Everyone, Everywhere, All the Time
Mike is a natural. There is nothing scripted or forced in his sharing of the hope that lies within him. Mike meets people on the streets of Burbank surrounding First Lutheran Church and beyond. Each meeting is an opportunity to listen to the person in front of him with one ear open to the God who saved him. If you ask, Mike will say he is just a “doulos” – a servant of Christ. We’d call him a natural Gatherer.
The Pacific Southwest District has teamed with VisionUSA and their director Tony Webb to help congregations identify their “Mikes”. These are the people magnets, those who throw out an invitation and witness how God draws them into deeper conversation and relationships. Teamed with faithful people gifted as Shepherds and Elders, Gatherers like Mike are essential to the health of existing congregations and the planting of new faith communities. GSE (Gatherer-Shepherd-Elder) training cohorts are now meeting to engage and equip congregations like First-Burbank as they identify and empower the natural Gatherers, Shepherds, and Elders in their community.
First-Burbank is the first PSD congregation to step courageously into a process where change is the measure of success. They are praying for more family, friendship, and fellowship between their church and the community. They have committed to focused and intentional prayer around their theme verse for 2023, 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Join them in the prayer they have crafted below – and contact our Mission and Ministry Services team in the PSD Office to learn more about GSE and how your congregation can participate. Then watch God @ Work!
Encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. We believe that You encourage us in Christ Jesus. By Your Spirit, You empower us to encourage one another.
We once thought, “You have us here, and we don’t know why.” But this is not true. We do know why you have us here. We are here to be encouraged and to encourage others in Christ Jesus. We are here to be built up as one family in Christ Jesus.
We, like all the people of the world, are hungry for family connection. You sent us Jesus, our brother, to restore us and build us up as the family of God.
It’s our prayer that You restore and to build families.
We pray with active lament, true repentance, and deep listening for Your grace in Christ. For these days of focused prayer, show us how You will build up the family of our congregation and community.
You are faithful to your promise. Help us to be faithful to our calling.
You have the vision for Your Church. Give us clarity to see.
Show us...
Where You are working. In whom You are working. How we can connect.
Make us aware of all our mission fields and of the Gatherers, Shepherds, and Elders You will use to do Your Kingdom work in the existing church and in the potential new faith communities.
Show us what needs to change, that we might see lives changed in Christ Jesus.
We ask these things by Your Spirit in Jesus’ name, all to Your glory. – Amen.
Enable more stories of transformed lives through Jesus
Untold thousands are still in darkness, lost like “sheep that have gone astray”. But this is exactly the mission our Lord has created His Church for – reaching the lost for Jesus’ sake in as many ways as necessary. This is the purpose for which our 300 churches and 150 schools were founded in their many contexts. And “the fields are ripe for the harvest” right now!
Your gifts are critical and enable us to continue and expand our shared work together, fulfilling the PSD mission of effectively resourcing congregations and schools for transforming lives and making the Great Commission REAL!
Share Your Story
We love sharing the work God is doing in our district and would love to share what He is doing in your ministry!