Prayer Requests

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

March 2007

Prayer request #1:

Training Conference with Quiché On March 9-11 Keith and Penny Stamps, along with missionaries Roger and Vicki Grossman will be leading a leadership training conference with Quiché church leaders. The main themes that will be taught will be on Making Disciples, and the roles of the church. Using Bible stories we will look at what Jesus did to make disciples and we will present the model of the early church using the stories from Acts. Please pray for the Stamps and Grossmans and the Quiché leaders who will be participating in this conference, that the Quiché leadership will be able to apply the Biblical model of making disciples and planting churches in a way that will lead to new Biblical and multiplying churches being started.

Prayer request #2:

Bible Storying materials in schools A School version of a Chronological Bible Story developed in Spanish by Team Contaré is being used in several schools in a city in Guatemala. This represents about 800 students. This set of stories gives the history of God's creation and His relationship with man from creation through the ascension of Christ. It teaches how God has worked in the world, man's problem of sin, why it separates us from God, and God's plan for redemption. Please pray that God's word will have an impact on the lives of the students as well as the teachers to the extent that they will come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

February 2007

Prayer Request #1

Feb. 5-6 Team Contaré will be meeting with Kek'chí leadership to present a plan for training Kek'chí pastors using oral methodologies. Then on February 20-23 we will carry out this training for the Kek'chí leaders who will actually be training the pastors. We feel that this is a very important step in the life of Kek'chí work as it opens up the potential to enable many Kek'chí pastors, to receive Please pray for Team Contaré as we prepare this training program and as we present it to Kek'chí leadership. Pray that this will speed up the already rapid growth of the gospel among the Kek'chí.

Prayer Request #2

Missionary Melodie has begun a youth Sunday School class at La Iglesia Belen in Santa Catarina Barahona, Guatemala, and she is praying that this will be a group that she can train for church planting in their area using the lessons she has developed. Join Melodie in praying that God will bring many youth who will stay in the group and learn to be disciples for Him in order to disciple others. Also pray for Melodie as she develops and prepares the lessons each week. Pray that God will guide her to just the right theme and the words to express it each week.

December 2006

Prayer Request #1

Please pray for Keith Stamps and Alan Lyons as they travel to northern Mexico December 10-14 to meet with missionaries and national believers there. Pray for travel safety and health for Keith and Alan. Please pray for them as they share the vision for using Bible Storying for evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. Pray for IMB missionaries and national believers as they strive to reach the people of northen Mexico with the Gospel.

Prayer Request #2

Team Contaré has been working with leaders of a church start in the outer edges of Guatemala City, teaching and modeling the use of Bible Storying. This church is reaching out to people living in squatter communities, and to alcoholics and drug users in an effort to lead them to Christ and help them recover from their addictions. On the evening of December 21 Keith Stamps will be telling the Christmas story at this church. Please pray for those attending that they will understand Jesus' birth as God's plan for saving us and that those attending who have not trusted Jesus as savior will do so. Pray for leaders of this church as they continue to reach out to those around them and lead them to Christ.

Prayer Request #3

Please pray for F. who is an alcoholic and a new believer. He has been working with a mission church on the outer edges of Guatemala City to reach other alcoholics as well as drug addicts with the Gospel and try to help them recover from their addiction. God has given F. an extraordinary ability to learn the stories from the Bible and tell them to others. But F. himself continues to struggle with his addiction and has recently "fallen off the wagon". Please pray that God will draw F. back to Him and give him the strength to overcome his alcoholism. Pray that his life will become a true testimony of God's healing and saving grace and that he will continue to share God's word with others.

August 2006

Team Contaré (I will tell) has had the privilege of visiting with missionaries and nationals in several countries in Central America as well as in Mexico. For us it has been a joy to see what God is doing in those places and to be able to share ideas with and learn from our missionary colleagues. We have also been able to offer some training in Bible storying to missionaries and nationals in several locations. Billy and Mary Collins, working with the Chortí people in Honduras and Billy and Mary Capps working with the Lenca people in Honduras have been working diligently to reach two of the people groups that have been most resistant to the Gospel. Both of these couples have won the confidence and love of the people as they have reached out and shown a genuine love for them. Both of these couples have been sharing the gospel using Bible storying. Finally after several years of patient ministry among these people groups, both are beginning to see a harvest. People have begun to ask for the Bible stories to be taught in their villages. In fact they have more requests than they are able to physically respond to. Several have received Christ as their savior, and were recently baptized. Praise God for the Capps and Collins who have shared the Good News with the Chortí and Lenca in a way they could understand. Please pray for the new believers that they will be discipled and that their lives will bear testimony of the difference Christ makes and that they will share the good news with their neighbors. Pray for leaders to be trained, so that they can tell the Bible stories in every Chortí and Lenca village.

Keith and Penny Stamps have been visiting a small Baptist congregation in a mountain village near Antigua, Guatemala. Keith has been teaching them using Bible storying. Recently, after a group of new believers were baptized, the young pastor approached Keith and asked for discipleship materials. He explained that he and his congregation have difficulty reading and understanding the materials they have, but that they are able to understand and remember the Bible stories Keith has been telling. This pastor is now using a set of stories developed for discipleship.

In a subsequent visit to this church, Keith and Penny learned that in over 13 years since this church began, they have never celebrated the Lord's Supper. So the next Sunday, Keith shared with them the stories from the Bible that explain why and how we celebrate the Lord's Supper and then led them through their first Lord's Supper. After the service, the members had several questions concerning their continued celebration of the Lord's Supper. It was a sweet time of sharing and fellowship with this small congregation. Please pray for Keith and Penny as they continue to encourage this church. Pray for this group as they learn God's Word, that they will learn the stories and share them with their families, friends and neighbors.

June 13, 2006

We ask you to join us in praying for the Farm 4 church in Bocas del Toro, Panama. This is a church we worked with very closely in our first years in Panama and grew to love them deeply. Around midnight Saturday, 11 people (3 children and 8 adults) associated with the Baptist Church in Finca Cuatro, Bocas del Toro Province, were killed when the Toyota Hilux pickup in which they were passengers collided with a truck on the road between Almirante and Changuinola. Three of the deceased were of the same family. The accident occurred as the group was returning from a farewell gathering for a [non-IMB] missionary who was returning to the United States. The hired chauffer and his companion were gravely injured. They were both found to be drunk and are currently jailed in Changuinola. This accident has caused much grief to the church and to the population of Bocas del Toro as so many were killed leaving five families in deep sorrow at the loss of their loved ones. Please pray God’s comfort, peace, and provision to those of the Finca Cuatro Baptist Church and to all of the families affected by this tragedy.

April 7, 2006

The week of April 9th-16th is Holy Week and in Antigua, Guatemala, it is a week jam packed with processions, pageantry and beautiful carpets in the streets made of colored sawdust, vegetables, flowers and other plants. But just as the beauty of the carpets is marred by the feet of those carrying the idols, the beauty of the celebration of Christ’s resurrection is marred by the fact that most of the people involved in the processions, carrying the images, and making the carpets are simply performing works that they believe will lessen their time in purgatory. It is equally sad to realize that on Good Friday, during the processions that depict Christ’s crucifixion, there are so many masses of people, you can hardly move. Yet on Resurrection Sunday, during the celebration of His resurrection, the streets are almost empty. Please pray that God will open the hearts and eyes of many people during this week to the truth that Jesus has already paid the price for us and wants us to celebrate life with Him.

April 17th Keith Stamps and Alan Lyons will be traveling to Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico for three days of combined study and training time in Chronological Bible Storying with the missionaries and national brothers there. Please pray that Keith and Alan will model the Bible stories well. Also pray that the brothers will be excited about taking what they’ve learned to their friends and neighbors and follow through on the training.

Keith and Alan had a very good trip. They were able to meet with various leaders in Tepic who were able to help them learn more of the Nayarit world view. They were very positive when they heard Bible stories used in evangelism, for teaching and in sermons, finally agreeing that oral models could be put to good effect in all areas of their work.

March 1, 2006

March 15th through the 19th, Keith and Penny Stamps and Alan and Melodie Lyons will be traveling to Copan Ruinas, Honduras for follow-up training in Chronological Bible Storying among the leaders and church members of the Chorti people. Please pray that the leaders who already have a vision for using storying in their ministry will continue to develop their skills in using it to reach more of their people. Also pray that the church members would be able to learn the stories presented and boldly present them to their friends and neighbors in order to share the Good News of Christ in the coming weeks and months. They are also inviting some folks from new areas that need a vision for sharing God’s Word through stories.

In February, a time of training in Chronological Bible Storying was held with leaders among the Lenca people. Please pray this month, that God would guide these leaders into just the right areas to begin sharing God’s Word, or to continue to share God’s Word in the form of stories so that many more Lenca will be able to hear and respond to the gospel.

Keith Stamps and Alan Lyons spent two days with IMB missionary Jim McGriff and the Kekchi leadership February 27th and 28th helping to cast a vision for the future of the Kekchi work and how Chronological Bible storying can help them continue to reach many people who have little formal education. Please pray that God would grant each of the Kekchi leaders a renewed passion to reach their fellow Kekchi for Christ using storying.

February 1, 2006

Please pray for Keith Stamps and Alan Lyons as they meet with the leaders of the K’ekchi’ Baptist Association February 27th and 28th. Pray for wisdom and guidance for them as they join the leaders in a time of prayer for their people and their ministry plans. Pray that they would be able to assist them in casting a vision of how they can more effectively reach their own people group, who are predominantly oral communicators.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will put in the lives of every single person trained by Team CONTARE this year such a passion for sharing God’s Word through the stories of the Bible that they would share them not only in their own families, but with their friends and neighbors at every opportunity.

January 1, 2006

In this new year Team CONTARE is planning to begin building relationships with the aim of starting a new work in a Cakchiquel Indian village near our homes in Antigua. This village has long been a stronghold of animistic beliefs with only a few evangelical works that are not very strong. Please pray for God’s direction for our team as we explore the possibility of starting a new work there. Pray that God will lead us to a person of peace with whom we can begin.

Please pray for the Baptist leadership in our region of Guatemala. Pray that God would give them a renewed passion to reach the many lost around them who have not heard the Gospel in a way that enables them to understand and respond.

Pray for the thousands of people who were affected by hurricane Stan.

See pictures of destruction and help in Tajumulco, San Marcos, Guatemala. October, 2005