Chicagoland Baptists traveled to five ministry locations for the annual “Prayer Bus Tour” in February. We asked that the Lord would “make us a blessing” as we prayed with and for pastors, churches, and their communities. (Watch the Facebook Reel to see photos from the Prayer Bus Tour.)
1. At the Orland Park campus of Ashburn Baptist Church, where the IBSA will host the 2024 Annual Meeting, Pastor Tommy Thompson is in the midst of a teaching series, “Lord Teach Us to Pray!” He’s shepherding his congregation through a revival of prayer this month, and this was the fertile backdrop for our visit. After praying for Pastor Thompson, on-site participants and prayer bus riders ‘prayer-walked’ the building. Many of us landed in the sanctuary, where we went to the altar praying over the prayer prompts the pastor shared with us, especially that pastors be pure and persevere in ministry.
2. At Jesus is the Life Church in Matteson, Pastor Paul Cartwright asked us to pray that they would “evangelize effectively.” The sanctuary was filled with prayer and praise as host church members and prayer bus participants “huddled together” throughout the building. Pastor Adron Robinson said, “It was an amazing day for prayer and partnership!”
3. At Chicagoland Baptists Rockwell Ministry Center, we stopped for lunch, toured the facility, and learned about the ministries that use the association’s facilities. Associational Executive Director Nathan Carter asked for growing participation by churches, relationships among pastors, and for Baptist Women to pray and meet needs.
4. Next, we were off to Evanston, where we met Pastor Tae Hwang and the crew from Beautiful Church, a young church plant, in the park adjacent to Noyes Cultural Arts building where they hold their Sunday worship service. As a seminarian, Pastor Hwang, longed for “a church with a waterfall,” but the Lord has shaped the desires of his heart. Now he asked us to pray for God to open doors for the gospel to flow like water from Beautiful Church to those parched by sin and lostness.
5. Finally, we visited Bethel Romanian Baptist Church. With Pastor Valentin Popovici out of town, Assistant Pastor Peter Ordeanu greeted us. Nervously, I had culled a phrase from their Romanian language website to use in our program. While it looked like a motto, I wasn’t sure, and I prayed it wasn’t a mundane instruction on how to locate the restrooms. So, I asked Pastor Peter to read it to us in Romanian, and to share the English translation. It was “Bethel Church—“It is written, My House shall be called a House of Prayer.”
Clearly, God had a plan.
We didn’t realize until after our arrival, that 200 young people from other Romanian churches were heading to Bethel that night for a “Unity” conference and to hear the gospel. In addition to praying for the needs laid out by the Pastor Peter, we leaned into praying for the Unity youth meeting. We broke into prayer huddles with our Romanian brothers and sisters with them praying in Romanian, and us praying in English.
Days later, like Pastor Peter who thanked us for our visit and prayers for Bethel, brother Benjamin texted, “Thank you so much! The event that evening changed the lives of so many youth in Chicago and beyond. We appreciate your support and prayers!”
Cheryl Dorsey is prayer coordinator for Chicagoland Baptists. She and her husband, Pastor Rick Dorsey, serve Beacon Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Chicago Heights.