“When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message…”
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications
One of the great strengths of our organization is that our reps are scattered literally all over the world, serving in various capacities, focusing on various sports. Also one of our great weaknesses is that our reps are scattered all over the world. Communications, time zones, different focuses make cohesion difficult. Continue to pray for the development of our ever growing, ever changing team.
For the Win[dow],
Bubby Bryan, DOC
VERSE OF THE WEEK: 1 Samuel 16:7
"But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Turkey
Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." Under his leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the Kurdistan People's Congress or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - dominated the Turkish military's attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives. After the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey mainly to northern Iraq. In 2013, the PKK and the Turkish Government agreed to a cease-fire that continues despite slow progress in ongoing peace talks. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1963, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; it began accession membership talks with the EU in 2005. Over the past decade, economic reforms have contributed to a quickly growing economy. (CIA World Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for a radical change in deep-seated prejudices and biases against Christianity.
- Pray for wise leadership to peacefully navigate the tense rivalry between staunch nationalists and radical Islamists.
- Pray for the work of evangelism to go forth in power despite increased hostilities and bitter persecution toward believers.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
- Pray for the US office.