Challenge (the most severe battles often occur now, during their preparation) and the enemy will attack.

Here are some sample prayers that you can pray and insert the name[s] of the speakers.

Jesus, will you supply mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health to _______. Daily renew their strength. Help him not to grow weary in well doing.

Jesus, will you grant spirit-led clarity, wisdom, and insight to _________. Daily focus their heart on the Gospel.

Jesus, strengthen ________ marriage, keep it strong, pure and growing. If single provide strong, healthy relationships that meet his/her needs.

Jesus, protect _______ and their, families from the schemes and tricks of the evil one.

Jesus, grant your favor upon these speakers when they arrive at Challenge. May they speak boldly and truthfully to challenge this generation to raise up and follow after you and be bold in prayer and witness to your greatness.

Would you join me in praying that all Christians will leave Challenge 2012 with new eyes to see everything in their life through the new lense of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and therefore depend on the Holy Spirit to live a transformed life all the time (and not just the weeks following Challenge)?

EVERYday, EVERYwhere with EVERYone

I realize the idea EVERY_____  is a huge one. However after reading through Colossians several times it really does seem possible as long as we live in greater and greater dependence on Jesus to lead us.

Here’s my prayer for you:

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6)

Want more opportunities to pray with and for Challenge Conference? Subscribe to our feed!

What is on your prayer list for Challenge? Here are some things to unify our hearts and desires for Challenge 2012:

1. Pray for some to come to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.
2. Pray for youth groups to be equipped and better prepared to serve their cities and their churches.
3. Pray for a generation to be impassioned with the desire to be a part of a movement of God in their area.
4. Pray for spiritual protection over those going to New Orleans for Challenge.
5. Pray for an awakened soul to a vital relationship with Jesus.

Tullian Tchvidjian wrote a book titled “Jesus + Nothing = Everything”.

If I were to give the Bible a subtitle, it would be the same. Pray this week that each of us that are going to Challenge will be content with Jesus + Nothing.

Want more opportunities to pray with and for Challenge Conference? Subscribe to our feed!

Praying in groups isn’t necessarily more effective than praying alone. And having many people pray for something doesn’t mean that God hears those prayers more than if just one soul cries out to Him. That would infer that the power of prayer comes, in part, from us.

Guess what? It doesn’t. Not at all. Zilch. To think otherwise is like taking credit for a beautiful entree in front of you at a restaurant. All you did was order. You could give yourself a pat on the back for that. But you’re not really impressing anyone.

God loves to show off

The only reason prayer has any power is because of the One we pray to. The Glorious One is the power behind prayer and He is forever in the business of glorifying Himself.

He wants people to see what He does, and leave their mouths hanging open in amazement and awe. It is for this reason that God loves hearing many children praying to one end. Because, when He answers that prayer, many people see the result and it points to Him. His actions directly reflect who He is, and when we realize His perfect unfathomable character, our only reasonable response is to live a life of worship (and repeat).

Just watch

First: Pray big prayers; something so big that, if it happens, it could only point to God. Those are the prayers that He loves to answer.

Second: Start looking for answers to prayer. Too often we pray a prayer, forget about it and don’t realize when God answers.

Third: Share those answered prayers with others. Give God the glory that He deserves through your testimony.

God, give everyone going to Challenge a BIG prayer experience that clearly points back to Your glory. Amen.

Guest blogger: Dan Olson, Prayer Army Band Member

Do you have a blog or a website? Want an easy way to participate in the mission of the gospel through Challenge Conference? Put your site to use to help build up a prayer army for Challenge 2012. We’re expecting God to literally transform lives and forge deep relationships with students, volunteers, and New Orleans locals. It’s going to be huge.

What you can do

Add this super shnazzy button to your blog/website! That way, you can help stir up your own audience for prayer with Challenge conference. How nifty is that?

It’s simple!

1. Copy this piece of code:

2. Paste it in a text widget (WordPress) or just in html view while on your content management system

3. Share it with everyone you know on facebook/twitter!

Eusebius, an early church historian had this to say about James the brother of Jesus:

“And [James] was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people.”

Why we bow

To bow before the Lord does not mean there is something wrong with us, it means that we clearly realize our identity. We bow down when we realize that we are not God, that we have no control. Our bowing down puts us and God in the right place.

In my own desire to grow in my prayer life, I am moved (and slightly amused) that James was given a nickname because of his prayer life. Wouldn’t you love to be known for how much time you spend on your knees in prayer?

Start now

Would you go to your knees right now and pray for the following three things?

1. That God would praised and glorified in all aspects of Challenge
2. That each person attending Challenge will spend time in prayer
3. That your generation would be known as the ‘camel knees generation’ because of their intense desire to know Jesus and make Him known to their friends

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)

Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do.

Prayer brings the power of God into the lives of the people of God.  It moves heaven and earth.  It changes the course of lives and the course of history.  It can soften hearts and move the Kingdom of Heaven forward.  It can thwart any plan of the enemy.  It is a power that cannot be stopped.

Unless we stop.

Have you forgotten?

It would seem, wouldn’t it, that if we really believed in the power of prayer, we would never cease to pray?  But how much of our day is spent in prayer…compared to what we spend in countless activities that will not impact eternity? Sadly, for me, prayer often gets postponed, rushed, or forgotten for most of the day. I’m guessing you might struggle with that, too.

When we fail to pray, it means that we have forgotten the power of coming before the throne of God.  When our prayers lack passion and consistency, it shows that the Kingdom and glory of God no longer has the biggest hold on our hearts.

Not just then, but now

It’s easy to get excited about prayer at big events like Challenge. And I hope you are excited to pray with thousands of your brothers and sisters in New Orleans.

But don’t wait until July.

Our Father is waiting for us now. We can begin now to impact the lives of those around us—and those we’ve never met—if we begin to make it a habit to lift up that time together and those we will share it with.

So simple it’s crazy

It begins pretty simply. It begins with stopping the noise in our lives right now, if even for a few minutes, to ask God to reveal Himself again to us and give us a heart to turn to Him. Prayer has to start with God revealing Himself to us and drawing our hearts closer. Then there’s no limit to the prayers we can pray—for ourselves, for our friends, for Challenge, for our generation, for the world. And there is no limit to the power at work in us when we do so—it’s the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20)! Crazy, isn’t it?

With so much at stake and so much God is waiting to do if we will only ask… Will you join me in praying?

This is a guest post from Jennifer Kvamme, who has served with Challenge for many years and is the youth ministries coordinator at Centennial Evangelical Free Church.