This Week @ CLC - March 5, 2010
‘Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?’ Corrie Ten Boom
Annual Conferences – Next week the CLC teams in Panama and Ecuador have their Annual Conferences. (Panama 9th -10th, Ecuador 11th -12th of March). CLC Chile were due to hold their conference the following week but that has now been postponed until later in the year.
Chile – Thank you for praying for the situation in Chile following the severe earthquake recently. We do not have much more information to add to what was sent out on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The bookshop in Concepcion remains shut, but it is apparently safe and undamaged. Police are still keeping this area of the city closed to the public.
France – CLC Countries that have several bookshops often arrange Leadership Team or Shop Managers meetings. These times are important for making day to day decisions and keeping the lines of communication open between the staff from different centres. Of course it is important for fellowship and prayer as well. CLC France has 15 bookshops, two of which are on the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Most of the bookshop managers will meet on Monday and Tuesday of next week (8th-9th March). Please pray that this time will be beneficial, and a blessing. Pray too for Herve Lessous, the Director of CLC France, and Ruth Williams who is Head of Retail.
Gustave, the manager in Martinique, and Lucien in Nimes are both waiting to have heart surgery in the next few weeks - please remember them in your prayers.
Romania - Please pray for our team in Romania as, together with Regional Director Gary Chamberlin, they consider a proposal to take over a bookshop in the city of Sibiu. This shop has been operating for several years and there is a significant Christian community in the city, but it requires a certain amount of investment to achieve its full potential. While excited by the possibility National Director, Ronela Micula, says “first I need to speak to the Lord”. Let us join the Romanian team as they seek the Lord’s will for the future of their ministry.
Thailand - Yongyut and Paula Khanthaseema, who manage the CLC bookshop in Chiang Mai, have been praying, and saving, for a new property for the bookshop for a long time. Currently they live in a small flat above the shop so any move would involve looking for new accommodation too. Please pray as they consider putting an offer in for a building that in many ways would be ideal for CLC - and it includes living accommodation. Pray too for Romualdo Macinas, the CLC Regional Director for Asia, as he encourages and advises the Thai team in this matter.
UK – Barbara Menz has served with CLC in the UK for over 20 years. Praise the Lord for her faithful contribution to the ministry of the London shop during this time. This week she returned to her home country of Germany to take up, as Barbara herself puts it, “God’s next appointment for me”. She will be working with WEC, and has been asked to take on the production of the ‘Der Weg’ magazine (‘Soon’ in English). May God bless and encourage her as she settles into a now somewhat unfamiliar home country, and a new area of service for the Lord!
Please pray for the UK Team. The lack of staff in several shops and departments continues to cause real concern and puts a huge strain particularly on shop managers and the Leadership Team as they look for ways to relieve the situation, and in the meantime they are often overworked themselves. We need to see God’s way forward and His provision in a number of key areas. Pray for Phil Burnham in his overall responsibilities as Director for CLC UK which now maintains 21 bookshops, a busy Wholesale operation and other related departments.
Click here to read previous articles
