Praise and Prayer ~ May 4, 2021

Dear FFICM Prayer Partners, 

We gather in prayer for the nations of Nigeria, Ethiopia and Cameroon, all of which are enduring widespread violence and human suffering. We pray with confidence because we know that our Creator loves justice and will act to bring deliverance through the Holy Spirit, through armies of angels and through brave and faithful believers. Join us in praying for mercy for these countries – for their governments’ to seek peace, for healing from the trauma of violence, for the good news of Jesus’ kingdom breaking into the darkness to bring new life.

Below you will find a prayer guide to support you as you accompany us in prayer and worship this week. May God bless your time in the quiet place with hope and peace.  

Nigeria:

• Prayers for Ongoing Ministry
  • Radio and TV Ministry:
    • The FFICM Nigeria team produces broadcasts designed to reach predominantly Muslim area on public radio stations with teaching about the gospel and the Bible. The teachings address myths commonly believed by Muslims and offer the truths about the Bible. Praise God for this profoundly impactful ministry! 
    • Please continue to pray for Yusuf, an FFICM staff in Nigeria, who has been the main radio speaker. Yusuf’s family has been receiving threats of violence because of these radio recordings as people recognize his voice. For his protection for Yusuf and his family, and for the safety of those who we have recorded to replace him in these recordings for a while. 
    • Continue to pray for the impact of those who are listening to the TV and Radio broadcasts! 
  • There is an ongoing risk of being kidnapped while driving on the roads in Nigeria to conferences, training events, etc. Pray for wisdom as our team maneuvers around and goes to and from the various conferences and training events. Please pray for God’s protection.  
• Updates from Past Events
  • Praise: One of the MBB’s who received a solar audio Bible we provided, took it back to his home village and was listening to it. He invited a Muslim imam (religious leader and teacher) to listen to the Bible with him. The imam listened and God spoke to his heart. He decided to follow Jesus! Our team is now working to do follow-up with him and to train him. Pray for this man and that God would work in and through him.
  • Last week the FFICM team (Sam, Ishaku and Pankyes) hosted a training event in Foron to train 210 church leaders in New Believer Follow-up. During the evangelism outreach, 20-30 people gave their lives to Christ. Those that responded to Christ continued to increase throughout the week! The event was a huge success. Thank you for your prayers!
  • Follow-up prayer from The “True Gospel Conference” in Jalingo, Nigeria. The conference sought to strengthen peoples’ understanding about God and give them a firm foundation. 
    • Pray for all those who committed their lives to Jesus. 
    • Pray for wisdom as we look to next year and try to figure out if we should do the conference there again and what we can improve.
    • Pray for peace in the area and for those who were able to attend to be able to share what they learned and experienced with their friends and family back home.
• Prayers for Current/Future Events
  • This week Danladi, Sam, Prisca and Ishaku will be leading a training using our Follow-up Booklet for staff from our partner New Life For All in Akwanga. They are expecting between 100-200 participants! Pray for protection and that God would equip the local church. 
  • Rick Cordell is leading a training this week for 30 pastors in Abuja using FFICM’s Follow-up Booklet. Pray for God to move through that time to awaken those pastors to the unique needs of new believers. Pray that their fellowship with one another would strengthen the Church in Abuja. 
  • Trainings in May/June in Nigeria: 
    • The team plans to have 4 new believer follow-up training events in May and 2 more new believer follow-up training events in June.
    • They continue to have many requests for training events and are working with leaders throughout the country to evaluate the opportunities.  
• Prayer for our Ministry Partners
  • Zainab – Pray for Joseph, a Fulani man who just turned to Jesus from Islam, is seeking a place to hide from his relatives who are angry at his conversion. 
    • Zainab will train 18 women and youth this Saturday. 
  • Ongoing serious food scarcity! – Many families are not able to eat even twice a day. Due to COVID, the food production declines. Bandits are also attacking the farm workers. Due to these stresses on the Nigerian agricultural system, there is now widespread food scarcity. Pray for provision.  
  • Prisca – three students were just kidnapped this past week from the school which her son attends. Please pray for protection for her son and the other children at the school as well as the mental trauma that is impacting all the children. 
  • Pray for Peter Wash, the National Director in Nigeria 
    • Peter is struggling with sickness. He has a fever. Please pray for his healing. 
    • Peter has many school assignments to complete! Please pray for energy, discernment and time to finish these amidst the full ministry schedule. 

Ethiopia:

• Prayer for our Ministry Partners: 
  • Praise God for Deborah’s healing! Deborah is Eskinder’s 12 year old daughter. Thank you for praying for her recovery. 
• Safety and health:
  • Continue to pray for peace and security in the nation of Ethiopia. 
    • There is a party election coming up on June 5, 2021. There are 107 parties in Ethiopia and the winning party will elect the Prime Minister. There have been rumors of wars with neighboring countries as well as much division and fighting between tribes, language groups, religions, etc.
    • There are threats of violent protests, and there has been burning of houses and cars. 
    • There is also the threat of Islamic terrorist movement. 36% of the country are Muslim, according to the most recent census. 
  • Egypt and Sudan have agreed to fight Ethiopia over the rights to water from the Nile. There is an imminent threat of open war. This has led to open violence and destruction. Please pray for reconciliation. 
• Strategic Development: 
  • We have decided to wait on the purchase of the vehicle in Ethiopia until after the coming election due to the violence and destruction that is happening there at this time! We praise God for his provision of the funds and we ask for His wisdom in timing.
• Programs and Materials Development: 
  • Eskandir and Tesfye and Fekadu (a leader recently trained by Rich and Eskinder) will be training 40 church leaders and evangelists in Assella, Ethiopia. 
    • Eskandir and the team will have to use public transportation to get there. This is dangerous so please pray for them. 
    • Pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and guidance as they teach using FFICM’s Follow-up Booklet. Those 40 church leaders will then return to their churches and offer the FFICM Follow-up training using 300 Follow-up Booklets. 
    • Praise God for the exponential growth in new believer follow-up made possible by the excellent training and the simple, reproducible lessons contained in the material.  
  • There is a group of 80 women seeking training in New Believer Follow-up. We’re praying about all the opportunities presented to FFICM-Ethiopia for ongoing ministry. 
  • Elijah is a missionary in Sudan who is waiting for FFICM to be granted permission from the Ethiopian government to lead a Follow-up training in Sudan.

Cameroon:

• Update from Florence – The lead coordinator for the training events we have held in Cameroon. 
  • Peace and healing in Cameroon
    • Cameroon has been suffering through a devastating civil war since 2016 and there contine to be many killings, kidnapping and torture.
    • At the start of the insurgency in Cameroon, it was declared that people needed to remain at home on Mondays. This has continued for 5 years now! Schools in rural areas have been closed for security since the beginning of the violence. 
    • In Bingo there has been a lull in shooting so expats and missionaries have begun to return. 
    • The people are suffering. The UN has been trying to send food, but the country needs peace! Pray for a divine intervention. 
  • Florence’s ministry
    • Pray for a team to work with Florence in ministry. Ministry has been very challenging in the midst of civil war when so many people are just trying to survive. 
    • Florence has felt called to build a retreat center. She’s currently raising money by selling household goods in order to have money to build the retreat center huts. Pray for funds to pay for the workers at the site. Pray for grace and wisdom. Pray for a reliable, trustworthy team of workers. 

USA:

• Prayer for our Ministry Partners: 
  • Dara Searcy-Gardner, former FFICM staff — Dara is feeling better, but still has many health issues she is dealing with. Pray for complete healing. 
  • Mercy, former FFICM intern — Mercy was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, an incurable disease which is incredibly debilitating. Pray for Mercy as she visits her doctors 3-4 times a week.    
  • Stacey Lloyd, International Director of Multimedia — Continue to pray for his family. His brother Gary is in hospice and is slipping away slowly into death. The family is praying for wisdom and comfort as they manage the challenges of the transition at this time. Pray for Arlene, his wife as she loves him courageously all the way to the end. 
  • David Moore, Director of Operations — David finished his current class in his MA in Nonprofit management program. This week he starts his next class on Budgeting and Finance. 
  • Courtney Zurcher, FFICM Communications Specialist — pray for Courtney as she finishes up her finals this week for her Junior year classes at Azusa Pacific University.
• Pray for Materials Development: 
  • We plan to purchase and distribute 900 3D printed solar powered Audio Bible Players before the end of 2021 which cost $11/each (instead of the ones we were previously getting at $50/each) to distribute in Nigeria and possibly Ethiopia later this year! Pray for wisdom as we continue to move forward with this new opportunity.
  • Pray also for wisdom as we continue work on revising our new believer follow-up materials in several different languages including Urdu and Arabic. We are also looking at how to better adapt our materials for use here in the US.
• Pray for Strategic Development: 
  • We continue to prepare to hire a Communications Coordinator and Development Director for FFICM here in the US. May God direct FFICM’s hiring team with hope and insight as we seek to grow our organization to keep up with the profound global impact of our partners in ministry. We have had about 8 different people apply for these positions and we have begun to do phone/Zoom interviews with them.
  • We are also looking to add to our team of International Trainers. Pray that God would bring along the right people who are willing to be part of this ministry and are willing to raise their own support. These would be people who can be trained and mentored by Rich Gardner and can help us as we expand the impact of this ministry to new countries and languages as we mentor national leaders. 
  • Pray for wisdom as we continue to prepare for the upcoming FFICM Spring Fundraiser on Saturday May 22 at 4pm (Pacific Time). www.fficm.org/spring2021 The theme is: Oaks of Righteousness. We will be sharing about the impact of the three conferences in Nigeria and the mega-conference in Ethiopia this Spring as well as all the training events that have been happening as well as sharing about plans for this Summer and Fall. We will hear video testimony from our staff overseas as well as reports from our US staff. We are praying that God will provide at least $48,000 through the event, including at least 20 new monthly donors and that we will get at least 30 new prayer letter sign-ups. Pray specifically as we work to get ready the scripts, video content, and prepare the electronic and print invitations.
    • Pray for a good team of volunteers on Tuesday May 11 to help with preparing the packets for those who register.