CLC Prayer Focus September - October 2012

September 2012 1-2 Sat/Sun UK – Finance Office Matthew Powell, from the USA, has just spent ten weeks with us and it has been a blessing to have his help. Please pray for Matthew as he recommences his studies back home. Also pray for the finance office staff as they control cash flow during this busy period as Christmas stock arrives in the shops.

3 Mon. France – New Bookshop Manager Gustave Lerigab (photo above: on the left) retired as manager of the CLC France bookshop in Fort de France, Martinique, at the end of August. Praise God for his faithful service over the past few years.

Please pray for Dany Manikon (on the right) who has just taken on the responsibility of managing the shop.

4 Tue. Philippines– International Bookfair CLC Philippines will have 5 booths at the Manila International Bookfair, which runs from September 12th to 16th. Please pray that all the books they have ordered for this event, from the USA, will arrive in good time (hopefully they will have already arrived!) and that visitors to the bookfair will find books that will help and encourage them at the CLC stand.

5 Wed. Switzerland – Seminars “CLC Switzerland has organized a special day to help Sunday School teachers know the various Sunday School materials that are available in Italian – the language spoken in this area of Switzerland. Heidi Chamberlin will be leading seminars in the CLC Lugano shop on September 8th. In particular, she will be presenting CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) materials, and giving teaching on how to present the gospel to children.” Gary Chamberlin 6 Thu. USA - Urbana 2012 Please pray for the preparations for Urbana 2012, which is the biggest missionary mobilization conference held in the USA and only takes place once every 3 years. CLC will have a booth and we are working on both a new website and social media outreach to attract the interest of the thousands of students who will be attending. This event takes place in December, but our promotional activities will begin at the start of the school year, in September.

7 Fri. Italy - Publications Praise the Lord for the publishing work undertaken by CLC Italy. At the time of writing, they were close to completing a couple of significant titles; When Heaven is Silent by Ron Dunn and Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. Please pray for a good outcome and that God will provide the translators we need for future publications in Italian – people who do a good job and are affordable!

8-9 Sat/Sun. UK – Managers’ Meetings The UK shop managers will meet together in two groups, northern and southern, on the 11th/12th and 18th/19th of September.

These meetings are for fellowship and prayer as well as training, planning and discussion.

Pray for Geoff Fanning, the Retail Director, as he leads the times together.

10 Mon. USA – New Managing Editor Please pray for Tracey Lewis-Giggets who has just started work as CLC Publication’s new Managing Editor. She will be working closely with Dave Almack, the CLC USA National Director, who is also head of Publishing.

11 Tue. Venezuela – Move to Bolivia Please pray for the ongoing process of opening up a CLC ministry in Bolivia; there are a number of legal issues to comply with, an executive board to establish and suitable premises to be prepared. All these things cost money and we trust God for His provision.

Pray too for Gamaliel (the current Director of CLC Venezuela) and Marlene Padilla who plan to move, with their family, to Bolivia to oversee the new work.

Hokuriku region of Japan for a few days next week. Please pray that this opportunity would be helpful for both ministries and the churches they serve. (Photos below)

For more info visit: www.jpnews.org/ gospelbox

12 Wed. Venezuela–Leadership Transition With the CLC National Director and his wife planning to move to Bolivia soon (see yesterday’s prayer point) there is a need for more staff on the Leadership Team of CLC Venezuela. Please pray that God will lead and guide the team in this matter. It is possible that some staff will have to move to the Headquarters in Valencia.

13 Thu. Tanzania – Changes and Delays The ministry in Tanzania is going through a time of many changes, all of which need our prayers as they are worked through. Earlier this year we moved from a ‘bricks and mortar’ bookshop to a ‘container’ bookshop. However, there have been several complications and at the time of writing, these have not yet been resolved. Because of various delays, Organ Mapinda had to leave CLC without completing the smooth transition he had wanted to oversee prior to taking up his new employment. Please pray that by the end of 2012, the ministry in Dar es Salaam will be properly up and running again.

14 Fri. Japan – Gospel Box! The Word of Life Press Ministries in Japan has a mobile bookshop called ‘The Gospel Box’. This van goes to areas of the country where there are no Christian bookshops.

CLC’s National Director, Mr. Mitsuhiko Fujio, will be using the van to visit churches in the 2

15-16 Sat/Sun. UK – Inverness The Scottish Northern Convention (24th27th of September) is held again this year in Inverness and CLC Inverness will be providing the bookstall. Please pray for the event itself, and also for the preparations beforehand as books are ordered and prepared. During September the shop staff are also planning and preparing for the Christmas bookstalls so it is a busy time for Les and Esther Dowey and their volunteer helpers. (Team photo below - left to right: Pam, Les & Esther)

17 Mon. Regional Directors From the 18th to the 21st of September, the CLC Regional Directors have an important series of meetings in Budapest, Hungary.

Discussions will focus on the CLC response to the eBook revolution. It is hoped that, by the time of the meeting, a firm proposal will be in place. eBooks are very threatening to the publishing world but at the same time a wonderful opportunity for the Gospel. Pray that the Lord will lead us very clearly to the right approach for us.

18 Tue. New Zealand – A Beginning & End “We praise the Lord for His direction in the recent sale of the 3 CLC bookshops and wholesale department in New Zealand. Now, as we wind down this side of the business, we look forward to the next project for CLC in this country. Possibly, by the time you read this, those concerned will have met to make decisions regarding the various ideas and proposals under consideration. We need to hear from God and know His will for us.

We are thankful to all who have supported us in prayer during this difficult, but peaceful, transition time. In the arrangements so far, we believe God has timed things ‘to perfection’!” Stewart Rowe 19 Wed. Ecuador – New Shop CLC opened a second bookshop in the city of Guayaquil in July. The new shop, in the south of the city, is well located in an area where many people pass by and with easy access to the centre and north of the city. Pray for Ángel Aguirre, the manager, and Tanya Choca

who is the sales assistant. (Photos below) 20 Thu. Colombia – New Shop CLC Colombia opened a bookshop in the city of Tunja recently; the official inauguration was held on the 4th of August. Praise the Lord for this advance.

21 Fri. Romania – A Visit Next week, September 23rd - 25th, Neil Wardrope and Lewis Codington will be visiting Brasov, Romania. Please pray that they will be a blessing to the local team and a help to them regarding their current projects. Lewis was part of the CLC France initiative that launched the work in Romania (1991) and he was involved in the initial investigations.

22-23 Sat/Sun. UK - Newcastle September is an important month for CLC Newcastle as this is when we contact the churches about their annual book evenings on the run up to Christmas. This year we will also be looking for opportunities to be involved in the secular Christmas fairs held locally. Other CLC UK shops will be looking for similar opportunities; please pray for us.

24 Mon. Kenya – International Bookfair “The Nairobi International Bookfair will run from the 26th to the 30th of September. We will have a stand at the event, and we value your prayers for this. We want to showcase and sell our books ‘with a difference’ during this time as it is CLC Kenya’s 5th anniversary.

We would like to make an impact, and pray that the Lord directs our paths and gives us the right strategies.” Edith Wamalwa

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25 Tue. Bulgaria – Vital Ministry Following on from their visit to Romania, Neil Wardrope and Lewis Codington move on to the neighbouring country of Bulgaria tomorrow. They will visit Lidia Dimitrova and the local team in the capital Sofia. There are hardly any Christian bookshops in Bulgaria and this is a vital ministry in the country.

26 Wed. Hungary - Conferences Praise the Lord for the CLC Debrecen booktable at a recent ‘Summer Worship Camp’. Sales at the event equalled that of a whole month in the bookshop! We have also been invited to return to Oradea (in Romania) for a second conference there this year. We praise the Lord that we have at least 3 main booktable events in the year to reach the Debrecen area, and beyond, with Christian books and materials. (Photo of summer event)

– Transylvania – so please pray for God’s leading and direction in this new venture.

28 Fri. Austria – Sales and Staff At the end of this month the new CLC catalogues will be sent out to our customers.

Please pray that this will generate many responses and good sales. At the time of writing, there is an urgent need for at least one more member of staff. Several people have shown an interest in working in the shop. Please pray God will guide the team to the right person, or people, for the job.

29-30 Sat/Sun UK – Administration Tim Bloomfield, the UK Administrator, will be leaving CLC at the end of September and will emigrate, with his son Peter, to New Zealand early in the New Year. Please pray that all the preparations go well and that the Lord will open a new ministry for him in the future. CLC UK is looking to appoint a new administrator as soon as possible.

Please pray.

October 2012 1 Mon. Japan – Managers’ Meetings Over the next three days, the CLC team in Japan will have managers’ meetings. Please pray for them as they pray, share needs and experiences, and plan ahead. CLC sales in Japan continue to decline; pray that God will give the team wisdom and strength to know how to overcome the current difficulties.

27 Thu. Hungary - Connections in Oradea The conference in Oradea, Romania, mentioned yesterday in Prayer Focus, draws people from all parts of the country. At the last conference CLC attended here, over 110 different churches and fellowships were represented. CLC Hungary and CLC Romania have a joint project to open a bilingual bookshop somewhere in this region 4

2 Tue. Netherlands - Anniversary In October, we celebrate our 50th anniversary. In the shops we want to celebrate with special events and possibly a small booklet of CLC’s history. On the 6th of October we highlight this celebration by inviting our volunteers, Board members, previous CLC members, prayer partners and some precious people who have shown great interest in CLC over the years. Our special guests will be Neil and Sheena Wardrope (CLC International Office) and probably the founder of CLC Netherlands, Ineke Stuiver.

3 Wed. Korea – Shop and Warehouse Progress (Warehouse photo above) At the time of writing, CLC Korea had recently opened a small bookshop in their Headquarters. Added to this expansion (CLC Korea had latterly only been involved in publishing and wholesale), they have finally completed their new warehouse complex.

The team planned to move thousands of books into the new building in August.

Please pray for them as they adjust to the changes.

(Shop photo below)

5 Fri Sierra Leone - Doubling Up! A team from CLC USA plan to visit Freetown this month, to remodel the bookshop at Circular Road, which will effectively double in size as we will use the shop next door (owned by CLC) instead of leasing it to tenants. Please pray for all aspects of this project, from health and safety to satisfactory completion within the limited time available, and that our customers will be pleased with their improved shopping experience! Pray for Mark Ridenour, CLC USA Director of Missions, as he installs new computer software and trains the local team in its use.

6-7 Sat/Sun. UK – Wanted!

“Wanted: people responding to God’s leading and call! CLC in the UK has several part time and fulltime opportunities, not just in bookshops, so pray that the Lord calls people to work with us whose gifts can be put to use and further developed so we are better able to serve and resource our customers in their daily life and ministry.”

Phil Burnham, UK Director 8 Mon. France – Managers’ Meetings Today and tomorrow, the managers of the CLC bookshops in France will have meetings at the Headquarters. A major publisher has been invited to join them and share with the team. Please pray for them.

4 Thu. Korea – An Award Congratulations to CLC Korea on being awarded the ‘Excellent Academic Book Prize’ 2012 by the Publication Ethics Commission (part of the ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) for the book Song of Songs by Koo Wan Kim. Pray that this award-winning book will be used by God to win people for Christ.

(Photo of book cover)

9 Tue. Colombia – New Location Praise the Lord for a new location for the CLC bookshop in Cali! The shop, which CLC Colombia is purchasing, is 268 square metres over two levels, and situated next door to a well known restaurant. At the time of writing, investigations were underway regarding the design and remodelling of the shop and it is hoped it will be ready for business by December.

10 Wed. Romania – New Publication CLC Romania continue to concentrate on publishing more books in the Romanian language and recently completed the translation and publishing of Drops from a Leaking Tap by George Verwer.

Praise God for advances made in Romania 5

despite the difficulties the team face. P r a y that sales in the Brasov and Timisoara bookshops would increase in this last quarter of the year.

(Photo of book cover)

11 Thu. Belarus – Bibles in Russian Praise the Lord we are able to go ahead with the first CLC print run of Russian Bibles.

We trust they will already be available – the print run was scheduled for September.

This is a dream that the team have had for many years and they are delighted to see this becoming a reality. The team is also in the final stages of publishing a book by a local pastor entitled Conversations about Eternal Things. Over the years the Belarus team have printed over 140.000 books.

12 Fri. Venezuela – Where to go Next?

Please pray with the Venezuelan team as they consider various possibilities for growth in the coming months – pray that God will confirm His will for this expansion and guide them to the right place for opening another shop. Currently they are looking at three cities; Barinas, Maturín and Margarita.

13-14 Sat/Sun. UK – Leadership Team The UK leadership team is meeting this weekend for an extended time together.

Pray for wisdom as they consider the future of various parts of the UK work. With sales still slow, insight and imagination is needed to shape the direction of the work in the months and years ahead.

15 Mon. Liberia – Re-launch Plans to re-launch the CLC ministry in Liberia have been moving slowly but surely forward.

By the time you read this, it is possible that our new bookshop may already have opened.

Praise God for those who have faithfully worked to bring this about and also for the Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, on whose premises the bookshop is located.

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Please pray for a good working relationship with PBC right from the beginning. Also pray for Jusu Wai Sawi (CLC Sierra Leone) as he oversees this new project.

16 Tue. Philippines – New Bookshop At the time of writing, plans were underway to open a new bookshop in the Philippines.

The exact location was still being prayerfully considered, but the decision was to open in one of the cities on the island of Mindanao – the second largest island of the Philippines.

Please pray as this project progresses; it is possible the shop is already well on the way to being ready for business – or is already open! Please pray for God’s blessing on this shop and for the staff who will run it.

17 Wed. Italy – Meeting Needs In this period of economic instability in Italy, the number of suicides has increased significantly. Please pray as CLC, together with the local churches and other missions, continues to spread the message of hope and salvation that God has entrusted to us.

Pray too that God would lead and guide the team in their desire to expand the bookshop ministry to other areas of the country.

18 Thu. Germany – A Constant in the Changes “Many people appreciate their local Christian bookshop but at the same time we see a steady decline in customer numbers. It follows a general trend of people buying less on the high streets and a rise in Internet shopping. Retailers, including bookshops, are closing down and in CLC we have had to reduce staff numbers. However, it is a real joy to share good news and have opportunities to minister to visitors to our shop. We pray that God will continue to equip us and use us in service to Him.” Valentin Schweigler 19 Fri. Central Asia 2 – Finding the Shop, Finding Christ Praise God that, despite the many difficulties we experience, we have seen three people come to Christ in the bookshop so far this year. We aim to have a good testimony in all that we do, not just when we sell books!

Please pray that we will have permission to have a signboard on the main street near to our shop. This will make the location of the shop much more obvious.

20-21 Sat/Sun. UK – New Managers There have been a number of staff changes and moves over the past few months.

Please pray for the new shop managers at Bolton (David Thurairatnam), Dundee (Susan Wallbridge) and Guildford (Brandon Stephenson) as they prepare for their first Christmas trading. Please also pray for the Stockport team as they prepare for Christmas in a new, but slightly smaller shop.

David

Susan

Brandon

22 Mon. Hong Kong – Closing Well “CLC Hong Kong is preparing to close its work in Hong Kong. Please pray that we can sell all the remaining stock and for wisdom to manage all the details of winding up 35 years of ministry in this place.”

Mare Allison 23 Tue. Belarus – Power of Poetry Praise the Lord for the power of poetry!

Although rarely used in church in many countries, it has a very high profile in places such as Belarus, Russia and Romania. It continues to be a vehicle used particularly by women to express their feelings. A wellknown poet in Belarus has a book entitled I am going to Golgotha published by CLC. 24 Wed. Kenya – Anniversary We, the CLC Kenya team, are grateful to God for having enabled us to attain 5 years of service to Him in Kenya. We thank Him for the 4 retail shops that He has enabled us to start and trust Him for the many to come for His own glory.

The Littworld Conference, a Christian publishing conference that takes place

once every 3 years, will be held in Nairobi from Oct. 28th to Nov. 2nd and we trust we shall be able to attend.

25 Thu. Thailand – Staffing Needs Currently we have two staff members working in CLC Bangkok and the Director, Yongyut, and his wife Paula in Chiang Mai. We have had invaluable help, in the area of English books and communications, from an American missionary over the past year or two but he has returned to the States and the situation is once again a concern.

We need to see some changes and growth in the work. Additional staff, called by God to work with CLC and with a good knowledge of English, would be of great benefit.

26 Fri. Portugal – For Praise!

Glory to God for the 4 new born-again believers as a result of the Chronologic Bible Studies held in the bookshop since 2009. At least 20 other people have heard the Gospel during these studies.

We are rejoicing at the opportunity God has given us, through Dave Almack (CLC USA publishing) to translate, publish and distribute 2 titles!

27-28 Sat/Sun. UK - Ipswich The Ipswich shop keeps coming across small congregations, in outlying areas of the county of Suffolk, where faithfulness seems to be the key. All of them are just getting on with serving the Lord and many have a thriving youth work. Pray for much fruit from their humble service and for CLC as they serve them with books, Bibles and other resources.

29 Mon. Central Asia 1 – Effects of Emigration Suffering not only from economic decline, the turmoil in the country has seen many people emigrate. The church is struggling to know how to respond and this, naturally, affects our bookshop. Please pray for our small team in this country.

30 Tue. Russia – Growth & Opportunities Despite significant difficulties in resolving administrative issues, praise the Lord 7

for the freedom to sell Christian books in Russia. We have seen significant increases in our sales and growing opportunities to attend conferences with book tables. Thank the Lord too for the increasing openness between evangelical and orthodox Christians. The new orthodox patriarch is more ecumenically minded. This is reflected in our shop, with orthodox seminary students looking for study materials.

new member of the CLC /Yakin team in Indonesia, Antonius, will cover the other three days. (photo below)

31 Wed. Indonesia - New Book Stand Praise the Lord for the recently opened CLC bookstand based in a busy supermarket complex. The stand will be open 6 days a week. Tonny Kairupan will manage the stall and work there three days a week. A

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