DAy2PRAY

DAY2PRAY letter

March 2024 

Entering Holy Week

Pastor Carrie Butler | CTK Network Prayer

Hello Faithful Intercessors!

As we move into Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday this weekend, I want to invite us to read a little of the account of Jesus’ path to the cross, beginning in Matthew 21. Before you read, ask the Holy Spirit what he wants to reveal to you about this passage before you begin praying for others. As you read, place yourself in the narrative, imagining the location, people, smells and sounds. 

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:1-11

I look forward to praying with you today, and am eager to share more praises next month!

With you in unity,

Pastor Carrie Butler

p.s. The Prayer Room (Room 214, upstairs) will be open during office hours (Mon-Thurs 9am-4pm) and on Sundays during services. Please don’t hesitate to visit!

CHRIST THE KING PRAYER GUIDE

CTK Staff (from Pastor Melonie Kemp)

As you read this, we will be rapidly approaching Easter. A lot of planning and work has gone into making Easter meaningful this year, for those who have walked with Jesus for years and for those who are going to meet him for the first time this Easter. My request for the staff is that they will know they have done well in their planning and work and will now submit fully to the Lord as an act of worship of him and leave the outcome to him.

• Please continue praying for our staff. There are needs for physical healing- some of the needs are years old and others are days old.There are also needs for emotional and spiritual healing. The Lord longs to restore us to wholeness, body, mind and soul. We are the ones who have to do the yielding and receiving, but it often requires that we come to terms with some very hard things, including various forms for trauma from the past. The staff is doing the right, hard spiritual work with the Lord that they are then inviting others into (with very little prompting). It can feel a bit messy at times, but it is clear that the Lord is moving and our job is to keep up with him and not impede him as we are prone to do out of our human need for control! Thank you for praying and for continued prayers. It is needed and deeply appreciated.

CTK Missions (from Tracy Hull, Global Missions Director)

• Praise God for answered prayer! CTK Missions Month giving was overwhelming, well over the goal. Pray that many people will be served and loved through this offering and the ministries of our partners.
• In the loss of our Global Partner John Mukolwe, pray for his wife Jacinta Mukolwe, their children Miracle, Faith and Promise, extended family and community as they mourn. Pray for wisdom for Jacinta as she moves forward with ministry.

UNITED / Students (from Pastor Josh Lease)

• Pray for a high school student named who is on the verge of really fully following Jesus. Fully submitting to him. Pray for her heart.
• Pray for another high school student who is making some poor choices but including us in conversations around the choices she's making. Pray she would trust Jesus and repent from her sin.
• Pray for our worship class that students are taking that's being taught by Ive. Pray that God compels them to worship Him wholeheartedly and that they'd be open to learning.
• Pray for new volunteer leaders, people who love Jesus and love students.
• Pray for our team to have margin and slow down. Pray that we would be wise with our yes's and no's.
• Pray for students to have a powerful experience with Jesus over Easter and that God would prepare their hearts for our upcoming series called Resistance which is about resisting lies.
• Pray for God to fan the flames of all He did at our high school retreat. Pray that students would abide in Him.
• Pray for our community to become one. That students would be more united and committed to each other.

Kids & Family Team (from Pastor Duane Weaver)

• CTK Kids is looking forward to a great Easter Weekend. However, we greatly need volunteers to care for all the kids. With Spring Break happening Easter Weekend many regular volunteers are out of town, and the total need for volunteers with the extra services is double what a regular weekend would be.
• We have promoted Michele Brashears to full-time Elementary Coordinator from her part-time position. She is a great asset to our team and will be able to increase her impact on our students and volunteers with this increased role.

Creative Team (from Pastor Brian Behrends)

• For God to grow our team in numbers and in hunger for God!
• Supernatural energy and health over our team as we dive into Good Friday and Easter rehearsals.

Connections Team (from Pastor Angel Finsrud)

Praise:

• The Lord has been continuously sending us new volunteers for greeting, ushering, and coffee serving! The cafe now has 14 volunteers--a significant increase in the past four months. Praise to our Lord and Savior as the glory belongs to Him.
• A receptionist will be joining our team next week! Praise God for this answered prayer and pray for us as we welcome and train her in the coming weeks.

Prayer:

• Pray that all of our volunteers have unity in mind and we pursue making space for all the new people to step in and serve the Lord.
• Pray that the cafe volunteers would remain consistent, but that they would also take additional steps towards serving the Lord
• Pray for Mikey and Lisa to be sensitive to how they direct and pray for their volunteers

Blessing Team (from Pastor Wendy Powell)

• We want to thank Jesus for some really beautiful moments as our core team of lead volunteers at the farm have gone out to tour 6-7 of our Foodshare Partners. It was so energizing to them to see where the food they grow is distributed, to meet the staff, and to learn more about the realities of food insecurity in our community.
• We are also celebrating a big step forward in our Response Team leadership as volunteer leaders move beyond the coordination of project into the ministry of leading volunteers to put their faith in action. Several great ideas surfaced at our two leader meetings!
• Every week a CTK volunteer picks up women and children who are staying at the Agape home and brings them to the 9:30 service. This last weekend we had 5 women and one child. Would you please pray for them and their roommates that God would soften hearts, ignite curiosity and draw them to Himself?
• We have been trying to hire a new team member for a year now without success. This person would lead the Response Teams ministry, volunteer team who support partner events like the back-to-school distribution or staff appreciation. As our partnerships and presence in the community grows, our ability to say yes is constricted by adequate staff to lead our efforts. Please pray with us that God would call the very right person he has in mind to this opportunity!

Adults Team (from Pastor Julie Burleson)

• The Adults Team this month is celebrating the hire of a new pastor, who will be joining our team in April. Tyler Forney will be working with the Adults team to develop opportunities for men at CTK to grow, connect and serve together, and Tyler will also be working with small groups and table groups.
• We are also celebrating the completion of a great winter quarter, where we saw lots of people participate in classes together, doing hard work and experiencing growth and freedom.
• Looking ahead, we are asking for prayer for our spring/post-Easter session of Alpha, which will be starting early April. We are asking God to fill the room with all the people he knows should be there, and for our table facilitators to be welcoming and loving. We are excited to see how God will move through Alpha!