Praise and Prayer ~ August 2, 2021

Dear FFICM Prayer Partners, 

We learn through our struggles, just like Jesus who learned through his suffering. Jesus grew in wisdom, mercy and obedience throughout his life. All Jesus’ experiences through his life prepared him for the great suffering he experienced in the Passion. How many want to become like Christ? We do! How many of us want to suffer to become like Christ? None of us, but we ask for God’s help to surrender and trust God through our times of darkness. Our greatest challenges are like a tunnel we travel through to get to the light on the other side. 

Hebrews 5:8  (NIV)

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered […].”

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:

• Training last week
  • Praise: Training 50 leaders last week from the Church of the Brethren (Nigerian EYN Church) at their headquarters in new believer follow-up using the FFICM materials by FFICM trainers Sam, Comfort, Pankyes, and Ahamed in Adama State. 
    • Praise for safe travel. They almost drove through a roadblock by the Boko Haram terrorist group, but the Nigerian military rescued them and helped them get through safely.  
    • Praise God for the good training and for those who are trained will use what they have learned and will train others!
    • The wife of one of the pastors who attended and many of her friends were recently poisoned while attending a funeral. Six of the others died from the poisoning. The wife of the attending pastor has lost her hearing and her tongue is not working properly, but we praise God that she is still alive. Pray for healing for her and wisdom for the pastor in dealing with these challenging situations. This same pastor is also dealing with his own medical issues as he has a bone poking out of his skin which is causing him much pain and the doctors don’t seem to know what to do.

• Current and Ongoing ministry
  • Muslim Outreach Ministry
    • TV and Radio — We continue to broadcast the TV and radio episodes that have been recorded to share about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus, and are specifically made for people coming to Christ from a Muslim background. Continue to pray for the impact of these recordings, and for the FFICM staff as they work to follow-up those who are coming to Christ. 
    • Solar-powered Audio Players — Many Muslims are coming to Christ through listening to the Bible in the local language which is on these players! Pray for all those who hear the Gospels through these devices. The Muslim leadership strongly oppose these players and are seeking to block all access to them in Nigeria. 
  • Praise: The printer shop we have been using for our new believer follow-up materials in Nigeria was having issues with printing for us. These issues have been resolved and the printing is not going forward! Thanks for praying!

• Upcoming Events
  • Pray: Next week there is another training where the roads are not safe. It is also the rainy season so we pray for protection on this journey. 
  • Pray: Fundraising Planning for FFICM-Nigeria — The team in Nigeria is working on local fundraising opportunities in Nigeria. They are planning an open house event that will take place on October 2nd. Pray for the planning process, the vision casting, and the outreach strategy. Prisca is leading the Fundraising Team. Jefferson Lee (an International Philanthropy consultant in the US) is mentoring the Nigerian team in their fundraising efforts. 
  • Praise/Pray: August 9th-13th  we have a week-long training with seminary students from the United Methodist Church of Nigeria (UMCN) in Bambur, Nigeria. Pray for protection for the leaders and guidance from the Holy Spirit. 
  • Praise: Training ECWA Pastors — in Tiga which is in Katsina State from August 16th-20th. 

• Safety amidst Dangerous Violence: “Nowhere is safe.” – Peter Wash (July 12, 2021)
  • Pray: Famine, but not because of drought — Many Nigerian family farmers were not able to plant their crops to feed their families this year because of the threat of kidnapping. They will have to buy food instead of growing their own. This is unsustainable financially for the villagers and is leading to a food crisis since people cannot afford to feed their families. We need to pray for God’s intervention and provision!!  
  • Pray: Ongoing kidnappings — There continues to be more and more kidnapping in Nigeria. Some are politically motivated, some religiously motivated, but most of it is simply for the financial gain that can easily be obtained by getting the ransom payment. Our staff member Ishaku reported in our staff prayer time that two kids were kidnapped near his house this past week. We praise God that the children were released safely, but we pray that the kidnappings would stop and people would be able to move around without the constant fear of kidnapping.
  • Pray: Safety while Traveling — Ongoing security issues make it difficult to travel and do ministry. You never know which road will be closed or where the bandits will be. There are very frequent attacks and insecurity in the land. Please pray for safety for the trainers. Pray for Comfort that she will reach her destination safely as she travels. 
  • Pray: Safety for MBB trainers — Pray for safety for our MBB trainers Ahamed and Yusuf. They are often in great danger as they refute the teachings of Islam. Their lives are at risk. 

• Prayer for our Ministry Team
  • Prayer: Mercy’s Health — Mercy (FFICM Nigeria Finance Coordinator) has a hurt finger and could not work due to the pain. Please pray for her recovery. 
  • Prayer: Ishaku’s Village — A corpse of a Fulani man was found near Ishaku’s village. The Fulani (who are Muslim) believe in revenge and will likely return to the village to attack and murder villagers at night. Please pray for protection and peace for Villagers who haven’t been able to sleep at night for fear of retribution. 
  • Praise: Peter’s Ordination — Peter will completed his ordination training last week! Praise that all went smoothly with this training and the ordination process. We praise God for the MDiv degree that Peter recently finished and now his official ordination, which will give him more legitimacy in the churches there in Nigeria as he goes around preaching and teaching to many.
  • Praise/Pray: Sam’s family is doing much better! Sam is one of our lead trainers in Nigeria. His dad just had surgery on his eyes and his wife and daughter who had been sick are now feeling much better. Pray for health for his family and encouragement for them as they have been hit hard with many health issues this past year.
  • Pray: The visa situation for foreigners on long-term visas in Nigeria continues to get more and more difficult. No new or previous visa quota requests have been processed since September 2020. This impacts all those who are on a permanent visa there with a Green Card (like our International Trainer Rick Cordell). There are rumors that the government is trying to stop all foreign missionaries and foreign money from coming into the country. This impacts our work in Nigeria, but also the lives of hundreds of others who are ministering there. Pray for wisdom and provision from the Lord.

Ethiopia:

• Peace in Ethiopia
  • Praise: Peace — Ethiopia has been getting more and more peaceful now that their election has passed and the former prime minister (a strong evangelical Christian) has been re-elected. Pray that this peace will continue to have depth and breadth in this country that has been on the brink of several wars over the past year.

• Strategic Development
  • Praise: Possible Vehicle — Praise God for the funds that have been received. Please pray as we continue to work on negotiating details and working on paperwork to buy a vehicle being sold by the US Embassy there in Ethiopia. There have been some challenges in processing the paperwork with the government due to the fact that it was owned by the embassy.  
  • Pray: Tesfaye’s language learning — Tesfaye (one of the FFICM trainers in Ethiopia) is already bi-lingual in that he speaks Amharic and Oromo. He is learning English to expand his capacity as a lead trainer. Pray that his tutoring would go well and that he would be able to remember all that he is learning.

• Current/Future Programs
  • Pray: This week training for 200 students in Arba Minch — The team will train 200 university students in new believer follow-up (Wednesday through Saturday). Eskinder will bring 1,050 New Believer Booklets to resource the participants for the classes they lead after the training. The university students will go out for a 1 month trip focusing on evangelism and follow-up. Pray for all the logistics involved in this training, the outreach, and the follow-up of the new believers as a result. 
  • Pray: Fall 2021 Training Marathon — Rich and others from the US will travel to Ethiopia in October/November to assist with 5 weeks of new believer follow-up training, including the following:
    • Week 1) Training of Asella Evangelical Churches Fellowship and more than 14 denominations will participate.
    • Week 2) Training the Genet Church denomination in Ethiopia. FFICM has not previously partnered with the Genet Church denomination so this training opens new possibilities for growing impact! 
    • Week 3) Training in a neighboring Muslim country – We will partner with Elias, an Ethiopian missionary in that country.
    • Week 4) Training of Women trainers at Ethiopia Kale Heywet Church – We will train 80 Ethiopian women in New Believer Follow-up. This team of women will become Trainers of Trainers. They have a plan for exponential growth as women are prepared to go out and train other women.
    • Week 5) The Head of the Ethiopia Kale Hayet Church has requested a training for follow-up of new believers from a Muslim background! 
  • Pray: the team in Ethiopia has more than one week-long training event scheduled for each month through the end of the year. Pray for wisdom in scheduling, preparing, and carrying out this busy schedule of ministry activities.

USA:

• Prayer for our Ministry Partners
  • Pray: Rich and Jerel’s August travel — Rich and Jerel will travel to the East coast for two weeks to connect with supporters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Pray for their travel and for opportunities to share stories of God’s ministry through FFICM. Pray for the growth of partnership engagement! 
  • Pray/Praise: New International Trainer, Carly Powne! — Praise God for His provision in His timing. Pray for Carly’s transition from her current role as Youth Pastor in Texas to joining the FFICM team over the next several months. Pray for her efforts to raise prayer and financial support as a missionary working with FFICM. We have been praying for God to provide new staff to come on board as International Trainers for almost 2 years! Carly has an amazing set of skills, experience, and passion that she brings to the team. Read more about Carly at www.fficm.org/carly-powne 
  • Pray/Praise: New Development Director, Jerel Skeith! — You have joined us in prayer for over a year now as we applied for the a grant to fund adding a Development Director, been approved for the grant, and for the past few months as we have looked for the right person to fill the position. We are excited to have Jerel Skeith joining the FFICM team on August 9th. Jerel has been involved in ministry for years and has a passion for evangelism and new believer follow-up. We look forward to all that he brings to the team. Read more about him at www.fficm.org/meet-our-staff  
  • Pray: David Moore’s in-laws — They continue to have ongoing health issues. This past week they were afraid that his father-in-law Dave had suffered a heart attack due to severe chest pain. After going to the hospital and doing many different tests, they determined that it was just a strained muscle. Mother-in-law Donna continues to fight one infection after another. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and healing for their bodies.  
  • Pray: Rick Cordell — Prayer that the process of getting his green card would go smoothly so that he can return to Nigeria soon. 
  • Pray: Dara Searcy-Gardner, former FFICM staff and Rich Gardner’s daughter — Dara continues to struggle with debilitating asthma. She asked us to pray that the medication (Xolair shots) would conquer the asthma. Pray for complete healing. 
  • Pray: David Moore, FFICM Director of Operations is currently working his MA in Nonprofit Management. He is now more than halfway through his course work and currently taking a class on Managing Organizational Diversity. Pray for wisdom as he works to balance work, classes, and family responsibilities and works to apply the things that he is learning in his classes to his role at FFICM.

• Pray for Strategic Development
  • Pray: Wisdom regarding church status — Pray for wisdom as FFICM applies for church status here in the US. Most large mission organizations have applied for and been granted church status in the US. This would allow us to be able to have all of our staff receive the ministerial housing allowance and would have other tax and finance benefits for us as an organization. 
  • Praise: U.S. based-training in July/August— We are training a group of 12 people weekly via Zoom! We are recruiting ministry partners interested in serving as both part-time and full-time trainers with FFICM from the US. Pray for successful training, encouragement for our US-ministry partners, and guidance by the Holy Spirit regarding long-term impact from this training. 
  • Pray: Fall Fundraiser — Pray for a smooth process in planning the fall fundraiser and wisdom in how to fundraise better. Help us to communicate well through all of our modes of communication.