Nick Hall is a dynamic young evangelist with a heart for student-led prayer and outreach events. He joins the show in our first half to talk about the National Day of Prayer and the value of believers gathering in public to pray. Then, Leith Anderson, pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, joins us to talk about efforts to limit public expressions of faith across the country, and the persecution of Christians across the globe. It’s a discussion of faith in action on this latest Connecting Faith. Here’s where the conversation takes us.

The first half of our show opens with Nick taking us behind the PULSE Movement, a ministry focused on outreach to students. He explains that the movement began with prayer, in a place where it felt as though God was turning Nick’s life upside down. Now, he recognizes that God was actually turning him right-side up.

Nick says we are called as believers to do acts of love and compassion, and that at the heart of the good we want to do in the world is the knowledge that people have a core need for a relationship with Jesus.

There is great power when people come together to lift up the name of Jesus. We talk about the history of the National Day of Prayer, why it matters, and focus in on upcoming opportunities to lift up Jesus with other believers.

Then we welcome back Pastor Leith Anderson in the second half of our show. We take a glance at the sometimes dangerous scenario facing Christians around the world. In Kenya, for example, the nation is majority Christian, yet many were killed recently simply because of their faith in Jesus. Pastor Leith believes we have a role to play in bringing more refugees to safety from danger zones around the world. Are there other national policy goals Christians could be pursuing to make a difference for our faith brothers and sisters around the globe?

Returning home, we discuss the size and effectiveness of today’s Christian congregations. Is it really true that this is the age of the mega-church? Pastor Leith says that, on the contrary, most churches are still far smaller on average than we realize. Interestingly, research has indicated that evangelism decreases as churches get larger and larger. What can we take from that? And where is the epicenter of church growth in the US today?

Highlight: Historical prayer

Uniting the body of Christ