Saturday we began the book launch giveaway.  Sunday we ended the month-long 15% off celebration sale.  Monday we went to visit the blog of a writer of Christian children's books to engage in an interview about myself as an author, and this latest book.  TODAY we have a fun announcement and invitation!

Have you ever sat down with a group of people and all agreed to join a daily initiative where each of you took a different day?  It might have been taking turns sitting at the bedside of a sick friend.  It might have been taking turns watering a special plant a week before someone's big day.  Maybe it was for a fundraising relay and you each signed up for one hour on the clock.  Have you ever put your name on a 24-hour prayer calendar?  Did you ever sign up for a time slot on a 40-day prayer calendar?  Global Day of Prayer likes to encourage prayer groups to do that in the 40 days between Easter and Pentecost every year.  I've heard stories of prayer rooms that are open 24 hours a day in Israel, England, and other places as well.

In a similar fashion, it would be fun to sign up 365 people or prayer groups, each beginning Day One of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" on a different day on the calendar.  The way this book is laid out, you can begin Day One literally any day of the calendar year, so no one has to be concerned with missing part of the year if they don't start on a given date.

One of the prayer points in this book, "Thy Kingdom Come", features prayer prompts for a wide range of missions organizations across various denominations.  It also features nations in or near the 10-40 window, and encourages prayer for various people groups and language groups.  As the author of this book, this particular prayer point was the most difficult to put together.  Every missions organization mentioned had to go through a vetting process to be sure they were teaching Salvation, placing emphasis on the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them.  Language groups and people groups had to be "living" so that I wasn't asking you to pray for groups that had in some manner disappeared off the map.  While these vetting processes helped to narrow down the various lists, I still had far too many entries for the mere 365 days to be covered in a year.  After prayer and puzzling, I finally reduced these lists to those that hopefully represent the widest swaths of humanity on the planet.  Needless to say, this particular prayer prompt feels like a mere drop in the bucket of all the people groups and language groups a person or prayer group could be praying for.  The "Your Thoughts" entry will come in handy for many of you who know of or work with groups not mentioned in the 365 day period.  If you purchase the paperback copy, you can write those in with a pen or pencil.  If you buy an ebook version, you may wish to purchase a matching notebook from my cafepress.com store (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks), so that you have somewhere to write down additional prayer prompts as they come to you.

But imagine. . . You begin Day One on September 3rd.  Your friend begins Day One on September 4th.  Your buddy's prayer group begins Day One on September 5th, and so on.  Each of you would come to the above prayer prompt one day after the other, effectively lifting up those mentioned there every single day for an entire year!

This is exciting to me because I do have a heart for missions!  I know how deeply missionaries appreciate those back home praying for them!  I know how impacting those prayers are on daily life on the missionfield.  I also know how difficult it is to get people praying for these missionaries on a regular basis.  I used to run an online prayer group and we divided up the globe into the same regions as created in the Left Behind Series by Tim Lehaye and Jerry Jenkins.  I still have graphics of those regions on my computer from those days managing this online prayer group.  We had prayer warriors from South Africa, Britain, Australia, Germany, the USA, Canada, Singapore, etcetera.  Whenever possible, each person put their name down to pray on a given day for a given region of the world.  This prayer group went on for several years and we'd meet to pray together once a month online in group chat.

So needless to say, I can't help being excited about the prospect of encouraging people to join with each other across cities, regions and nations to lift up missionaries, nations, people groups and language groups in prayer every single day for an entire year!

Participation requires a copy of this book in some format, whether paperback, PDF, epub or mobi.  Tomorrow, September 3rd, four people will receive free copies of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" in digital format.  Once you have your own copy, you are then encouraged to visit the entry form on my website at:  http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/join-with-others-in-covering-the-world-in-prayer-for-an-entire-year/  Fill in the entire form including where you obtained your copy of the book, as well as what date you began Day One.  If you include a link in the form, be sure to fill out the box asking how you want your calendar entry to appear.  Failure to fill out that final box will result in your full name being shared on the date you choose.  Your entry will be placed on the calendar manually, and your email address entered into my monthly Songdove Books Presents: Newsletter.  You're free to unsubscribe from that newsletter at any time.

I am seriously looking forward to adding names to the calendar on my website!  Are you game?  Check this link for current places where you can get your copy and join the fun!  https://www.facebook.com/notes/marilynn-dawson-author/book-launch-for-a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-august-30th-sept-5th/700524600040431