NC man’s prayer vision impacts thousands of believers; trans athlete ban and Semenya rules tightened; Spirit-empowered.

Seven days a week, Terry Long’s morning starts with an 8 o’clock phone call to Fred Lunsford, a 98-year-old retired pastor in North Carolina.

Long isn’t alone — around 60 or 70 others make that call each day. They’ve been doing it for nearly 300 days in a row.

“It has become a part of my life. I look forward to it every day,” said Long, director of missions for Choctaw Baptist Association and spiritual renewal and evangelism specialist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

The purpose of the call is to pray for God to bring revival. The groundwork for it started in 2018 and ramped up during COVID thanks to our dependence on Zoom.

Lunsford is compelled to faithfully continue the ministry as long as possible. 

Calling it a welcome development, Dan Darling of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement says the decision of the World Athletics Council will acknowledge the reality of God’s good creation in human biology.

The Council banned transgender athletes from international competition last week.

In a pair of decisions, the World Athletics Council adopted the same rules as swimming did last year in deciding to bar athletes who have transitioned from male to female and have gone through male puberty. No such athletes currently compete at the highest elite levels of track.

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Good News for Today is made possible through our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfill His Great Commission — no matter the cost. Find out more and sign up for their free monthly magazine at vom.org/goodnews.

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In a piece in the Baptist Press Toolbox, Louisiana Baptist Steve Horn writes…

Everything is powered by something.

Think about that for a moment – your house is powered by electricity, natural gas or possibly propane. Your car is powered by gas. Your watch is powered by a battery. 

The great Evangelism Professor, Roy Fish, defined evangelism as “the compassionate sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to lost people with the intent of winning them to Christ as Lord and Savior that they in turn might share Him with others.”

If the Holy Spirit is our greatest power in evangelism, then prayer is our greatest resource.

When there is a culture of evangelism, we are always praying and watching to see where the Spirit is at work – while believing He is at work!