2017 May
Week 18: New Opportunities:
Monday (1st) - Philippines:
One of the goals of CLC Philippines this year is to open up a new bookshop. Please pray that we will find the right location, premises and personnel to see our ministry grow. Please also pray for God’s guidance for our publications team in titles selection so that our Biblically-based titles best reflect the needs of our customers. ~ Romualdo Macinas, Asia Pacific Regional Director
Tuesday (2nd) – Kenya:
We thank God for the recent launch of the Oasis Africa Study Bible which took place in March. We feel incredibly blessed to be the main distributor for the Bibles. Please pray that this Bible will be a real source of wisdom and help for those in our country. ~ Patrick Omukhango, National Director
Wednesday (3rd) – Belarus:
We are thankful for the invitation to provide our first bookstall for the Eastern European Medical Congress. There will be about 300 participants from most of the former Soviet Union Republics, as well as many guests from other countries. The Congress will take place from May 6th – 9th at the ‘Pearl Children Centre’, which is a former Soviet military base that has been converted into a Christian children’s camp. Please pray that we will take the right selection of books and gift items and know the right books to recommend to these Christian doctors. ~ Lina Pinkevich, National Director
Thursday (4th) – USA:
We are hoping to host, for the first time, a Clergy Appreciation Breakfast in New Jersey. This event is scheduled to take place in May and is a major outreach to the local community. Please remember our team organising this event in prayer and pray too that it will be well received by all. ~ David Almack, Regional Director (North America & Caribbean)
Friday (5th) – Trinidad:
Please continue to pray that, even in the midst of a tightening economy, God will help us develop strategies for reaching out to nearby communities, especially to schools, hospitals and prison ministries. It is our hope that by improving our outreach opportunities we will also find that our financial situation will improve. ~ Sandra Robinson, National Director
The Weekend (6th/7th) - France:
CLC France has started a new project this year in partnership with the Geneva Bible Society, where they will be publishing large print Bibles in four different formats. Please pray for good working relationships in this joint project and that the result will sell well and be a blessing to many. ~ Herve Lessous, National Director
Week 19: Team Requests:
Monday (8th) – Russia:
Health problems have recently become a special challenge for the team — both for the staff and their families. Please join us in prayer for strength and good health for our team (and families) so they can joyfully carry on the work of CLC’s ministry. ~ Nikita Sapunov, National Director
Tuesday (9th) – Mexico:
Our team has been blessed with the opportunity to present CLC’s ministry to a group of pastors in the cities of Monterrey and Piedras Negras. It is our prayer request that God will give us grace and wisdom in sharing with these church leaders so that we will find ways of working together to best support one another. ~ Maria del Carmen, National Director
Wednesday (10th) - Bulgaria:
The last months were tough for two of our teammates due to several unexpected and unfortunate events which led to them needing to take a short leave of absence. We are only a team of three people so, as you can imagine, we are very much behind schedule. Please pray for us as we need God’s wisdom, strength and grace that we will soon catch up on our workload so things can return to normal. ~ David Anachkov, on behalf of CLC Bulgaria
Thursday (11th) - Trinidad:
Join us in praying that God will continue to help us with team building and support by strengthening the relationships amongst our staff. Please pray also for Godly wisdom in dealing with our customers. ~ Sandra Robinson, National Director
Friday (12th) – USA:
Please pray for the CLC USA team as we embrace the idea of ‘ReSet’ for 2017. The idea is to re-evaluate all aspects of our ministry in light of CLC’s primary purpose, ‘to make evangelical Christian literature available to all nations’. We desire that all areas of our ministry are focused on this important and worthy goal. ~ David Almack, Regional Director (North America and Caribbean)
The Weekend (13th/14th) – United Kingdom:
We are still looking to fill some very key roles within our ministry. Please join us in praying that the Lord will guide and direct those He has called to join us, and that we will find new channels of reaching them. ~ Amanda Lutes, on behalf of CLC UK
Week 20: Partnerships
Monday (15th) - Portugal:
Earlier this year, CLC Portugal and the Portuguese Bible Society (PBS) decided to develop a way that they could better work together. PBS offered us a consignment of about €16.500 of Bibles, and they are telling their customers who are in the north of Portugal that they can now easily purchase their products in our bookshop! They have also agreed to promote CLC Portugal’s publications to their customers. Praise God with us! ~ Carlos Cunha, National Director
Tuesday (16th) - Colombia:
Our team in Colombia has a social foundation and are partnering with a number of different ministries and outreach groups in the country. The team has asked us to pray especially for the children of Colombia as they are noticing a rise in reports of sexual abuse and mistreatment. Please also pray for their work with the indigenous communities and for the Thompson Bible Seminars they host in jail for the prisoners who are searching for God or wanting to grow in their faith. ~ David Pabon, National Director
Wednesday (17th) – Netherlands:
Please pray for our publishers and suppliers that they will continue to publish and provide good and reliable resources for the Christian trade. In our shop, we are especially dependent on our publishers since we have only recently begun publishing. As our goal is to help people grow in their relationships with God and others, we need to make sure the resources we make available to them are Biblically strong and helpful. ~ Bertus Keuter, National Director
Thursday (18th) - USA:
You may recall that CLC USA took ownership of the Multi-Language Media (MLM) ministry last year and their director, David Almack, is pleased to report that, “The MLM department continues to grow, and we are excited to now be providing resources in over 80 languages from our warehouse in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. We are working very hard to launch a new website this quarter and hope to see many more books and Bibles shipped out during 2017.”
Friday (19th) – Germany:
We were blessed at the end of February to have local author, Tamara Hinz, return to our shop for a book reading and signing. She visited us in 2016 and was so well received that this year we actually had over 50 people attend. That’s a very full bookshop! Tamara is a mother, and pastor’s wife, who has been through a number of difficult situations in her life that have helped her write some incredible Christian books. Praise God for this reminder that great books and authors still have the ability to impact lives. ~ Valentin Schweigler, National Director
The Weekend (20th – 21st) – Romania:
Although we were sad to see the ministry of CLC Austria close, we are so thankful that the shelving from their former bookshop has been sent to us. Actually, there is so much shelving that we ask for prayer as we organise it to create a new layout and determine which titles are best suited to each area. We hope that this refurbishment will breathe new life into our shop and that our customers will be pleased with these improvements. ~ Ronela Micula, National Director
Week 21: New Team Members / Director
Monday (22nd) - Mozambique:
From April until August (2017), it is our plan to employ a second Mozambican worker to strengthen our work in Maputo. Johane Armando recently graduated from the theological seminary where we have our bookshop, and he has a proven affinity with Christian books. We hope that after the initial six months, we will have sufficiently increased sales to generate his salary on a longer-term basis. With a second worker, we can extend the opening hours of the shop and also reach out to the various theological institutes in and around Maputo by visiting them with our books. ~ Liz Patten, Africa Regional Director
Tuesday (23rd) - Netherlands:
Praise God for our new part-time staff member, Wilco, as he is truly an answer to prayer for us. Please continue to pray for him as he settles into our team and learns more about CLC’s ministry. Wilco’s time will be divided between the Apeldoorn bookshop and working on our new website. ~ Bertus Keuter, National Director
Wednesday (24th) – Central Asia (CA2):
Praise God that we now have a new local Director and for the opportunity she recently had to attend a consultation for ministries across Central Asia. We are thankful that it was a real time of encouragement and vision. Please pray that God will use this event to strengthen the relationships between CLC and the local pastors. We are here to serve all the churches in the area, please pray that we will do so with grace and wisdom.
Thursday (25th) - Romania:
For quite some time we have had a shortage of staff, and we are so thankful to now have two new full-time workers, Ema Juganaru and Damaris Musat. Please pray that they will quickly understand their new duties and that we will work well as a team. Please also remember Andreea, who is now on maternity leave. ~ Ronela Micula, National Director
Friday (26th) – Portugal:
From February until April, we were blessed to have a Christian art and design student, who is attending the University of Leiria, intern with us. He worked on some of the CLC Portugal publishing projects (book covers, publicity, etc.). As we still have no extra funds for the help we desperately need, this university programme was a real answer to prayer as it was an unpaid internship. Last year we did this with another student from the university in Coimbra. We praise God for these opportunities. Please pray that we can continue to regularly meet young Christian students that require fieldwork experience and encouragement in their studies as they are such an encouragement to us! ~ Carlos Cunha, National Director
The Weekend (27th/28th) – Korea:
We praise God for sending us new team members that have successfully fitted into our community and are growing with us. Please pray that they will continue to learn and grow as they work with us so that our ministry may better serve the church in Korea. ~ Gwangsu Jo, on behalf of CLC Korea
Week 22: Current Challenges
Monday (29th) – Chile:
Forest fires in Chile have devastated thousands of hectares, and over a thousand houses have burned down. We thank God for the help we received from several countries in fighting the fires. Please pray that the Christian church in general will have the wisdom and strength to continue helping those impacted by this tragedy long after the smoke is gone. ~ Isaac Zúñiga, National Director
Tuesday (30th) – Bolivia:
We thank the Lord that despite the economic difficulties across all of Latin America (LA), our sales have grown by 6% in 2016. Glory to God! Please continue to pray for us, and all our CLC LA teams, that the Lord will continue to sustain us and help us create new channels of distribution to further His Kingdom. ~ Gamaliel Padilla, National Director
Wednesday (31st) – United Kingdom:
We thank God that Lucinda Sparrow, the CLC Cambridge manager, has coped very well since an experienced worker left last November. She still manages to do bookstalls each month, and she has a slot on the Christian radio every Sunday. Please continue to pray for Lucinda and her team that they will have the stamina and good health to continue these community outreach activities. ~ Geoff Fanning, Head of Retail