Intercessory prayer is an essential part of completing the Great Commission. God works through the prayers of Southern Baptists to impact lostness. The International Mission Board (IMB) has seen it!

This year, the IMB asked you to pray for some fun and sometimes difficult things happening around the world. Join Southern Baptists as they celebrate the goodness and greatness of God. Give thanks for how He answered prayers in 2024:

1. She said ‘Yes’

Missionaries in Japan asked Baptists to pray for a new student exchange program. They hoped God would use an opportunity between a high school in Japan and a Christian school in the United States to draw Japanese students to Himself. He answered prayers!

Charming, a Japanese high school student, and her family hosted two Americans in this program. She took them and two IMB missionaries to see a popular tourist destination — a Shinto shrine.

While spending time with the Christians, she heard the gospel. In the past, every time Charming heard about the Good News, she said “no” to following Jesus. This time, right in the middle of the Shinto shrine, Charming cried tears of joy as she prayed to accept Christ.

2. Hide their faith no more

In October, Southern Baptists prayed for Kyrgyz believers to share the gospel with the lost around them. Their fear of persecution was holding them back from sharing. Some believers were even hiding their faith. God answered prayers.

Kyrgyz believers became bold and shared the hope of Christ with the lost. As a result, six new people chose to follow Jesus, were baptized and have joined a local church.

3. Witch doctor believes

Believers in a Katome village in Uganda were under intense persecution. They were pressured daily to return to witchcraft. IMB missionaries asked for prayer for these believers to remain faithful.

As a result, this group shared the gospel with the local witch doctor, and she believed! Her life radically transformed. She now gathers weekly for worship and Bible study. IMB missionaries and their national partners taught this group to listen to Bible stories on solar radios and then go share it with others. These believers are multiplying and reaching other villages.

4. Grandmother baptized

Believers in Eastern Europe hosted a medical outreach clinic for people impacted by the war in Ukraine. Southern Baptists joined them in praying as they served more than 80 patients, including Lola. They invited this grandmother to another outreach event, and she loved it. She joined them for church and a weekly Bible study. After a few months of reading and studying the Scriptures, Lola surrendered her life to Christ and was baptized this past summer. Prayers made an eternal impact on Lola’s life.

5. Scripture translated

After many years of prayer and hard work, the whole New Testament was finally translated for the Sparrow people in the Horn of Africa. Together, the IMB, Southern Baptist churches and local believers, praised God and asked Him to use the written Scripture to further His kingdom work in that land. 

More than 3,000 New Testaments have now reached the Sparrow people. Believers are overjoyed to read God’s Word in their own language for the first time. Many are gathering with others to study it. Some are even sharing the Word with their Muslim neighbors. Since the New Testaments were distributed, some Muslims, including an Islamic religion teacher, have come to trust in Jesus and follow Him. And here’s more exciting news, churches have started!

6. Transforming lives

God is answering prayers for Buddhists in Myanmar to believe the gospel and take down their idols. A Buddhist woman tried for 30 years to receive comfort from an ailment at her local temple. One day, believers visited her, shared the gospel and prayed with her. Then the woman prayed to the Creator God and the Lord chose to heal her.

She began studying the Bible every day, reading the New Testament in two months. After reading God’s Word, she took down her idols and chose to follow Jesus.

Praise God for transforming her life. Now, she shares her faith with family and neighbors.

7. Multiplying disciples

Earlier this year, Southern Baptists prayed for a network of believers in South Asia who wanted to reach the unengaged, unreached people groups (UUPGs) around them. About one-third of the world’s remaining unengaged peoples are South Asian. Praise the Lord for answering these prayers. In one region of South Asia alone, 11 unengaged, unreached people groups have been found.

There’s now at least one believing family in each one! These new believers are being equipped to reach other people groups who live around them.

God used Southern Baptist prayers to impact lostness in 2024. Join others in 2025 to pray for this Great Pursuit of bringing the gospel to every nation, tribe, people and language.Contact the IMB for a free copy of Loving the Lost, a prayer guide for some of the world’s least reached people groups. With this comprehensive prayer guide, you will gain insights into 52 people groups, engage in meaningful strategic prayer for them, and be encouraged by gospel Transformation Stories from around the world — stories of how bright a future can be for people who follow Jesus.