New Growth Begins to Take Shape!

Public Servants’ Prayer continues to experience the countless blessings of God. In late 2016, Matt Barnes felt led by the Lord to pursue a ministry expansion. The proposed changes are many and will take much faith and perseverance to accomplish. Yet with God as our guide and strength, we are excited to report the following -

Indiana

Matt Barnes and the Public Servants’ Prayer team are working to organize the following ministry events for state leaders.

Statehouse Prayer Service:

One of the largest gatherings each year in Indiana’s capitol is this prayer service. Around 800 people come together to start the session by petitioning God for wisdom and grace. In the past, the Governor, House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, and many others have prayed publicly. If you have never been able to attend this special event, please attend this year. The date is January 3, 2018 from 12 noon - 1 p.m. We hope to see you there!

Women’s Statehouse Day:

Each year women from all over our state participate in this special day. Pam Russell leads these ladies in a time of refreshment, restoration, and rededication. Please read Pam’s article above closely. If ladies from your church have not participated in the past, please forward this newsletter to the appropriate leadership in your congregation. We would love for the women of your church to rally around our female public servants through prayer on February 28, 2018.

Pastors’ Statehouse Day:

Pastors and political leaders are two of the busiest professions in the world. The goal of this day is to provide a platform for pastors to get to know their elected officials. Are you a pastor? Do you know your state representative and senator? These elected men and women are eager to meet the spiritual leaders in their communities.

Public Servants’ Prayer rejoices in seeing ministers who give pastoral care to community leaders. Also, if you (or your church) would like to sponsor the Bibles we provide for the freshmen legislators at this event, please contact me at tim.overton@thepsp.org. Join us for this special day on February 20, 2018! Further information can be found at blogpublicservantsprayer/psd/.

Books and Bagels:

What could be better than free coffee, bagels, and Christian books? Six times during the upcoming session, Public Servants’ Prayer will organize this event. Elected officials and their staff are bright people who enjoy reading books. Giving away Christ-centered books is an opportunity to change lives. If you or your church would like to sponsor this event by purchasing coffee and bagels, please contact me.

Nation

Public Servants’ Prayer offers daily prayer prompts via email and twitter to all 50 states. We were recently contacted by a Christian school in Maryland. They informed us that they use our system to open each day of school with prayer for their elected officials. Our team covets your prayers as we seek to expand the number of people who utilize this important online service.

We are also in the process of considering a prayer service for federal officials in Washington D.C. The event would look very similar to the Indiana Statehouse Prayer Service described above. Right now, this is in the very early stages of development. Please be in prayer as we seek God’s guidance and timing.

World

Recently our team traveled to Israel for a global conference with those who lead similar ministries for public officials. Words cannot express how excited we were to see God raising up ministry leaders all over the world. God has a heart for the souls of those in political power. Seeing God move in similar ways around the world was a confirmation of the vision Public Servants’ Prayer has adopted. God is doing a great work around the globe!

Matt was also honored with a request to join the “Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast” Board. This organization held their first prayer summit in 2017. Our hope is that this event will grow to become a global gathering of Christians. Please pray for guidance from God as well as exponential growth in this new partnership.

Finances

The vision and associated activities described above will require financial support. For this reason, we held our first annual Fall Banquet fundraising event. The generosity and outpouring of goodwill literally overwhelmed us. God graciously blessed our ministry with many kind gifts from His people. Currently, we are still seeking monthly donors in order to meet our regular commitments. We also need sponsors for the many events described in this newsletter. Is the Lord prompting your heart to meet some of these needs? If so, contact me at tim.overton@thepsp.org. Also, please make note of the electronic giving link in this newsletter.

Conclusion

We are so grateful that God has placed this vision of expansion in Matt Barnes’ heart. His faithful service for the past 13 years has been blessed in so many ways. Know that you, as a recipient of this newsletter, are a part of our many blessings. Please continue to pray for our ministry and team. As Scripture says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6). We request that you petition God for Public Servants’ Prayer to have His vision, perseverance, and fruitfulness. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

-Tim Overton, Associate Director