What Happened to Me?I received an invitation to lead a prayerwalk to

India in 1998. I must confess that my initialresponse to the invitation was less than positive.Having participated in several evangelistic, inter-national short-term mission trips, I wanted to dosomething more than just pray on my next trip.I resisted the idea of leading the prayerwalk forseveral days until a friend gave me a book onprayerwalking and asked me to read it. Themore I read the more convicted I became.Finally, I asked God to forgive me of my wrongattitude and concluded that Ineeded the prayerwalk morethan the prayerwalk neededme. I contacted three friendsand a travel agent, and withina few months we were on ourway to India.

As I traveled through Indiawith my friends, the sights,sounds, and smells of ourjourney seeped into my heartand ascended to heaven in thelanguage of prayer. The sightof women walking along theroad from village to villagecarrying heavy loads on their heads became areminder of the heavy burden of sin unreachedpeople carry in their hearts. The sounds of musicand conversations as we walked through villagesserved as a reminder of those who have yet tohear the sound of God's voice. As we walked

along a dark road late one night, I was remindedof the deep spiritual darkness that still coversmuch of this part of the world.

What Does Praying On-Site Do?• Praying on-site taught me the harsh realitiesof poverty. The poverty I witnessed in tribalareas was far worse than anything I could haveimagined. The outstretched hands and longingeyes of malnourished beggars—many of themchildren—on the streets of the larger cities over-whelmed me. I realized that emptying my pock-

ets wouldprovideless thana drop ofhelp intheir vastdesert ofpoverty.Instead, Iemptiedmy heartas I inter-ceded onbehalf ofthe vast

numbers of people in such desperate need.While I have read or heard reports about these kinds of realities in other parts of theworld, praying on-site put me face-to-face with the people who live in those realities fromday-to-day.

by Omar C. Garcia

71Spring 2001

Omar Garcia

Confessions of a Reluctant PrayerWalker

72 LifeTruths L E A R N E R G U I D E

• Praying on-site made me aware of the chal-lenges of reaching those with little or noaccess to the gospel. The vast majority of thepeople we met were either Hindu or animists.One day we visited a burial site. The crematedremains of those who died without Christ had asobering impact on each of our team members.The ashes and human bone fragments scatteredon the ground before us represented people wewould never meet in heaven. This sight prompt-ed each of us to earnestly pray that the livingrelatives and friends of the deceased would bereceptive to the gospel of life. As my friends andI traveled in remote areas we saw many Hinduand animist altars in villages and in rice fields.We were present in one village during the cele-bration of Divali—a major Hindu religious festivalin which fireworks are exploded to chase awayevil spirits. I realized more than ever the need topray for those who have committed themselvesto taking the gospel to people steeped in othertraditions.• Praying on-site created within me anintense yearning for the salvation ofunreached people.Being in the midstof so many peoplewho have neverheard about JesusChrist moved medeeply. As anAmerican I enjoy lifein the comfort andsecurity of ourgospel-saturatedborders. People inAmerica have multi-ple access to the gospel. Every day people inAmerica have the luxury of choosing whichgospel television or radio program they will orwill not listen to or which church they will orwill not attend. However, the people I saw andmet live precariously on the edge where there

is little or no access to the gospel. Their choicesare limited and often do not include the choiceto hear the gospel.• Praying on-site enlarged my view of theworld. Today, almost one-third of the world'spopulation lives in the 10/40 Window—the LastFrontier of missions. This geographical areastretches from North Africa across the MiddleEast to Asia. The ethnic and linguistic groupsthat live in this region are among the most iso-lated and hardest to reach in the world. Mostof these people are kept in darkness by hostilecultures, governments, and religions. Mosthave never met a Christian, seen a Bible, orentered a church. The Wycliffe Bible translatorsestimate at least 400 million people in ourworld speak a language with no Scripture—noteven one Book of the Bible in their language.Our visit to India put us in direct contact withone of these least evangelized people groups.At present, the people group we visited hasonly the New Testament in their language.However, we had the privilege of meeting themen who have completed the translation of the

Old Testament intothe language of theirpeople. We experi-enced a wonderfultime of encourage-ment and prayertogether. My view ofthe world has beenenlarged. Eventhough I have partic-ipated in severalinternational short-term mission trips, I

was reminded again of the multiplied millionsof people outside the geographical boundariesof our country who are still waiting to hear thegospel for the very first time.• Praying on-site made me more keenly awareof my responsibility to take the gospel to

Omar Garcia

those living in the uttermost parts. Today, 3 ofevery 4 persons in the world have not acceptedChrist as Savior. One of the 3 unsaved has nevereven had the opportunity to hear about Him.Every hour approximately 1,400 people die with-out ever having heard about Jesus Christ. Onethird of the childrenin the area we visiteddo not live to the ageof five. We learnedthat the lifeexpectancy of thepeople in the area isin the low 50’s. Sadly,many of these peoplewill live and die with-out ever havingheard the messageof Jesus Christ. As Isaw thousands ofpeople on the crowded sub-continent of India, Ithought of Jesus who saw and had compassionon the crowds “because they were harassed andhelpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt.9:36). This experience prompted me to repeat-edly ask the Lord of the harvest to send outworkers into His harvest field (Matt. 9:37-38).• Praying on-site caused me to reflect on thewealth I enjoy as an American and on theimportance of investing that wealth to growGod's kingdom. On more than one occasion Ireflected on the words of Jesus in Luke 12:48—”From everyone who has been given much,much will be demanded.” My family and I haveindeed been blessed with much. I must wiselyinvest what I have been blessed with to the endthat the gospel reaches those living in theremotest parts of the earth. Praying on-site inIndia caused me to carefully consider my stew-ardship of all that the Lord has entrusted to me.I am convinced that I can do without many ofthe upgrades I think I need and instead investthose dollars in kingdom work.

• Praying on-site caused me to becomeattached to the people I met. My friends and Imet Christians who are vulnerable to persecu-tion and have little protection under the law.These believers live out their commitment toChrist in spite of threats and danger. They gra-

ciously demonstrat-ed hospitality andkindness to us andtook the time topray for us. We alsomet villagers whosedaily lives are alwayspreoccupied withthoughts of survival.And we met manypeople who are sin-cerely convincedthat there are manypaths to heaven. I

will always be attached to these people throughprayer. I cannot erase their memories from mymind or their needs from my heart and will con-tinue to pray for them with compassion andunderstanding.• Praying on-site in India taught me that pray-ing on-site wherever I am must become a wayof life. I returned home deeply convicted of theneed to pray on-site in my neighborhood and inplaces throughout my community. I must allowthe familiar sights and sounds of my comfort-able world to seep into my heart and ascend toheaven in the language of prayer. I must look atthe people in my own village who are “harassedand helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” andbe willing to go into the harvest field. I mustcontinue to pray wherever I am to the end thatall people everywhere will have an opportunity tohear and respond to the gospel and, by sodoing, worship and enjoy God forever.

Omar Garcia is the minister of education at Bear Creek Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.

73Spring 2001

Omar Garcia