Prayer Focus 2015 - August
Week 31: UK Changes
The Weekend (1st/2nd) - Future Plans:
The UK Leadership Team would like to be able to open new shops in cities where there is no Christian bookshop. The economic problems of the past few years saw many Christian bookshops close. Please pray that if this vision is from God, we will be able to find the right premises in the right location and at an affordable rent.
Week 32: USA
Information from Dave Almack, USA National Director
Monday (3rd) – Missionaries for CLC Thailand
Don and Betsy Veldboom are currently serving as short-term missionaries with CLC, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Dave Almack will be visiting them there in August to help with a major English language book table and to facilitate discussions about their possible longer-term service with CLC in Thailand in 2016.
Tuesday (4th) – Interns
Three young women, all university students, are serving as interns with CLC around the world this month or in the near future. Tylar Gooden will be with CLC in the UK, Nicole Doornink will be in France and Tabitha DeHart will be serving in the Editorial Department with the CLC USA team in Fort Washington. Please pray for them.
Wednesday (5th) – Publishing
CLC USA will be publishing 7 new books in the second half of 2015. One of these books is the much-loved Prison Letters by Corrie ten Boom that has been out of print for many years. This book is the only known compilation of letters from Corrie while she was in prison. There will also be a new book by Stuart and Jill Briscoe, entitled Improving with Age. Stuart and Jill firmly believe that the senior years can be some of the best years of a person’s spiritual life and that senior saints have an important role to play in the life of the church.
Thursday (6th) – Mission Mobilizers
Jim Pitman will have a new role in CLC USA as he takes on responsibility for mobilizing the next generation of CLC missionaries. He retains his role as Director of the Retail Stores, but will be handing over the day-to-day store management of the Cedarbrook store. Please pray for Jim in this new role, and for Bill and Marge Almack as they step down as the current mission mobilizers for CLC USA.
Friday (7th) – Websites
CLC USA is re-launching two of their three websites this year in order to make them more effective and user-friendly. The first website to be redone is the
www.clcpublications.com and this new website will allow CLC Publications to have a much more robust and “author-centric” web presence. The main mission website,
www.clcusa.org will also be re-designed and will focus on our goal of attracting the next generation of CLC missionaries as well as new donors and partners for the ministry around the world.
The Weekend (8th/9th) – A Facelift
Work is ongoing to give a complete facelift and remodeling of the Philadelphia Center City store. Much work has already been done to replace all of the overhead lighting fixtures. The additional work will involve painting, replacing the flooring and adding some new shelves. This project has taken far longer than expected and we would value prayer that it can be finished soon and without too much disruption.
Week 33: Portugal and Spain
Information from Carlos Cunha, CLC Portugal
Monday (10th) – Growth in a Small Space
Thank God the bookshop has been blessed by growth in sales and we believe that it is a consequence of the many activities taking place in the bookshop. Some of these activities do not directly involve sales, but we are happy that our space is used as a centre of encounter and meetings. Our biggest challenge is that our shop is small and that limits the sort of initiatives we can take up, but our service to others is a priority.
Tuesday (11th) – Publishing
Currently we have two books, from CLC USA Publishing, that are under revision for publishing in Portuguese by CLC Portugal. We trust that both books will be launched by the time you read this, or very soon after! Please pray that these books, Changed into His Likeness by Watchman Nee and Holiness without the Halo by Stuart and Jill Briscoe, will be a blessing to many.
Wednesday (12th) – Mini Concerts
This year we have started a new project to hold ‘Mini Concerts’ in the Coimbra bookshop. The first one was held in May, during lunch time, with Tiago Cavaco who is a well known pastor and musician in the evangelical churches of Portugal – he is also known in the secular music market too. We hope to hold similar events once every three months.
Information from Neil Wardrope on behalf of CLC Spain
Thursday (13th) – Seville
The Seville manager, Manolo, has been actively promoting a number of events in the bookshop. This is bringing in a wide variety of people to the shop and sales have improved as a result. Pray for creativity and energy to arrange these events, and that they would connect with new people.
Friday (14th) – Valencia
There are increasing numbers of Muslims in the area around the bookshop and they visit a market that is nearby. The CLC manager, Antonio, would like to have respectful communication with them. Please pray for opportunities to engage in conversation.
The Weekend (15th/16th) - Madrid
Pray for the National Director, Darwin, as he manages a lot of responsibilities. In September new material will be arriving from the United States. Pray for skill in placing these important orders, and for new wholesale opportunities. Bookshops continue to close across Spain due to the effects of the financial crisis.
Week 34: UK
Monday (17th) – Birmingham
CLC has two shops in the centre of Birmingham, Stephenson Street and Carrs Lane. Pray for them as they work together to increase the sales of Bibles, literature and resources. Pray for Sue Allen, the new manager of Carrs Lane, as she learns the job and forms links with customers and churches.
Tuesday (18th) – London
The London shop urgently needs a deputy manager. Please pray that the right person is found and also that the shop can find some more volunteers to help with the heavy work load.
Wednesday (19th) – Events
Over the holiday weekend at the end of August, CLC will be providing the bookstalls at two large Christian events. As this weekend is also a crucial time in the warehouse move, this may make obtaining the stock for these events more difficult. Pray that the necessary resources will be available for the teams running the bookstalls. Pray too that CLC’s presence at these and other events will be a blessing and encouragement both to the organisers and those attending.
Thursday (20th) – Staff Training
Richard Morris, one of the UK Retail Managers, is retiring. He has agreed to continue with CLC two days a week to devise and implement training for the shop staff around the country. Pray for him as works out training priorities and the best way of providing it. Pray for his co-operation with Lloyd Hodkinson in the International Office who has been working on on-line training modules for CLC in various countries.
Friday (21st) – Finance Team
Pray for John Auger and the finance team who, for the moment, will continue to be based in the Alresford warehouse. Pray for them as they handle the day to day business generated by shops and wholesale. Pray for them too as they provide financial information and projections to help the Leadership Team and Trustees in their planning.
The Weekend (22nd/23rd) - Scotland
Pray for the three shops in Scotland - Inverness, Aberdeen, and Dundee. Give thanks for the enthusiastic teams in all three shops and the way they are developing contacts with local churches and organisations in each city. Pray too that they will be able to reach out to the smaller towns and villages in their areas, working with others to promote the Good News.
Week 35: Leadership Matters
Monday (24th) – Russia
Nikita Sapunov, who became the National Director for CLC Russia earlier this year, has had a busy few months. He writes: “In April, and after more than 8 months of preliminary work, we finally switched to a new Point-of-Sale and bookkeeping software system. Despite all the work so far, there are still adjustments to be made but our prayer is that the Lord will bless this change-over, not just as a fulfillment of legal requirements, but also as another step to more efficient work and better service for our customers.” Please pray for Nikita in his new role.
Tuesday (25th) – Canada
CLC Canada has undergone some major changes in the past two or three years, including expansion, and some subsequent downsizing again, several new projects and more changes in the leadership than expected. Pray for Antoine Roberge who has served with CLC Canada for several years and is now the National Director. Pray for God’s guidance and blessing for Antoine and the team.
Wednesday (26th) – India
Justin Chellapan became the Director for CLC India earlier this year. Within a few weeks of taking on this role, sadly, Justin’s wife died unexpectedly after a few months of health problems. Please pray for Justin as he leads one of CLC’s largest and busiest ministries while still coming to terms with the loss of his wife. Pray too for his daughter who is currently studying at university.
Thursday (27th) – UK
This year, CLC UK has an interim leader, Eddie Olliffe, who is seeing through some major changes that are outlined in Week 31 of Prayer Focus. Pray for Eddie and also for God’s choice of National Director for CLC UK in the future.
Friday (28th) – Kenya
CLC Kenya’s Director resigned recently. At the time of writing, Patrick Omukhango, a previous member of CLC Kenya, has agreed to return and serve as the interim general manager for a few weeks. This has been a huge blessing as he has been able to oversee the installation of a Print-on-Demand system that CLC Kenya has been praying and waiting for. We trust that by August we will have a new Director for the ministry in Kenya.
The Weekend (29th/30th) – The Caribbean
Marlene Ramroop, the Director for CLC in Trinidad, Antigua and Dominica,
became quite seriously ill earlier this year and following hospital treatment she spent several weeks at home resting and recuperating. Sadly, and despite some signs of improvement, she passed away at the end of May. We know Marlene is safe and well in the presence of her Lord but please do pray for her husband Duncan, who has serious long term health issues himself, and their son. This is a huge loss to the CLC teams as well and they would value your prayers as they come to terms with this situation. Marlene had served with CLC in Trinidad for almost 40 years and was much loved and appreciated.
Week 36: Sierra Leone
Information from Donald John, CLC Sierra Leone
Monday (31st) – Audits
We have engaged the services of an auditing firm to audit our books for the past three years, 2012-2104. This will not be an easy task, so pray with us that the process will be handled professionally and will go smoothly. There were some discrepancies with regards to the reports, stock records, valuations of property etc. but we are doing our best to deal with these issues.