Calendar

Sunday, Jan. 9

Prayer for Mission Partners (4 p.m.) and Congo (6:30 p.m.) | Zoom (link on CCB)

From Cape Town to Amsterdam. From Tonga to Kyrgyzstan. From Blacknall to Beni and lots of places in between! We are invited to gather to pray for our Blacknall-supported missionaries. Come participate in what God is doing in our world! Contact: Dave Dunderdale.

Announcements

Welcome Sondra Haaga,
Blacknall's new Communications and Program Coordinator! The staff, session and personnel committee were delighted to welcome Sondra this week to the Blacknall staff!
See the full news post here.

Community Announcements

Abundant Joy Center for Women's Ministries
Abundant Joy CWM serves women who are experiencing a difficult time. Our services are free and confidential and include one-on-one counseling to women 18 and over, support groups, and Bible study groups. We are offering the following groups in the Winter of 2022. Women can register for a group at abundantjoycwm@gmail.com or call 919-943-0789 for more information.
- Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkin on Tuesday morning 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., January 18 - March 15.
- Prayer Group for Mothers of Adult Children on the first and third Wednesday afternoon of the month 1-2:30 p.m., February 2 - April 13.
- Basic Peer Counseling Training will be offered for anyone interested in volunteering as a peer counselor or group facilitator. An application will need to be completed as well as an interview with Priscilla, the Center Director, before taking this class. The class will be offered on Thursday morning 9:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., February 3 - April 21.

Love and Serve

We rejoice with Hanke & Wilco De Vries on the birth of their son, Sem Willem Asher De Vries on December 29th! Sign up to bring them a meal.
Iglesia Emanuel Food Pantry
Volunteer at the Iglesia Emanuel Food Pantry. Not comfortable gathering? Sign up to bag rice and beans from home.
Walltown Neighborhood Ministries Food Bank
Volunteer at the Walltown Neighborhood Ministries Food Bank.

Prayer

Durham—We pray for World Relief Durham and their work of helping to settle refugees in Durham. They are thankful for the outpouring of passionate community support in response to the Afghan refugee crisis; in particular the 1000+ new volunteer applications received and 50+ partnering churches. They are also thankful for the new refugee women’s community support group that is providing meaningful emotional support, relationships, and connections that foster well-being and sense of belonging. Please pray for:

· Affordable and safe permanent housing for the 380 refugees WRD will resettle this year; please pray for new partnerships with landlords and apartment complexes, and for reduced stigma around renting to refugees.

· Their program recipients to find sustainable employment to support their families, and for new employers to look favorably on their new refugee employees.

Campus & National—We pray for Terri Shell with InterVarsity. Terri is the Associate Regional Director for the Carolinas, helping to equip leaders on 27 campuses in the Carolinas. She asks for prayer for:

· students to feel noticed and cared for by the people of God on campus;

· for more corners of campus to be reached with the gospel (like the STEM small group at Elon);

· non-Christians to be intrigued by the live and love of the Christians they encounter and take the risk to join our communities and meet Jesus;

· lots of students to get involved with small group Bible studies and meet the Lord through the living Word.

International—We pray for Blacknall global workers, Fraser and Liz Bennett, working with Wycliffe Bible Translators, based in Dallas, Texas. Fraser “manages SIL LEAD’s part of two large literacy and education projects. After five years, the Central Asian project has ended. Despite the Covid-19 epidemic, the project helped over 1,100,000 children learn to read, and trained 18,000 teachers. Nine languages—two national languages and seven minority languages—were involved.” Prayer requests from Frazer and Liz: (1) his plans to make a survey in an African nation to determine how well 50,000 out-of-school children and youth understand the national language; (2) the opening of doors for Fraser’s team to train the surveyors; (3) the production of many good books in the languages of new literates to enhance their literacy level and to introduce them to Jesus; (4) their constancy in abiding in Christ and trusting in his guidance and provision.

Griefs

We pray for the family of Jo Oldham who died Dec. 2. The memorial service has been rescheduled for the first half of March. Details to follow.
We pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.

Joys

We rejoice in the birth of Sem Willem Asher de Vries (Sem) to Hanke & Wilco and siblings, Yael & Rivka.
We rejoice in our inclusion in the Family of God and the gift of brothers and sisters in Christ and particularly our fellowship together in Blacknall.

Concerns

We pray for Hank Humphrey recovering from knee replacement surgery last week.
We pray for former Blacknall missionary, Annette George, as she hopes to return to Thailand this week to say good-bye to friends there. She left Thailand not knowing that she was not returning and has been unable to return because of COVID. Pray that she will still be able to travel this week.
We pray for Bethany & Noe Kasali in Goma, DRC, who are expecting their new baby due in mid-January. Pray for a safe delivery for Bethany and the baby.

World

We pray for the nation of Kazakhstan and for a cessation of the violence and for peace and justice to prevail.
We pray for an end to the COVID virus.

Life Together

We give thanks to God for leading Sondra Haaga to be our new Communications and Program Coordinator.
We pray for Wen Reagan as he leads us in worship and music. Pray for good physical health for Wen and for his family
We pray for our continued search for a Choir Director.