THESE have been powerful days for Ivy and me here in Georgia. We have been staying in a very holy place, at the Calvary Church Community here, in the Bishop M.A. Thomas Hopegivers International Guest House. A lot of the distractions of the world we face back in Charlottesville are absent. The voice of the Lord has been especially easy to hear and both of us have been receiving new revelations almost daily. Plus, we have not been alone, people around the world are praying for us to receive guidance as are a growing network of new prayer partners and friends here in Georgia.

In fact the Lord has seemed so close and present that almost daily I receive some fresh, powerful insight from the Holy Spirit. One that has been confirmed by scripture and three other witnesses, have been particularly painful to me.

The message has been simply this: "IF YOU DON'T OBEY, THEN GOD WILL GET SOMEBODY ELSE." This is what Mordicai told Queen Esther when she appeared to trifal in speaking out against wicked Haman. She called for prayer and fasting, and then went ahead to risk her life and marriage in order to save her people.

The Lord appears to be calling us in a new direction. Like Esther, our faith is being tested. Not everything is clear, although it is getting clearer. Not everything has been provided, although God always does in the end provide. Ivy and I are getting closer and closer to having to launch out on faith ? to take that leap into the unknown. To say "YES" to a new future.

And one of the hardest parts of all this is facing the pain of losing old ties and relationships to churches and people and organizations we love - good Christian folks to whom we are devoted and love dearly. In so doing, it means saying "NO" to other possible futures. Plans that are still precious to our hearts! This uncertainty brings fear.

Fear of losing security. Fear of losing friends. Fear of letting go of comfortable routines, places, and things familiar. Fear that we will not ever be able to finish certain dreams that we have worked to so hard on for years - good dreams for godly things too. Fear that we may never be able to go back and finish cherished tasks.

But again, the same word comes, but now in a more comforting sense, "GOD WILL GET SOMEBODY ELSE."

Frankly, this is not a pleasant word to my ears. I still like to think that God needs Bill Bray. That somehow I am important to Him - and of course I am, so much so that He sent His son to die for me. But that's no what I am referring to! I want to think that I am important in His plans - that He needs me to run the world and save His church. But the word is clear, if we go ahead and exercise our free will and say "NO" to Lord's call, He has other options. He really doesn't need us to do His will. I say that knowing that Christ has no hands but our hands on this earth. But we need to hold the work of God loosely. Always knowing that God can and will get somebody else if He needs to should give us the kind of humility we need to be really used in His service. I pray that we will discern His will clearly and obey at this point.

Sunday Prayer Priority, 30 January
LORD OF ALL, we ask that your Spirit fall upon Bill & Ivy Bray, Samuel Thomas and their driver as they travel today from Columbus, Georgia to Lynchburg, Virginia for a day of meetings with the Hopegivers Media team there on Monday. During the drive, we pray that you will fire the group with Holy Spirit filled imagination as they discuss the communication program and details of the Bray's partnership arrangement with Hopegivers International. Send guardian angels to watch over the team as they travel on dangerous roads today. In the name of Jesus, AMEN.

Saturday Prayer Priority, 29 January
LORD JESUS, we thank you for everyone who has joined the Bray Family Missionary Prayer Team and we ask you to bless them as they read and use the February "Call to Prayer" Newsletter now arriving by mail in the homes of our intercessors and supporters. Prosper each of them in their family, health, business and vocation. Use them in covenant with us to do your will in missions around the globe. Give them great faith to believe you for the requests listed in the letter and extrordinary wisdom in how to pray. In Jesus' Name, AMEN.

Friday Prayer Priority, 28 January
Lord Jesus, head of the body which is your church, we pray for delgates and participates meeting and voting today and tomorrow at the Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia in Reston. Guide them into that perfect balance between grace and truth; rightiousness and mercy. We identify with these leaders as they repent of the sins of this age and ask you to heal the divisions and wounds that have been opened in the last year. Especially guide Bill and Ivy Bray as they relate to the worldwide communion of Christians in the third world that are being so deeply affected by American church politics, theological error, and sin. All this we pray in your precious Name, AMEN.

My son Jon called me on my cell yesterday, wondering if he could join our next missionary team to India as a photo journalist! His astonishing black and white images from our Operation Africa Child Missions to Ethiopia and South Africa in 2003 are still getting amazed comments - there is no doubt God has gifted him with great sensitivity. He sees the poor and needy with the eyes of Jesus. His photos have already helped touch many hearts and I would love to have him with me on this next mission.

However, budget and time are both short and I'm loath to interrupt him just as he gets back to college for the spring term. Plus we have an Indian professional photographer already booked. But I was delighted that Jon wanted to help us tell the story of the Tsunami orphans ? the fatherless and the widows ? and the huge drama of the native missionary movement now sweeping India.

Troubled by my inability to say "yes" to my son, I promised him I would think about it and share his request with Dr. Lam, Bishop Thomas and other decision makers in our project sponsoring network. However, my faith was weak.

Then in the middle of the night, I woke up and literally jumped from bed with excitement. I had a fully formed vision. I was so turned on by the vision that I could not stay in bed. I had to get up and pray.

Why not form a mission team of articulate college students - grant writers, photographers, journalists, videographers and writers? We could take them on summer or Christmas "media missions" for Christ? Just imagine what 12-15 talented young men and women would see as they opened their hearts to the things that break the heart of God on such a mission - especially into the developing world.

1. Every church and mission I know desperately needs photographs and stories to represent their work to prayer partners and donors. As they fresh young eyes shared their experiences, the impact could be multiplied to millions of others.
2. Plus the students would have life changing encounters with the people and cultures, and other on the team. Who knows how many would be called into missions as a result of what they witnessed?
3. Meanwhile, indigenous missionaries and churches would be inspired to better present themselves to the watching world.
4. Finally, it would be an incredible opportunity for Ivy and me to mentor some of these young people and have a vocational impact on their lives. After all, I have had 40 years of missionary media experience in 65 countries. We both have something to share, not least of which would be modeling a Christian marriage to young people who have not seen a couple work together in devotion to Christ as we do. Ivy would not just chaperone the girls, but as always would assist in the administration and detail work that she does best.

What an exciting opportunity this would be to change the destiny of many people on many levels. I believe this could be one of the greatest ministries we have ever had, and it fulfills prayers and a calling I have felt for many years. This is really something to pray about, especially as we attend the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Los Angeles next month!

Wednesday Prayer Priority, 26 January
LORD Jesus Christ, we unite our hearts asking you to arm and strengthen the Bray boys, Billy and Jon, as they return to college this week in Charlottesville, Virginia. Enlighten them as they study their academic courses. Give them a sense of your divine calling into useful, Kingdom-building vocations. Especailly help Billy as he works part time in the mission mailroom sending out the February "Call to Prayer" today and invitations for the "Victory in Jesus Dinner" on February 21. Give Jon artistic vision in his photography and music courses, sound judgement in comparative religion and patience to stay the course in his studies. Supply both boys with every need and empower them to discern error and resist tempation. We pray all this in your name, AMEN.

Tuesday Prayer Priority, 25 January
Lord Jesus, guide and protect our Tsunami Emergency Rescue teams, the mobile missionary teams, and the local mission leaders who are delivering our charity and love to the survivors in Asia today. We particularly pray by name for Doug Kendrick of World Children's Fund, Paul Moore Jr of CitiHope International, and Sister Joan Clare of Medical Mission International as they work in Sri Lanka ... Khun Lek and Roelien Mueller in Thailand ... and the Hopegivers International mobile teams in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu ... as well as the thousands of native missionaries with Christian Aid whose names you know. We thank you for the thousands of donors who have made it possible for us to send 44 pallets of medicines and who continue to give generously to our various appeals. Bless everyone who is part of this team and those who are co-ordinating them including Bill and Ivy Bray and all the others in the mission funding countries. AMEN

It seems like an eternity has passed since I last updated this blog. It was before the Christmas holidays. Before the Indian Ocean Tsunami swept over Asia leaving nearly 200,000 dead. And by the way, before it swept through our personal ministries! We have WCF Program Partners and Projects in every Asian land ravaged by those killer tidal waves. So when they hit, we jumped and haven't stopped jumping since. (In fact, since Decemer 26 we have worked day and night raising over $9 million in relief aid and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash support for native missionary teams. Some of our groups were on the scene within minutes and hours of the disaster.)

But in the midst of all this fury, Ivy and I have been going through our own personal tsunami in our lives and ministries. The last entry in this blog was mysterious I know. I remember writing ominously that this day is the first day of the rest of my life. You could almost hear a drum roll in the background. And as it turned out, that statement was more profound than anything I could have imagined. The Lord led me to make a decision, like the disciples did when they laid down their nets and agreed to follow our Lord to become fishers of men. You see, World Children's Fund is a good work, but for me it had become something like my own personal fishing nets. When I laid them down -- released them to the Lord -- something snapped in the cosmos. I said I would go back into faith-based, church-related charity ... not just the "good works" of building the Kingdom of God, but charity that went hand in hand with spiritual ministry. I had seen in Malawi that the church could lead and should lead since every health and welfare problem also has a spiritual dimension and cannot be divorced from the Gospel. This was my original calling and commitment to the Lord.

Anyway, something snapped. When I said I would follow Jesus like that, a whole lot of things spun out of control in our lives. Within days I found that our relationship with WCF and Christian Aid had altered forever in ways that scared me and everyone involved. Suddenly, we were working out of our home again. Living on faith again. Saying "no" to the people that I usually said "yes" to blindly. And I also was being rejected by good religious people who couldn't see where the Lord seemed to be leading us.

Well, so here we are, helping Hopegivers International set the directions for their communications program. They're a lot more risky operation than WCF or Christian Aid is. If anybody had told me in October that I would be here in January doing what I'm doing now, I would have laughed like dried up old Sarah did when the angel announced that she was about to get pregnant. The chances back then of me being here now in Columbus, Georgia were exactly that remote.

But anyway here we are, and we don't exactly know what the future is. This is what you call one of those "times of transition" in your career that keeps you up at night praying. Not that we're worried. We're trusting the Lord and He is taking good care of us. But our ministry is out of control again and in His hands. Brother Bill+

Monday Prayer Priority, 24 January
LORD JESUS, give wisdom and guidance to Dr. Joseph Lam and Dr. Thomas Samuel as they plan to be meeting in San Jose, Califonria today to discuss a wide range of topics including more extensive ways to share and expand the communications ministry of Bill and Ivy Bray. Bless both ministries as they have mobile teams involved in relief delivery to the Tsunami survivors today in India and Sri Lanka. We also pray your blessing on the Bombay Street Child Rescue ministry they co-sponsor and which Bill Bray expects to visit when he travels to India in February. AMEN