Prayer Focus Nov & Dec 2013

November 2013 1 Fri. Canada – November Already!

“It is already November and our five stores are ready to serve the church during the Christmas season - and we are looking forward to it! You may have thought we only had four stores, but we now have our fifth store - the ecommerce site that is getting better and better and will improve even more by Christmas. Thank the Lord for the wonderful opportunities for growth He prepared for us, this being our first year with the two new bookshops, the relocated main bookstore and our on-line store.” Oscar Cardozo, Director

CLC UK: ONE Event 2-3 Sat/Sun. UK – Events Pray for Geoff Fanning in his new role as Events Co-ordinator. CLC UK is increasingly involved with events, and Geoff will be searching out new opportunities to serve in this way as well as planning for the stocking and staffing of each event.

Pray for wisdom as he approaches event organisers. Pray too that as we provide Bibles, books and other materials for these occasions, we will be able to maintain a high standard of service which meets the needs of the customers.

4 Mon. Cyprus – November Book Fairs Sotos and Eva Photiades would appreciate your prayers as they, and their volunteer helpers, take books to book fairs in Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca and locally in Nicosia during November. They write: “During these book fairs we meet up with old friends and customers and, of course, we meet new ones.

Please pray that it will be a time of fellowship and encouragement and that good books will be sold that will touch many lives for God’s Kingdom.”

5 Tue Papua New Guinea - Shipments At the time of writing, CLC in Papua New Guinea was preparing Christmas orders.

Please pray that these shipments arrive on time and without delays in customs – which has been the experience in previous years.

CLC has a Christian customs agency working for them now and we trust that all will go well this time.

6 Wed. CLC Europe - Regional Director Travels Gary Chamberlin will be in the Netherlands from November 11th to15th to attend the Board meetings of the WEC Bible College for Mission Training and CLC Netherlands. Visiting the college is always an encouragement and provides a time to share about the CLC ministry with future missionaries who will be serving throughout the world. Please pray that these Board meetings will go well as we assess our current situation and plan for the future. Gary will also spend time with Bertus Keuter, the new CLC Netherlands Director.

7 Thu. USA – Donors’ Banquet “Please pray for the CLC USA Donors’ banquet to be held on Saturday, November

9th. Dr. Tony Hart will be speaking, and the CLC Christian BookLink programme will be featured. Tony will be travelling to Liberia next March to teach at the Pastors’ Conference that CLC USA and CLC Liberia will be jointly sponsoring.” David Almack, Director *The Christian BookLink program is a ministry of CLC USA that collects quality second-hand books from individuals and churches and sends them out to specific CLC countries where these books are much appreciated.

8 Fri. Germany – Serving all Generations Tomorrow,November9th,ValentinSchweigler, the manager of CLC Hamburg, will take a book stall to a Christian retirement home. This is a great opportunity to provide books and Bibles to people who are not able to get out to the bookshop and Valentin is looking forward to meeting up with some former customers of the shop. Later in the month, CLC will be supplying books at a Christian conference for young people. As Valentin comments: ‘it is a joy to serve all generations’.

9-10 Sat/Sun. UK – Christmas Bookstalls During November and early December, many churches hold events related to Christmas.

Please pray that our shops will be able to make contact with them with a view to including displays and sales of books, Bibles etc. This is a valuable way of extending our ministry in the local communities.

11 Mon. Ecuador – Meetings for Booksellers Please pray for meetings arranged by CLC Ecuador for staff of all the Christian bookshops around the country. At this event, which is taking place today and tomorrow, seven different publishers will be presenting their products and training will be given for a variety of bookshop skills.

this will take place in Lisbon, Ermesinde (north Portugal) and the Algarve (south Portugal).

This involves a lot of work and travel for Carlos Cunha and our faithful volunteer helpers as they attend these meetings. Thank you for praying for them.

CLC Kenya: Wilfare Malemo

13 Wed. Kenya – A Wedding!

Wilfare Malemo, a pastor and the manager of CLC Eldoret, will be getting married on Saturday November 16th. Please pray for him and his wife as they start out married life together. Please pray too for the people who will be covering for him in the bookshop while he takes some holiday leave.

14 Thu. Austria – Team Work “We thank God for giving us wisdom in making decisions regarding the future of CLC Graz. We thank Him also for the extra helpers we need to cope with the workload before Christmas - especially with all the book tables to be prepared and taken to different churches during November. One of the shop team, Sarah, officially ended her time with us early in October but she has offered to help, when needed, until December. A new team member, Marina Sautter, joined us in September.” Edeltraud Heumann

12 Tue. Portugal – Leadership Summit Every year, a Global Leadership Summit (Willow Creek Association) is held in various parts of Portugal and CLC provides the book tables.

Over the next three Fridays and Saturdays Page 2 (November)

CLC Austria: Sarah, Marina & Edeltraud

15 Fri. France – Paris Fair From November 17th to 19th, CLC France will have a book table at the Evangelical Fair in Paris. Christian Piaget, the new Purchasing Director for CLC France, will be there with Hervé Lessous, the National Director, in order to meet a number of suppliers. Please pray for all aspects of our presence at this event.

16-17 Sat/Sun. UK – Ipswich “Dave Carnell has helped us one morning a week for a very long time – he has seen at least five managers come and go! Due to his other responsibilities, Dave recently felt the time was right to stop his volunteer work with CLC. We were sorry to see him go, but we are still in contact. Thank God for faithful CLC helpers both here in Ipswich and in many other shops around the world.” Penny Rivett, Manager.

18 Mon. Philippines – CLC Cebu’s Future CLC in Cebu needs to re-locate as the management of the shopping complex where we are currently situated asked us to vacate by the end of November. We asked for an extension of the rental contract, which was finally granted, but since requesting this we have now found new and suitable shop premises in a different shopping mall. Work is underway to prepare the shop unit as a bookshop and we hope to be operating from there before Christmas. Please pray.

CLC UK Team–2012 Confernence 19 Tue. Ecuador The Month of the Bible We give thanks to God for his faithfulness and provision so far this year. September was our ‘Month of the Bible’ and during this time Bibles were sold in large quantities. We give God the glory for this opportunity to distribute and promote His Word. (Photo on the right) 20 Wed. India - Purasawalkam CLC in Purasawalkam Road is one of three ELS (CLC) shops in Chennai and it has been operating from the same building for around 50 years! Please pray as difficulties have arisen with the tenancy agreement despite

the fact that two of the three owners are happy for CLC to remain as they want the building to be used for God’s work. Please pray as Christopher Robert and other CLC members have discussions with the owners.

Christopher writes: “Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance and that His perfect will alone will be revealed to us regarding the future of this bookshop.”

21 Thu. Uruguay – Calendars (See Above) Every year, the team in Uruguay produce a CLC Calendar for distribution through national churches. The calendars contain photos, scripture verses and information about CLC Uruguay. In addition, each participating church will have its own church details printed on the back of the calendar. 17,000 copies will be distributed over the next few weeks.

CLC Ecuador

22 Fri. Japan – Christmas Activities “During the Christmas season, each CLC bookshop in Japan [of which there are 7] will be involved in special sales activities – not only in the bookshop but in churches and at other Christmas events. The team are grateful for your prayers for them at this busy time.”

Satoru Nakano, Director Page 3 (November)

23-24 Sat/Sun. UK – Head of Operations Mick Goodman, the newly appointed Head of Operations, would like prayer for wisdom in understanding our IT requirements and in making a good recommendation.

Pray for the team involved with him in assessing our needs.

Give thanks for progress on possible short term solutions for the way we handle our product and sales data. Pray too for the continuing development of both the retail and wholesale web sites, and for the right person to undertake the overall management of the retail web site.

25 Mon. Philippines - MIBF “Thank God for CLC’s participation in the Manila International Book Fair recently. Although it was a week of very heavy rainfall, it was a wonderful and fruitful time for the CLC ministry.

It is great to think that such a large quantity of Bibles and Christian books were put into the hands of people, from all walks of life, who do not normally enter our bookshops. Knowing that those books could change and transform their lives is really a great joy for us.” Romualdo Macinas, National Director 26 Tue. USA – The ‘Shopping Season’ “Please pray for workers in the CLC USA bookshops during the month of December as they often have to work longer hours and will have many people to serve. This Christmas season will only have 25 days between Black Friday and Christmas compared to 32 last year.” Dave Almack, Director *Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and is often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

27 Wed. Ecuador – New Staff Member Sofia Onofa joined the CLC team in Ecuador earlier in the year and, from September, Page 4 (November)

she has taken over the responsibility as administrator of the CLC website. Please pray for Sofia as she adjusts to this new role.

28 Thu. Kenya – A Shift in Focus “The situation in Kenya has been extremely challenging ministry-wise as a result of the overall situation in the country regarding retail and wholesale. This has meant that our team has needed a ‘shift in focus’. Please pray for Director Edith Wamalwa and the others in Nairobi, that they may have wisdom to know how to make the most of what they have available in order to be a blessing to others.”

Liz Patten, CLC Regional Director for Africa

29 Fri. Germany – Alltagstourist CLC Germany will be the exclusive distributor of a new book, Alltagstourist (everyday tourist), by author and communications designer Eva Jung. It is an innovative evangelistic book, and an unusual daily travel diary, full of interesting things we can discover in the normal daily routine of life.

The book is released early in December.

Please pray that the CLC Hamburg team will be able to cope with the additional work this will involve. They hope to send at least 1,000 copies out straight away to people who have already pre-ordered the book.

30 Sat. /1 Sun. UK – Regional Managers Many of the 20 CLC UK bookshops operate on very tight staffing levels and some are under particular pressures at this time. Richard Morris and John Watkins, the regional retail managers, ask for prayer for all our shop staff as they cope with the pressures of a heavy workload, particularly in the three weeks before Christmas. Pray that Richard and John will be able to support and help them as much as possible. Pray also that suitable staff and local volunteers will be led into the work.

December 2013 2 Mon. Liberia – One Year On At the beginning of December, it will be one year since the ‘official’ re-opening of CLC Liberia. We are particularly grateful for all the support shown by CLC USA, and ask for prayer that this new ministry will find financial stability in the coming year. Also pray for good sales of the second containerload of books which was sent from CLC USA in September. Pray too for team member Isaac Dweh who recently required surgery for the reccurrence of ear cancer.

3 Tue. Poland - Encouragement Please pray for encouragement for our shop managers – Jola in Wroclaw and Eva in Katowice. We praise God that we have found a very capable part-time worker, Sabina, in Katowice. Please pray for Gary Chamberlin as he is visiting Poland this week. After many very difficult months, there are real signs that the CLC ministry in Poland is becoming more stable. Pray that God will bless the distribution of CLC Poland publications - to date we have published 3 books by Roy Hession, Amazing Love by Corrie Ten Boom, and an evangelistic booklet by Franklin Graham who will be in Warsaw in June 2014 for an evangelistic campaign. We hope to print another 5-6 titles in 2014.

4 Wed. Canada – A Beautiful Month December is a beautiful month, when people have parties and share gifts, and we Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth. Pray for the CLC Canada team, that this month we will be able to serve our existing customers with love and that we will work on attracting new customers with good strategies oriented to introduce Christian books to non-believers.

5 Thu. Hungary – Book Fair Every year there is a Christmas Christian Book Fair held during the first weekend of

December. It is a good opportunity to meet people: publishers, customers and other retailers. Please pray that our bookstall will be welcoming to many customers - and that the books and gift items we distribute would be taken by other bookshops too.

6 Fri. Barbados – Reaching Out We are very grateful for the part our little bookstore plays in the preparation of future Christian leaders for this area. Recently a pastor, who is the principal of a local Bible School, came in and purchased a number of text books for the students.

For the third year we have been invited to provide a book table at a Christmas event for a Women’s Club on December 7th. Our staff enjoy this occasion! Please pray that our selection of books and gift items will be appreciated too.

CLC Dundee: Yan, Liz & Susan 7-8 Sat/Sun UK – Dundee CLC in Dundee has recently started a second hand book section in the basement of the shop. Give thanks for the books which are being donated for this venture. Pray that it will bring more customers into the shop and help secure its financial viability. Several other CLC shops are, or will be, experimenting with small second hand sections. Pray for the shops as they manage these and publicise them.

9 Mon. Ivory Coast – Property Sale We have mentioned before that we are seeking to sell an apartment in Abidjan, to pay some accumulated supplier debts. The legal and administrative process involved in selling Page 5 (December)

the apartment is quite complex and, at the time of writing, the apartment is not yet even up for sale. Please pray that it would soon be ready to go on sale and that we will quickly find a buyer willing to give us a fair price. Pray for Prosper Weda, CLC French West Africa Director, as he oversees this process.

13 Fri. Ecuador – Representing CLC Please pray with the team in Ecuador for someone to join them who could represent CLC as a mission and present our products in Bible colleges and in other Christian ministries.

10 Tue. Netherlands – Bright Ideas!

“While the sales are still going down in the Netherlands, the costs don’t. That is very discouraging for our staff and the volunteers.

So please pray for wisdom to reduce the costs and bright ideas to increase the sales.”

Bertus Keuter, Director

14-15 Sat/Sun UK – Handling Requests From time to time CLC is approached with a view to taking over existing Christian bookshops. Please pray for wisdom for the leadership team and trustees as these requests are considered. While CLC wants to maintain literature outreach in the UK, it would be easy to overstretch both human and financial resources.

11 Wed. Venezuela – Fire Damage On September 4th, the CLC offices and warehouse building was significantly affected by a fire that totally destroyed the building next door. Thankfully no one was harmed but, at the time of writing, normal work had not been resumed and the administration department has moved temporarily to a bookshop location. It is expected that the insurance will cover a large percentage of the repair costs but there will be inevitable losses as well. The building was brand new when we moved there just three years ago!

12 Thu. Trinidad – Ongoing Concern An ongoing concern for our work in Trinidad is the high crime rate, predominantly gang and drug- related, on the island. In September, a prayer breakfast was held in the Port of Spain bookshop with the specific aim of praying for the social and political situation. One person who attended shared that she had been a victim of crime and 15 family members and close friends had been gunned down. Marlene Ramroop, the Director for CLC in the Eastern Caribbean, writes “As Christmas approaches the crime rate seems to increase, please pray for wisdom and steadfastness for the staff, and for adequate staff cover in the bookshops. Most of all, please pray that we will guide the customers to the true meaning of Christmas.”

Page 6 (December)

CLC Swaziland: Snedzcile, Liz & Simphiwe 16 Mon. Swaziland – Looking Up Thank you for praying for the ministry, which has been struggling for the past couple of years with no certain outcome.

However, things are beginning to look up.

Some generous donations have enabled the purchase of new stock from the USA, and a number of debts have been cleared.

Because of this, and a further donation, we will now be able to pay the advance rents needed to relocate the bookshop in Manzini to a smaller retail unit, which will help reduce rental costs. Please pray for Simphiwe and Snedzcile, the two Swazi ladies running the shop, as they work on possibilities to enable us to relocate by the end of the year.

17 Tue. PNG – Publishing 1 “Pray that CLC in Papua New Guinea will be able to identify some local authors in order to publish their work here in Port Moresby. Local authors who publish elsewhere charge quite high rates. Publishing is very new to us and so we want make sure we do it right. Your prayers would be appreciated.” Vere Babona, Director 18 Wed. Netherlands – Publishing 2 In the Netherlands, we are in the process of publishing our own titles – something we have done in the past. The first book will be Why Pro Life? by Randy Alcorn. We are in contact with pro-life organisations to make this book available to as many people as possible.

Please pray for this whole process; it’s a new area for us and we believe that it can help to strengthen the ministry. Please pray that this title will help people to stand for God’s truth.

19 Thu. Ivory Coast – Possible Shop Closures Due to our long-term financial problems in Ivory Coast, it is very likely that we will have to close two bookshops at the end of this year, already having reduced staffing levels at both to cut costs. Please pray for all those involved in these decisions and for those affected by them. Also pray that we may be able to retain the ministry from our bookshop in Abidjan.

20 Fri. Indonesia – Getting to the Root of the Problem!

Quote from Frans Kairupan “For many years, two trees in front of CLC Surabaya have caused concern. As they grew, the roots started to break up the pavement and were reaching the foundations of the bookshop. We considered seeking permission to remove them, but it would have been very expensive. We have been praying about the situation and, praise God, in September the local government decided to remove the trees and rebuild the pavement. Our shop is much more visible now and we have plans to improve the front. Please pray for God’s provision for this, and that we will get the permission needed to put new signs up.”

21-22 Sat/Sun UK – Christmas Thoughts As our staff approach the Christmas break and the end of a busy year, pray that they will be rested in body and renewed in spirit as they think about the birth of our Saviour – the Saviour of the world - and that in this we will all feel our unity with the CLC family around the world.

23 Mon. India - Chennai “Construction work for the Chennai Metro (underground railway) is being carried out in different parts of the city. Drilling work has now started very close to our shop in Mount Road. This means that the area in front of our shop will be barricaded, and customers will find it very difficult to approach the shop.

Several wholesale and retail dealers have already started selling off their stock and even vacating their premises, as it will take many months before things are back to normal. This development has already started affecting the sales in our shop. Please pray that God will show us a way where there seems to be no way, for our Mount Road shop!” Christopher Robert 24 Tue. Portugal - Good News Praise the Lord for the way He is blessing the Chronological Bible studies that are held in the CLC bookshop in Coimbra. Two members of the current group of students recently became Christians.

CLC Indonesia

Page 7 (December)

25 Wed. I Timothy 3:16 (NIV)

“He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

26 Thu. Japan – After Christmas CLC Japan will be conducting their annual stock check over the next few days. Please pray that this job will be done well and accurately.

Pray too for all the staff as they come to the close of the year and prepare for next year – pray for God’s protection over their lives, for spiritual refreshment and for good health.

27 Fri. Philippines – Change of Emphasis “We are now having a change of emphasis in our wholesale distribution. With the changing nature of the Christian book market, we would like to focus more on reprinting and publications. Please pray for the staff in our publishing department, that they would have God’s guidance in choosing the right titles.

Please pray also for good contacts to enable the conversion of our local titles into eBooks format. We are also praying and searching for more local authors.” Romualdo Macinas 28-29 Sat/Sun UK – Opportunities in 2014 2014 will bring new vision and opportunities that will require a lot of hard work to bring them to fruition. Pray that God will guide to get the priorities right and give the strength and energy to do the work. Some of the tasks for 2014 will include:- IT improvements for shops, warehouse and accounts; continuing work on health, safety and property maintenance; meeting the need for greater warehouse

capacity; running bookstalls for more events; and improving the sales through the web site.

30 Mon. Asia Regional Leaders’ Conference Please pray for the CLC Asian Regional Leaders’ Conference to be held next April or May. This requires a lot of preparation and planning, particularly for Romualdo Macinas, the CLC Regional Director for Asia. This time the conference is going to be a ‘Three in One’ event to include meetings for CLC Publishing, CLC Regional Directors’ meetings and the CLC Asian Leaders’ Conference consecutively and in the same place. Please pray for wisdom in planning and that all the CLC leaders in Asia, or representatives from each country, will be able to attend.

31 Tue. Advance in Asia At the time of writing, possibilities for CLC opening in new countries are being considered. Please pray as CLC in India, under the leadership of Christopher Roberts, is considering opening, or re-opening in this case, in Sri Lanka.

Romualdo Macinas (CLC Regional Director for Asia and Director of CLC Philippines) is also investigating ways we could be involved in Cambodia and initial research is being carried out. Please pray for God’s direction and guidance in these matters.

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