Pre Trip Prayer Service

Here is a great idea for a prayer service to have before you leave for your trip to Mexico. Thanks to Brandon Craig from Belmont Christian Church for this great idea:

This works best the night before your team flies to San Diego, in a church fellowship hall or other large open room, with plenty of floor space and capability to show video on a large screen. Make this mandatory for everyone going to Mexico, and invite their friends and family to attend,
If you’re building more than one house, inform your kids that they will find out who they are working with the night of the prayer service.

On the floor, use colored duct tape to outline a 16’x20’ rectangle on the floor for each house you will be building.

Announce the names of each work team, and instruct them to stand in their “house” as their names are called. We placed nail aprons at each house and the team tied them on, as they stood in their house together for the first time. Once all the names of a team are announced, show the video introducing them to the family they’ll be serving. Repeat for each building team.

After all houses are filled and introduction videos are shown, invite everyone else to join a building team around their house for prayer. Allow all groups to have a time of prayer together inside or around their house, praying for the team, the family they’ll be serving, the host missionaries, etc.

After all groups finish praying, have cards available for friends and family to write, to be placed in the house, between the plywood and drywall. They can write scripture verses, encouragement to a specific family, prayers, etc. As people write their notes, have them place them in the house they want them to be included in. At the end of the night, collect the cards, making sure to keep track of which cards go with which house.