East Region NAL Loves According to God's Calling
When a religious scholar asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life, the scholar attempted to find a loophole in Jesus' instruction for radical love after the parable of the Good Samaritan. The man asked the Lord, "But who is my neighbor?"
When people today ask, 'who is my neighbor?' Nancy Sharman's answer would be someone to love with the love of Christ. As the Eastern Region National Area Leader, Nancy encourages the leaders in her region to pursue the Lord's calling on their lives by loving and serving their neighbors in the way Jesus prescribed. Her ministry influence and leadership cover North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware and Ohio.
Nancy lives in northern Virginia on a farm with her husband, Mike, who is an attorney in the neighboring city of Culpeper. This is where her ministry first took root. She began as a local coordinator, setting the standard for NDP prayer breakfasts and times of prayer in Culpeper. This year, Nancy returned to her local prayer events during the 2020 National Day of Prayer, and once again join long-time friends and ministry leaders to pray for our nation.
Beyond calling Sharman to serve with NDP, the Lord has grown a prison ministry through her over the past 11 years, and she cares deeply for the spiritual healing and growth of people in prisons. Her involvement started when she was asked to give her testimony at a prison in her area and the Lord opened her eyes to a new purpose. Last summer Nancy was named Prayer Ambassador to Prisons due to her diligent effort in supporting the spread of the Gospel through churches in prisons.
"The church on the inside is so alive, so focused and so dedicated—it just gives me hope to know they are joining us in fasting and praying," Nancy said. "There are no fences and no barbed wire that can separate us in prayer. Yesterday's prisoner is today's neighbor."
Nancy encourages the state coordinators in her area to seek the Lord and ask Him for a calling and ministry of their own. God is answering these prayers by leading other state and regional coordinators toward people He is calling them to minister to and serve. In Maryland, God has given Juin Killingsworth, the state coordinator, a calling to work with people experiencing homelessness. He has placed her in a county government agency, where her responsibility to find housing for people who need shelter fulfills both her need for a job and the ministry calling on her soul.
God is moving in all geographic, industry and influence areas. He is moving with the prayer of faithful believers who are dedicated to ministering to all of their neighbors in all life situations and circumstances.
"'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?'
The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.'
Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'"
-Luke 10:36-37 NIV