Praise and Prayer ~ September 20, 2021

Dear FFICM Prayer Partners, 

Nigeria:

Current and Ongoing ministry

• One of the Nigerian training teams will be doing a training at a new church in Lagos, Nigeria this week. Pray for safe travel as this is a long trip from Jos where our office is located. 
• The other Nigerian training team will be going out this week on Wednesday to meet with leaders in several different locations to set up week-long training events for the coming months. Pray for wisdom as they work with church leaders and make plans and preparations for these trainings. 
• Trainer Comfort did a training this past week in Maiduguri and had a great response from the church leaders. They were very grateful to be trained in new believer follow-up. Pray that the church leaders will be able to apply what they have learned and go out and teach others. 
• 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.

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. They are planning to have 200 people in attendance. 
  • Pray for the open house day preparations, like newsletters, videos, etc. 
• FFICM Nigeria National Director Peter Wash is working on applying for a visa to the US. Pray that the visa application will be accepted. We would love to be able to have him come and share with many of our partners here in the US about what God is doing through FFICM in Nigeria.

Safety amidst Dangerous Violence: 

• 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.
• Continue to pray for Awal, a new believer from a Muslim background there in Nigeria. Our team has been working to help him and his family. His neighbors have kicked him out of his house and have taken away two of his wives and most of his 12 children. Pray for his physical and spiritual strength.

Prayer for our Ministry Team

• Praise: The visa situation for foreigners appears to be getting better! New visa quotas have been released. Our adjunct trainer Rick Cordell is still waiting for his visa to be issued, but the first step of the process has happened and that gives us hope that his new visa/green card may be issued soon. 
• 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.
• Pray: Peter continues to work on his Doctorate in Global Evangelism. Pray for wisdom as he divides his time between work at the office, going out and helping with trainings, doing school assignments, as well as personal and family responsibilities.
• Pray: Prisca is working on her Masters degree in Global Evangelism. Pray for wisdom for her and she divides her time between that as well as family, FFICM trainings, and leading the FFICM fundraising effort locally there in Nigeria for FFICM Africa.
• Pray: Pray that God will provide for Ahamed in regards to school fees for his children. 
• Pray for Zainab’s neighbor whose 17 year old son passed away recently. 

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 7 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.
    • Pray for the completion of our materials translated into Arabic that they would be finished in time and would be a helpful tool used for training. 
  • Pray: Ethiopia is establishing a new government the first week Rich and the team are there. Pray for that to be a smooth transition.
  • Pray: EKHC denomination churches in Awassa want training. It is tentatively planned for sometime in November.

• Prayer for our Ministry Team

• Praise God for the healing of our Ethiopia staff member Tesfaye. He has fully recovered from COVID-19. He will be coming back into the office tomorrow. 
  • Pray for healing of our Ethiopia National Director’s father, Alemayehu who currently has Covid-19 and is being hospitalized. 
    • Update he is home from the hospital.

USA:

• Pray for upcoming events

• Golf Fundraiser — On October 11 we will have our first annual golf fundraiser! Signups are live on our website. Share about this exciting opportunity with your friends!
  • Pray: Fall Fundraiser — Pray for a smooth process in planning the fall fundraiser which will be held Saturday November 20 both in-person at our office in Portland, OR and virtually. Pray for 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. 
  • October Trainings — Pray for the team as they prepare to leave for their October trainings in Ethiopia!

• Prayer for our Ministry Partners

• Pray: Carly Powne, US Based International Trainer — 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 
    • Pray for wisdom as he balances his time between work, family, and his MA Nonprofit Management classes.
    • Pray for his children who are still adjusting to being back in school after doing virtual school for so long.
  • Rick Cordell, Adjunct International Trainer 
    • Praise/Pray: Pray that the process of getting his Nigeria visa/green card would go smoothly so that he can return to Nigeria soon. Praise God that the first step is complete – the government has reissued visa quotas, but there are many steps still needed in the process. It is taking longer than expected so please pray for expediency. 
    • 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: Please pray that the Immigration officers will finish processing his green card in the next couple days, so that he can get it before he leaves for Ethiopia. He needs to book his flights for October and November, today or tomorrow.
  • Jerel Skeith, Director of Strategic Relationships
    • Pray for Jerel as he preaches at a local church in Portland to help support FFICM. 
    • Pray for his visa that has not come in yet. It was previously lost in the mail. Please pray that it makes it to him soon in preparation for the October trip. 
  • 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: Rich’s daughter Joelle is having contractions but having a little difficulty with labor. Pray that everything would go smoothly and that both her and the baby would be safe and healthy. 

• 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.  
  • 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.