It's time to pray.

The Reach the Nations ministry team is on the ground in Islamabad and ministering to and through churches in the area. Thursday and Friday of this week they will spend time in retreat, teaching and encouraging our Pakistani team: Manzoor, Rashid, Shakeel, Mehboob, Rustam, Adnan, and Irfam. Gary Finkbeiner, President of Reach the Nations (RTN), is pictured above. Below is Pastor Peter Negron, a Chicago-area pastor and member of the RTN board. Pastor Timothy Peng, an East Lansing Michigan pastor and RTN board member is also with the team.

Already Pastor Peter has spent two days with Mehboob in five of the Christian colonies in Punjab and reports the team there is diligent and wise in their ministry, and God is blessing.

Here are some specific things to pray about:

• A time of blessing and team building among the Pakistani ministry leaders as they meet together later this week.

• Preaching and teaching by Timothy, Peter, and Gary that is empowered by the Holy Spirit as they share with Pakistani brothers and sisters. May believers be encouraged, unbelievers brought to faith, and God glorified.

• Wisdom in planning for continued and careful expansion into areas of humanitarian need - primarily health needs (some of which are already being met with the clinic in Hyderabad) and education needs (as the team considers the possibility of adding a literacy component to the work in the outlying villages).

• Protection from disease, unrest, and spiritual forces as they minister, travel, and serve.