NEW LONDON – Convicted by statistics shared at the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting, Brian and Leslie Ninedorf decided to involve their church this advent season in remembering by action those who are without Christ.
First Baptist, New Londo, where Brian pastors has passed out white “one-for-one” bracelets to remind the congregation to pray for one minute every day for one specific person’s soul until Christmas.
“The genesis of it was in (MBC Executive Director) Dr. John Yeats saying ‘most church members don’t pray for someone lost in the course of the year.’ He also quoted George Barna polls where the majority of believers do not have a specific person in mind they hope will be saved,’” Ninedorf said.
He and his wife Leslie felt led to work towards changing those statistics. Ninedorf tried to pick “someone who would be difficult to reach.”
One-for-one kicked off in late November, and so far 137 bracelets have gone out.
“There is a buzz about this. We’ll see what happens.
“We not only want to pray for these people about the first advent of Jesus, but the second one. Isaiah 9:2 says the light will shine on them, and in Hebrews 11:13-15, the chapter of faith, the people of faith are looking for a new country. They desire a better country – Heaven. Those in the Hall of Faith were not just in there for the coming Messiah, but for the country of Heaven,” Ninedorf said.
“We want the church to be excited about the second advent as well as the first,” he said.
Each participating member picked one person for whom to pray. Even though the plan is in its infancy, the excitement seems to be contagious.
“It’s changing the way we view people. We are super excited about it. We’d like to challenge other churches to do this, but we already have the challenge in God’s Word to do it. This is just a plan.”
One-for-one fits well with the church motto: “We are a church reaching out to people.”
“The simplicity of one-for-one is what God is leading us to do. We’re just asking for one (lost) soul to be prayed for one minute every day.”
“One indication we have is God starts doing something and then gives us an idea,” Ninedorf said, adding that an 82-year old man recently accepted Christ in his life before one-for-one kicked off.
“God is at work. I’m on the edge of my seat about what happens next,” he said.