Prayer Partners

November 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

Every person you know, every person you love, is on one of two lists.

Titanic was gone. Relatives of Titanic's passengers agonized in the Liverpool office of White Star Lines, waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones. The company had the difficult challenge of informing the family members of the 2,200 passengers when word finally came. Ultimately, they set up a huge board with two lists, headed by two cardboard signs: "Known to be saved" and "Known to be lost."

October 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

In many parts of our great country right now, it's harvest time. Of course, when you grow up in Chicago, like I did, you don't know much about harvesting.

But I married a farm girl, and I have lots of friends who are farmers. They've taught me a lot about harvest. I needed to know. Because "harvest" is the way Jesus described the work of bringing lost people to Him. When it's harvest time, you drop everything, get all the help you can find and work until it's done. The opportunity is great...the time is short...if you don't get it when it's ready, it will be lost.

June 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

Two very different worlds - a desert Indian reservation and the concrete canyons of Wall Street. But desperation feels the same in both places - "without God and without hope in this world." ({bible}Ephesians 2:12{/bible})

On the reservation, there was another young suicide recently. The lone missionary there is now on the "hit list" of tribal leaders - because he's reached a few among this Gospel-resistant people group. Converts are being seriously persecuted and spiritual curses are being aimed at the missionary. And the Gospel is being blamed for drought, violence, and the most recent suicide.

May 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:11:31 +0000

Dear Friend,

I had called to encourage Joy and Greg, two friends of this ministry. They challenged and encouraged me. When I thanked them for being in that small percentage of believers who give to reach people without Christ, Joy said with deep emotion:

"We remember what we were like when we were lost..."

April 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:00:10 +0000

Dear Friend,

It was a restless crowd of teenagers I was speaking to - not exactly a first. The sports arena we were in last fall was jammed. It was the kind of venue where teenagers are used to being rowdy and mobile. My privilege - and my challenge - was bringing a chatty, cell-phone texting audience to a point where they would consider giving their life to Jesus.

Many were listening as I started, but there was still a low buzz around the edges. Then, suddenly, a holy hush fell across that crowd. Minutes later, hundreds flooded the aisles coming to Christ. What happened?

March 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:08:12 +0000

Dear Friend,

Eighteen years ago this month, something happened to my heart. My heart broke - and I've never been the same.

I went to a speaking engagement on an Indian reservation, and I met the most broken young people on the continent. For many years, I'd worked with hurting young people from all kinds of races and backgrounds. But for the first time in my life, I met young people who have no dreams. No hope. No reason to stick around for tomorrow.

February 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

I'm a city boy. The Bible's full of farm stuff - fields, harvesting, livestock. So I need some help. Thankfully, my country girl wife and some farm-world experiences have helped me understand a whole lot more about what God is saying through those examples.

Just before Christmas, I helped a friend pick up some lambs that were destined to be a Christmas gift. Watching city boy carrying lambs from a truck to a barn could have qualified for that "funniest videos" show on TV. Two of the three were safely in their stall. Suddenly, the third one jumped four feet into the air and took off across the countryside. We knew if we didn't fi nd her, the local dogs or coyotes would tear her apart.

January 2009 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

A new year should begin with some good news - and I've got some. Especially for a valued spiritual partner like you who has a heart for the millions without Christ.

For many years, there's been a heavy burden on my heart. I know it's heavy on Jesus' heart, too. He grieves because "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few" (Matthew 9:37). But as this new year begins, I'm finally holding in my hand something that could make a powerful difference. And it can help change the eternities of countless lost men and women.

2008 Ministry Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:59:58 +0000

Dear Friend,

You must have felt the quake. I sure did. If the upheavals in America's economy could be measured on the Richter scale, we'd be looking at an 8.0 quake.

They say part of the trauma of a real earthquake is that things that never moved before are suddenly moving. Or gone. Hello, America's finances.

November 2008 Prayer Update

rh@hutchcraft.com (Ron Hutchcraft) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

They're half the world. They're most of the people who ever come to Christ. And they're a lifelong ministry passion of my heart. Young people.

God broke my heart for them when I was still one of them. And though many years have passed, that "heart trouble" has been incurable. As never before, they're out of control, out of answers, out of hope. Like the girl who recently wrote this middle-of-the-night blog on MySpace: