Saturday, November 8, 2003

11:39 AM We are beginning the search to fill a new fulltime staff position—Pastor of Outreach Ministries. For more information, scroll down the page to Wednesday, November 5. It’s the second entry from the top for that day. 11:19 AM A fine crowd showed up for the prayer breakfast that kicked off our World Focus Weekend at Calvary. Our theme is the persecuted church around the world. Saw several of our missionaries, including Jack Lilley who said he is having a great time designing graduate-level, Internet-based, Bible courses for students all across Latin America. He just finished field-testing a course on discipleship and is working on a course covering 1 Corinthians. Students taking these courses have already completed college and most have some seminary training. They will be top-level leaders in the evangelical church in the years to come. Talked to Rob Skinner who will be moving soon to the home office of HCJB in Colorado Springs where he will oversee their worldwide legal affairs. Mark and Sandy Acell were at the breakfast—having just driven in from their new home in Ohio. The Road Warrior Award goes to Frank and Rebecca Arellanes who drove straight through from Orlando to Oak Park, arriving at 8:15 AM. We were given cards with pictures and bios of specific Christians undergoing persecution in various countries. We then prayed for these brothers and sisters around our tables. Marlene’s card told of a man named “Aladin” who was arrested in Sudan because he is a Christian. Other cards mentioned believers in China, unnamed Muslim countries, Nigeria, and so on. Focusing on suffering believers certainly helps put your own difficulties into proper perspective. Tonight we meet in the Dining Room to watch a new film on the persecuted church. Here’s an article describing the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Note the links to many other articles at the end of the story.