Prayer Requests and plans...

OSCER Leadership Retreat
Halkidiki, Greece
September 14-22

Please join us in praying for our time in Greece with these Romanian leaders. 29 of them are coming from all over Romania for a time of leadership training, and, most of all, a chance to be refreshed in the presence of the Lord as they seek Him for the future of their lives and OSCER.

Friday, September 14th:

• Pray for unity our team – Romans 15:5-6 “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Pray for safe travels as we fly to Athens, then to Thesoloniki and then a brief bus ride on to Halkidiki

Saturday, September 15th: Arrive in Halkidiki!

• Pray for energy as we get ready to welcome the Romanian students and leaders
• Pray that we would connect with them and begin immediately to establish deep relationships. “that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you”. Romans 15:32
• Pray today for Melissa Merkel as she welcomes the students and sets the tone for the week. Pray that she would communicate authenticity, and build excitement for the week to come while also keeping the focus on the purpose of the retreat.

Sunday, September 16th:

• Today’s session is focused on Competence. (We are teaching through Andy Stanley’s Next Generation Leader) Pray for Andrew Carretto as he leads us through this time.
• We will be having a workshop and giving each person a copy of “Now Discover Your Strengths”.
• “Having then gifts differing according to the GRACE that is given to us, let us use them” Romans 12:6 – pray that the students learn more about how God has wired them, and that they will feel the freedom of grace to operate within those gifts (and not feel the pressure to do “everything”..we know many of these leaders are coming to this retreat feeling burned out)

Monday, September 17th:

• Today’s focus is Courage and Clarity. Pray for Marcus Lewis and Mark Dugger as they walk us through this.
• Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you He will not fail you or forsake you.”
• Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking until Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”

Tuesday, September 18th:

• Today is entirely free! This day is all about relationships – spending time together on the beach, talking, etc.
• Pray for wisdom in our interactions with the Romanians – the questions they are bringing to the table are beyond us and we need God’s wisdom to walk them through these things! Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding”.
• At some point today we are encouraging everyone to walk through a 3 hour prayer journey.
• Pray Jeremiah 29:11-14 over this time: “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity”

Wednesday, September 19th:

• Today is focused on Coaching. Pray for Andy Roberts as he leads us through this teaching.
• Pray that everyone would catch the vision of coaching, or intentional apprenticing.
• 2 Timothy 2:1-2 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Thursday, September 20th:

• Today is focused on Character. Pray for Savannah Duncan as she teaches this session.
• Romanians live in a society with lots of corruption. Pray for these students to stand firmly in Truth.
• 1 Peter 1:13-16: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

Friday, September 21st: Go to Philipi

• Today the students go home. Pray that they would return refreshed and with a renewed vision for what God wants to do in Romania, and a joy that they get to be a part of it.
• Colossians 2:6-7 “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
• Habakuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.”
• Pray for our team today as we debrief. We will head back down to Thesaloniki and debrief in Philipi (as in Pauls letter to the Phillipians!) Pray that we would be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and have a spirit of unity and thankfulness for what God has done this week.

Saturday, September 22nd: Going back to Atlanta!

• We fly home – pray for safety as we fly to Athens and then on to Atlanta.
• Pray for our transition back, that we would be able to share with others what God did on our trip, and also engage fully to the work He has for us here at home.
• Ephesians 4:20-21: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory..”