Prayer Update

Wonderful answer to prayer from our workers in Tunisia!!

Election
Update                                                              

Thank you for
praying for the first ever free elections here in our North African country on
October 23.   God heard the prayers of the many and answered.
The day of the elections, the process went smoothly and peacefully.  All
over the country people lined up outside schools and other public buildings
waiting their turn to freely vote for the person they individually chose.

The Islamic
party many were worried about did fairly win the majority of the seats in the
constitutional assembly.  They will be forming a new coalition government
that should be announced within the next few days to a week. Realizing fear
about their leadership has spread, they have made great attempts to calm the concerns
of the general population by publicly re-emphasizing their moderacy, and their
desire not to change the freedoms of women or the nonreligious law system of
the country.   There have been pockets of protests and disputes in
several places in the country, but overall the atmosphere is peaceful and
calm.  For months we have seen an increase in armed policemen around our
city, but have not felt our safety threatened in any way since the
elections.  Incredible how "strange" becomes the "norm"
after a while.  It is not unusual to now drive down the street to the
supermarket and pass a police officer with an uzi machine gun in his hands.

Though this new
Islamic leadership professes to remain moderate, we are wondering what longer
term changes will happen in the country.  We might see a completely
different country 10 years from now.  This re-emphasizes to us the reality
that we have an open window of opportunity in this country now that might not be
here in a decade.  But wow, what God can do in a country in a
decade!!!  Amen!

Albania: Caravaning for peace

Totally overshadowed by the dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt, thousands of Albanians have also been taking to the streets in desperation for just and stable national leadership. On 31 January Christians initiated a Caravan of Peace which gathered in front of Mother Therea's Monument in the square named after Albania's most famous daughter.

Arian Galdini is a young Albanian politician who for years has been trying to raise a Christian voice in the public square in this country, which once proudly proclaimed itself the world's first atheistic state. Inspired by the European Parliament Prayer Breakfast in Brussels he has initiated national prayer breakfasts in Tirana to bring the nation's top politicians together in a humble attitude of dependence on God.

Humility, however, is the last attitude being modelled presently in Albania by the conservative president, Sali Berisha, and the socialist opposition leader, Edi Rama. The nation has been polarised now for months as these two leaders have refused to dialogue and settle differences. The socialists accuse Berisha for rigging the 2009 national elections and demand his resignation. Berisha (who was at the centre of Albania's stormy upheavals around pyramid schemes in the late '90's) refuses to resign, and counter-accuses the opposition of attempting a coup d'etat. The two leaders have taken their feud onto the streets, mobilising their followers in massive demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. Ten days ago three socialist supporters were shot dead by police.

"As Christians, we must do what we can to be peacemakers."

Arian meanwhile has tried to rally academics and intellectuals, politicians and religious to drive a wedge for peace and calm between the two rival blocs. He has written articles for the main newspapers pleading for dialogue. He sent sms's to Berisha and Rama urging them to follow the paths of peace and dialogue, without response. The total control of the media by the two strong leaders has discouraged Arian. In his view, the media whip up emotions which do not serve justice, truth, peace and interests of the Albanian People; only militants voices are being heard.

Arian has written to contacts outside of Albania asking for prayer and wisdom. Today he and some colleagues will meet with the president. After that the group plan to declare a Hunger Strike for Peace in front of the prime minister's office. They expect the media to studiously ignore them. But they believe, as Christians, they must do what they can to be peacemakers. They ask for our prayer for peace and righteous government in their land. It's the least we can do.

Source: Arian Galdini, Jeff Fountain

Pray for Egypt

Please keep Egypt in your strong prayers for the situation there. This just came in from Cairo: 

“Thank you so much for your call. I praise God for his mighty hands with us. Internet came back just one hour ago, we are holding prayer meetings in the morning, and a 24 hour prayer from the homes. We appreciate your joining in prayer with us, Tahrir square, is becoming a fire war spot, those opposing Moubarak are fighting now against others, violence is becoming more and more escalating. We are praying for protection, coverage, because Satan is so live here.. We hope and pray it will turn for the good of Egypt, AMEN.” 

Some other friends pass on the request for prayer from another Christian leader: “A main prayer request for now is how the protestors will respond to Mubarak's announcement and the transition that needs to begin to bring things into order and stability again. There are more demonstrations planned for the next few days to continue putting pressure on Mubarak to leave. The protestors are calling for an even larger gathering this Friday during which the demonstrators will demand that Mubarak to leave office now. Pray that the Lord's will be done in this time of decision and the coming transition!” 

Please pray for His peace to be upon the nation, for order and stability to be restored quickly and that radical elements will not be able to exploit and hijack this legitimate protest and call for political change. Pray also for God’s people who must live and pray through the uncertainty there that He will give them clarity on their role. May His good purpose to bring about a more just, free society for the good of all be accomplished! 

God's hand in India

Yesu Mahotsaw is an annual gathering of believers from Good Shepherd Community Churches in North India. About 6000 people gathered together to worship the Lord. Amazingly most of these people have come to know Christ in the past 5-7 years.

Open the Gates

Right before our Transform 2010 Outreach a team went to both Morocco and Spain and as a prophetic act Opened The Gates for God to move in the Mediterranean.

T10: Italy Update

Here's some prayer requests from the arts & media team in L'Aquila.

• Our van (from IBEI), whom we have dubbed Frederico, is really sick and in the shop. The engine starter doesn't work, and a new one has to be ordered that costs 300 euros. Please pray that God would guide the hands of the mechanic and that this problem would not continue so that this van could continue to be used for ministry. We will not have transportation until Wednesday or so.

• We're currently coming up with recurring themes from our initial impressions of this earthquake-ravaged city. Please pray that God would guide us and give us clarity and unity as we seek to provide healing and hope.

• Pray also for the people of L'Aquila, who are still trying to process their grief and attempting to move on. Rebuilding is difficult because Italians tend to only worry about their own problems. One Italian girl shared that the center of town would likely be in the same state ten years from now because of the Italian state of mind. Please pray that God would give these people hope and a passion to see a new city rise from the rubble.

T10: Bosnia Update

Tomorrow will be our first day of outreach in the town park. We got permission from the town for "presentation of religious literature"! We only asked for "cultural program"... so we will have bookstands, people singing and dancing, talks with people, invitations to concert. 

• Pray for protection, good conversations, anointed programs, good weather.

On Wednesday evening at 8 we will have a big concert on the main square of Bihac, with our Afro-American singer Mikki doing solo with Gospel music. This is the first time this is happening in Bihac, so I am really excited! 

• Pray for a very anointed concert, that God will touch many lives in Bihac even though they might not understand the words. Yesterday she sang for our believers and got a few listeners crying!

T10: Greece Update

The Larisa Team in Greece has arrived at its final destination safely. All of us could get some sleep on the train and seem to be fit for the ministry starting tomorrow.

First prayer requests have come up already. I will sort them with top priority first!

• Zyiad: He is a Muslim student of comparative religions. We met him at the first evangelical church in Athens as he was observing the service. Our group leader, Kees, soon started talking to him. He speaks 7 languages, including 3 arabian dialects. He is doing a research wherein he compares the 3 major religions (Christianity, Jews, Islam). Therefore he is educated on bible knowledge on a high academic level. He is very strong in destructing biblical truth, pointing out passages that apparently are corrupted. He is really good and no match in argument for the most of us. In attitude he wants to proof us that he is right, therefore is not open to our side. Pleas pray for him that God reveals the truth to him, since Kees will meet him again. Please help us pray that he will come to faith and God would call him to his fellow muslims since he has so much potential.

• Olivier: A frenchman we met in Larisa who has relatives here. He came here for 2 weeks. He got saved a week ago and water baptized today! He will go back to France tomorrow where he will need to find a good church and where he can be encouraged on his way with Christ.

• Ministry: We will be doing a kids programs in Larissa with Roma Gipsy kids, starting tomorrow morning. Pray that God prepares their hearts that we can reach out to them.

• In the evenings we want to organize a festival in the centre of town. Whether that happens depends on the goodwill of the Orthodox Church... Please pray that it will happen and have a positive influence on the local youth.

T10: Serbia Update

Two very significant ministries are being kick-started during this week, planned to be ongoing (drugs ministry and domestic violence ministry). 

• Pray for strength and protection for those leading them, and for divine appointments with addicts, and victims of abuse.
• Pray that whole church will get really involved during this week, and be envisioned for ongoing outreach.

T10: Bosnia Update

We are having a local help with making a video and picture taking. She is not a believer, but we feel that with the close interaction that she will be having with the Transform team she will be more interested in why the OM team is here in Sarajevo. We also feel that she is very open and searching for something spiritual. Pray that we will have a deeper relationship and that the Lord will touch her life. She is the niece of our regular attended coffee shop owner, so also pray that our relationship with them will grow. Her name is Adela.

2. We are still waiting on approval for painting the murals. Pray that the approvals will go through.

3. Pray that the OM team in Sarajevo will be recognized by the community that we are living in and that the community will welcome us as their own.

4. We originally wanted to do a concert out in the local park, but we did not get the approval. Our plan now is to just go out guitars and hang out. Pray that the police will not give us to many problems.

Open the Gates

A team of prayer people just completed 4 days of prayer on both sides of the Mediterranean in Southern Spain and Tangiers Morocco. At this point the Med is only 9 miles across, anything entering the Med has to pass between these points. Right from the beginning of Transform 2010 we felt it was important before the conference started to have time of worship and prayer and to Open the Gates to what the Lord wants to do this summer. In Algeciras we joined with local workers to pray for the countries involved, the teams and all that God wanted to do. Then we took the ferry across to Tangiers and did the same- the key in Tangiers was declaration of the names of God. In a country that does not hold a correct view of who God is we spent an hour speaking out the names of God and related scriptures. That seemed to open something up and we had the most beautiful and powerful worship and ministry to the Lord and each other! We called the church to Rise Up and enter into its destiny!

There was sense that we had completed our assignment after the end of these intensive days as we declared the Mediterranean is the Lords and asked Him to work and demonstrate His power through the teams this summer for His glory!