Nearly four years ago I was thinking through our aging missionary force, the attrition of our missionaries and overall decline in the number of missionaries in all organizations. We used to have nearly 900 missionaries in 121 countries. Today we have 600 in 81 countries.

As I travel around the world – God has allowed me to travel to 76 countries – I have witnessed the desperation, hopelessness, loneliness, fear, and little hope of peace with God. It always stirs up within me a strong passion to pray for more people to reach them with the Gospel before it’s too late. As I pondered the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:38, I began thinking about doing something that would challenge people to pray more. After all, praying for more laborers was a request of Jesus himself.

So, I came up with the 938 Challenge. The focus of the challenge is for us to pray every day for more missionaries. One reason for decline in missionaries could be that fewer Christians are praying for more to surrender. Why not take the challenge? Set an alarm on your phone or clock to remind you at 9:38 AM or PM, or both, to stop and say a simple prayer asking God for more laborers.

I have shared this challenge in Taiwan, Kenya, Korea, Costa Rica, Japan, the Philippines and across the US where people are already praying. I receive emails from people around the world letting me know they are praying. A year and a half ago, our team in the Mission Office began thinking about how we could expand this Challenge and that’s when we came up with Project 938. This Project could span over a period of five years, and it is designed to encourage churches around the world to utilize the many resources we have developed, and made available to them, to challenge people to pray. The idea was to encourage everyone to join together on 938 Sunday, October 3, 2021, in a concerted effort to pray for more missionaries. To learn more about Project 938, or to register, please visit www.project938.world.

One of the resources we have provided is a prayer calendar which encourages us to pray for specific regions of the world. Each day includes a QR code that provides a special video that expands on the need for laborers in that particular region of the world. Please consider following our Facebook page – 9:38 Challenge – to discover more ideas about how to pray for areas where we need missionaries.

A total of 894 USA churches were registered for Project 938, and 401 international churches participated in the project as well. Some prayed for 40 days and others for 18 hours leading up to 938 Sunday. Many from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, Oceania, and even in Creative Access Nations joined together with churches in the USA to pray for more laborers. One church in the Philippines reported that eight people surrendered for missions on that day. Thousands across the globe prayed to the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers into His Harvest. Many were excited to think that they were praying with others from many other countries at the same time, to the same God, for the same purpose.

I anticipate hearing about more people giving their lives to serve in their churches, to start new churches in their countries, and to go as missionaries around the world. Praying in faith is something we can all do. I believe God will answer those prayers. It will be great to hear more from other churches and to see how God works in a great way next year!