Amazing Healing in India

Umma was abandoned by her husband and worked as maid in three houses to look after her four children. As life became critical, Umma heard about the Good Shepherd Church, started attending the Sunday service regularly and grew in faith. Anjali, her 12-year-old daughter, suffered constant headaches. A scan revealed a tumor and that her condition was deteriorating. The doctor said Anjali needed long-term medication. Umma shared this in church, and they prayed for her. The next Sunday when they went for tests, "the tumor that was there for months could no longer be found."

The doctor was speechless. He asked Umma how this could be. She shared about her faith in Jesus and the church that had prayed. The doctor said he had never seen a miracle like this before. He was interested to know about Jesus and asked Umma if he could visit the church. The following Sunday, Umma testified before the church while Anjali stood by her side, her face beaming with joy.

Prayer Points
1. Praise God for intervening when they needed Him the most.
2. Pray for the family's physical needs and spiritual growth.

Iran: Land of Open Hearts

Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the government has opposed Christianity. Bibles are banned, evangelism is illegal, and converts face the death sentence. The disillusioned population of 66 million are more open to the Gospel than those in any other Muslim-majority nation in the world..

Iran has an estimated 23 million internet users. Every week thousands access Christian websites. Satellite TV also has a huge impact. Despite the government ban, an estimated 28 million are watching. Several house churches have been established through Christian TV ministry. Most households have a DVD player, and in 2008, 50,000 copies of the Jesus film were made, and more are already needed. Magdalene--Released from Shame is popular among women, and the Story Keepers cartoon series is watched by some children over 20 times a week!

Prayer Points
1. Pray for seekers to find Christ as they spend time on the internet.
2. Pray for lone Christians and house churches that rely on Christian TV.
3. Pray for millions of Christian DVDs to flood Iran

Creative Art Opens Hearts in Turkey

OM's creative arts ministry in Asia recently finished a tour in Turkey with a world champion unicyclist, an illusionist and a dancer. They were an unstoppable combination, performing in conjunction with local churches in Izmit, near Istanbul, and in several cities in the southeast. The police showed up--and helped with crowd control! The unicyclist, Dustin, shared his testimony and the Gospel from his six-foot unicycle. Craig, the illusionist, shared from his bag of tricks and gave his direct Gospel “magic ball” message as the team handed out cards with a Gospel message to the gathered crowd.

In Izmit, they partnered with a street outreach. Afterward, the local church leader was very enthusiastic and said, "From the afternoon outreach, 25 people came to see the Jesus film in the evening. Of these, 19 stayed to discuss more, and three or four are very, very interested. Dustin, also appeared on national television. He performed, and during the program he was able to share briefly that God is the only one who can fill the emptiness in our lives.

Prayer Points
1. Praise God for the many seeds of truth that were planted.
2. Please pray for follow up for the many who were impacted by this tour.

Telling the greatest story through Art

Last November, OM ministry leaders from Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Central Europe and the OM Ships invested a day discovering how professional artists are effectively declaring the Gospel through the arts on the mission field. The participants explored how the arts can be integral in reaching the world for Christ and how artists can be effective team members in OM. OM Arts Director Bill Drake defined the vision and growth plans for the newly formed OM Arts International. Colin Harbinson, consultant and catalyst for arts in missions, encouraged the need for professional artists in missions and warned that "art done poorly communicates poorly." Quoting writer A.W. Tozer, Harbinson affirmed that, "Christians are obligated to excellence because God is supremely excellent." A leadership training seminar for artists preparing for missions will take place in Rome in July 2010. For more information please contact info.arts@om.org.

Prayer Points
1. Pray for the release of more artists into missions, using their art as a bridge to sharing Jesus.
2. Pray for the growth in this new OM initiative. 

OM Involved in Haiti Earthquake Relief

Please pray for the people of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, and for wisdom for OM leaders and other believers as they seek to bring help.

 

On Tuesday, January 12, the island nation of Haiti was stuck by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. OM has ministry relationships with local churches and orphanages.

 

OM is currently conducting a first response assessment, and is committed to supporting relief efforts. This will be similar to our involvement following a hurricane there in 2008. We will most likely be assisting with medical relief teams and providing food and supplies to the orphanages we have worked with in the past. We also plan to work through and with our local church partners and to assist them with supplies and work teams.

 

Give to help OM’s response in Haiti.

 

Visit our website at omusa.org for relief updates.

Ongoing process of Retiring OM Ship

We are so grateful to God for 32 years of ministry with OM’s ship Doulos which had to be retired at the end of the year. Even after the ship closed to the public and moved to another berth in Singapore, a lady called, wanting desperately to visit. Despite arriving late and being very distracted during the tour, the woman suddenly burst into tears, saying she believed God had brought her to the ship to draw her back to Himself. Around 100 staff have already left Doulos, and more are leaving every day as plans for their next steps are finalized and travel arrangements are put in place. Many will go on to serve in other OM teams around the world. We value your prayers for them and for those still on board.

Prayer Points
1. Pray for God’s will to be done in this situation.
2. Please pray about the next step with the ship itself. There is the possibility it will be purchased by a group which would use it as a stationary ministry center and museum.
3. Pray for the huge adjustments for the 300 people who served on Doulos as they move to the next area of service.

OM South Asia Prayer Calendar - January

Download your free calendar here... http://ow.ly/WwJt

God's special care for 53 Roma kids in Bosnia

Christine is a former OM missionary who moved back to the US in March 2008. She continued to be concerned for the forgotten peoples of Eurasia. The Sunday school kids of her church wanted to participate in OM’s school bag project for Bosnia. Every child packed a little bag with  gift items like crayons, pencils, small toys, etc. and wrote a personal note to go in it. The two boxes of gift bags arrived in OM’s office in Austria in the spring of 2009.

When the OM staff took schoolbags to Bihac, Bosnia, in July, they also took these boxes. The gift packages included clear Christian messages and stickers, so the OM Bosnia team was made aware of that. Christian tracts had been a problem for the Muslim school director they had worked with before. The OM member in Bosnia did not even open these boxes and put them in the attic until she knew what to do with them. She had almost forgotten about them, when the Roma (Gypsy) community in Bihac asked for school supplies. The OM team received a list of 53 kids in this community and filled school bags for each of them, including the gift packages which had been stored. The team was amazed to find that the Sunday school kids from the US had sent exactly 53 packages! The Roma kids had been so special to God that He had planned a personal gift for every single one of them!

Prayer Points
1. Praise God for his amazing love toward these 53 Roma kids and His mysterious ways of showing it.
2. Please pray for these children to understand God’s love for them.


Sign up for our monthly GLOBAL PRAYER UPDATE here: http://omusa.org/pray

Praying through the Arabian Peninsula

A refugee lady, “N,” from an Islamic country in Africa, was introduced to some Christian workers. She wanted to become a Christian. After watching the Jesus film in her language, she said that she had understood everything. One of the Christians led her in prayer and “N” agreed joyfully. Her next question was: “Can I have a written certificate that says that I am a Christian? Then I can go to Europe or America.” This is so typical for many thousands of refugee women. She has no family, no husband, two little children, no help or hope for a better situation and is helpless in the face of abuse--and probably disappointed by Islam. Pray that this woman will understand what real Christianity is. Ask that her needs will be met.

Update on last year’s kidnapping in Yemen:
Five Germans, including three children, and a British national who have been held by kidnappers in Yemen for the past six months are still alive, a top official said recently. "We have confirmed information that they are still alive," the deputy prime minister for defense and security affairs, Rashad al-Aleemi, told a press conference. "It is believed that the three children, who were shown in a recent video, are alive in Maarib, while the elders are being used by the Huthis (to provide) medical treatment," Aleemi said. The three children were seen in a new video two weeks ago, but the footage featured no sign of their parents. All were kidnapped in June.

German officials who requested anonymity had confirmed a report saying the images, apparently recorded recently, indicated at least that the three children aged one, three and five were still alive. "The children seemed exhausted," a high-ranking German official was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJHTjt480GHYqbrQiSCGUmx1pFLw

Prayer Points
1. Pray that those kidnapped will be released from captivity.
2. Pray that God will help their families as they wait.
3. Pray for those who are involved in negotiations and that they will be successful.

Woman Missing for Two Months—Still Not Found

An OM team member working in a country in the Middle East/North Africa region shared the Gospel with his language teacher ("F"), and she became a believer. Soon after following Christ, though, she went missing. Later, the story emerged that she had been held captive by her family and denied all privileges. "F" prayed that God would give her a chance to escape. Miraculously, she found an opportunity to leave the house, located her language student, and reached safety. In a matter of days, she got a new job and started a new life in a new city. "F" was in contact with believing friends, both old and new, and was receiving care from friends in Christ.

Suddenly, however, in late October 2009, the news and phone calls stopped. She has been missing since then, with no news whatsoever. Friends are very concerned.

Prayer Points
1. Please pray that God would protect this young woman and would send believers to help her wherever she is.


Sign up for our monthly GLOBAL PRAYER UPDATE here: http://omusa.org/pray

James 5:16

I was at a recent “One Thing” conference in Kansas where the following statistics were given by Dick Eastman, President of Every Home For Christ. In the five years prior to their setting up a “Prayer Wall” in their headquarters where prayer for their work goes on 12 hours per day, their organization (in 96 countries) visited 88 million households and saw 4 million decisions for Christ. In the five years since the all-day prayer began, they have visited 247 million households and seen 36 million decisions! “The earnest prayer of a righteous person (or prayer team!) has great power and produces wonderful results” James 5:16. 


Peter Hawkins