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Feb 26 Pray4projects in South Africa, Haiti & Nicaragua @WorldOrphans

• Please pray for the Christian Life Centre in Chatsworth, South Africa. Pastor Siva has remarkable church caring for 18 former orphans plus hundreds of other orphans in their community based programs. A team from the Midwest lead by Mike Krick will be traveling to South Africa in April.
  
• Pray for the Haiti Orphan Relief Team as they start to wrap-up their contacts with churches today and head home tomorrow. 
  
• The Nicaragua team has returned from a fruitful trip. Please pray for the US churches as they begin to strategize how to partner with the Verbo Churches to rescue and care for orphans in some of the poorest and least reached areas of Nicaragua.
  

A Cord of Three for Haiti

A strategy has been compiled to coordinate the response of churches to the crisis in Haiti that will bring focus to what needs to be accomplished for the church and the orphan at the same time. The Haiti Orphan Relief Team is a multi-disciplined team that will begin to map out churches in Haiti that have the heart to rescue and care for orphans, and will include some members of our staff. We are all aware of the setting they will be going into and the need to have a prayer team backing them up every step of the way.

The decentralized World Orphans model does not afford the staff with the luxury of being in close proximity to one another, we can't all gather together in one place at one time. Yet, being spread across the country does afford us the luxury of being in several time zones, having influence in multiple regions and churches. We need to begin today to use the disbursement of our staff to the advantage it affords us, in corporate prayer, as preparations are being finalized and while the team is on the ground.

I do not mean to imply that you are not praying for the crisis in Haiti, I am saying that we need to ramp it up. I'm not saying that the needs of the team are over and above the needs of those already on the ground and in the midst of the suffering chaos, the need is different but the same in importance. I'm not saying this is more important than the upcoming teams going to Nicaragua and South Africa, the difference is that the HORT Team will not have the focus of a sending church to form the chorus of prayer that will be needed like the other trips will have. Our ministry, You and I will be the sending body that needs to be standing in the gap for those going and their families. You and I need to include this strategy in every aspect of our daily conversations with God. It needs to be on the minds in in the prayers of everyone you and I  have contact with.

The situation they are going into is tough. Yet, the bible reminds us about the need for a team. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12 (ESV) We need to build a strong team. Building off the theme of three, the Lord, the Team, and you and I, this team can stand tougher than the circumstances they will face.

Taking the theme  of three further, I am asking each of you to join me in adding an additional layer of prayer to what has already been discussed above. I am asking you to pray at :03 past the hour every waking hour during your day for this strategy and the team. You may need to set your watch, your phone or a clock as a reminder, but take a moment at :03 past the hour to pray. Praise the Lord for what He is doing, lift up the team at that moment, and pray for the rest of our ministry. Encourage others in your life to do the same.

This is not meant to be a ritual, but a reminder that "in all these things we are all more than conquerors [only] through Him who loved us."

If you want your church to get involved in caring for the hundreds of thousands of new orphans in Haiti go to the Haiti Orphan Relief Team page.

You can keep up to date with the teams progress by following them on Face Book and invite your friends to join the fan page as well.

The "Third Wave"

The World Orphan logo is (ec)³. Which stands for each church, each child, each community. The national Church is completing both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment through the act of caring for the orphan. With a just few resources from the west, the national Church can get it done.

 In his book, "Revolution in World Missions," K.P. Yohannan writes:

"But around the world today, the Holy Spirit is breaking over Asian and African nations, raising up thousands of dedicated men and women who are bringing the salvation story to their own people. And millions of lost souls in closed countries would probably never learn about the love of God by any other means. These national Christians-humble, obscure pioneers of the Gospel-are taking up the banner of the cross where colonial-era missions left off. They are the third wave of mission history-the native missionary movement....

I believe we will see this generation reached for Christ as this exciting third wave of mission leadership unties with concerned Christians, churches and mission agencies around the world. As we draw nearer to Christ in unity, feeling His heartbeat for lost and dying souls, we realize that we are all serving on King and one Kingdom."

Do you sense how fortunate we are to live in these exciting times. A time that is like none other in so many ways. The third wave in missions is just one way, but a big way. When obedient Christians around the world begin to unite in ways they never have before we will see the Holy Spirit honor that unity with a mighty movement. When obedient Christians around the world feel the heartbeat of the Lord for the orphan, for lost and dying souls the Kingdom will be impacted and the Great Commission will be fulfilled during this generation.

Please join me in praying for the third wave, for the unity between the Churches in the developing world and the Churches in the developed world. That together, we can see the Holy Spirit honor our obedience with by fulfilling the Great Commission through us as we fulfill the Great Commandments, and rescue the orphan.

You can obtain your own copy of Yohannan's book at this web site free book offer .

Working Harder - Praying Less?

"It is better to let the work go by default than to let the praying go by neglect. Whatever affects the intensity of our praying affects the value of our work. "Too busy to pray" is not only the keynote to backsliding, but it mars even the work done. Nothing is well done without prayer for the simple reason that it leaves God out of the account. It is so easy to be seduced by the good to neglect the best, until both the good and the best perish. How easy to neglect prayer or abbreviate our praying simply by the plea that we have church work on our hands. Satan has effectively disarmed us when he can keep us too busy doing things to stop and pray." E. M. Bounds