Actually there is only one list that God cares about. And if God cares about this list, we certainly need to pay attention. At the end of the day, the list that really counts is the list of names written in God’s Book of Life. Jesus said, “Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). If God places names in His book, shouldn’t we maintain a list of new believers? Why? So we can pray for them! In nature, the newborn are very vulnerable to predators. In the same way, new believers are very vulnerable to Satan’s attacks by bringing discouragement and loss of hope.
I was a visitor in a church a number of years ago and an altar call brought five people forward to receive Christ. Obviously this is just one way of coming to Christ. But these folks were encouraged from the pulpit to serve Christ and return to church, then they were sent back to their seats. As they walked by me, I wanted to grab them and take them aside and get their info so effective following up could start, and to record their names in a list of new believers. This list would then be given to a team of prayer partners for daily prayer. But no such protocol had been established in that church. The pastor simply encouraged them then sent them on their way, kind of like going to a hospital nursery, offering a rousing word of encouragement to all the babies, then sending the staff home!
Here is what we do. God uses faithful workers to identify people who respond to the pastor’s appeal for salvation. God puts their names in His Book of Life. The names of new believers are compiled in a list, and this list is emailed weekly to a team of new believer prayer partners. When recruited, the prayer partners are asked to pray daily for each person for one year. Personally, I keep my list in my iPhone. Attracted as we are to lists, the church needs to be attracted to a list of its new believers to cover them daily with diligent and faithful prayer.