by Rebecca Robinson, Heritage Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia

In 2013, My husband and I were celebrating our fifteenth anniversary at Heritage Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. My husband decided to celebrate the whole year. He challenged the church to pray 15 extra minutes each day. We made lists containing different things to pray for concerning each ministry of our church. Each one had the number 15 in them. The largest request was for $15,000 to be able to remodel the auditorium and to do some needed outside repairs. (We are a small church, so this amount was a huge need.) Everyone got involved because prayer is something everyone can do—even the children. As time went on, we saw the Lord answering prayers, which encouraged everyone to pray even more.

One of our ministries is ladies’ soul winning and visitation every other Tuesday morning. The main focus of this ministry is to encourage shut-ins and elderly people. We find them while knocking on doors.

In March of 2011, our church ladies found an elderly couple. The lady was very sick with cancer. We visited her for a whole year. Most of the time, the ladies did not even go inside the house but prayed with the man or the lady on the porch.

On a Tuesday in June of 2012, the ladies went to the house, and an adult daughter told them she did not want anyone from our church to return. So we were going to abide by the family’s wishes and not go back. However, on Thursday of the same week, the lady called the church and left a short message on the phone. She wanted to have a visit from the preacher.

So we changed the place where our group was going to knock on doors and went back to her area. As the preacher was talking to the couple, he found out they were saved and had moved to our area 11 years earlier. He learned that the husband was a World War II prisoner of war from the Battle of the Bulge. Needless to say, the preacher enjoyed the visit!

As the visit was coming to an end, the man said, “We have lived here for 11 years, and yours is the only church that has ever visited us. We would like to give you a donation because we are so thankful for your visits.” The gentleman handed my husband a check.

The check was not in an envelope, so the preacher glanced at it and had to take a second look. The check was for $15,000!

When he finally regained his composure, he told the man of the house, “I have something that I think you need to know. This year is our church’s fifteenth anniversary, and I challenged the church members to pray for many things. One of those things was $15,000 to fix up our old building.”

The preacher continued, “God reached down and touched your heart, and you let Him answer that prayer through you.”

Right away the old former soldier had a huge grin on his face, and the lady said, “It is not our money anyway. It all belongs to God.”

After the preacher left the house, he saw another lady who looked very sad. So he stopped and shared the Gospel with her. She was sweetly saved.

What a time of rejoicing we all had when the preacher caught up with the rest of the soul winners that day and again throughout the next couple of services! We began work right away on the church building, and it had a new look before the end of our fifteenth year.

Do you have a need? Pray with someone about that need every day for an allotted amount of time.Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

Fifteen minutes can make a difference!