The Pickern Prayer Gram

Dear Prayer Partners,

“The stars dance, the moon glows, And I see You when the wind blows. The mountains applaud You, and the oceans reflect You, and the power of heaven revealed in creation, and my heart shouts out at the wonder of your name. You amaze me.” This is part of a song by Michael Neale on his CD, “No Greater Audience”. I am listening to this CD right now as I am looking at the ocean and my heart does cry out, “You amaze me!” On one side of our apartment you can see the ocean, on the other you see building after building, full of people. All of creation is declaring God to a dark world. Judges 16:19-20 says: “And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free. For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” Samson had gone so far and was so sure of his own abilities that he had not even realized that the Lord had even left him. How sad is that!! Judges 17:6 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

We live in a city where we see people doing what is right in their own eyes every day. What happens to a society when rules don’t matter any more? Here, we see it on the road. People drive how it best benefits themselves with no thought about others. If it means that they are going to hold up a whole line of traffic for them to turn across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic to go down a one way – the wrong way – then too bad! If they see someone on the side of the street and they want to stop and talk in the middle of the road, then that’s OK too. I won’t even go into passing several cars and almost killing others for the sake of just saving a few minutes only to turn or stop at the next block anyway. (OK, maybe I will go into it!!) And this is just driving. What if we were to apply this attitude to our entire life? What is best for ME? What is right in MY eyes? Yes, we live in a dark world. The driving here is only one example of that.

Gene has just accepted the position of team strategy leader for the urban transformation team of Santo Domingo. When we came to the DR, we were working with the urban poor, which is about one and half million people. Now we will be focusing on all of Santo Domingo, which is right at three million people. Three million people! My mind cannot comprehend that many people. Obviously our strategy will change because we will try to reach all the people, not just the poor. As I look now out over the ocean, I see an ocean of people. Yes, it’s people who are focused on themselves. But it is because they are lost. Lost people. Lost people who live in the dark. Lost people who need to hear about the goodness of Jesus.

I want to introduce you to our team God has put together. We are really excited to be serving together to see what God is going to do. The first is Steve and Marilee Flook. They have 6 sweet children. Steve told us that we not only have two on our team, we now have 8, because the kids will work too. Isn’t that awesome? And they will too. (Plus now I might get to baby-sit more. How neat is that!) Another set of team members is Ryan and Emily Buttes (Bju-ts). They are from California with a heart for the city. Emily is pregnant with their first baby. Please pray for her. They thought she might be going into early labor at 25 weeks and they had to go back to the states for 30 days. Thankfully the baby is fine. We just got word yesterday that she is better and they will get reevaluated on the 20th. And last but not least is Allison Crino. She will be arriving in October. Her parents are missionaries in Mexico. Allison has a passion for the city as well. We are very excited about having her come to work with us in the DR.

Judges ends by repeating 17:6, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Please help us write a different ending to the history of Santo Domingo by praying and coming and helping us. The task is huge and we need you. The Dominicans need you.

What to prayer for:
# Macedonia School – A 13 week school for anyone who wants to learn how to start churches that meets every Saturday. Pray that the students will be faithful in attendance and obedient in application.
### We just finished the second week yesterday. There is already a possibility of about 10 to 12 new Bible studies that hopefully will turn into new churches! Pray as these studies get started that the seed of the gospel takes root in fertile soil and God will raise up leaders who will go and lead others to Christ.
# Urban Transformation Team – Divine wisdom and discernment as we start this new focus. Pray that we could see the lost through His eyes and would have His mind in reaching them.
# The DR Team & Haitian Team – two other teams that have to reach the rest of the country!! What a task!

In Christ,

Gene and Julie Pickern
1C: FCO Moreno ESQ AV AnacaonaEdif H
Apto 6-HI Bella Vista,
Santo Domingo, DN 12006-11850-390-4090