June 2002
In an hour, spring begins. (I'm writing this to you on
March 20.) For my wife, a spring and summer lover,
this means winter is over (good riddance), the cold is
gone ('bout time) and her flowers are ready to
explode in a chorus of color celebrating the event.
For me, a fall and winter lover, today means weeds
are about to mount their annual assault, gutters will
again demand to be painted and spare time will be
spent behind a lawn mower instead of a fishing rod.
Spring means different things to different people.
But objectively, this day means that the sun is perfectly
aligned over the equator. There it rose this morning due
east, blazed its way straight overhead and takes its
leave dead-center west. In other words, today earth and
its light are perfectly aligned.
Physically, the sun is the light of the world. But
spiritually, we know that Jesus is.
For us, His followers, every day is to be the dawn of
a new spring. We are to ensure that our lives are always
perfectly oriented to Him who is the Light of the world.
And we also know that the lives of most of the world
are misaligned with His. And so we pray, laboring
together with God until spring comes in all the earth.
May it soon be so,
Randy Sprinkle, Director
International Prayer Strategy Office
1 TAIWAN (east Asian coast). The Unbound
Student Ministries team rejoices and praises God for
new-believer "Jenny" (a pseudonym), baptized less than
two months ago, who led a friend, "Sara," to Christ. After
Jenny's baptism testimony and discipling of Sara, Sara
decided she needed to be baptized. Sara had been a believer
only a few weeks when she made this decision. Pray for
these and other Christian students in Taiwan to continue to
share Jesus and His love with their friends and classmates.
Ask God to give them boldness and joy, even if faced with
persecution or ridicule from friends and families. Rejoice
with Jenny, Sara and others who are joyfully experiencing
and sharing their love for Jesus.
2 MUSLIMS: PRAYING BEYOND THE
WALL. Even though several references in the Quran,
the holy book of Islam, indicate or assume the integrity of
the Bible, most Muslims believe the Bible has been corrupted
and is an unreliable source of truth. Ask God to create in¬
terest and desire in Muslims to read and understand His
Word. Pray that as they read, the Spirit would speak in
power through His Word to bring conviction, repentance
and faith (John 16:8-11).
3 SWAZI OF SWAZILAND AND SOUTH
AFRICA (SWAH-zee). Belinda Jordan, an Inter¬
national Service Corps worker in Mbabane, has begun a
ministry to the pastors' wives in Mbabane and Manzini.
Concerning a recent meeting, Belinda had this to say: "The
pastors' wives wanted to know their role as a pastor's wife,
so I gave a devotion on 'Qualifications and the Role of the
Pastor's Wife.' Of course, the qualifications are not different
from any other born-again believer wanting to be obedient.
I had felt the Lord leading me to humble myself before
these women and wash their feet as a symbol of God send¬
ing me to Swaziland to be their servant and walk beside
them. As I began to wash their feet, I was amazed how this
humbled me. As you can imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in
the house and we all had to just sit for a while and bask in
what God was doing. Spontaneously, one of the wives
began to sing and then prayed. Each wife praised the Lord
for how He blessed and requested prayer for their mar¬
riages and churches." Please pray for these wives and their
many needs, but most of all, pray that they will be the ves¬
sels God wants them to be in their homes and churches.
4GAIDHEIL OF SCOTLAND (GAH-yeel). The
Celtic Languages Team (CeLTeam) is seeking to create
a partnership with the Baptist Union of Scotland (BUS) to
reach the Gaidheil with the gospel. Please pray on behalf of
the BUS and CeLTeam as they seek the Lord's guidance
how they may get the good news out to those in the west¬
ern highlands and islands of Scotland.
5QUICHUA OF ECUADOR (KEE-choo-ah).
Pray for the consistent growth of a group of believers in
the community of Inguinchu, outside of Otavalo, Ecuador.
Pastor L, along with a group of three or four from the Chirihu-
asi church, faithfully go every Wednesday afternoon to visit
door to door in the community and then have Bible study.
Their faithfulness is evident in that the group has grown to
15 adults and several children. Pray for those who are seek¬
ing, that they will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
6SINDHI OF PAKISTAN (SIN-dee). "It 's inter¬
esting how God can use anything to speak to our
hearts," writes a worker. "S is very intellectual and enjoys
reading English books, so she often asks what book I am
