Please pray for this specific needs from LPI scholars, graduated scholars, staff, board members, and supporters.
August 2010
Greetings from Carlisle! Here are prayer requests from Langham Literature:
Creative
• Please pray for those involved with the SABC, especially Jessica Richard, our Project Editor. The articles and short books need to be finished within the next few months and there is still a significant amount of work to be done.
• Please pray that the books produced under the HippoBooks imprint will change lives in Africa. Pray for the publishers, authors, editors and translators involved in producing HippoBooks and that wise decisions will be made about which books to publish and which publishers to invite to join the consortium.
Distribution
• We are sending out a large order to Indonesia which is being sent from donations received through Langham New Zealand. Due to government sensitivity this is having to be sent in many small boxes and specially marked. Prayer is needed for its safe arrival.
Publisher Development
• Pray for authors in situations where those they work with have little concept of privacy and the need to give time to study. Pray for wisdom and discipline as they struggle to get space to write the books and commentaries that are so sorely needed.
• MONGOLIA: Give thanks for the launch of two Stott titles this month: “Issues Facing Christians Today” (first of 2 volumes), and “Why I am A Christian”. Although not yet funded by LL, we have been building a relationship with Abundant Words Publishing which has helped these and other book projects to get underway.
• UKRAINE: We have just had an excellent week’s visit from Alexander Bukovietski of Colloquium Publishing. They are tackling a number of major works on Biblical studies and trying to develop a nucleus of thinkers and writers in the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Pray for a much needed breakthrough in sales and distribution in Russia and other Russian speaking republics, as well as continued market development in Ukraine. Alexander asks for particular prayer surrounding a recent order from a Ukrainian political party for a large volume of copies of JESUS AND POLITICS (Alan Storkey). The party representative said “This book is the best expression of our political agenda we can find!”
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Thank you for your prayers for the work of Langham Preaching around the world. Here are a few items for this week of 2 August – a little busier than usual!
Democratic Republic of Congo: this week August 2-5 there is a local training programme in Bunia for 40 preachers from North Kivu. Please pray for Muhindo Isesomo and Mike McGowan as they lead the event, and for the pastors who will be taking part. Give thanks that, at the very last moment, Mike received his visa in Paris, and pray he and pastor Isesomo will have the Lord’s strength for the demands of the training work this week and next.
Bolivia: a level 1 seminar runs from August 2-5 in the city of Trinidad, and some 50 pastors are expected from the city and from neighbouring towns. Pray for Igor Amestegui and pastor Fernando Fernandez who will be the facilitators, and for Rosendo Vaca and Eval Soliz on the organising committee. Igor asks us to pray for the follow-up through the preachers clubs. He writes: ‘Trinidad is the capital of the department of Beni, in the east of Bolivia, an area which is quite remote from the main axis of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Very few Christian institutions travel to these distant locations, so there is a lot of expectation and a great need for training for pastors and lay preachers.’
Myanmar: please pray for the training of 12 local facilitators, August 2-6, led by Paul Barker and Neil, specially for the Anglican church in Myanmar. Pray that the local trainers will be able to strengthen the training of preachers in their towns as a result.
Kenya: the next national training event begins on August 6, with training for local facilitators running before the main seminar next week. Please pray for Mercy Ireri who coordinates the work, and for the facilitators and trainers who will be travelling to Limuru later this week. Mercy was encouraged when she received news that one of the preachers clubs had set aside last Tuesday as a day of prayer and fasting for the seminar.
Zimbabwe: please pray for the next day seminar, to be held on Saturday August 7 in Harare, and for the local team led by John Bell and Gary Cross.
Sierra Leone: Paul, Matthew and Chris have completed their tour of the groups in the rural areas, and have visited 11 preachers clubs out of the 12. The mini-training went well, and ‘it leaves us with hope for the future of bible preaching in Sierra Leone’. Matthew visits the preachers club in the peninsular this week and Chris hopes to conduct a mini-training for the two groups in Freetown soon.
Solomon Islands: a short additional prayer request – 18 regional groups were established at the recent seminar, so please pray they will start meeting and will sustain the preaching movement across the islands.
Thank you for your prayers.
July 2010
Thank you for your prayers for the work of Langham Preaching around the world. Here are a few items for this week of 26 July.
Solomon Islands: thank you for praying for the seminar which finished on Friday. Numbers were high, with over 100 attending the level 2 event. Many are quite young preachers, and so the special prayer request is that preachers clubs will develop across the islands, so that the many participants will be involved in continuing their training together, and the preaching movement will become embedded in the country.
China: please pray for the preparations for the level 2 seminar for pastors which will take place next month, starting August 9. Pray for the facilitators as they prepare, and also for the pastors who will be travelling considerable distances from different provinces across China to attend the event. More news to follow next month!
Kenya: country coordinator Mercy Ireri is busy preparing for the Limuru conference which is held August 6-13, and which will include an event for the training of local facilitators, as well as the main conference for many pastors and preachers in the Kenyan LP movement. Please pray for Mercy and the team to have extra levels of strength at this busy time.
Langham Preaching Resources: please pray for a new initiative of LP and Langham Literature to provide books for the preaching movements around the world. Several new books are being commissioned, so please pray for the authors to be able to make time to write, and pray for the launch of the project, with the first book being published in the next few weeks.
Thank you for your prayers.
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Thank you for your prayers for the work of Langham Preaching around the world. Here are a few items for this week of 19 July.
Solomon Islands: after the level 1 this past weekend, this week there is a level 2 programme, and the big challenge for which we must pray is the large number of participants: they have many more people than expected, with nearly150 attending level 2. This places some pressure on the logistics, so please pray for LP facilitators Paul Windsor and Rory Shiner as they teach the programmes, for country coordinator Kevin Rietveld, and for Wendy Toulmin, as they run an unexpectedly large programme.
Argentina: Igor Amestegui reports on the level 2 seminar for 30 preachers in Jujuy. In contrast to the mega-churches in the city which preach the prosperity gospel, there are several churches committed to strengthening biblical preaching. ‘What drew my attention was to see how the ‘Church of Jesus Christ’ has so captured the vision for biblical preaching, that it has completely changed its style of preaching after the first seminar, and they are preparing sermons based on the Gospel of Mark which we began to study in level 1.’ Please pray for the churches and the 5 preachers clubs in Jujuy, and also for the small group from the city of Salta, which is now starting a preachers club there.
Bolivia: Igor also reports on last week’s event in Tarija, organised by the School of World Missionary Training, with 30 younger participants from Peru, Argentina and Bolivia, as well as 11 church leaders from a region called ‘Entre Rios’. It was well received, with plans underway for a second level, and several participants keen to teach what they are learning in the different churches where they are working. Please pray for them as they take the work forward.
Nigeria: this week many students, graduates and pastors gather at the NIFES Conference Centre, Abuja for the 3rd NIFES Bible Expository Course. Please pray for the coordinator, Emeka Egbo, and the large team of trainers, as they manage three training tracks throughout the week.
Zimbabwe: Gary Cross writes: ‘we had a very good turnout to the July Saturday seminar, the third monthly seminar, which was for both level 1 and level 2 training. Please pray for Clarkson Chidemoro and Gary Cross who are training level 1 and John Bell and Asafa Makaná who are training level 2. Please also pray for us as we look at how best to support our preaching clubs to make them more effective.’
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Thank you for your prayers for the work of Langham Preaching around the world. Here are a few items for this week of 12 July.
Bolivia: following the seminar in Jujuy, Argentina last week, Latin American regional facilitator, Igor Amestegui, travels just across the border to Tarija, a Bolivian city in the south of the country, to lead a level 1 seminar. Please pray for a warm response to the launch of this new city programme.
Democratic Republic of Congo: country coordinator Muhindo Isesomo has been working hard developing further training of pastors in the DRC. Last month he was in Aru diocese to train 52 evangelists for level 1, 20 of whom have been selected for level 2 next month. And last week about 40 people in Butembo were trained in level 1, ready for a level 2 next month. Please pray for pastor Isesomo, as he combines this training work with many other responsibilities amongst evangelists across the DRC, and pray for the LP work to continue to be rooted in these many towns and cities.
Solomon Islands: next weekend a level 1 seminar begins on the Solomon Islands in the Pacifc, prior to a larger level 2 event the following week. Please pray for LP facilitators Paul Windsor and Rory Shiner as they teach the programmes, for country coordinator Kevin Rietveld, and for the energetic work of Wendy Toulmin and LP Australia, who have been supporting the LP programmes in the Pacific region. Please pray for ease of travel and for a good response to the training.
Sierra Leone: the country team continues to travel to different preachers clubs to encourage them in their work. Please pray for Matthew who has been visiting groups in Bo, Kenema, Pujehun and Kailahun from July 5th to 14th.
Keswick, UK: from next weekend many thousands of Christians visit this small English town for a Bible teaching conference. Please pray for Jonathan, who opens the event with a Bible exposition next Saturday evening.
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