National Day of Prayer 2020

Dear Friends of National Day of Prayer,

This is one of the most amazing blessings and ANSWERS TO PRAYER I have experienced in the past 30 years. Thanks for setting aside a few minutes to read the letter and respond to it. —Wendell

“My ways or thoughts are HIGHER than your ways or thoughts…”
—God… quoted from Isaiah 55:9

In January, the National Day of Prayer 2020 in our community had a powerful game plan… or so we thought. The pre-COVID-19 plan looked a lot like previous National Day of Prayer plans, with some helpful tweaks, a three-year plan for growth & outreach and…

The Caveat was that it could all change if God might have a Better Plan!

GOD DID! His Master Plan is unfolding in ways we had never dreamed.

God has taken our long time friendships with the Rochester Post-Bulletin newspaper and ABC 6 NEWS (KAAL-TV) to form a three-pronged partnership with us, that communicates the power of prayer in ways that exceed our fondest imagination.

Allow me to introduce you to a word: SPADEA, which is new to about 99% of us! SPADEA is a word describing a printed unbound newspaper broadsheet, which wraps around as a narrow half-page vertical partial-cover for the front of the newspaper. The SPADEA is the equivalent of three print broadsheet pages. The front part includes a vertical half page, and the back of the SPADEA becomes pages two and three (wrapping around the last page of the newspaper). Since it is not stapled to the newspaper, it becomes an exceptional (and in-expensive) resource which can be kept by the reader for future purposes.

It sounds more complicated than it is… the reality is, this is a powerful communication tool.

For the weekend before National Day of Prayer week (Saturday, April 30), we will have a SPADEA on the Rochester Post-Bulletin (23,786 circulation copies) that will offer biblical principles of prayer, an inspirational “What’s So Amazing About Grace” story, helpful ministry resources, prayers for healing from the COVID-19 virus, a reprint of a recent newspaper editorial written by Wendell and more.

PLUS… We will have a smaller (2-page) version in the Rochester Market Place Shopper which is distributed to 27,000 homes who do NOT get the Post-Bulletin in the Rochester community. This means we will connect with (in varying degrees) between forty and fifty thousand households, with the likelihood of communicating with 75,000 total people. We also are part of the Post-Bulletin’s online communication coverage, which takes us to another level. The Market Place Shopper version comes out on Tuesday, May 5th, just two-days prior to National Day of Prayer.

The SPADEA will be distributed with the Post-Bulletin Saturday April 30.
In conjunction with the Post-Bulletin, NCRC will also be sending you (in the mail) a complimentary copy of the April 30 paper and SPADEA, so you can see this new ministry tool, pray for its effectiveness and perhaps give a copy to a friend.

The paper and the copy of the SPADEA will replace our May NCRC Newsletter, actually costing less to print & mail, and providing more information due to the partnership with the PostBulletin. We are MOST grateful.

AND there is MUCH More…  YES there is MUCH More… including Television Regionally

Longtime friend and NCRC board member, Betsy Singer (ABC 6 NEWS Anchor), has co-hosted the evening National Day of Prayer evening event for years. For the past four-years Betsy Singer has broadcast her 6:30 p.m. News Show, prior to National Day of Prayer on location.

This year (due to COVID-19) the May 7 Day of Prayer Rochester Event will be taped. We will do a 30-minute condensed version of National Day of Prayer at 6:30 p.m. on ABC 6 NEWS. The ABC 6 NEWS footprint or viewing area, includes 313,000 households. Parameters include a sizable portion of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota.  Go to: AutumnRidgeChurch.org/livestreams/ and ABC 6 NEWS (KAAL-TV)

Still More… Additional BLESSING

We are also encouraging everyone to watch the National Day of Prayer Task Force two-hour Special (Thursday, May 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.) on GodTV, and DayStarTV (Cable Networks), also Facebook Live, and streaming from the National Day of Prayer web-site: nationaldayofprayer.org

These are truly remarkable opportunities to share the power of prayer. God is at work in ways we never dreamed of. The partnership with the Post-Bulletin and ABC 6 NEWS is expanding the ministry of National Day of Prayer in our REGION exponentially.

Your HELP is NEEDED

PRAY daily for Us:

• Pray that people will be greatly touched, watch the TV specials, read the SPADEA and pray for spiritual and physical healing throughout our nation.
• The preparation for NDOP… time is short (it has come together in the remaining weeks) 

Communicate with Others:

• Invite people to watch the May 7th Video broadcasts.
• Give people a copy of the Newspaper SPADEA… extra copies will be available.