Praise and Prayer ~ September 6, 2021

Dear FFICM Prayer Partners, 

“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

Galatians 1:9

Paul was very concerned about the people he discipled. He was very particular and was always willing to make sure that people are staying in relationship with the Lord. We also must be careful with those we are doing follow-up with. Paul was in-your-face and always going for what was true. He made sure that those around him also were focused on the truth. He encouraged people with courage and boldness. We too must be consistent and faithful with God’s message.

Nigeria:

• 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 continue to come 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. Pray for funding to continue to come in specifically for these powerful tools of evangelism and discipleship.
  • Pray: Our Muslim Background Believer trainer Ahamed called in to say that he is feeling sick. Pray for strength and healing for him.
  • Pray for recent Muslim convert Awal that our team has been discipling and helping. The team has lost contact with him at this time. We pray that he is safe and that God will protect him.
• Upcoming Events
  • Praise/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. They have been strategizing with the board of trustees and other key stakeholders in preparation for the event. They have invited Christian politicians, church leaders, and church members that have a heart for ministry.
    • The meeting with their trustees went well! Praise God!
    • Pray for the open house day preparations, like newsletters, videos, etc. 
  • Pray: The team will be going to a new church denomination in the large city of Lagos to train them in our new believer follow-up material September 8-12. Pray for safety as they travel and wisdom as they work with them. Pray that God would open more doors through this. 
  • Pray: Nigerian staff Pankyes Danladi is traveling today to Gidan Waya to do Follow-Through training with people we have previously done new believer follow-up training with. Pray for safety, wisdom, protection and powerful impact during this week of training and interactions.
• Safety amidst Dangerous Violence: 
  • 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. We pray that the kidnappings would stop and people would be able to move around without the constant fear of kidnapping.
    • There have been many kidnappings near where Mercy and Valentine live. Mercy (our Nigerian office finance coordinator) was kidnapped but thankfully was released. 
  • 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: 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. 
  • Pray: In the city of Jos the killings are back and forth between Christians and Muslims, and there are people that are being brought in from other areas to do killings and fingers are getting pointed in many directions. The bottom line is that hundreds of people are being killed, the people are scared, and they need the peace of God to reign in their land. 
  • Pray: Keep praying for peace in Nigeria, especially the city of Jos, where our Nigerian partner office is located. The situation is a bit more calm right now, but still there is fighting and killings that are happening around town as the Muslims attack the Christians.
  • Pray: There is nowhere safe for Ahamed to go right now. He is not safe in Muslim communities because they see him as a Christian and a traitor. He is also unsafe in Chrisitian communities because they think he is a Muslim. Pray for peace and for guidance in where he can safely live. Also pray for peace and safety for his family. 
  • Pray for Danladi’s family: His mother and sister in Kaduna state keep telling him they are being threatened by Muslims that they will be killed. Christians can not move around frrely because if you enter a muslim area you will likely be killed.
• Prayer for our Ministry Team
  • 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.
  • Pray: Our Nigerian trainer Sam and his family got chicken pox this week. Sam is doing better but his wife and kids are still struggling.
  • Pray/Praise: Our Nigerian finance person Mercy is taking a seminary course this week. 
  • Zainab praises God for the upcoming training she is planning for 100 widows September 23-25. She will be teaching them how to bake cakes as well as doing new believer follow-up training with them. Pray also for a new venue for her baking school/discipleship ministry as they just found out that their lease for their current facility will not be renewed and they need to locate a new home for the ministry.

Ethiopia:

• Peace in Ethiopia
  • Pray: Uncertain Political Future — War is continuing in the northern part of the country. Please pray for political resolution, for peace and for provision for the people whose lives had been devastated by the violence and loss of access to basic resources. People are displaced from their villages to other parts of the country due to this war. This ongoing unrest is mostly in the northern and western parts of the country. The economy is suffering because of all this fighting. 
  • Pray: There is a third wave of COVID hitting Ethiopia causing a high number of deaths. The government has restricted gatherings over 50. Pray for wisdom in determining restrictions that will stop the spread and keep people safe. 

• Strategic Development
  • Praise/Pray: Vehicle — Please continue to pray as we work on negotiating details and work on paperwork to buy a vehicle for the team there in Ethiopia. There have been challenges in finding the right vehicle at the right price and processing the paperwork. There have been numerous false-starts on the vehicle purchase process. Pray for wisdom as we seek the right vehicle at the right time.
  • Pray: Tesfaye’s language learning — Tesfaye (FFICM trainer in Ethiopia) is already bi-lingual as 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: 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: We are working on plans for upcoming trainings and materials development in Ethiopia. We are working on developing a strategic plan and budget for the coming years. Pray for wisdom as we seek the Lord’s guidance for the future of the ministry there.
• Prayer for our Ministry Team
  • Pray for our Ethiopia staff member Tesfaye as he is healing from COVID-19. He is doing better now but he needs continued prayer for healing and that his symptoms would not get worse. 

USA:

• Prayer for our Ministry Partners
  • Pray: Carly Powne — Carly is asking for prayer for boldness in asking for support. Pray for her as she has transitioned from her previous role as a youth pastor to our new international trainer. Pray for provision and continued support as she steps into this new role. Read more about Carly at www.fficm.org/carly-powne. 
    • Carly will be part of the October training marathon, but her primary task right now is developing her partnership team: people who will partner with her through monthly financial support and regular prayers!
    • We pray that God will bring a full team of prayer and financial partners for her before the end of December so she can focus fully on her role as an International Trainer with FFICM.
  • David Moore – Director of Operations 
    • Praise God for the opportunity to preach at Laurel Community Church this past weekend. Praise God for their faithful prayer and financial support for the past 22 years as of this month!
    • Pray: He starts his next class in his MA in Nonprofit Management this week and will be studying Nonprofit Marketing and Fundraising for the next 8 weeks.
    • Praise for a good few days of vacation this past week! Pray for his kids as they get ready to start up school again.
  • Rick Cordell – Adjunct International Trainer 
    • Pray that the process of getting his Nigeria visa/green card would go smoothly so that he can return to Nigeria soon. 
    • Pray: Due to the fact that it is unknown how long it will take to get approval for return to Nigeria, Rick is applying for an Ethiopia visa at this time and is planning on joining the FFICM team there in October while waiting for God to open the door to going back to Nigeria.
  • 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. Continue to pray for complete healing. 
  • Pray: Keith Larson, FFICM USA board member — Continue to pray for Dr. Keith Larson who recently experienced a mini-stroke. Pray for his complete recovery and mercy for his family as they respond to Keith’s changing abilities after the stroke. 
    • Update: Recovery is going well! Thank God for the quick recovery and for his continued recovery. Give the doctors wisdom as they navigate his health challenges and this stroke. 
  • Continue to pray for those impacted by Coronavirus around the world including one of our own FFICM board members.
• 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 nearing completion of a 2-month training for a group of 12 people weekly via Zoom! We are preparing ministry partners interested in serving as both part-time and full-time trainers with FFICM for ministry both in the US and overseas. Pray for the upcoming retreat that we have planned as a capstone to the 2 month long training. Pray for encouragement for our US-ministry partners, and guidance by the Holy Spirit regarding long-term use of what they have learned in this training. 
  • Pray: Fall Fundraiser — Pray for a smooth process in planning the fall fundraiser and wisdom in how to continue to share the vision for this ministry. Pray that God would help us to communicate well through all of our modes of communication. 
  • Pray for wisdom as we finish our next phase of updating our website. Pray that God would provide a volunteer who could assist us with some ongoing website maintenance and update tasks.
  • Pray: We need an International Director of Prayer. We need someone to take charge and develop it even more. Pray that God would raise the right person up for the job.