OCC Nepal & NEA OCC

Today I have 3 general OCC shoebox prayer requests, then some additional ones to follow. 

OCC prays that more children’s eyes may be opened so that they may turn from darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus. 

* Therefore, specifically, we ask you to pray for the children receiving gift-filled shoeboxes that:

1. The enemy does not snatch away the word that was sown and for the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened so they can understand what they heard;

2. When tribulation and persecution arises, the children remain steadfast in God’s word and they would remember the joy they had when they first heard it; and

3. They would present themselves to God as one approved rightly handling the word of truth and that no circumstances would hinder them from becoming abundantly fruitful.

These are powerful prayers for shoebox recipients! 

* NEA OCC requests:

1. We have 1 request from Pocahontas. Misti Stowers has been working hard to bring more churches to participate in Operation Christmas Child.  One church is now on board and several more are meeting about it! Pray they can continue to spread the word about OCC in a compelling way that these other churches will want to get on board with us!  Lift the team up as Misti and others try to reach more churches, which means more boxes, and more Gospel opportunities!!!

2. Lift up Melinda Dixon's mother in prayer. She has been having some health problems with her sodium levels bottoming out and has been in the hospital for several days. She is improving and may be able to go home in a few days but I know Melinda would appreciate the prayers for her family. 

* Lastly, this week continue praying for Nepal, specifically: 

1. Praise God the boxes cleared customs!

2. Praise God for protecting the Ministry Partners during the distributions!

3. Pray for the children involved with The Greatest Journey. 

Thank You for your OCC Prayers!

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. (John 14:1 ESV)

D6 Sunday School Titus 3

Tomorrow we finish our study of Titus in Sunday School. In chapter 3:1-2, Paul gives Titus and the Cretans 7 guidelines to being good Christians, good citizens, & good neighbors. Can you find them? Do our actions show the world that we are Christians or is there enough evidence in our daily living to prove it? We don't do these good works to "earn" our way into Heaven but to show gratitude for God's grace and to show thanks for Jesus' willingness to die for our sins.  It's a response we should want to have to reflect Christ' Love in us. We should strive to be a fruitful follower of God, producing good fruit and leading others closer to Christ - not devoting ourselves to things of this world but instead devoting ourselves to His Kingdom and doing good for others. 

Let me sum it up...

We are NOTHING without Jesus. 

HE is EVERYTHING. 

HE became NOTHING, so

We could have EVERYTHING!

NOTHING should be more important than us giving HIM our EVERYTHING! 

He deserves our gratitude and a life of total devotion. He came to earth, died, and arose again to give us eternal life. Our good works and obedience show our gratitude to Him. 

Philippines and Operation Christmas Child

Praise God for our new NEA collection center! It is going to be at First Free Will Baptist on Stadium in Jonesboro! Kevin Barnett and Kathie Kinard will be the co-coordinators.  

This week we are asking you to pray for the Philippines. The Philippians are made up of 7,250 islands, over 700 of them are inhabited; 11 islands contain the bulk of the population. 11% of the population is unreached people groups. Only 12% of the total population is Evangelical Christian.  House Churches are being planted but growth is slow due to Muslim influence. The total population is over 93,600,000 people. 

- Praise God for the millions of Bibles that are translated and distributed each year and that His Word will make a deep and lasting impact on lives. 

- Praise God for enabling the team to reach the unreached people groups, including the Mandaya Tribe and the Kalagan tribe in Mindanao and Mindoro, through the shoebox distributions.

- Praise God the NLT, sRLTs, and RLTs are each functioning in their own roles, but are still working interdependently and serving in unity. 

- Praise God for the increased number of volunteers on the sRLTs and the difference they are making for Jesus.

- Praise God for the TGJ trainings, from the Train the Trainers to the teacher trainings, which were completed in all three major islands. 

- Praise Him that TGJ classes have reached new islands.

- Pray for the recruitment and selection processes of candidates for the vacant positions on the NLT and RLTs.

- Pray the teams will be able to adjust to the delays in receiving the training materials and will still be able to complete the trainings by their target dates. 

- Pray for the ongoing TGJ classes- pray more children will grow in the Word of God and that the teachers will lead the classes with compassion and love. 

- Pray for the remaining distributions. 

- Pray for the safety of the volunteers, partners, and teachers as they travel to remote areas for these distributions. 

- Pray for upcoming travel for the vision castings, MP trainings, TGJ training, recruitments, and interviews of potential volunteers.

 - Lastly, pray OCC will do abundantly more in 2015!!! 

Become an OCC Prayer Partner

Below is the link for becoming an Operation Christmas Child Prayer Partner sign up today!– spread the word J

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/occ-prayers/

Indonesia Operation Christmas Child

Praise God for the progress OCC has made in 2015. The rest of this week pray God will open doors for OCC to reach the unreached people groups in Indonesia.  Shoebox gifts collected in the United States in 2014 will be delivered to 79,286 children in Indonesia. Praise God that over 1,246,400 children have received a shoebox since 2000, when Operation Christmas Child began distributing gifts here.

• Indonesia has 253.6 million people and is located in Southeast Asia
• 26% of the population is 14 years old or younger

- Praise God for providing the financial resources needed to carry out the project in Indonesia.

- Praise God for the successful clearance of the containers and for  the boxes that are ready to be distributed.

- Praise God for the Teacher Trainer Trainings held in February. 

- Pray all of the participants will be encouraged and equipped fully to train more teachers. 

- Pray that more TDW training can be held and that OCC will be able to disciple more children as a result. (TDW is The Discipleship Workbook-same as The Greatest Journey but used in sensitive countries) 

- Pray for the completion of the sRLTs and RLTs. Pray God will open doors to establish teams in new areas and that He will send the right people to serve on these teams. 

- Pray for the existing sRLT and RLTs. (Regional Leadership Team)

- Pray God will equip them to accomplish their tasks well this season.

- Pray God provides more committed Ministry Partners who have a heart for children and want to support OCC full-heartedly.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9 ESV)

OCC Samoa

Today will you join us in praying for Samoa?

Pray for the distributions and the Ministry Partners.

Pray for the development of the Regional Leadership Team. 

Pray they know their roles as the teams prepare for the nConnect. 

nConnect is a Volunteer National Connect Conference each country has similar to the Connect conference in the U.S. 

Thank You for praying for Samoa. 

OCC Malaysia

Today will you pray for OCC Malaysia?

* Praise God the government authorities approved the tax exoneration (relieved, as from an obligation) for the shoeboxes.

* Praise God for the successful Ministry Partner and TDW (The Discipleship Workbook (same as TGJ but used in sensitive countries) trainings over the past few months and for the teachers who were trained.

* Pray for the recruitment of the right candidates to fill the vacant positions on the National Leadership Team (NLT). 

* Pray the establishment of an interim committee and a future sRLT in the eastern region, to receive and distribute gift boxes this season. sRLT - Senior Regional Leadership Team (similar to Regional Area Coordinators in the U.S. as they oversee multiple Regional Teams. 

* Pray God will provide more volunteers to help the NLT in expanding the project with greater clarity and unity.

Thanks and have a wonderful Thursday! 

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matthew 18:20)