Prayer Focus - June 2017

 

 

Praise God that amidst the many challenges our team is facing, our team’s outlook is positive and we are united in our purpose and plans. We recently had a staff party that allowed us to spend time together outside of our work environment and to strengthen our bonds of fellowship. ~ Valentin Schweigler, National Director

 

 

For three days in February, all the businesses were shut down during a protest action organised by the Patriotic Entrepreneurs of Liberia (PATEL). This was due to the Liberian dollar’s depreciation and high tariffs on imported goods. At the time of writing, the petroleum dealers were also threatening to shut down their operations. Please pray that God will intervene in the tense economic situation we are currently facing in Liberia. ~ James Cooper, National Director

 

 

Please pray about the rise of violence in our country. At the time of writing, one missing person has been found dead while another, a Christian believer who attends the same assembly as I do, has been missing for over three weeks. We are also seeing a rise in traffic accidents, often leading to death or critical conditions. Most recently, we’ve had a young boy who has lost both his legs. Please pray for these difficult situations as we find that many of our customers knew or were related to these victims. Pray also that God will continue to give us the right words and actions which will reflect God’s love and comfort to those who are hurting. ~ Davis Laudat, National Director 

 

 

We were delighted to finally be able to refurbish our bookshop in Maputo at the end of 2016 thanks to our ‘Mozambique Container Project,’ which involved shipping second-hand fittings from CLC UK! The bookshop looks great, and we have had many compliments from our customers, such as: “This looks like a real bookshop now!” We now need to do the same with our bookshop in Beira, some 1,211 km to the north. Please pray with us that we can find a way to transport the remaining shelves and units to Beira. Pray also that we will know the right time to go there and upgrade our bookshop as the roads are potentially unsafe at the time of writing. ~ Liz Patten, Africa Regional Director

 

 

We are so thankful to the Lord for the grant application our Regional Director, Romualdo Macinas, and Mark Ridenour (CLC USA) recently completed on our behalf. The grant is to enable CLC Indonesia to also have a Print-on-Demand (POD) system. Please pray with us that the grant will be awarded as we know it will greatly impact our ministry and our country. ~ Donny Kairupan, National Director

 

 

The Publish4All Print-On-Demand (POD) equipment has been shipped from Minnesota to Sierra Leone. Once it arrives and clears customs, Mark Ridenour (CLC USA) will be travelling to Freetown (Sierra Leone) to work with the local team and a trainer/installer from P4A. Please pray that it will all arrive safely and that Mark will be able to make this visit by no later than June, 2017. ~ Donald John, National Director

 

 

Please pray for Carlos Cunha and his team of volunteers as they work to make Christian Portuguese ebooks available on their website. Currently, CLC Portugal is in negotiations with The Good Book Company, seeking the rights to translate and publish their Questions Christians Ask series. It is hoped that they’ll be able to make one title available each year in both formats (print and e-book). ~ Carlos Cunha, National Director

 

 

Please pray that God will continue to give us the wisdom needed to choose the best titles to publish and for the necessary resources to do so. Please also pray that the quality of our work and the professionalism of our team will increase over time and that God will guide me in their training. ~ Ronela Micula, National Director

 

 

Praise God for the amazing time we had ministering to those at the Grace Children’s Home in Nairobi. It was a blessing to be used by God to show His love to these children and their teachers. We brought along some snacks, drinks and some great books to help them start up a library at the orphanage. Please remember them in your prayers. We’re also thankful to God that He helped us start up an Authors’ Programme. This programme is a one-stop-shop for local authors that includes help with editing, design, layout, copyright regulations, and many other services. It is our hope to further develop this programme in 2017 so it can be extended to pastors. ~ Patrick Omukhango, National Director

 

 

With the Lord’s help, we are planning to publish three new books this year. Please pray for the timely provision of finances to cover the printing and translation costs, as well as a demand for the books we publish. ~ Nikita Sapunov, National Director

 

 

Please pray that God will provide the means for us to open a ‘CLC Express’ bookshop, like CLC Colombia did last year. These smaller shops (like Tesco Express shops in the UK) will enable us to have a presence in more areas of Bolivia without huge overhead costs. Please pray that the Lord will help us to determine the best location and provide the needed resources, shelving, personnel and inventory. ~ Gamaliel Padilla, National Director

 

 

Please continue to remember the health and stamina of our team. As many of you are aware, they have been working very hard both in the bookshop (and at events) and on translating and formatting the first ever Burmese Study Bible. They are hoping to print the Study Bible this year, and we praise God that they’ve already received funding that will cover 50% of the printing costs! Please join us in praying that God will make a way for them to complete this project and that it will impact many Burmese lives. ~ Jacob Mung, National Director

 

 

Please continue to pray that God will provide a means of transportation for our ministry. There are some cities that we visit which are located quite a distance away from Mexico City. Having our own vehicle would be a tremendous help and blessing to our ministry. ~ Maria del Carmen, National Director

 

 

It is our hope that we will have a new, modern website this year. Please pray for us as we continue to collaborate in its design and content with Cristi Cotovan (CLC International’s Webmaster). ~ Herve Lessous, National Director

 

 

Please pray for our bookstore in Cebu and that many people will be reached through this outlet. We need God’s wisdom and help that the staff will be committed to seeing this shop not just remain open, but thrive. ~ Romualdo Macinas, Regional Asia Pacific Director 

 

 

In 2014, we published the book, Why Pro-Life?, by Randy Alcorn. This year we will publish the book, Love Unleashes Life, from Stephanie Gray. It is an apologetic book that enables us to learn how to ask people the right questions so that they might reconsider their arguments. It is a great follow-up to the pro-life book because it can be applied to many areas in life. ~ Bertus Keuter,National Director

 

 

This year it is our hope to translate and publish the Portuguese version of A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Loving the Old Testament by Alec Motyer, My First Books and More by Carine Mackenzie and Philip S. Ross and also Mulheres em Missão (Women in Missions) by Arlete Castro, a Brazilian author. Please pray for good health and stamina, and that these titles will be well received. ~ Carlos Cunha, National Director

 

 

Praise God! The Church of the Open Door by Warren Wiersbe (a CLC USA publication) has just been translated and published into Indonesian. We thank the Lord for this opportunity as CLC Indonesia (known locally as Yakin) is relatively new to publishing. What a blessing it is for our ministry! ~ Donny Kairupan, National Director

 

 

We are thankful to have recently translated and published You and Me Forever by Francis and Lisa Chan. Praise the Lord that we have already had a lot of positive feedback from readers. One pastor from Minsk shared with me that he planned to do four Sunday services devoted to this topic and would be recommending the book to his congregation. What an encouragement for our team! ~ Lina Pinkevich, National Director

 

 

Praise God that we have just published these family titles: The Parent Map by Harold Sala, Faith that Lasts by Jon Nielson, and The Unfair Advantage by Harold Arnold. Please pray that they will be a real help to families around the world. This autumn we will also be publishing, Fight for the Family by Jill Briscoe. Please remember our editorial team in prayer. ~ David Almack, Regional Director (North America & Caribbean)

 

 

We have had the opportunity to publish another book from Francis Chan: Multiply. This is a very good and radical book about discipleship. The translation work is complete, but please pray for the process of editing, designing and printing of the book (we don’t like mistakes!). ~ Bertus Keuter, National Director

 

 

We thank the Lord for providing retail sales for our Moscow shop despite the fact that sales are decreasing all around us. In fact, 2016 was a positive year financially despite the market situation and new hefty taxes. It really was an incredible joy to see our Lord’s special care for our shop and team. Praise God with us! ~ Nikita Sapunov, National Director

 

 

A Turkish Cypriot young lady was looking for a colouring book and, while online, she came across our website! After discovering we had quite a lovely selection, she came right downstairs and bought a couple! (She lives with her parents in one of the apartments above our shop). Please pray that the website will continue to reach people who wouldn’t normally come to our shop. ~ Eva Photiadou, National Director

 

 

After three consecutive years of dropping sales at our branch in Quito, the Lord allowed us to move in March of 2016. The new place is much larger and gives us space for a conference room upstairs that our customers are thrilled to use for meetings and counselling. The response from our customers has been incredibly good, and we ended 2016 with a very positive growth in sales. We thank God for His continued faithfulness! ~ Carlos Marin, National Director

 

 

Recently, I had a phone call from a customer who is involved in marriage counselling. She was really surprised by the content of ‘You and Me Forever’ by Francis and Lisa Chan as it was a real challenge for her. From the time she picked up the book, she was not very optimistic, thinking, Great, another book about the marriage…’. She admitted to having absolutely no desire to read it, but later confirmed, “This is a very rare book about the root of marriage and the Christian life, and it’s very Biblical.” She also suggested that, at times, readers will find it challenging, and maybe even painful, as it requires having a heart fully submitted to God. She highly recommends it to those seeking to make their marriages not only survive, but thrive! ~ Lina Pinkevich, National Director

 

 

Lately, I have had some visitors in my shop that have encouraged me as a ‘bookseller’ to contemplate what we are doing day to day in our shops. One such visitor was the very first customer of the day, and she was a sweet elderly lady looking for a suitable card for her daughter in the hospice, suffering from cancer. The lady was almost blind and needed me to read the cards out to her. What a privilege to have been available to serve her. Please pray that we never lose sight of serving, as Jesus did, in the midst of running a busy shop. ~ Esther Dowey, CLC UK Trustee

 

 

A Greek Cypriot young lady was in the psychiatric hospital for several months, and she asked me for a New Testament and some devotional books to read while she was there. She was thrilled when we were able to give her a New Testament, a ‘Daybrightener’ and a book of Bible promises. She is now at home and continues to read and grow in her faith and trust in the Lord. She is also now attending a local church regularly. Praise God, and please pray for her. ~ Eva Photiadou, National Director