Prayer Focus September/October 2014

September - October

Montevideo Bookshop CLC Uruguay (3rd Sept.)

SEPTEMBER 1 Mon. Ecuador – New Software CLC Ecuador is currently implementing a new software system in the bookshops. In July, the system was installed in the wholesale department and the main bookshop in Quito.

Now, in the second phase of the changeover, it is being installed in CLC Cuenca, Manta and the two bookshops in Guayaquil. Please pray that the introduction of this new system will go smoothly and be beneficial to the work.

2 Tue. Kenya – Maternity Leave “We have had to reduce our staff levels for various reasons. In early September, Millicent, who deals with our accounts, will go on maternity leave until 2015. Our prayer is that we will have a suitable extra member of staff to help us out with sales - if not accounts – during this time. This will go a long way in

helping us function well, especially as we prepare for the Nairobi Book Fair later this month and as we come to the end of the year when it is usually a busy period.” Edith Wamalwa 3 Wed. Uruguay – Education Summit From the 8th to the 11th of September, a ‘Cumbre Educativa’ (Education Summit) will take place in Montevideo. This is organised by a Christian organisation – a counselling and resource centre for Latin America - and is supported by the Assemblies of God. CLC will be at the event with material from the publishers Tyndale and Harper Collins.

4 Thu. Regional Directors’ Meetings Please pray for the Regional Directors’ meetings to be held at the WEC UK headquarters near London from September 8th to 12th. As well as their own agenda, they will be visiting a

SEPTEMBER publishing house and the location of the 2016 International Council. Pray for wisdom, passion and vision.

5 Fri. Moving to Mozambique On September 7th, Liz Patten (CLC Regional Director Africa) and Petra Nemansky (former manager of CLC London) will be commissioned by their home church in North London before moving out to Maputo, Mozambique later in the year. Neil Wardrope will preach at the special service and the other CLC Regional Directors will all be present.

6-7 Sat/Sun. UK - Inverness Please pray for the Inverness shop and mobile ministries. September is a time of planning and packing for bookstalls. This involves contacting church leaders to arrange dates and venues for CLC visits. A major event, the Scottish Northern Convention, will be held at the end of this month, and during October and November Les and Esther Dowey travel with the stock around the Highland region. Pray also that Pam Kerr, the shop manager, can adequately staff the shop during this busy period.

8 Mon. Russia – New Director Nikita Sapunov joined the CLC staff in Moscow recently. He will be taking on the leadership of the Russian team when Roger and Anita Jones move to the UK early in the New Year.

Praise God for His provision of a new Director!

Please pray for the handover process over the next few months, during which time we will also be changing to new computers and POS/accounting software. Hopefully when you read this, both old and new systems will be running in parallel until the changeover

is completed at the start of the new tax year, January 1st.

9 Tue. Venezuela – Stock Delivery The team is thankful to God that, after months of not being able to obtain stock, they have recently had a shipment of material from some publishers and, at the time of writing, more orders are on the way. Praise God for this breakthrough in a very difficult economic and political climate which has a significant effect on our work.

Madrid Team CLC Spain 10 Wed. Spain – The Team’s Dream We thank the Lord for the new combined shop/ warehouse location in Madrid. This has been a dream of the team for some years and, to their surprise, they recently found the new location just 50m from the old bookshop! The new facility makes the work much more efficient, and enables both the shop and the warehouse to be open for longer hours. Please pray that the staff will adapt to the need to be flexible in their approach to doing different tasks, according to the need.

11 Thu. Burkina Faso – Relocation CLC in Ouaga (the full name is Ouagadougou) had to relocate recently as, after more than 20 years with the same landlord, a new landlord

New Madrid Bookshop CLC Spain Page 2

SEPTEMBER took over and the rent was doubled. Praise the Lord we are now operating from a suitable new location.

New Ouagadougou Shop CLC Burkina Faso

12 Fri. Cyprus - Update “In the June 2014 edition of Prayer Focus, we asked you to pray for a group of young people who are planning to start a mini library/ Christian bookshop in Limassol. They want CLC to provide some stock on a ‘sale or return’ basis, in an effort to support our ministry. Plans have been delayed but, by God’s grace, they are intending to go ahead with their plan during September or October. Please pray that this will materialize at a time when Cyprus is still very low financially.” Sotos and Eva Photiades 13-14 Sat/Sun. UK – UK Managers The UK shop managers will be meeting in Birmingham on 17th and 18th of September.

Please pray for what will be a packed meeting of fellowship, training, briefing and discussion. As shops continue to experience changing buying patterns and supply chains, the managers need “wisdom from above”. Pray too for the UK leadership team who will meet on September 16th. They provide the overall direction and policy for both shops and wholesale.

15 Mon. Dominica – Past, Present & Future “We thank God for sustaining the CLC ministry in Dominica for over 60 years. In particular we are grateful that we have been able to pay all our bills on time for the first six months of this year. We continue to pray for more sales and also, at the time of writing, there is a need for extra help in the shop to allow the two permanent staff members to take some holiday leave.” David Laudat

16 Tue. USA – New Publications Please pray for our publishing efforts as we are releasing nine new books in the next three months. We are particularly praying about the impact of our new book called Books that Change Lives.

This book is a compendium of recommended books covering a wide range of subjects and it includes testimonies from well-known authors.

17 Wed. Ecuador – Shop Growth Praise the Lord for encouraging news from CLC Ecuador: - “We are grateful to God for the opportunity to expand our bookshop in Manta from 50m² to 100m²! The shop is now very presentable and has a better selection of materials for the customers and churches in this city. We also see the impact the change has had in generating a growth in sales.” Carlos Marin, Director

Manta shop expansion CLC Ecuador 18 Thu. Bolivia – Thanksgiving “We give thanks to the Lord and to all our colleagues who have supported us in prayer; over the months since we opened the bookshop in Santa Cruz, we have seen the blessing of God in a special and miraculous way! He has provided us with resources, given us strength and opened doors which all confirm to us that it is His will that we bless the people of this country through the written word. We are also very grateful for the financial support we have received from other CLC teams. ” Gamaliel Padilla 19 Fri. Bolivia – Prayer Requests Please pray that the Lord will continue to open doors for us to serve churches, Bible Institutes and other bookshops with our materials. Pray too that God will give us ideas and strategies to be more effective in the market that we are developing.

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SEPTEMBER 20-21 Sat/Sun. UK – Staff Changes With Al Sutton (CLC Aberdeen) and Susan Chisholm (CLC Dundee) moving on to new spheres of ministry, both shops will have new managers, or acting managers, from the start of September. Pray for Al and Susan as they change ministries; Al and his wife to Mission Partners in Jordan and Susan and her husband to Salvation Army Officer training. Pray for the new managers and the shop staff as they run the shops during the busiest season of the year.

25 Thu. Philippines - POD Need “We see it as a major need to have a ‘Print on Demand’ machine because our main thrust is in publishing. Please pray for the provision for this machine; the cost is around $20,000. We usually publish English materials from USA. Please pray that we can continue to obtain licenses to reprint titles from publishers in USA. We are thankful to CLC USA for giving us the rights to publish their titles.” Romualdo Macinas, Director

22 Mon. Kenya – Book Fair The annual Nairobi Book Fair takes place from the 24th to the 28th of September. Last year the CLC stand at this event suffered, along with all the other exhibitors, because of terror attacks that took place right by the Book Fair venue just days before the event. Edith Wamalwa and her team are praying for a big difference this year – for good numbers of visitors to the fair and that God will bring us new contacts and potential ministry partners during these days.

26 Fri. Myanmar – POD Provision Thank God for the provision of a POD (Print on Demand) system that has been given as a gift to CLC Myanmar. The machinery arrived safely in Yangon in July and someone travelled to Myanmar to instruct the team in how to use the equipment. Praise the Lord for this wonderful gift and pray that it will be used well.

23 Tue. Trinidad – Water Supply “Please pray for the Port of Spain branch of CLC. For the past four years we have not had a direct water supply and have been receiving water delivered by truck. We are now facing charges for this water, but please pray that the real problem – underground corrosion of the water pipes - will be resolved as it affects our CLC shop and offices and some neighbouring buildings. When repair work is carried out our road, which is a main thoroughfare, will be closed off for several weeks while excavation work takes place.” Marlene Ramroop 24 Wed. Germany – Meeting for Training Valentin Schweigler writes: - “At the end of September, we plan to hold a meeting with people who run CLC book tables, about 50 of them, for training and to introduce them to new books and products. We hope to have a guest musician and a publisher representative there too.” Pray that this initiative will be a good opportunity for fellowship and ‘team’ building as well as a useful network for the bookshop ministry.

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Guildford Bookshop CLC UK 27-28 Sat/Sun. UK – Guildford There is a need to expand the volunteer/staff team of the Guildford bookshop. Additional help will enable Graham Lapthorn, the manager, to spend more time contacting and meeting up with church leaders. Pray that these will be constructive meetings in terms of encouraging and supporting local churches and meeting their needs for Christian books and other resources.

29 Mon. ‘Yes’ Booklets Following the two CLC publishing conferences earlier in the year, we are progressing with a project called the ‘Yes Series’ which present the claims of Christ in a series of booklets. We are working on the content and presentation

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER from our Headquarters building, but with far less pressure on the space available. We are also grateful for the provision and the support received as we introduced a new computer system recently – it was launched successfully with no disruption in the invoicing from the 10 bookshops and the wholesale department.”

Elsa Maria Noy de Sanchez, Director of these booklets, and we trust they will be produced in a number of languages.

30 Tue. Colombia - Warehouse “We give thanks to God for His provision that has allowed us to buy a new warehouse to receive and store our books and Bibles in Bogotá. The wholesale department will continue to operate

New Warehouse CLC Colombia

OCTOBER 1 Wed. Panama – A New Location In June this year, CLC Panama moved the wholesale operations and the administrative offices to a new location. This is something we have been praying about for a while as, in the past two years, the work had been carried out from the main bookshop premises and conditions were cramped. Praise the Lord for the benefits of this move, and pray that our wholesale customers will quickly adjust to finding us in this new location – any change has an adjustment period of course!

2 Thu. Liberia – Shop Location “We would like to praise God for improvements in our sales; many people are responding to our radio advertisements and are visiting the shop from all over the country! We are also looking at the possibility of moving to a more suitable location; please pray with us that we will find somewhere ideal and affordable”. James Cooper, Manager.

3 Fri. Japan – Managers’ Meetings On October 5th, the CLC shop managers will be meeting to discuss the financial problems they are facing and also to plan their Christmas

sales. Please pray for wisdom in decision making and the ability to plan strategically for the Christmas season. Pray too for health and strength for the staff.

4-5 Sat/Sun. UK – Warehouse The CLC Warehouse gets increasingly busy as the autumn progresses. In addition to the seasonal uplift in business, the number of orders and boxes shipped has increased since another wholesaler/distributor, TMD, ceased trading earlier in the year. They anticipate a possible uplift of as much as 50% during the Christmas period. Pray for strength and stamina for the whole warehouse team. They need to know God’s peace and calm in the midst of frantic activity!

6 Mon. Germany - Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair takes place from the 8th to the 12th of October. This event is becoming increasingly important for publishers making contacts. Many Christian publishers will be present this week. Pray that any representatives from CLC who may attend this book fair will have good and meaningful conversations and appointments with publishers.

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OCTOBER 7 Tue. Hungary - CBA Marketplace Following on from the Frankfurt Book Fair, mentioned in yesterday’s prayer point, a number of Christian publishers will go on to Hungary for the ‘CBA Marketplace’ in Budapest (October 13th14th). ‘Marketplace’ is a forum for publishers and retailers to meet, and learn and be encouraged.

8 Wed. Panama – Falling Sales “We would appreciate it if you would join us in prayer for our sales, which have declined noticeably since April this year. We have evaluated the situation and believe one of the causes is the economic recession that has affected most regions of the country before, during and after the general elections in May. A new government took up office at the beginning of July.” Milton Cheng, Director 9Thu. Dominica – Credit & Rental Arrangements “Please pray for God’s wisdom and direction for the ministry in Roseau. Two specific areas where we would appreciate prayer are, firstly, that we can receive credit from publishers for our stock as it is not always possible for us to pay in advance. Secondly, we would like the monthly shop rent to remain nearer the current amount (a temporary arrangement agreed on by the landlord) rather than go back up to the full rent we paid before.” Davis Laudat.

International Book Fair CLC Venezuela 10 Fri. Venezuela – International Book Fair “From the 11th to the 19th of October, we will be participating in the International Book Fair in Valencia, Venezuela. At this event we look for many opportunities to make the ministry of CLC known, and pray that people who visit our stand will be challenged by the books and Bibles we offer. Please pray too for the Page 6

staff on our stand who will be working long hours during these days.” Yohel Peña 11-12 Sat/Sun. UK – Canterbury Pray for a new manager for the Canterbury shop to enable Paul Chandler to reduce his hours.

Pray too that the shop can build increasing links with churches in the area to secure the future of our ministry when the lease expires at the end of June 2015.

13 Mon. Ecuador – Special Visitors We thank God for the way the second CLC bookshop in Guayaquil is becoming established and accepted in the community. We have a good number of people entering the shop who are visitors at the hospital nearby, and the shop is becoming an oasis for family members and friends of patients staying in the hospital.

Our prayer is that the shop staff will be able to recommend good books and discern customers’ spiritual needs.

14 Tue. Cyprus – Know-how Needed!

“The economic situation is getting a little better but it will still take time to show real signs of recovery in Cyprus. We thank the Lord that He still keeps the ministry going. There are two members in our church, who have the ‘know-how’ to help us towards enhancing our website and promote sales over the Internet.

Although they are both very busy people, we hope that they will be able to help us in this direction.” Sotos and Eva Photiades 15 Wed. CA2 – Large Order of Books By the time you read this, we should have submitted a request to the government for a large order of books from Russia. Please pray that they would receive the request without problems, and process it quickly. This procedure took over a year to complete on a previous occasion!

16 Thu. Myanmar – Major Project We praise the Lord for good health for our staff and that our bookshop sales are being maintained. The publishing side of the ministry

OCTOBER continues to grow, and our main work at the moment is the translation and publication of a Burmese Study Bible. Please continue to pray for this major project.

17 Fri. Sierra Leone – New Director Please pray for Donald John who has recently taken over as the new CLC National Director in Sierra Leone. Pray that he will be able to settle well into this new role, and pray for the rest of the staff that they will form a good and cohesive team together.

18-19 Sat/Sun. UK – Coventry In Coventry, the Fair Trade shop on the first floor of our premises has moved to a new location.

Pray for the shop manager, Angela Adams, and the team as they turn the space into a remainder shop and pray that these bargain books will increasingly draw customers to the shop.

20 Mon. Thailand - Challenges “Please pray for CLC Thailand; bookselling has been very challenging in recent days, especially for CLC Bangkok. In Chiang Mai, another Christian literature ministry has received a big shipment of countless Thai and English books that they are giving out for free! This, of course, affects our sales considerably and put us in a very critical and challenging situation. May the Lord continue to bless our ministry.” Yongyut Kanthaseema 21 Tue. Chile – Paperwork Delays We have identified a suitable property in Coquimbo that we hope to purchase for CLC’s eighth bookshop in Chile. At the time of writing, the owners of the building still don’t have all the paperwork ready in order for the sale to go ahead. Please support us in prayer over this matter as we hope to open a bookshop in this port city soon.

22 Wed. Papua New Guinea – Book Link We have recently received news from Mark Ridenour (CLC Christian BookLink USA) informing us that CLC PNG will be receiving a shipment from BookLink soon. We praise God for this provision as we have lots of people who still come into our bookshop looking for good reduced-price

books. We are grateful for this much-needed stock for our customers and for the fact that it will help us to settle all outstanding debts - especially the Land Tax and Land Lease which have been increased again this year. We are still praying for Tax Exemption, and have been actively seeking this for over two years now.

23 Thu. Belarus – Concern for Neighbours At the moment, we really value the peace that we have in this country. For the past 25 years, we did not think that war could come so close; how quickly peace can be lost! Now our concern is for our neighbouring (or even sister) country of Ukraine, where war is taking place. We pray for understanding among people with different points of view and we pray for the Christians in the country. Publishers of Christian books in the Ukraine are a main source of books for CLC Belarus.

24 Fri. The Bible Society There is a long history of good working relationships between the Bible Society and CLC. Apart from the ongoing relationships, there have been a number of additional contacts this year as we seek to find ways to work together, and have our mutual desire fulfilled to see the Word of God distributed. Praise God for opportunities to work in partnership with others.

25-26 Sat/Sun. UK – Chatham The CLC team in Chatham are working hard to partner with local churches in order to sustain the ministry of the bookshop. Over recent years the shop has seen a big drop in customers coming to the shop. Please pray for the new manager, If Anumonye, as she meets with local church leaders in order to strengthen CLC/Church partnerships. Pray also for Ben Krakowczyk and the other members of the small team. If would also like to see more volunteers coming forward to help.

27 Mon. Canada – Situation Analysis Pray for Antoine Roberge and Rod Fowler who lead the CLC team in Canada. Pray that they, together with the team and the board, will be able to make a proper analysis of the current Page 7

OCTOBER situation in CLC and that, by the grace and help of the Lord, they will make the necessary adjustments so that CLC Canada can continue working for many exciting years.

Rod Fowler & Antoine Roberge - CLC Canada 28 Tue. Look Closer An evangelistic magazine entitled ‘Look Closer’ has been produced in the UK in collaboration between CLC and an evangelistic ministry called The 40:3 Trust. This is part of our desire to be involved in the production of quality materials that can be used to present the Gospel. ‘Look Closer’ is an invitation to nonbelievers to look at the Gospel of Mark.

29 Wed. Netherlands – Special Customer!

A customer in one of the CLC bookshops in the Netherlands told staff that it had been 40 years since she last read the Bible, but a book she had recently read had prompted her to start reading the Bible again. It is wonderful to see this renewed curiosity to know more about the Bible. Please pray for her, that what she reads

will touch her heart and that she will find and hold firmly to the word of life. Phil 2:16 30 Thu. Netherlands – Special Destination!

While paying for a postcard in a CLC bookshop, a customer shared that it was to be sent to a prisoner on Death Row in the USA. The customer had made contact with this prisoner and a friendship developed. The person who will receive the post card has been in prison, waiting for his final sentence, for 26 years. Pray that the message on this card, and those contained in many Christian books, Bibles, cards and calendars that are shared with prisoners, will bring the truth and hope of the Gospel to people in need.

31 Fri. Benin – Hopes and Dreams Emmanuel Ladeyo continues faithfully in the ministry in the bookshop in Cotonou.

He now has two part time helpers, after the only other full-time person left CLC earlier this year. Emmanuel continues to dream of having a CLC Centre (ie. our own bookshop with extra rooms for hospitality and events) and has opened a special account to start a fund. He also hopes to visit CLC France in November and attend the Publishers’ Fair in Paris. This will be his first trip beyond Africa.

Please pray for fruitful contacts with the various publishers and wisdom in ordering.

Above all, pray for the strengthening of the bond of fellowship and partnership between CLC France and CLC FWA.

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