2009 Week 47

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 40:5 (NIV).

1. Give thanks to God and celebrate his goodness as we count our blessings - how he sustains us day to day, and most of all, for the gift of salvation from sin and eternal life through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! Pray that as we enter another Christmas season every one will see the Lord revealed by his Son.

2. Please pray for the ESC Adult Sunday School classes:
November - During the 1st four weeks of the month, the subject is "Dreams in the Bible and Today" with a guest teacher who is a professor at Tyndale Seminary. Topics to be covered include: the prophetic aspect of dreams, dreams and transformation, dreams and healing, dreams and self-awareness.
November 29 - "ESC Town Hall," an ESC update and social event.
December - The Old Testament Book of Ruth will be taught by one of our own ESC brothers. Please pray for his preparation and our hearts to learn.

3. Please continue to pray for our missionaries:- Praise God for a meaningful commissioning service for CY on recent Sunday afternoon. Please keep praying for CY's preparation long-term work in South Asia to begin early in the new year.

4. Please continue to pray for brothers and sisters among us who are looking for work and/or facing challenging situations and people in the workplace. Pray for endurance and hopefulness for those who are dealing with change, and looking for new work. 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.

5. Please pray for the church building project: The Building Committee is still in discussion with a bank about obtaining a loan and getting a "letter of committment." There are a number of meetings this month with decision-making bank officers. It seems that the bank requires us to have a fairly large cash reserve in place before we draw for the first time on a loan. Please pray for the committee as they negotiate. Ask the Spirit to guide the committee with wisdom to make decisions that reflect God's will for our church.

6. 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.

7. Please pray for the Christmas Choir which has already begun practices for the ESC Christmas Worship service, "Stolen Jesus." on the evening of Sunday, December 20, 2009. Pray also for others who will take part in the presentation. Ask God to allow a strong message of the evening's theme that we need to recover the centrality of Jesus in our celebrations to come through, especially since he has been "stolen" out of the world's holiday observances.

8. Please pray for the ongoing effect of the "Growing Leaders" leadership training course which has just concluded at the end of October. Ask the Spirit to guide each participant keep growing in understanding what it means to be a servant of Christ, and to fulfil each person's calling in God's kingdom purposes. Pray for good feedback from the course so that the next cycle of training can build upon what has been learned.

9. Please pray for the annual Leadership Retreat that will take place on Friday evening, Nov 27, and Saturday Nov 28. This retreat is for all church leaders of all ministries so that we may consider together under the Spirit's guidance a vision and direction for the new year. Please pray for the special speaker, a pastor who has had years of leadership of a North American Chinese church. Pray also for our senior pastor as he lays out the ministry vision for 2010. Ask the Lord to guide our discussion as individual congregations and together on that day. Pray for the ESC leaders to discern together the Spirit's leading of our community and what we should commit ourselves to doing in the new year.