August Pastor Training Prayer Guide — International Celebration

PRAYER GUIDE FOR PASTOR TRAINING TRIP

AUGUST 5, 2023

TEAM MEMBERS

…..Carl Martin

…..Chase Barbe

…..Steve Puckett

GUYANESE STAFF

…..Jai Ramnauth

…..Alex Seunarine

…..Michael Ramsaywack

PASTORS AND LEADERS IN TRAINING

Brother Karl _ Arakata Village

Brother Basil _ 4 Miles Village

Brother Leo _ Quarry Village

Brother James _ Oriuck Village

Brother Philbert _ Grandfather Creek

Brother Clifford _ Canal Bank

Brother Philip _ Seibi Creek

Brother Festus _ Bush Mouth

Sister Carmen _ Unity Grant

Brother Kingsley _ St John Wani

Brother Tyrone _ First Lagoon Wani

Sister Rita _ Katcha kama Wini

Brother Vernon- Aruka Mouth

Brother Mike—Santa Cruz

Brother Paul—Huvu

Brother Orlando—Cashew Island

The purpose of this trip is the third pastor training event. Carl has done a masterful job of encouraging and equipping these village leaders who have committed to leading their churches. Some have been pastors however most are not trained. Others saw the need to volunteer as a lay leader to make it possible for their village to have a church and they want to learn all they can to lead and serve. Each of these congregations have asked to come under the umbrella of our ministry, International Celebration Assn. for training and accountability. To learn more, see internatinalceleoration.org. At the last training, the number grew from 13 churches to 14. This training session, we have two new churches who have asked to join so now our total is16 churches having leaders in training. We couldn’t be more thrilled.

These churches are along two different rivers which both spill out into the Atlantic. This session, four pastors and two spouses will get on a boat will a small motor and travel up their river, into the Atlantic for a short way and back down the other river to reach the training. It will take them about 11 hours to travel there. That shows true dedication and a real desire to learn and grow. Please pray for them as they travel, especially as they go into the Atlantic in their small boat.

The training will be at Pastor Mike’s church in Santa Cruz.

Saturday—August 5…Pray for travel mercies as our 3 travel to Miami and then on to Georgetown, Guyana. There have been a lot of cancellations or delays of flights in general over the last month so please pray for good travel. Arrival is late and then there is customs which can be long. The hotel is an hour away. Pray for good sleep.

Sunday—August 6…Hopefully after a nice sleep, the team will enjoy a nice breakfast and have a 9:00 am departure. The first leg is a drive to Parika in our van. There they will drive onto the big ferry and cross to Charity. They will spend the night there.

Monday—August 7…Today they will travel by boat for about 6 hours. They will use a cut through between two big rivers called The Ninety-Nine because there are 99 switchbacks. This is a shortcut. Pray for the four pastors and two spouses who will be traveling today as well. As I mentioned, they will have a trip that will be about 11 hours.

Monday night, there will be a Celebration Service for the community with music and preaching under the stars. Carl will preach. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will go before and have hearts ready for whatever decisions the people need to make, either for salvation or for a commitment to grow in Christ.

Tuesday—August 8…Today Carl will begin his intensive teaching. There will be three sessions a day with lots of discussion and conversation. Please pray that Carl will have the energy he needs because that is a lot of teaching. He always does such a great job of making the church leaders feel comfortable. He makes the material very clear and applicable, ready to discuss any questions. After the last two training trips, we heard nothing but praises from those being trained about how simple Carl made even complex subjects. HE HAS A GIFT!!!

Tonight there will be a second Celebration Service for the community and Jai will preach. Please pray for a great harvest.

Wednesday—August 9…Pray for health and stamina for all involved as there are 3 more sessions. The past two training weeks, Carl heard that when it was time for a break, the pastors/leaders didn’t want to stop. Chase and Steve will have a lot of discussions with the pastors who want one on one conversations.

Six months ago at the last training, Steve showed the pastors the salvation bracelets that we use with the 5 colors of beads explaining the Gospel. The pastors loved it’s simplicity and wanted to have one for each member of their churches so they could all tell the people of their communities how to receive forgiveness by accepting Jesus. Each pastor will be given beads and spools of leather strapping to take home to make the bracelets. Here is what the beads mean.

Black Bead- Represents the sin in our lives which we can’t get rid of on our own no matter how good we are.

Red Bead- Represents Jesus’ blood that He shed on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the world. Those who accept Him as Savior and receive the free gift of forgiveness are born into God’s family.

White Bead- Represents being clean in God’s sight. If we accept Jesus’ free gift and are forgiven, our sins are gone and God sees us as clean.

Yellow Bead- Represents the streets of gold in Heaven. That is where we will spend eternity if we have had our sins forgiven and are deemed clean by God.

Green Bead- Represents growth as a new believer. Just as grass and leaves are green and grow, we must grow as Christians so we can serve and tell others. We do that by studying the Bible, praying, hearing the Scriptures taught, encouraging other believers and sharing what happened to you with others who need to ask Jesus to be their Savior.

Thursday—August 10…Three more sessions today as the teaching finishes. Please give the team discernment to encourage whatever questions need to be answered today. International Celebration has been blessed to team up with a ministry, International Cooperating Ministries. They provide remote churches little projectors that are the size of a big cell phone and hot spots to be able to be used in these remote places. The contents include the Bible, 90 Old Testament video lessons and 90 New Testament lessons plus teachings on the Sermon on the Mount and Family Relationships. Alex will train these 16 leaders how to use this equipment so they can have this wonderful teaching to share with their churches. We expect to see a lot of growth when each village is equipped with these devices in the near future.

Friday—August 11…Our team will leave at 4:00 am to travel back out, first by boat, then get our van and then onto the ferry and drive home. It will take about 12 hours of travel.

Saturday—August 12…7:00 am flight. It is an hour to the airport so the team will have to leave the hotel at about 3:30 or 4:00 am. Please pray for good connections and that they will be able to rest on the plane.

Thank you for praying…..

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