Request for Prayer and Promise of News

Hello--This will be a bit of a different blog post. We're asking for prayer for a set of two back-to-back conferences we'll be having at ANU beginning this evening, and promising you some pictures and information from each of them.

The first of these conferences is the two-day ANESA conference. ANESA is the Nazarene organization that oversees education (primarily pastoral education) in Africa. This conference will be led by Regional Education Director Dr. Fili Chambo, and will feature discussion of the successes of the education strategic plan, how to do the current things better and what new strategies may be needed. This conference will include two evenings of papers presented by ANU masters students about topics including polygamy, hunger, the church's role in encouraging peace in Africa, etc. This conference will involve 45 educational leaders from all over Africa.

The second, larger conference, beginning on Monday, will involve an additional 250 leaders for a total of 300 people. It's the Africa Region Leadership Conference, led by our Regional Director, Dr. Eugenio Duarte. Taken together, it may be no exaggeration to say that these two conferences are the most important formal meetings the denomination has had in Africa. They will involve progress reports regarding regional goals, discussions of evangelism and leadership strategies that are working and what additional things can be done.

Soooo--we would appreciate your prayers about these meetings, and for Dr. Duarte, Dr. Chambo and the other global, regional and field leaders who will be presenting and/or participating. We'd ask you to pray for Professor Marangu as conference host and for the many staff at ANU who will be working to assure that visitors are housed, fed, and otherwise made to feel welcome. Most of all, we want the presence of the Holy Spirit to break through in these meetings, for the Lord to guide the discussion and the decisions that are made.

We'll plan on taking our cameras to some of the meetings and jotting down some notes, so at least once for each meeting--more if possible-- we'll send you a report.

Blessings on each of you. Thanks also to Spencer, Indiana; Zion Bloomington Indiana; Highland Avenue, California; Hemet Califormia; and Indianapolis District who have responded so warmly and quickly to our announcement of deputation dates. We still have a few dates left, but our calendar is filling up fast! We look forward to seeing you soon and delivering some of this information in person!