Prayer Focus: 2014 September
1 Mon. Ecuador – New Software
CLC Ecuador is currently implementing a new software system in the bookshops. In July, the system was installed in the wholesale department and the main bookshop in Quito. Now, in the second phase of the changeover, it is being installed in CLC Cuenca, Manta and the two bookshops in Guayaquil. Please pray that the introduction of this new system will go smoothly and be beneficial to the work.
2 Tue. Kenya – Maternity Leave
“We have had to reduce our staff levels for various reasons. In early September, Millicent, who deals with our accounts, will be on maternity leave until 2015. Our prayer is that we will have a suitable extra member of staff to help us out with sales - if not accounts – during this time. This will go a long way in helping us function well, especially as we prepare for the Nairobi Book Fair later this month and as we come to the end of the year when it is usually a busy period.” Edith Wamalwa
3 Wed. Uruguay – Education Summit
From the 8th to the 11th of September, a ‘Cumbre Educativa’ (Education Summit) will take place in Montevideo. This is organised by a Christian organisation – a counselling and resource centre for Latin America - and is supported by the Assemblies of God. CLC will be at the event with material from the publishers Tyndale and Harper Collins.
4 Thu. Regional Directors’ Meetings
Please pray for the Regional Directors’ meetings to be held at the WEC UK headquarters near London from September 8th to 12th. As well as their own agenda, they will be visiting a publishing house and the location of the 2016 International Council. Pray for wisdom, passion and vision.
5 Fri. Moving to Mozambique
On September 7th, Liz Patten (CLC Regional Director Africa) and Petra Nemansky (former manager of CLC London) will be commissioned by their home church in North London before moving out to Maputo, Mozambique later in the year. Neil Wardrope will preach at the special service and the other CLC Regional Directors will all be present.
6-7 Sat/Sun. UK - Inverness
Please pray for the Inverness shop and mobile ministries. September is a time of planning and packing for bookstalls. This involves contacting church leaders to arrange dates and venues for CLC visits. A major event, the Scottish Northern Convention, will be held at the end of this month, and during October and November Les and Esther Dowey travel with the stock around the Highland region. Pray also that Pam Kerr, the shop manager, can adequately staff the shop during this busy period.
8 Mon. Russia – New Director
Nikita Sapunov joined the CLC staff in Moscow recently. He will be taking on the leadership of the Russian team when Roger and Anita Jones move to the UK early in the New Year. Praise God for His provision of a new Director! Please pray for the handover process over the next few months, during which time we will also be changing to new computers and POS/accounting software. Hopefully when you read this, both old and new systems will be running in parallel until the changeover is completed at the start of the new tax year, January 1st.
9 Tue. Venezuela – Stock Delivery
The team is thankful to God that, after months of not being able to obtain stock, they have recently had a shipment of material from some publishers and, at the time of writing, more orders are on the way. Praise God for this breakthrough in a very difficult economic and political climate which has a significant effect on our work.
10 Wed. Spain – The Team’s Dream
We thank the Lord for the new combined shop/warehouse location in Madrid. This has been a dream of the team for some years and, to their surprise, they recently found the new location just 50m from the old bookshop! The new facility makes the work much more efficient, and enables both the shop and the warehouse to be open for longer hours. Please pray that the staff will adapt to the need to be flexible in their approach to doing different tasks, according to the need.
11 Thu. Burkina Faso – Relocation
CLC in Ouaga (the full name is Ouagadougou) had to relocate recently as, after more than 20 years with the same landlord, a new landlord took over and the rent was doubled. Praise the Lord we are now operating from a suitable new location.
12 Fri. Cyprus - Update
“In the June 2014 edition of Prayer Focus, we asked you to pray for a group of young people who are planning to start a mini library/Christian bookshop in Limassol. They want CLC to provide some stock on a ‘sale or return’ basis, in an effort to support our ministry. Plans have been delayed but, by God’s grace, they are intending to go ahead with their plan during September or October. Please pray that this will materialize at a time when Cyprus is still very low financially.” Sotos and Eva Photiades
13-14 Sat/Sun. UK – UK Managers
The UK shop managers will be meeting in Birmingham on 17th and 18th of September. Please pray for what will be a packed meeting of fellowship, training, briefing and discussion. As shops continue to experience changing buying patterns and supply chains, the managers need “wisdom from above”. Pray too for the UK leadership team who will meet on September 16th. They provide the overall direction and policy for both shops and wholesale.
15 Mon. Dominica – Past, Present and Future
“We thank God for sustaining the CLC ministry in Dominica for over 60 years. In particular we are grateful that we have been able to pay all our bills on time for the first six months of this year. We continue to pray for more sales and also, at the time of writing, there is a need for extra help in the shop to allow the two permanent staff members to take some holiday leave.” David Laudat
16 Tue. USA – New Publications
Please pray for our publishing efforts as we are releasing nine new books in the next three months. We are particularly praying about the impact of our new book called “Books that Change Lives”.
This book is a compendium of recommended books covering a wide range of subjects and it includes testimonies from well-known authors.
17 Wed. Ecuador – Shop Growth
Praise the Lord for encouraging news from CLC Ecuador: - “We are grateful to God for the opportunity to expand our bookshop in Manta from 50m² to 100m²! The shop is now very presentable and has a better selection of materials for the customers and churches in this city. We also see the impact the change has had in generating a growth in sales.” Carlos Marin, Director
18 Thu. Bolivia – Thanksgiving
“We give thanks to the Lord and to all our colleagues who have supported us in prayer; over the months since we opened the bookshop in Santa Cruz, we have seen the blessing of God in a special and miraculous way! He has provided us with resources, given us strength and opened doors which all confirm to us that it is His will that we bless the people of this country through the written word. We are also very grateful for the financial support we have received from other CLC teams. ” Gamaliel Padilla
19 Fri. Bolivia – Prayer Requests
Please pray that the Lord will continue to open doors for us to serve churches, Bible Institutes and other bookshops with our materials. Pray too that God will give us ideas and strategies to be more effective in the market that we are developing.
20-21 Sat/Sun. UK – Staff Changes
With Al Sutton (CLC Aberdeen) and Susan Chisholm (CLC Dundee) moving on to new spheres of ministry, both shops will have new managers, or acting managers, from the start of September. Pray for Al and Susan as they change ministries; Al and his wife to Mission Partners in Jordan and Susan and her husband to Salvation Army Officer training. Pray for the new managers and the shop staff as they run the shops during the busiest season of the year.
22 Mon. Kenya – Book Fair
The annual Nairobi Book Fair takes place from the 24th to the 28th of September. Last year the CLC stand at this event suffered, along with all the other exhibitors, because of terror attacks that took place right by the Book Fair venue just days before the event. Edith Wamalwa and her team are praying for a big difference this year – for good numbers of visitors to the fair and that God will bring us new contacts and potential ministry partners during these days.
23 Tue. Trinidad – Water Supply
“Please pray for the Port of Spain branch of CLC. For the past four years we have not had a direct water supply and have been receiving water delivered by truck. We are now facing charges for this water, but please pray that the real problem – underground corrosion of the water pipes - will be resolved as it affects our CLC shop and offices and some neighbouring buildings. When repair work is carried out our road, which is a main thoroughfare, will be closed off for several weeks while excavation work takes place.” Marlene Ramroop
24 Wed. Germany – Meeting for Training
Valentin Schweigler writes: - “At the end of September, we plan to hold a meeting with people who run CLC book tables, about 50 of them, for training and to introduce them to new books and products. We hope to have a guest musician and a publisher representative there too.” Pray that this initiative will be a good opportunity for fellowship and ‘team’ building as well as a useful network for the bookshop ministry.
25 Thu. Philippines - POD Need
“We see it as a major need to have a ‘Print on Demand’ machine because our main thrust is in publishing. Please pray for the provision for this machine; the cost is around $20,000. We usually publish English materials from USA. Please pray that we can continue to obtain licenses to reprint titles from publishers in USA. We are thankful to CLC USA for giving us the rights to publish their titles.” Romualdo Macinas, Director
26 Fri. Myanmar – POD Provision
Thank God for the provision of a POD (Print on Demand) system that has been given as a gift to CLC Myanmar. The machinery arrived safely in Yangon in July and someone travelled to Myanmar to instruct the team in how to use the equipment. Praise the Lord for this wonderful gift and pray that it will be used well.
27-28 Sat/Sun. UK – Guildford
There is a need to expand the volunteer/staff team of the Guildford bookshop. Additional help will enable Graham Lapthorn, the manager, to spend more time contacting and meeting up with church leaders. Pray that these will be constructive meetings in terms of encouraging and supporting local churches and meeting their needs for Christian books and other resources.
29 Mon. ‘Yes’ Booklets
Following the two CLC publishing conferences earlier in the year, we are progressing with a project called the ‘Yes Series’ which present the claims of Christ in a series of booklets. We are working on the content and presentation of these booklets, and we trust they will be produced in a number of languages.
30 Tue. Colombia
“We give thanks to God for His provision that has allowed us to buy a new warehouse to receive and store our books and Bibles in Bogotá. The wholesale department will continue to operate from our Headquarters building, but with far less pressure on the space available. We are also grateful for the provision and the support received as we introduced a new computer system recently – it was launched successfully with no disruption in the invoicing from the 10 bookshops and the wholesale department.” Elsa Maria Noy de Sanchez, Director