The 52 Churches of Siloam Springs

You can count on hearing all about this topic. This is one of the closest things to my heart, especially this year.

Things I will tell you for now:

• There is a small faithful group praying over a couple of hours each week for each of the 52 churches that call Siloam Springs home by address. They are praying for biblical unity overall and focusing on one church each week for 2009, 52 churches, 52 weeks in the year.
• I'm honored to be a part of this team. My particular role includes contacting the church leaders in advance and personally visiting each church the Sunday before the Wednesday that we gather and pray.
• I do this so we can pray most specifically for our brothers and sisters, to get a better personal sense of who we are praying for and also to encourage them that we love them and are praying for them.
• Year to date, I have visited and we have prayed for 16 of the 52 churches.

And I can hardly write this without addressing something. I have heard report after report that Siloam Springs was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most churches per capita. I have researched this thoroughly and to date have found no documentation to support this. If that evidence does exist I would like to invite you to share that with me.

Also, it's important to me for you to know that I remain rooted and grounded in my home church. I am blessed that our fellowship currently has two services, a 9AM service and an 11AM service. This affords me to either attend one or the other and visit one of the other 51 churches each week. It's important to me that this isn't trivialized by the label of "church hopping". I think I've given you at least a glimpse of what this is truly about: serving the greater church of Siloam Springs, part of the bride of Christ, by washing her feet with love, encouragement and prayer.

- Wade Baker