"God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil ..." - E.M. Bounds
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications
Holy week is upon us once again. Easter is still a big deal state-side, even if the spiritual significance is muted by our overwhelming American noise. I cant help but think about our reps in the field - operating in cultures where the single greatest feat in human history goes unnoticed and uncelebrated. Pray for our workers, not only for their continued encouragement on this holy occasion but that the Spirit would begin to draw people to himself - from all nations - to worship the risen Christ.
For the Win[dow],
Bubby Bryan, DOC
VERSE OF THE WEEK: Mark 8:31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many thing and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Algeria
After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. Algeria's primary political party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), was established in 1954 as part of the struggle for independence and has largely dominated politics since. The Government of Algeria in 1988 instituted a multi-party system in response to public unrest, but the surprising first round success of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 balloting led the Algerian army to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming power. The army began a crackdown on the FIS that spurred FIS supporters to begin attacking government targets. Fighting escalated into an insurgency, which saw intense violence from 1992-98, resulting in over 100,000 deaths - many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists. The government gained the upper hand by the late-1990s, and FIS's armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded in January 2000. Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, with the backing of the military, won the presidency in 1999 in an election widely viewed as fraudulent. He was reelected to a second term in 2004 and overwhelmingly won a third term in 2009, after the government amended the constitution in 2008 to remove presidential term limits. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 2006 merged with al-Qa'ida to form al-Qa'ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, which has launched an ongoing series of kidnappings and bombings targeting the Algerian Government and Western interests. The government in 2011 introduced some political reforms in response to the Arab Spring, including lifting the 19-year-old state of emergency restrictions and increasing women's quotas for elected assemblies. Parliamentary elections in May 2012 and municipal and provincial elections in November 2012 saw continued dominance by the FLN, with Islamist opposition parties performing poorly. Political protest activity in the country remained low in 2013, but small, sometimes violent socioeconomic demonstrations by disparate groups continued to be a common occurrence. Parliament in 2014 is expected to revise the constitution. (CIA Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for the Berber peoples and many other unreached people groups who span across the entire nation.
- Pray for faith-filled bold believers to persevere despite intensifying persecution by Muslims.
- Pray for those scarred by violence and war to find their healing in Jesus Christ.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers on the field.
- Pray for the Uttermost US office.