2009 Week Twelve

1. Yeah!!! March Break!!! Please pray for students to have a restful and meaningful time over the coming week. Ask the Lord to grant valuable family time that will be well used. Pray for safety and interesting programs for students who will be attending various March Break camps. Pray for the teens who will be attending "Teens Conference" where they will be challenged to trust Jesus, and grow as his disciples.

2. Please pray for the March adult Sunday School classes (March 8, 15, 22, 29). This will be a four-class series on "God and Morality" taught by a brother of our own who is a graduate student at the Institute of Christian Studies. Please pray for good discussion about things important for us to understand, and for the Spirit to equip us to better live and witness in our time.

3. Please pray for the Youth Ministry:
- Pray for the youth mentorship program which is being worked out by our pastoral intern in youth ministry. This program seeks to connect individual youth with an adult mentor who will care for each of them. Right now there are more mentors signed up than students to be mentored. Ask the Lord to move the hearts of our youth people make good use of this way of connecting to the church, and to have someone befriend and pray for them.
- Please pray for the parent & youth ministry gathering on Sunday, March 29 to talk about what Youth Ministry provides for the youth (grade 6 to university) and parents. Ask the Lord to use this forum as a way to rally support and improve Youth Ministry in our community.
- Please keep praying for our teens Sunday School as an effective means to build critical, biblical thinking into the lives of our young people.

4. Please pray for the planning and preparation of the April 10, Good Friday evening worship service. Ask the Lord to allow this service to be a meaningful remembrance of our Lord's suffering and death for sinners like us. May it also be a powerful witness for Christ to our neighbours and friends whom we invite.

5. Please pray for the upcoming ESC Spring Retreat on April 17 to 19, 2009. Ask the Lord to give participants a good time of fellowship and learning, as we spend time together and as the Lord ministers through the speaker.

6. Please continue to pray for brothers and sisters among us who are facing challenging situations and people in the workplace. Pray especially for those who are dealing with change. May the Spirit help them to make decisions concerning their jobs, and perhaps their careers. Ask the Lord to grant guidance and peace as they depend on him.

7. Please pray for the "Growing Leaders" ESC leadership training program:
- The third training session will be held on March 25. Please pray for the preparation of the session. Pray also for each participant to be ministered to as the Spirit desires regarding the subject of "call/calling."
- Ask the Spirit for guidance and wisdom as the one-on-one (or small group) mentor-mentee meetings take place over the month (most mentor-mentee meetings will focus on where each person is in his/her relationship to God, and start practicing a spiritual discipline for training in godliness).

8. Please pray for the church building project:
- The building project fund-raising focus now is on increased participation in the promissory note program. This is one way for supporters to lend to the church, and to satisfy the bank's requirement for the church to have $4.5 million raised in order to get the building loan.
- A fund-raising banquet will be held on Sunday, May 3, 2009. The theme is, "Touched by God's Grace, I Offer My All." Please pray for the planning of this event and the members of the fund-raising committee as they work on this.

9. Please pray for brothers and sisters among us who are suffering. Lift up those you know who are sick or suffering before the Lord. Ask for healing and comfort, and practical things such as help from others. Ask the Lord to move any of us to respond and be those helping hands.