You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

2 Timothy 2:1-2

Greetings FFICM Prayer Partners!

This week we read from 2 Timothy 2:1-13 and focused on verse 2.  There is a beauty in the multiplication that this verse encourages.  We hear, we entrust to others, they teach others.  This is what FFICM does.  We learn; we teach others; we entrust others to share what we have taught them.  Take time to marvel at the beauty of God’s work.

Prayer requests from group:

Highlights from this week’s update:

• Pray for Florence as she is leading a new believer follow-up training in Cameroon.
• Praise for the mailer that we sent out recently That had a focus on training women.  We are seeing results come in from that mailer that will go to benefit our women’s training in September.
• Pray for the staff development of our Nigeria team the first week of July.  Pray for what they should discuss and that they will work well as a team.  They will have time to learn together, pray together, and dream together for future ministry.

Nigeria:

Nigeria Program Updates

• Continue to pray for the Nigeria team to find a good Operations Manager/Office Manager. Pray that God would show them the way forward. Pray for unity of mind and planning with the Nigerian board of trustees and staff as they make this decision. 
• Pray: Inflation continues to be very bad in Nigeria. The already high prices keep doubling. This is making it difficult for people to buy food. Farmers are unable to buy fertilizer because the fertilizer they use is a petrochemical product, and the price has tripled. It is time to plant this year’s crops but seed and fertilizer is so expensive, many people can’t afford to plant now, and without crops there will be food scarcity later.  Pray especially for the many poor pastors and congregations that are being severely tested. Many people have decided not to farm this year.  Please pray for them and that they will be able to provide food for their families.
• Pray for the staff development the first week of July.  Pray for what they should discuss and work well as a team.  They will have time to learn together, pray together, and dream together for future ministry.
• Pray for tension as the upcoming election begins to rise up.  Today and tomorrow were declared a public holiday so that people could register to vote.  Both the Muslims and the Christians are mobilizing their people.  There are many concerns and Nigeria needs us to pray for the country.
• Pray for Reverend Michelia from Maiduguri.  He is conducting a training next week.
• Pray for preparation for the MBB conference in October.  Pray for God’s guidance and wisdom on how this conference can come together.
• Praise/Pray: Peter has made good progress on his USA visa application for coming to the US for his classes for his doctoral degree this Fall. Now he just needs to schedule his interview with the US Embassy. Pray that his application will be looked on favorably. We are hoping he will be able to also share with you all in-person at our Fall Fundraiser.
• Praise: Pankeyes and Zainab traveled to the village of Zaron this past week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to do new believer follow up with the girls school we spoke at earlier this spring. They had good time with the girls and the follow-up teachings.  Thank God for that time.
• Praise for Ahmed and his driver who traveled to Gembu, Nigeria last week to meet with some new believers from a Muslim background.   Praise for safe journey for their trip.  They were able to create strong relationships that will grow their MBB department.
• Pray for Mohammed Danamarya who is one of our pastors with the MBB, he is in the hospital.  He has prostate cancer.  Pray for healing for him.

Ongoing Muslim Outreach Ministry

• Pray: TV and Radio Ministry — 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. The FFICM-Nigeria team is meeting in-person with these converts to support them in their new faith.

Prayer for the Nigeria Ministry Team

• Peter Wash, National Director Nigeria
  • Pray: Peter is working with doctors about recent stomach issues.  They are running tests and working on his diet.  He is feeling better although he has been tired.  Please pray for his overall health.
  • Pray for his wife’s business, she sells eggs.  Pray for the chickens and that this new business will be able to help support their family
• Samuel Chungwom, Trainer 
  • Praise/Pray: After a long period of drought, rain has begun. This is good for the gardens. But this means that people are going out to their gardens and criminals know this and are looking for isolated people in their gardens to attack and rob. Pray for safety.
  • Pray/Praise: Sam’s parents’ health is much better, but when it is rainy, they often get sick. His dad has been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.
  • Praise: Sam’s youngest son is 4 months old now and is healthy, but has had some ongoing health issues on and off. 
• Prisca Barth, Trainer
  • Pray for her visa application to the US for her Multnomah University class this Fall.
  • Pray: her husband, Bartholemew, has returned from the hospital.  He is able to stand but not able to walk.  Pray for complete healing and that he will be able to walk again.
• Zainab, part-time Trainer
  • Praise God that she is “doing fine by the grace of God.” Please pray for the women she is leading and for the fellowship.
• Yusuf, former Trainer
  • Continue to pray for Yusuf.  He is telling others how grateful he is to FFICM who were more concerned about Yusuf and his salvation than ourselves.  He testifies of how FFICM follows and lives out what the Bible teaches, using the example of leaving the 99 to find the 1.  
  • Pray that he is able to move this week.  Pray that God will settle him down and he will begin to start a new life again.

Cameroon:

Pray for Florence as she prepares for an upcoming new believer follow-up training she is coordinating in Cameroon.

• Praise: The trainers traveled safely from Bamenda to Maroua by car and train June 23-25
• Pray for the training to be held June 27 – July 1.

Ethiopia:

Program Updates

• Praise/and prayer request regarding vehicle purchase:  A vehicle has been found! It is brand new and is within our budget, and is available right away! The only thing we are waiting for now is the transfer of funds. The first time we tried to make the wire transfer, the funds got hung up for almost 2 months. We are looking for alternate ways to get the funds transferred.
• Praise: Eskinder’s US visa was approved. Pray for wisdom as he prepares for travel to the US this Fall both to visit the FFICM office as well as attend his Multnomah doctoral class.
• Praise: Many people keep coming into Eskinder’s office asking for many copies of our materials. They continue to use what they learned and are doing new believer follow-up with many and are also training others to use the materials. 
• Praise & Pray for wisdom: There are many requests for more training, resources, and additional conferences. We generally train only 100 at a time, and there are many more church pastors and leaders who want to be trained. 
• Pray/praise for our trainees who are continuing to train others!  Especially the women!
• Pray for Ethiopia as there is still a lot of unrest in the northern part of the country.  It is no longer only with the Tigray but now also with Oromia and the government.
• Pray for the Hosanna area.  The regional church asked for training.  They are also asking for the True Gospel Conference next year.  Many people in Hosanna are going astray and following different kinds of things so they are calling and requesting the big conference and training for pastors, evangelists, and church members.
• Continue to pray for an ongoing difficult staff situation in Ethiopia that Eskinder is working with. Pray for wisdom.
• Pray for a training for MBBs in Butajira, Ethiopia in July.  They are currently securing the dates.
• Pray for one of our past trainees who teaches theology at the university.  This week he is  training 300 university students in new believer follow-up training.

United States:

Strategic Development and ongoing ministry

• Pray: Pray for wisdom as FFICM continues to look for a new part-time bookkeeper in the US.
• Praise/Pray: Church status — FFICM has applied for church status here in the US. The was  submitted months ago! Pray for wisdom for the IRS as they consider our application. 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 financial benefits for us as an organization.  We are still waiting for a response from the IRS. Keep praying about this…
• Pray: International Director of Prayer — We are praying that God will provide a volunteer International Director of Prayer for FFICM. We would love to have someone to take charge and develop this crucial area of ministry even more. Pray that God would raise the right person up for the job.
• Praise for the grant request “Letter of Inquiry” that Jerel sent out recently for the Fall women’s trainer training in Ethiopia. Pray also for a few other grant requests that he is working on preparing to submit in the next few months.
• Pray we are working to get our financial compilation finished so we can finish our 2021 990.
• Pray for Rich and Jerel as they continue to meet with many FFICM partners to share one-on-one with people about the amazing things that we saw God do in the recent trip to Africa and celebrate together about the goodness of God. 
• Pray for the upcoming trip to the East Coast this August 5-17, and for the opportunity to share the ministry with conferences and congregations around the area.  August 7 there will be an evening service where we have the opportunity to meet with many churches at one time and in one place.
• Pray for the steering team committees for the golf tournament and for the east coast tour.
• Continue to pray for our financial situation at FFICM as we spend time developing it as well as working on long term structures that will help us with finances and accountability. We praise God for several recent large donations, but we continue to look for God’s provision to enable FFICM to be able to continue to grow and expand. 
• Pray for our team as we are writing new materials for the US audience.  Pray that God will give us wisdom and insight for what we can do to help new believers in the US and adapt our materials. 
• Pray for doors to open to be able to share our ministry with individuals and churches.
• Praise for the mailer that we sent out recently That had a focus on training women.  We are seeing results come in from that mailer that will go to benefit our women’s training in September.
• Pray/Praise: Our organization is growing and we need prayers as we listen to where God is leading us and calling us.  Pray for us as we experience growing pains.  It is an exciting time but we need to be covered in prayer as we move forward.

Ministry Partners

• Carly Powne, US Based International Trainer — www.fficm.org/carly-powne
  • Continue to pray for Carly to be at 100% monthly support — We pray that God will continue to bring a full team of prayer and financial partners for Carly so she can focus fully on her role as an International Trainer with FFICM. Praise God for those who have already signed up to be part of her prayer and financial support team. Praise God she is currently at 70% of her needed monthly support. Once she gets up to full support she can increase the number of trainings she is involved with. 
  • Pray for Lane, her 3 year old cousin who is like a nephew to her.  Lane was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and is struggling daily to take his medication.  Please pray for Lane as he is an active boy, and a lot has changed in his life in a short time.  Please pray for his family as well: Mom, Dad, and 3 sisters.
  • Pray for her upcoming trip visiting potential partners and churches as she makes her way back to Texas.
  • Pray:  After an extremely high water bill there is a fear of a leak in her home.  She had the house checked out and there was no leak.  Pray for the conversation with San Antonio Water Systems that they will see the mistake and forgive the bill.  The bill was 12x the normal amount and the house is currently empty.

• Jerel Skeith, Director of Strategic Relationships
  • Praise: Jerel and his wife recently bought a new home (still in the Portland area) to better meet the needs of their family. They are settling in and adjusting to new routines, but very grateful for wonderful new neighbors. Pray for wisdom as they transition to the new house and deal with all of the adjustments involved in that move.

• David Moore, Director of Operations 
  • Pray: Son Andrew (aka: Ben) is still in juvenile detention. Pray for wisdom as David and Denise navigate this process. David visited Andrew in juvenile detention last week. His heart is still very hard and he doesn’t appear to want or to be able to make the changes that he needs to make in order to gain the freedoms that he wants. He has been asking staff at juvenile detention for a satanic Bible. 
  • Praise: This last weekend he celebrated his father-in-law’s 80th birthday with many family and friends who came to town from across the country. 
  • Pray for wisdom as they look for a replacement car for their daughter Hannah was recently in an accident that totaled her car. 
• Rich Gardner, President 
  • Pray for his family situation.
  • Pray for the finances of FFICM. We desire to continue to grow and expand and we need wisdom in knowing how to grow our financial base so we can continue to expand the ministry globally.
  • Pray for Rich as he continues writing new materials for FFICM.
  • Pray: Rich’s daughter, Dara Searcy-Gardner, continues to struggle with debilitating asthma. With the failure of the first medication, she’s needed to try a new medicine; however, the insurance is refusing to pay for it. Pray that the insurance company would change their response so Dara could receive the treatment she needs. She’s unable to work and barely able to function. She is asking us to pray that the medication would conquer the asthma. We pray for complete healing. On top of all her other health issues, she was recently diagnosed with covid. Pray for full and quick recovery. In the past week she was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. Continue to pray for healing and recovery.
• Rick Cordell, Adjunct Trainer from US
  • Pray: Rick is continuing his Nigerian ministry work, but remotely from Portland for 3 months. Pray for productive remote work.
  • Pray for Rick as he plans to meet face to face with several churches and individuals  who have been supporting his ministry.  Pray that the time together will be fruitful.
• Deborah Sezov, FFICM US Board member 
  • Praise:  Pastor Dick Ellis – praise God for how well he is doing. He was able to preach Sunday
    Morning and serve communion despite having broken 5 ribs a week ago.
  • Pray: Pastor Andrew Barshinger – pray for healing. Pray for his upcoming doctors‘ appointments – for wisdom for the doctors to come up with the right treatment plan. Pray that his body would stay strong enough for treatment as he battles kidney failure due to his non-Hodgkin’s diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Pray for his wife, 4-year-old son, and 2-year-old twins.

“Lord, you said that when two or three would gather together in your name, then you would be present with them. I am praying by myself (or ‘on the Internet’) but I am uniting myself with many individual Christians throughout the world who, though separate, are gathered together in another sense to pray to you, and I trust that you are with me now.”

Nicholas Hutchinson

Thank you for joining us in prayer!