No Soul Left Behind                       Parish Program

Despite great homilies, parish missions, on-point literature and program structure, churches often launch evangelization programs only to be disappointed in the results.  Our Lady explains the primary reason in her words to St. Dominic:  "My son, do not be surprised that your sermons fail to bear the results you had hoped for. You are trying to cultivate a piece of ground which has not had any rain."¹  The "piece of ground" is the heart and the "rain" is prayer.  

That's why the heart of the No Soul Left Behind Parish Program  is prayer.  We place all of our reliance on God to prepare the ground and reap the harvest.   When our hearts have been prepared by this rain, we will naturally and authentically share from the wellspring of our love for Jesus.

The Parish Program seeks to engage parishioners to pray for those they believe don't know Jesus, have fallen away from the practice of their faith, or want to deepen their faith in Jesus.  These are the essentials:

• They pray for a week for God to bring to mind people they knew who fall into those three categories; it could be even themselves. 
• The following week, they turn in the first names on cards that are distributed to them.  A card could have multiple names.
• The week after that, they can pull a card from baskets at the exits.  They can do so, only if they committ to pray daily for three months for the name(s) listed on the cards.  They are to pray for the person to come closer to Jesus. 
• At the end of that time, the cards are collected and prayed over.  Of course, they can continue to pray for them if they choose.

The progam was started in 2010 and is repeated annually.  About 450 cards were collected the first time with nearly 1000 names.  The last time, it was about 700 cards with nearly 2000 names.

We've found that praying in this way has in some fashion softened the hearts of those doing the praying and opened them up to sharing about Jesus as they become concerned for others out of the goodness God has already put in their hearts.  It’s something they can do privately - without recrimination and accountability. 

They can pray for what they want, whenever they want. God can work on both of these areas within the confines of their hearts augmented by whatever external inputs He allows.  They then become a private spectator as the Lord works and may even become an active participant as He directs.