August's Picture of the Month

My August update:

August was a busy month that had all the ups and downs of a roller coaster.  I traveled quite a bit during the month, which made it fly right by.  One of those trips actually became an inspiration for one of my recent tips on the blog—an international youth conference which I had the joy of attending for a few days.  Every two years, youth representing Alliance churches from various nations in francophone West Africa come together for a week-long conference.

I arrived during the closing few days, and I was very impressed by the level of engagement and enthusiasm of the attendees.  The speakers were phenomenal, and I was so pleased by their insightful presentations of Biblical truth applicable to the audience’s real, every-day lives.  There was a very clear call to commit to living a radical Christian life by living purely and carefully evaluating all that is “on sale” in the modern world.  I was also very excited to hear the call to African youth to lead the Church (around the world) into the next generation.  

The guys that came with me also represent another highlight of my month.  They are all from one of my Bible studies.  I have two going on right now.  One is for mature believers from the hospital, and I find studying with these guys to be a challenge and encouragement.  The other is a study for new believers who have expressed a desire to know more about the Word, and as is typical they bring an enthusiasm that is totally refreshing. 

Join me in praying for African youth.  They face incredible challenges, and yet I see in them a resilience and spunk that I’m convinced can change their world and ours.

Prayer Requests

1. Praise the Lord for a great youth conference.  Pray that the Lord would raise up a generation of African youth committed to Him and equipped to change the world.

2. Continue to pray for the security situation here in West Africa.  No major events have occurred in recent weeks, but there are still tensions in the north and terrorist groups are trying to reassert their power in various areas of the country.  (Again, the hospital staff is following this situation, but is not at increased risk at this time.)

3. Pray for a young man named Djakari who is being persecuted by his family.  He has some tough decisions ahead of him.  Pray that I would know how to help and support him.

4. Pray for a week long conference this week in Dakar for leaders within our movement.  We'll be talking a lot about how to strengthen our teams relationally and administratively.

5. Continue to pray for Josue. We'd like to bring our national hospital director to the States to speak at a few churches.  We've had some trouble getting his visa.  His next interview is this week, please pray that the visa would be granted.