Friday, April 22 Prayerwalk Email from Peet Bekker

Our South African friend Peet Bekker began his Afrowalk prayerwalk at Hirtshals on Wednesday and sent the following email today from Skagen, Denmark (the city at the extreme northern tip, the "Spearhead" of Jutland):

"Man, how the Lord loves this country and its peoples. This day I have been walking in Skagen and Grenen. The Lord just impressed in me how He loves this country and its people and how He eagerly waits for them to turn to Him.

"Here is the simple prayer that He impressed on my heart this day in Skagen. It is simple yet powerful:

"Lord I praise You
"Lord I worship You
"I love You Jesus"

"How He longs to hear this country pray this, and how He will respond in amazing ways when the people turn to Him in this way.

"The Lord is blessing me in my personal life and leading me to pray so many different prayers over this area as well as over the whole of Denmark as I go . . .

"Be blessed and we will speak again.

/s/ "Peet"

Peet is at the half-way mark with his goal to be in Frederikshaven on Sunday. Continue to walk alongside him with your prayers in this spiritually powerful prayerwalk on behalf of the people of Denmark. The same prayer requests as cited in the previous postings below remain valid and the focus of our prayers for this dear and earnest brother in Christ. Truly, "Prayer changes things!"

Peet Bekker's Prayerwalk Getting Closer

South African citizen Peet Bekker is to begin his "Afrowalk" prayerwalk from Hirtshals to Frederikshaven next Wednesday. Peet has already left South Africa for Scandinavia, first caring for some business interests before beginning the prayerwalk next week. He is a distance runner and writes that he could easily make the intended route in much shorter time than he has planned. But, he wants to take his time in walking so that there will be sufficient opportunity to pray and to talk with those the Lord may bring across his path. He is excited about the possibilities that may come his way during the prayerwalk. We do not know at this point if he will be able during the prayerwalk to contact Pray for Denmark via email, but if that becomes possible we will post further information as Peet provides it. This is an unusual approach to spiritual ministry that may have untold results for the kinds of things Pray for Denmark has been asking you to pray about for over a year. May God bless Denmark in a powerful way through the devotion and burden Peet has for Denmark. It would be wonderful to see God work in this particular manner to open up this wonderful country to a New Reformation of faith and spiritual power. To those who regularly utilize the Pray for Denmark prayer requests, we urge you to continue to use the prayer requests listed on the previous posting below and to even redouble your prayer efforts on this good Christian brother's behalf. Let's walk alongside Peet with our prayers and blessing.

AFROWALK Comes to Denmark, April 20-24

A Christian brother from South Africa recently contacted Pray for Denmark to express appreciation for the website: "I am so glad I found your website. It just gives me a bit of a better insight of Denmark . . . I just wanted to say thanks for putting information up on the web and tell you how it inspires me." Peet also told us of how the Lord has led him to make a prayer walk at the very northern tip of Jutland (Jylland). He calls the tip the "Spearhead" as the land area in northern Jutland comes to a sharp point. Peet has experienced a number of prayer walks in South Africa and has named this spiritual activity AFROWALK. Now the Lord is leading him to extend his prayer walking to Denmark. He will be making a business trip from South Africa to Scandinavia toward the end of April and is planning to take an additional five days to do a 90 kilometer AFROWALK around the shoreline of the Jutland "Spearhead" beginning on the west side at Hirtshals on Wednesday, April 20 and concluding on the east side at Frederikshavn on Sunday, April 24. In between are 16 other towns or villages. Learn more about Peet's prayer walk in Denmark at the following web address: www.afrowalk.com/ and let's support his prayer ministry with our own prayers. Peet asks, "Why do this?" and in answer describes his prayer walking in this fashion: "I know that once I smelled the air, tasted the water, felt the wind and seen the people, I will have so much more compassion and be able to pray with all my heart. Walking in an area helps to see the way God sees it and better understand the things to be prayed for. I will also be there in person to deliver God's messages of hope and inspiration to people that are in need of it right there and at that specific moment in time . . . I have an excitement in my heart for Denmark. I believe the Lord wants to bless this country. If these words stir your heart in any way, please pray for Denmark too."

PRAY that the Lord will go before to guide and direct in even the minutest details of Peet's preparations for arrival at Hirtshals on April 20, including travel, weather, financial needs, spiritual readiness and, of course, our prayer support.

PRAY that there will be those receptive persons Peet may encounter along the way between Hirtshals and Frederikshavn who have spiritual needs the Holy Spirit can minister to through him.

PRAY that Peet's person and witness for Christ will be attractive to Danes so that they will not shun him thinking of him as a cultist.

PRAY that Peet's AFROWALK around the Jutland "Spearhead" will prove to be a dynamic spiritual spearhead for evangelism, revival/renewal, and church planting throughout the whole of Denmark in the months and years ahead.

PRAY that Peet's prayer walking ministry will attract Danes to know the Risen Christ in all His fulness, to walk upright in the Spirit and be guided by the Spirit, and to follow a lifestyle of walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

A crucified Savior--dead, buried and laid in a borrowed tomb. But, death could neither conquer nor hold Him, and three days later our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead just as He had said He would. There would not be a world-wide church today were it not for the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, Christians throughout the world will gather on Sunday morning, March 27, to celebrate the resurrection and to worship a Living Christ. Many nominal adherents, those who usually are not to be found in the gatherings of faithful believers week after week, will come out on that day if only for tradition's sake or as the in thing to do. In Denmark, as in every country of Western Europe and Scandinavia, churches that usually have but a handful of the faithful in attendance will be filled, and some to overflowing, on Easter Sunday. Nominal Christianity is a curse upon any land. Nominal believers in any country need to feel the touch of flaming re-evangelism as the Holy Spirit brings men and women to a firm and unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ. This is why we pray for evangelism, church renewal/revival, and the planting of new churches throughout Denmark. For that to occur, pastors need to experience personal revival and an anointing to preach the Truth of the finished, saving work of Christ as attested to and confirmed in His resurrection. "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Romans 4:25, NIV). Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

PRAY that Danes who are unbelievers, or at best nominal believers, will be brought face to face with the Risen Christ and the truth claims of the Good News this Easter Sunday.

PRAY that Danish pastors in both the majority State churches and the minority free churches will not merely involve themselves in festive Easter liturgies and pious homilies, but will be empowered by God's Spirit to proclaim an unadulterated Gospel that calls for a commitment of repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

PRAY that Danes will come to recognize that Danish free churches are not religious cults, as is widely and falsely believed, but that they are churches holding firmly to the historic, orthodox Christian faith, teaching and preaching the Word of God as their only rule of faith and practice.

A Letter to Friends of Pray for Denmark.com

Dear Friends:

It will soon be a year since the Pray for Denmark.com website was launched. Brad and I are both evangelical Christians with Danish ancestry who felt the Lord's leading to undertake this support project for His work in Denmark. Though we are both active members of strong evangelical churches, we work independently of them and are not compensated for our efforts. We are not sponsored by any church or mission organization and have no designs whatever for setting up a church or ministry of our own in Denmark. We do not solicit contributions, and do not attempt to generate funds for the expenses inherent in getting the Pray for Denmark website online. We believe we have succeeded in maintaining a broad evangelical perspective on this web page. A glance at the prayer requests posted over the months demonstrates that we have exercised concern for the varied aspects of evangelical work in Denmark through the churches and organizations we have highlighted.

We are so delighted to consistently have nearly 30 "hits" a day on average. Brad has done a fantastic job in publicizing the website, especially in newspapers in towns and area of the United States were there is a considerable population of those of Danish ancestry. We are constantly on the lookout for ways and means of getting the website before people who know the Lord and are willing to share our burden of prayer for heightened evangelism, revival/renewal, and church planting in Denmark. In the end, it is "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."

We have been greatly encouraged throughout the year with the responses Pray for Denmark has received from individuals in several different countries. We have even been able to put travelers in contact with evangelical churches in several locations in Denmark. It is gratifying to have had relatively few "crank" letters and only a couple of irrelevant emails from believers in other countries with another agenda. Because of our unique focus we have not responded to messages that are not in some manner related specifically to the needs of the Lord's work in Denmark.

So, how are we doing? We would love to hear from you with your comments about the website and even ideas of how we could improve or how we could make the ministry more effective.

Abundant blessings to all who have expressed interest and concern for the Lord's work in Denmark.

Bill Hunter
Brad Haugaard

PRAY for the Lord's continuing blessing and direction for Pray for Denmark.com's unique ministry of prayer support for the work and workers in Denmark.

PRAY for an increasing number of visitors to the website who will make themselves known to us and will covenant with us to pray for a resurgence of evangelism, revival/renewal, and church planting in Denmark.

PRAY for Danish pastors and churches experiencing discouragement and who need the encouragement of knowing that there are those committed to praying earnestly for them. Many of the free churches are small and struggling to find effective ways and means of reaching their local areas with the truth of the gospel of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Willow Creek Denmark

The Chicago area's Willow Creek Church is a mega-church that has effectively introduced a new seeker-sensitive model for "doing church." The seeker-sensitive, breaking-out-of-the-mold model continues to be enormously influential in traditional churches and in new church plants throughout the United States. It has also been well-received in many nations through the efforts of Willow Creek International. For instance, there are well-developed Willow Creek Associations in both Norway and Sweden with Willow Creek Denmark not far behind in its organization. The intent of Willow Creek is not to establish a new denomination. Rather, as a parachurch organization it serves many churches and denominations through seminars and training in newer approaches for reaching unbelievers as well as helping new believers grow in their understanding of the faith and living out a Christian lifestyle. Willow Creek Denmark emphasizes networking, small groups, leadership training, "Promiseland" methods in children's work, creative church services based on the newer seeker-sensitive model, and "contagious faith" discipling concepts. The past several years it has sponsored a number of well-attended and very successful seminars and conferences in Denmark. Willow Creek Denmark shares offices in Frederiksberg with the Danish Lausanne Group. Members of the cooperating Danish Lausanne Group's Steering Committee include Lars Kristensen and Torben Østermark of Friluftsmission, Karsten Amby of Indre Mission, Claus Kristensen of the Folkekirke, Søren Marcussen of Pinsekirken, and Peter Kofoed Herbst of Kronjyllands Valgmenighed. Ruth Cilwik Andersen is the National Coordinator for Willow Creek Denmark. Relevant websites include www.willowcreek.org and www.willowcreek.dk.

PRAY for Ruth Cilwik Andersen as she administers the office in Frederiksberg and prepares for forthcoming seminars and conferences. She has heavy responsibilities in coordination of marketing, resources, seminars and travel arrangements.

PRAY that the Willow Creek seminars to be given by Greg Bowman (April 12-13) and Joe Horness (April 29-30) will be well-attended and meet the specific spiritual and ministry needs of all the participants and that through them the Spirit of God will breathe new life and hope into churches all over Denmark.

PRAISE the Lord for such volunteers as Preben Brohus, Karen Krogh Christensen, Svenn Strangberg, Jørgen Meyer, Vibeke Frandsen, Gitte Pedersen, Jens Skov, and Kai Ellergaard who are involved in a specific area of responsibility or are working generally with Willow Creek seminars and conferences. PRAY that the Lord will move in the hearts of other volunteers to assist in the work.

PRAISE the Lord for the translation in Danish of the Willow Creek Network Manual and the final polishing of the translation of Bill Donahue's Leading Life-Changing Small Groups that is expected to be published and marketed beginning next month.

PRAY especially for a great outpouring of God's blessing on the work of Willow Creek Denmark as it contributes to the country's overwhelming need for life-changing evangelism, personal and church revival/renewal, and increased church planting efforts.

Seminar on Islam

Aglow Denmark has asked our Pray for Denmark constituency to be in prayer for a seminar about Islam that it plans to sponsor next month. The seminar is scheduled to take place beginning Friday evening, March 11 and continuing through Saturday evening, March 12. Regula Moor, Aglow Denmark's Prayer Coordinator, says that the organization would like as many of its local boards and members as possible to attend this important seminar. "We have it on our hearts to reach out to Muslim women in our country," says Moor. The seminar is also open to pastors and others who may have an interest in learning more about the beliefs and practices of Islam compared to those of the Christian faith as well as the Gospel challenge involved for ministry amongst Muslims. Aglow Denmark's national leader is Inger Porsen.

PRAY for the seminar presenter who is coming to Denmark from overseas.

PRAY for the presenter's travels, her health, her spiritual empowerment and protection, and her physical strength and stamina.

PRAY that there will be many Aglow boards and members as well as other evangelical believers in Denmark who will take advantage of this very important educational and training seminar.

PRAY for openness on the part of all participants to the material that will be presented at the seminar and that they will view it as a training and equipping opportunity for effective cross-cultural Christian witness and ministry.