Welcome to the section of our web site dedicated to the “ADOPT-A-NATION PRAYER PROJECT”. I’m Sarah Smith and I’ve been the director of the project since its inception in the fall of 1997. Read below about the history, scope and design of this endeavor that has now entered into its eleventh year. Praise the Lord!

HISTORY

In August, 1997 my husband, James, and I were part of an “Every Home for Christ” (EHC) short-term mission trip to China and Mongolia. The trip leader was C. Richard Smith, a former pastor from Memphis, TN who was EHC’s North American Field Director. Richard has since become Assistant to Dick Eastman, EHC’s President and a very dear friend of ours.

Richard and his Asian contacts arranged for James and me to attend several meetings with Chinese believers who were part of the “underground” church movement in their provinces. The term “underground” refers to Christian activity which falls OUTSIDE the parameters of China’s THREE-SELF GOVERNMENT policy. Our meetings were clandestine and quiet circuitous routes had to be taken from our hotel to the secret locations. Prior to this experience, I had read much about the courage of the Chinese Church in the face of great dangers. My good friend, Jackie Santoro, had given me her issues of THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS (VOM) magazine during the summer of 1997. James and I had received reports over the years from Christians behind the Iron Curtain and had been praying for the Christians in Communist countries for more than two decades. However, meeting these dear fellow Christians face-to-face and hearing of their burning desire to share Jesus Christ with lost souls was going to change my life and empower me to resolve to do more for them. When we arrived back home in the United States, I began investigating the ministries that serve the needs of the persecuted church. In my prayerful quest, the Spirit of the Lord led me to information regarding a global prayer day coming up in November, 1997.

The “International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church” was going to be in its second year having been begun in 1996. By this time I knew that there were many countries where Christians were at risk for practicing their faith. I was not prepared, however, for the statement that in coming years I would repeat to audiences over and over that, “More Christians have been martyred during the twentieth century than all nineteen previous centuries combined.” Consistent prayer was their number one request. The task of joining others in mobilizing prayer for millions and millions of people loomed before me as a daunting call. “What can I do to make it easy for people to pray for suffering Christians?” I asked as I sought the Lord for His wisdom and guidance.

The Lord responded by inspiring me with the concept of designing individual placards displaying the name and map of each of the specified countries. VOM’s Special Issue for that year supplied a listing of nations designated as “restricted” or “hostile” to the Gospel. Holy Spirit leading gave me the project’s title, coined the term “country sign”, and the operative scripture from Colossians 4:18, “Remember my chains.” In answer to prayer the Lord sent the right person to take it to the next step…production. Upon hearing about the endeavor, Jacinta Vondell in her typically generous manner offered to “help in any way”. And so it was that Jacinta and “her girls” sketched those first maps, chose the lettering and font size, and manually laminated the first edition of thirty-seven “country signs”.

In His grace,

Sarah A. Smith

January 16, 2008