Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... Wednesday

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Their mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, they seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Invitation to Prayer ... Wednesday

Hi Friends,

We will be meeting this Wednesday at 11:00 a.m., in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. I hope you can join us!

Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries.

All the best,

Carrie

---

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:7

Dear Intercessors,

This week I wanted to share two stories of hope, especially in light of the heavy news of last week. Though they come from two separate corners of the world, there's a common theme in both of them I appreciate: do good right where you are. Beloved, let us love one another.

DALLAS // 600 men turn up to stand in for absent fathers at Texas school's Breakfast with Dads

"Some 600 men showed up to support students with absent fathers at a Texas middle school's Breakfast with Dads event after just 50 volunteers were sought. This heartwarming act of kindness occurred last month at Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Dallas. The middle school has a population of nearly 900 students and about 90 per cent of those pupils come from low-income families. About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up for the Breakfast with Dads event, which was held on December 14, 2017, but Kristina Dove, the senior partner relations manager at Big Thought, a youth development nonprofit, wasn't sure if every student would have a father present during the program. She immediately jumped into action, using social media to call for volunteers for the event. 'Please Share! Men Needed! On next Thursday, December 14th at 8:30 AM at Dr. Billy Earle Dade Middle School we will host 'Breakfast with Dads' the reality of a great event like this is alot of our kids will not have a Dad present,' Dove wrote on Facebook on December 4. 'But there is nothing like having a male present in the form of a mentor. We are [in] need of at least 50 or more additional male mentors who can devote 1 hour of their Wednesday morning next week to this cause,' she added. And on the day of the program, event organizers were overcome with emotion when 600 men showed up to support their students." Read more here ...

Praise God for men who stand up and stand in the gap for young men with absent fathers. Let's pray for more men in our society to follow the lead of these men.

KRF Photo by Jerry Lampen

LEBANON // 'I knew people who had harder lives than me' - the Syrian refugee child who started a school
"So much of being a child can feel like sitting around, waiting around for your life to start. For Mohamad Al Jounde, now 16, the problem was chronic - forced to flee from his home country, out of school, no money, nowhere to go, nothing to do. When he picked up a camera for the first time in a refugee camp in Lebanon, it started a chain of events that ended with him opening a school in a camp when he was 12, and culminated with Malala Yousafzai presenting him with an award. Life comes at you fast. Mohamad left the city of Hama, in Syria, two years ago after the regime abducted his mother twice for her activism and threatened to kill her. The family ended up in Aley, near Beirut in Lebanon, safe but destitute. They had no money to send Mohamad and his sister to school, and time ebbed past without purpose." After meeting a photographer who took him under his wing and taught him about using a camera, Mohamad began his own journey of recovery and learning which ultimately culminated in him outlining a plan, at the age of 12, to start a school for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. "NGO funding was approved, and the school doors opened in the summer of 2014. They started with more than 100 students, managed by just four teachers. Today, the school has some 200 pupils, some as young five, and also teaches adult literacy and - of course - photography." Read more here ...

Praise God for the photography teacher who helped facilitate Mohamad's mental and emotional recovery by unlocking the world of photography. Praise God for the way Mohamad took this gift of healing and turned outward with it as well, bringing healing opportunities to hundreds more children.

ONE MORE PRAYER POINT ...

Father, as we enter 2018, please help us to look around us and see opportunities to live as your beloved children by loving others. Help us to show up for kids who feel like no one sees or knows them, even if it's just to sit down and share a donut. Help us to transform our pain into healing and hope for others, rather than transmit it to others through further cycles of injury and wounding. Help us to see and celebrate all the places your Spirit is moving to bring transformative hope and the Good News!

Praying with you,
Carrie

Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153

---

If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to info@facesofchildren.net