Step into the story!

"For they have gone out for the sake of the name.... Therefore, we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." 3 John 1:7-8

You step into the stories of missionaries when you lift them up in prayer and when you give so that they can go.

This week, as you read about missionaries who are taking the Gospel to people who desperately need to know Jesus in cities and small towns, remember that you, too, are there helping to bring these stories to life.

March 2-9 has been designated as a week of prayer for missionaries here in North America. For each day, you'll read stories about the missionaries. Follow the links to view videos for each missionary.

The Real Jesus - Provo, Utah

"You really should hear them sing."

That's one of the first things David Gaskins tells people when they ask about Mosaic Church in Provo, Utah, where he and his wife, Sara, serve as church planting missionaries. "Every Sunday, it brings me to tears," David says. "The voices are just thunder in that room because so many of our people have lost everything for Jesus."

According to David, Provo, home of Brigham Young University, is the "heartbeat and hub" of the worldwide Mormon church. "Planting a church here is obviously a tall order," says David. "But we love Mormons and want them to believe in the real Jesus. That's why we came."

Four years after its launch, Mosaic is now a loud-singing congregation made up largely of young, onetime Mormons who are paying a price for their response to the gospel. "When somebody here leaves the Mormon church, it's a really big deal," says David. "They lose their job. They get shunned by their family. This church is all they have, and that's why they sing loudly. They've found the real Jesus, and they're never going back."

Pray for:
* God to call more missionaries who will share the gospel with people in Utah.
* Wisdom, humility, and boldness for David and the other pastors at Mosaic Church.
* God to grow David and Sara closer together while they live and serve in a difficult place.

Let Us Do Good - Flint, Michigan

It was not the answer they expected to hear.

When God called Leo and Miosha Robinson to start a church, they walked the streets of their low-income Flint, Michigan, neighborhood and asked people, "What do you need?"

The unexpected answer was a laundromat. "Single moms told us that if they wanted to do laundry, they would have to take a bus across town," Leo says. "It would take most of the day and sometimes cost over a hundred dollars. Kids would not go to school, and people would miss work just because they did not have clean clothes. These families were having to choose between laundry or keeping the water on in their home."

That's why shortly after the Robinsons started Good Church in Flint, they opened a low-cost laundromat in the lower level of their church. Now, Good Laundry is not only meeting a need, it's creating opportunities to share the gospel. "God said do good to all people," Leo says, "and that's how He grew this church. Now, we see baptisms and kingdom moments happen - all because of a laundromat. Isn't that amazing?"

Pray for:
* The development and discipleship of new leaders at Good Church.
* People in Flint who have experienced pain and trauma, that Good Church would be able to meet them with the hope of the gospel.
* The large number of teenagers in the neighborhood who are hearing the gospel for the first time.

Gospel Deployment - Sneads Ferry, North Carolina

Joshua Brown's congregation is probably not like your congregation.

"We have snipers, we have amphibious assault, and we have intel," Joshua says. "This isn't just a military community. This is a special operations community. And that's a whole other dynamic."

Joshua and Brittany Brown started Pillar Church of Topsail just outside Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, one of the most fertile settings in North America for evangelism and church planting. "These people in special operations face death-defying situations all the time," Joshua says. "So having conversations about where they're going to spend eternity is a very natural thing for us."

Now, Joshua is not only having gospel conversation and baptizing new believers, but, as the military deploys and reassigns people in their congregation, his new church is sending out disciples who can share Christ in places many civilians will never go. "These people are highly motivated," he says. "We injected the gospel into them, and when the military sends them out, they're primed and ready to spread the Gospel all around the world."

Pray for:
* A team being sent out to plant Pillar Church of Fayetteville, near Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg)
* God to call more church planters who can reach other underserved military communities
* God to raise up new leaders at Pillar Church of Topsail as current leaders are deployed or reassigned

Married to the Marines - Sneads Ferry, North Carolina

"There's a saying in the Marine Corps," Brittany Brown says, "that if the Marines wanted you to have a wife, they would've issued you one in boot camp."

Brittany knows all too well the humor and hard truth behind this saying. Her husband, Joshua, was an active-duty Marine for 20 years. That's why she knew what her role would be when they planted Pillar Church of Topsail, right outside Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. "My desire is to constantly be reaching women," she says, "because with all the deployments and the constant moving from place to place, I don't think the average person understands the stress there is on the military spouse."

For Brittany and Joshua, reaching military wives means day-to-day ministry often looks different than for other church planting couples. "We help a lot of families whose husbands and dads are gone," Brittany says. "We mow lawns, or, if something's broken, we help fix it. These wives desperately need practical help and community. This is our opportunity to tangibly share the gospel with them."

Pray for:
* Acts of kindness and service to be done in such a way that gospel conversations will naturally occur
* The people at Pillar Church of Topsail to find and connect with lost families in their community
* Families who leave Pillar Church of Topsail when they are reassigned to other military bases, that they will find caring churches where they can grow in community

Connecting the Dots - Langley, British Columbia

Everything in their lives led to this. But Christian and Laura Rowland might not have realized that when they began planting a church in Langley, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb with a diverse ethnic population and a desperate need for the gospel witness. "When we moved here," Christian says, "we were just trying to figure out, 'Where do we start?'"

Fortunately for them, God had already started long before they arrived.

Christian and Laura both grew up in foreign countries. As college students, they participated in GenSend, a North American Mission Board program that puts young people on the mission field alongside church planters. They were sent to Vancouver. Then, shortly after they were married, their church in Texas announced plans to plant a new church. In Vancouver.

"We grew up overseas just like so many people here, then we did GenSend here, and we ended up in a congregation called to plant here," Christian says. "So we can look back and say, 'Oh, that's God.'"

"Now, people are coming to the Lord here," Laura says. "And we can see this was all part of His sovereign unfolding plan."

Pray for:
* Continued unity as New Song Community Church experiences growth
* The resources Christian and Laura need to do ministry in one of North America's most expensive metro areas
* Encounters that lead to gospel conversations

On the Border - Laredo, Texas

It might be the most unique classroom in all of North America.

that's how Osvaldo and Vanessa Lerma describe the Send Relief Ministry Center in Laredo, Texas. Located just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, this is where the Lerma bring volunteers for hands-on refugee ministry experience.

"We minister alongside churches that have been called to share Christ with hurting people," Vanessa says, "by introducing them to refugees who are coming to the U.S. to legally seek asylum. We're always amazed at what refugees go through to come here. They left behind horrible poverty and violence. Some of them walk for weeks or even months."

The Lerma pair up mission teams with Laredo churches and a local respite center. "We all work together to provide tangible help including meals, hygiene kits, and a safe place to rest and to shower," Osvaldo says. "But, most importantly, we tell hurting people how they can find hope in Jesus."

For mission teams, this is an opportunity to be on the front lines of refugee ministry and be the hands and feet of Jesus. "All churches are called to be compassionate," Osvaldo says. "We're here to help them see how God might lead them to start compassion ministries in their own communities."

Pray for:
* Osvaldo and Vanessa's endurance as they serve refugees in Laredo in this challenging time
* Mission teams to learn lessons in Laredo that will make them more effective gospel witnesses in their own communities
* Refugees who are resettled elsewhere, that they may be connected with local church who will compassionately share the love of Christ with them

Circuit Riders - Bar Nunn, Wyoming

Nothingness. When most people drive any direction out of Bar Nunn, Wyoming, that's what they see. "There are no stores, no houses," says Tyler Martin. "If you have half a tank, you better fill up because there's not a gas station for a while."

Yet when Tyler and Ashley Martin moved to Bar Nunn as church planting missionaries, they saw something in all that nothing. "In Wyoming, there are 203 places - mostly small towns - you can have as a mailing address. More than 60 of those don't have a church of any kind. And God told us, 'Those people need the gospel too.'" That something became Outfitter Church.

Now, Tyler is training men in Outfitter Church to go to all those small, out-of-the-way places. "Wyoming is so spread out, and we have so few resources that church planters have to come from our congregation," he says. "So, we're creating circuit preaching teams that will plant churches all over the state."

Where others see nothing, Tyler, Ashley, and the congregation of Outfitter Church continue to see something. "Towns that have never had a church - ever in their history," Tyler says, "now we're going to get the gospel to them."

Pray for:
* God to raise up more men at Outfitter Church to take the gospel to more unchurched communities
* The endurance and perseverance required to start and grow church plants in remote, hard-to-get-to places
* Other churches in Wyoming to recognize and respond to the gospel needs around them

The Other Side - Bar Nunn, Wyoming

Sometimes, Trent Fetherston thinks about what might've been. "I'm lucky I'm alive," he says. "If Tyler and Ashley wouldn't have come, I don't know where I'd be."

Trent's talking about Tyler and Ashley Martin, church planting missionaries who moved to Bar Nunn, Wyoming, several years ago and serve the community through Outfitter Church. "Back then, everybody knew Trent," Tyler says. "Yeah, you could name any bar around here," says Trent, "and I've been kicked out of it."

Bar Nunn, population 2,986, doesn't have lots of event space. That's why Outfitter Church meets at The Hangar, a local bar and grill. "It's interesting," Trent says. "A window divides the space. We worship on one side while people on the other side watch from the bar."

One Sunday morning, a curious Trent Fetherston walked over to the other side of The Hangar. It's the best decision he ever made. "Tyler preached the gospel," he says, "and I was born again."

Trent is now one of more than 60 new believers who have been baptized at Outfitter Church. "My life was changed," Trent says. "And I owe that all to Tyler and Ashley answering God's call."

Pray for:
* Trent's expressed desire to one day help plant and pastor new churches in Wyoming
* Encouragers who can build up Tyler and Ashley as they serve in an isolated, unchurched place
* A dedicated facility where Outfitter Church can meet and do ministry