AMERICAN PEOPLES AFFINITY GROUP

January, 2011
January 12th marks the one-year anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Praise God for overwhelming
love of Christians who ministered to Haitians during this year of recovery. IMB workers have focused energies
and resources on physical and emotional needs of people while responding to every opportunity to give a
gospel witness. Many have come to saving faith in Jesus, and new evangelistic Bible study groups have
emerged. Local churches are God’s light in communities of darkness. At news of the earthquake and pleas for
additional workers in Haiti, several IMB workers serving in other countries in the Americas were quick to
respond to the need. These faithful workers returned to their original fields of assignment in December. Thank
God for their invaluable labor of love to the Haitian people and their devotion to serving God. IMB workers
remaining in Haiti will focus on evangelism, church planting and discipleship. Beginning in January, Baptist
Global Response (BGR) began giving direction to continued recovery work in Haiti. With poverty and
escalating illnesses and deaths caused by cholera epidemic, volunteer medical teams will continue to minister
to the health needs of Haitians.

Saturday, January 1 – Haiti Disaster Relief- Pray
for U.S. volunteers and Haitian Baptist Churches
continuing to work side-by-side to construct
transitional houses for displaced families to give
them secure and safe shelter. Pray that Haitians
will receive the Lord’s “oil of gladness instead of
mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a
spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:3, NIV)
Sunday, January 2 – Pray for the Finance Office
as they close out the books for 2010 and get
started on accounting for 2011. It will be a
challenging month as well as participating in the
Occasional Group Meeting (OGM) with Chile,
Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay on January
20-26. Pray that all will go smoothly and that the
OGM will be an encouraging and inspiring time
together.
Monday, January 3 – Bill and Linda Egbert of the
Ngabe Team of Costa Rica asks you to pray for
a Women’s Conference for Ngabe women that
will be held in Costa Rica on January 3-4. There
will be special activities for the women including
Bible Stories focusing especially on "Hope for
Women."
Tuesday, January 4 – The New Year is here!
This will be a busy year for mobilization as
mobilizers either move to their fields of service or
change over to their mobilization responsibilities
where they are. We pray for discernment and
good will for both our mobilizers and our national
partners that we work with. We ask that during
the OGMs when mobilization is discussed that
all missionaries will better understand the role
that mobilization plays in reaching the world for
Christ and how they can help their country's
mobilizer make contact with missionary
candidates.
Wednesday, January 5 – Mexico
Indigenous- Please pray for the new family that
will arrive in January to work with the Zapotec
people group. Pray for their adjustment to a new
country and starting to learn the Zapotec
language.
Thursday, January 6 – Buenos Aires Team-
Please pray for 2 young men that have become
followers of Christ with the Bible study group in
Beccar. Pray for a hunger to know more about
the Bible and wisdom for those who disciple
them.
Friday, January 7 – Eastern UPG Cluster-Pray
for the new M teams that are beginning a new
focus in their ministry of the Eastern UPG
Cluster. Ask the Lord to show them where to
start and lead them to persons of peace within
their people group. Pray they can find national
partners to be a part of their team and ask the
Lord to prepare the hearts of the Ba Piguari
Peoples (UPGs) of the Eastern UPG Cluster.
Saturday, January 8 – Argentine Patagonia
Team – January is a month when many take
vacation in Argentina. Please pray for the small
groups, which have formed that they will not lose
their momentum.
Sunday, January 9 – Stephen Bowers, Cluster
Strategy Leader for the Gran Colombia/Mayan
Cluster, shares the following request. To say the
least Colombia is a very complex country. If we
had all of the answers then Colombia’s 90 plus
people groups would all be reached, but they are
not. Misinformation and misunderstandings
concerning Colombia play a major part in the
reason that many people groups are unreached.
Praise the Lord for those IMB personnel who
recently have expressed interest in transferring
to Colombia. And praise the Lord for new
personnel who will arrive in 2011. Please pray
that the Father would give wisdom and creativity
to personnel who will focus on groups that have
little or no believers nor New Testament groups.
Monday, January 10 – Eastern UPG Cluster- Lift
up the Amba (UPG) of the EUPG. Ask they Lord
to provide opportunities for the Faye and Kaye,
living in a neighboring community to have
contact with them. Pray that the Lord prepare
their hearts to receive, hear and respond to the
Gospel message.
Tuesday, January 11 – Pray that seeds of
Christmas cheer and the message of hope in
Christ sown over the holiday season will bear
fruit in the ministry of Carmen and Pablo
Pachalian, Diaspora missionaries in Madrid.
Christmas and New Years home gatherings
were well attended by non-believers. Thank the
Lord for continued open doors among Latinos in
Madrid.
Wednesday, January 12 – Paraguay Urban
Team-In the coming year Donnie and Lori
Starkey and their sons, will be seeking and
preparing for a new ministry. Pray for Donnie
and Lori as they seek God's guidance so that
they will be serving Him in the place that He has
for them. Pray with them for A and M two recent
converts who have committed their lives to God's
ministry but who are facing obstacles. Pray that
God will keep them in His paths.
Thursday, January 13 – English as a Second
Language classes in Chile have recently
completed their first semester. It has been a joy
to teach the students English, memorize and
discuss Bible verses together, pray for each
other and get to know each other in general. We
hope to continue to meet informally during
January and February and study the Bible
together. Ask the Holy Spirit to give the students
a hunger and thirst to know more of His Word.
Friday, January 14 – Maroon Tribes of
Suriname- Please pray for the village of Diitabikii
in Suriname. It is steeped in darkness. Many
missionaries have witnessed to this village, the
radio station has storied many Bible stories in
this village, and prayer walkers have prayed
though the village many times. Please pray for
the walls of darkness to be penetrated and for
their eyes to be opened to Jesus. Please pray
they will leave their animistic ways and follow the
True Creator and Savior.
Saturday, January 15 – As the E K Team looked
at their goals and desires for planting 10 new
house churches among their people in 2011,
they felt overwhelmed by the undertaking before
them. Give thanks to God for the monthly
workshops designed for training/translation of
Bible stories into E K, using the Chronological
Bible Storying method. It has given them deeper
insights into the Bible story as well as the desire
and ability to develop other stories from God’s
Word in their heart language and boldness in
sharing these stories with others. Pray for these
believers who willingly take these Bible stories to
their villages, sharing Christ’s love among their
people.
Sunday, January 16 – Brazilians of Rural Interior
Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo - On January 17,
2011, there will be a candidate meeting for those
interested in completing a Master of Theological
Studies in Missions degree. This is a new
program being sponsored by Southeastern
Seminary and offered to executives of the
Brazilian Home and Foreign Mission Boards,
mission field leaders, and strategic pastors. The
meeting is by invitation only and will be held in
Rio de Janeiro. Please pray for David Bledsoe
(Belo Horizonte) and the others involved in
planning this meeting. As of mid-December,
there are still many contacts to be made and
details to be finalized. Please pray that
everything will be ready in time, that those whom
God is calling will attend, and that this program
will be used to increase the spread of the gospel
in Brazil and beyond. Pray that each attendee
will see confirmation of God’s will in his or her
life in relation to participation in this program.
Monday, January 17 – We continue to ask for
prayer for the Ingrams from Uruguay as they
continue to serve even while battling against the
many health issues that have kept them on
medical leave these past months.
Tuesday, January 18 – Mobilization work
involves a lot of travel. Please remember your
country's mobilizer in prayer throughout the year
as they travel throughout the country and
region.
Wednesday, January 19 – Stephen Bowers,
Cluster Strategy Leader for the Gran
Colombia/Mayan Cluster, shares the following
request. A Colombian Indigenous Consultation
will be held January 19-22, 2011. Indigenous
leaders and cross-cultural workers will gather
together to discuss how they might better
cooperate together and form appropriate
networks. Please pray that this meeting will lead
Colombians to focus more on reaching multiple
UPGs in the Amazon region of the country.
Thursday, January 20 – Cds. Grandes del Bajío
Team-In early November, a teen-ager and his
girlfriend, both 13 years old, had an argument,
and the girl broke off the relationship. The boy
was very depressed and felt he had no more
reason to live. He returned to his house, got a
rope, went into a bedroom, and hung himself.
This lamentable type of situation has been
repeated 46 times during 2010 among the young
people of León, Mexico, a city with a very high
rate of suicide. Pray for Team León as they work
hard, looking for effective ways to spread the
Gospel to give hope to the young
people of León. “Now may the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing, so that
you may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.”
(Romans 15:13, HCSB)
Friday, January 21 – Diaspora- New churches
are beginning this month as newly trained
church planters from various South American
countries begin to put into practice what they are
learning. Please pray for these new churches
and for Nolen Pridemore and Spanish Pastor F
as they continue to lead this church planting
course.
Saturday, January 22 – Lift up the new Student
Team of the UPG Cluster. Pray for the two J-
men as they begin language study and the team
leader as he and his family return from STAS.
Ask the Lord to prepare the way as they begin
their new focus of ministry. Praise the Lord for
what he has already done.
Sunday, January 23 – Paraguay Urban Team-
On December 8 each year thousands of
Paraguayans travel to Caacupe to worship The
Virgin of Caacupe and to pray to her for
forgiveness, healing, thanksgiving and for
prosperity. Pray for those worshippers of Mary
and this particular apparition of Mary that they
may turn to Jesus as their Savior and Lord and
intercessor before God. Pray for Bill and Terri
Baer and Tim and Iracema Kunkel as they work
in 2011 to mobilize Evangelical Paraguayan
Christians for national and world missions. Pray
that Christians in Paraguay will be inspired to
reach out to their families, neighbors, friends and
those they meet with the good news of Jesus.
Pray that God will provide the needed resources
for those Paraguayans who accept the challenge
of missions to go to the lost the world over to
share the Gospel. Pray that Jesus will reign
supreme in the hearts of Paraguayans.
Monday, January 24 – Coastal Caribbean - This
year's hurricane season was very active. Many
Caribbean countries are still recovering from the
effects of the many tropical storms and
hurricanes that hit this year. Please pray
specifically for those in Jamaica, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Barbados and Grenada as they
continue to recover from Hurricane Tomas.
Please also pray for Courtney and Arleen Street
as they seek to assist in the relief efforts and
minister to those affected by the storms.
Tuesday, January 25 – Central Argentina Team
-"The following day Peter arrived in Caesarea.
Cornelius was expecting them and had called
together his relatives and close friends." Acts
10:24 Asbury Martin, IMB missionary serving in
Córdoba, Argentina, asks you to pray for P and
G who are committed to learning how to use
their homes as a place of ministry to reach the
lost with the Gospel. Pray for them as they are
being trained in small group evangelism with the
vision of planting simple churches in their
neighborhood.
Wednesday, January 26 – REAP Ecuador-Our
local church here in Quito has agreed to partner
with one of our REAP churches in the adoption
of the town of Uyumbicho. Please pray that
these two churches will work in unity to spread
the gospel of truth to the many that do not yet
know and do not yet believe. Ask God to raise
up a local leader in this town to pastor the new
believers.
Thursday, January 27 – 50 Days of Prayer for
Cuba-Recently a Christian violinist for a Havana
symphony orchestra, and some other Cuban American Peoples Affinity Group vision
Christian musicians used music to share the statement: “Our vision is a multitude of disciples
Gospel with rural Cubans. In one week 450 among all peoples of the Americas, equipped to
people accepted Christ. The violinist returned fulfill the Great Commission to the ends of the
burdened to win fellow musicians to Christ. Pray earth.”
for this musician and another orchestra member
as they share their faith with their peers.
fiftydaysofprayer@50dias.org

Friday, January 28 – Paraguay Urban Team-

Pray for Young Mo and Heddy Kim as they seek
God's guidance in new directions for their
missionary focus. Pray for their daughter as she
makes plans for her college days. Pray for
their church "Iglesia Zion” that they will remain
strong in their testimony in their neighborhood
and as they commit to establish new outreach
groups. Pray for the Women's Bible Study and
Prayer Group to continue faithfully to study
God's word and to see His guidance in prayer for
their lives and their church family.

Saturday, January 29 – Dan and Betty Jo Hall

are working to develop relationships and initiate
new home groups among Brazilians in London.
Pray that many doors will open throughout the
month of January, bringing glory to the Father
and launching this new year with new hope!

Sunday, January 30 – Northern Argentina-

Please pray for Quechua Bolivians E and H,
living in Buenos Aires as they continue to take
steps of faith to follow God in moving to the Villa
Maria area of Cordoba in February to work
amongst the Bolivian communities. They desire
to do home groups and hopefully start a church
among the Bolivian community. Please pray for
them as they continue to seek the Lord's leading
in all the decisions they need to make for this
transition.

Monday, January 31 – Praise the Lord for the

project in the Eastern UPG Cluster to train
leaders to work with people groups who have a
widespread problem of alcoholism. Ask the Lord
to be with the Ms and partners who are leading
this project and for the great reports about
results among the people. Pray for the meeting
with National Mission Leadership and resulting
ministry projects.