Sometimes after sharing some general life crisis I hear people say, “I’ll be praying for you,” and I wonder if they really do. It’s not that I doubt their intentions, but prayer is only powerful if it is actually prayed.
When I write and ask for the prayers of Oklahoma Baptists for Falls Creek, I do so because their sustained prayers throughout these many years have rendered untold amounts of spiritual, life-changing fruit. This will only be true into the future as we continue in faithfulness to pray.
You see, the undeniable key to the existence of the campgrounds and transformation of lives at Falls Creek is not the fundraising, the new facilities, the church cabins or even the hallowed grounds themselves. The key to the life of Falls Creek is the prayers of Oklahoma Baptists. It is no coincidence that one of the greatest summers of recorded decisions at Falls Creek (2012) was a year when we emphasized the spiritual discipline of prayer in our preparation and teaching time.
Throughout Scripture, we find God responding to the prayers of His people. He gave Isaac a child through the previously-barren Rebekah in Gen. 25:21.
He helped the sons of Reuben in battle in 1 Chron. 5. He rescued David from the pit of destruction in Ps. 40:1-3.
He was the Psalmist’s salvation in Ps. 118:21. He responded to Jonah’s prayer, while Jonah was in the belly of a great fish in Jonah 2:2. Peter was rescued from prison when God heard the prayers of the church in Acts 12:5.
If we want to see students saved at Falls Creek and to see those grounds continue to be the beacon of light they have been for 101 years now, we must pray, and we must do so with great fervency. God still responds to the prayers of His people. Will you pray like never before for Falls Creek?
We would like to encourage three different ways to pray for Falls Creek. All three of these prayer plans can be found on our youth ministry website, www.skopos.org. Click on Falls Creek, and then click on Prayer Strategy to get involved.
The first approach to praying for students is called “5 Critical Concerns.” We are asking people to pray for students in regards to the following: personal brokenness, salvation, family life, perseverance and call to ministry. Specific prayer requests for each of these concerns are listed on our Skopos website.
So many students come to camp with a need to be broken about their sin. God speaks so loudly at camp, and collectively, we need to pray for students to respond to His voice by repenting of sin and turning to Christ for salvation. Students are also facing desperate situations in their homes and families.
We need to pray for God to miraculously intervene and rebuild families. The decisions made by students at Falls Creek can often become less than real when students return home, so we must pray that God will help these students persevere in their faith.
Finally, we must pray for God to call many students to become preachers, missionaries, worship leaders and into other types of full-time Christian ministry.
The second approach is our 60-day guide. The prayer guide prepares your heart as you pray for the preparation of your church group, as it gets ready for camp. It is a day-by-day, single-item prayer guide that should be started 60 days before your group leaves for Falls Creek. A calendared start date is provided on the Prayer Guide.
Finally, our third option for lifting up Falls Creek in prayer is our Adopt-A-Cabin prayer effort. Go online to www.skopos.org and select a cabin to pray for all summer. This is so simple, yet so powerful. We want all 120 cabins adopted for prayer for the summer.
Online, just select the cabin you want to pray for, and we will mark it as adopted on our website page. Pray that God would speak mightily to those who occupy that cabin for the summer. Pray for God’s protection on the cabin and for the enemy’s efforts to disrupt camp to be thwarted.
With people praying for the critical concerns of all students, for the needs of their own church youth groups and for all the cabins at Falls Creek, we can surely expect God to move in an overwhelming way in 2018.
Please join us in this prayer effort. If you are not an “online kind of person,” just call our office at 405/942-3800 Ext. 4645 and tell us how you are praying for this summer. Thanks for loving God and the youth of Oklahoma and beyond. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do this summer at Falls Creek!
