This is the twenty-sixth update for the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief fund for the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore. This includes the Covington, Abita Springs, Mandeville, and Slidell, Louisiana area.

We have received a request for prayer from Pastor Michael Sprague of Trinity Evangelical Free Church of Covington, LA, along with more testimony to what God is doing along the North Shore.

“Prayer:

What strikes me once again today is what an incredible “God Thing” is happening at Trinity Church. We did not make this up! We are not the one doing the internal “heart transformation” work. He is! We are amazed and thankful.

Here’s a sampling from today:

1 In the hallway today a Trinity family returned to church after being a refugee family for weeks. Trinity is cluttered with people everywhere. The son said, “This isn’t our small cozy church!” The mom said, “No, isn’t it beautiful!!”

2 Seekers are showing up at our free store and are helped. This week some came back. They started offering, “What can I do? I just want to do something to help. I’ll mop floors, anything. I am so grateful to you for your help. Please put me to work.” Another said, “I’m just at home during the day. What can I do to help?” (Her husband is away from home days at a time due to his work.) Yet another said, “We can help while we are here. Put us to work!”

3 Another woman who came back to the free store was also introduced to the “bridge illustration”. She affirmed faith in Christ, wants to be part of the church, have her child dedicated and get married. Pray.

4 In the services this past week a family walked in who had never been in a church before. They asked, “What do we do?” They had no idea. We helped them on their first day with God’s people. Pray.

5 At the service last night the sharing time was electrifying for me. The first man to share stated he was from a different religious background but people from Trinity had helped him, encouraged him, and prayed for him. He was trying to understand what God was all about and doing in his life. Pray as we follow up.

6 Another lady from Ireland was here last week just after her husband died. She and her son had nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep. She saw the sign for Trinity and has now moved in with a family at Trinity. They are amazed by the love of God’s people and they are hearing about our beautiful Savior.

7 Another man last night shared how his home flooded and a Christian got him a 32 foot trailer to live in. He praised God.

8 People are e-mailing us and telling us God is changing their lives by hearing the stories of God. Others come and work and go back and tell the story. Only God could do this.

I could go on and on…….

I would like to ask you to pray for us. Remember in Exodus 17: 8-16 Israel was attacked by the Amalekites. Moses’ strategy was to deploy Joshua to lead the troops and Moses would pray. Moses went up on the hill and prayed. He raised his hands signifying dependence on God. When Moses’ hands were raised, Israel prevailed in battle. When his arms got weary and he put them down, the enemy made gains. All this happened before his eyes. Prayer turned the tide and Israel prevailed in the end.

The point, I think, is that God’s power comes through prayer. Prayer is not the preparation for the battle, but it is the battle. The prevailing power of God flows not through our wisdom, strength, or riches but through people who pray (Zech. 4:6). In fact, in Moses’ situation he had two prayer partners to hold his arms up – Aaron and Hur. We need Aarons and Hurs! I would like to read to my staff some e-mails or letters tangibly allowing them to know they are being prayed for! My e-mail is

. My staff’s pictures can be viewed on the web here. Would you do that for us?

Please pray for:

1. A great outpouring of the Spirit of God upon our region. Pray for revival and a new, New Orleans.

2. Pray for the gospel to be spread more powerfully than ever and for thousands to walk through the doors of faith.

3. Pray for breakthroughs in marriages, wayward children, and with addictions.

4. Pray for finances and organizational wisdom. Teams are coming and 200 people will be here next week. This will tax us to the limit. Pray for the support systems to deploy these good, zealous, wonderful servants.

5. Pray for Wayne Rogers, my worship pastor, who is producing a video to capture what God is doing and what the opportunity is.

6. Pray for stamina, strength, and wisdom for my staff. They are courageous heroes who God will reward in His due time.

7. Pray for the people of Trinity Church. Every person’s life has been impacted. Things will never be the same. Imagine the hundreds of different responses and emotions that people are wrestling with. Pray for people’s jobs, families, and finances. Pray for kids as school finally starts in our community on Monday.

8. Pray that we honor Christ. This is a time where great honor can go to Jesus or great dishonor. Pray that this will be the church’s finest hour.

Betting the farm on God,

Pastor Michael Sprague (09/29/05 9:00 PM CDT)”

Christian readers wherever you are from, please take a moment and send Pastor Sprague an E-Mail to his address above, and let him know that he and his staff have many “Aarons and Hurs” holding their arms high while God’s Spirit fights the battle and blows with His wind of revival.

If you haven’t yet contributed to the combined efforts of this blog and Grace Community Chapel of St. Peters, MO, in raising money for Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Covington, LA, to be distributed locally to the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore area, you will find detailed donation information by clicking here.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 30th, 2005 at 10:06 am and is filed under Katrina North Shore Relief. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Katrina, New Orleans, North Shore, St. Tammany Parrish