Alpha USA : Prayer

A great start to the Fall courses at Fort Leavenworth, KS. About 90 new military community guests (including military children) started their courses on August 18th.

Alpha 'Classic': One small group of about 10. Pray for growth in their faith, for a deeper understanding of the Christian way of life; and for military men and women to come into the Kingdom of God and become followers of Jesus.
The Marriage Course: Seventeen couples are doing the course (19 registered) and the course is full up. There is great concern in the armed forces about marriages and many are hurting. Many guests at Fort Leavenworth are doing longer professional education courses that give them a small break from the continued multiple deployments to war zones.

Pray for marriages and family relationships to be strong and resilient, founded on the firm foundation of Christian faith. In turn married Warriors are stronger and more resilient to cope with the ongoing and repetitive, yet always changing, operational conditions under which the war is being conducted.

Youth Alpha: Nineteen Middle Schoolers started the course. Pray they will be strengthened in their newly found or maturing faith. Pray they will grow through and beyond any trauma in their lives caused by repeat deployments of Dad or Mom to war.
'Kidz Alpha': This locally devised course for children under about 10 years of age has been running very successfully for many years at Ft. Leavenworth - praise God! Several times, military parents who are guests on other Alpha courses at the base have come to faith in Christ as their children's have been influenced by the faithful team of helpers who run Kidz Alpha. Twenty children started the course. Pray they will all finish and that their Christian faith will be deeply rooted at this young age, holding them in good stead for the rest of their lives.

The ongoing ministry at the US Army Detention Barracks, also located on the campus at Fort Leavenworth. A non-military couple, Danny and Lindsey, have been running it at the USDB for the past 5 years. They are currently leading another course and planning to launch Alpha again after this, later in the Fall.

Thank God for the perseverance and faithfulness of D & H in running this course. Thank God for the ready willingness of numerous Army Chaplains of different denominations to allow Alpha to continue running at the DB. There has been much fruit in the lives of many detainees of all services because of he Alpha courses done there.
Praise God the courses completed at the USDB have included 'A Life Worth Living' as well as 'Challenging Lifestyle'.

Praise God for George W., our recently appointed Alpha for the Military (A4M) Advisor at Mililani, Hawaii.

Pray for him as he completes his first Alpha course as a guest in a local church as well as pastoring another local church.
"Lord, give George God-ordained appointments with local Chaplains at Schofield Barracks, NS Pearl Harbor, Hickam AFB, MCB Camp H.M. Smith and USCG ISC Honolulu and the many other bases and units on Oahu. Raise up a team of effective A4M Advisors who can minister powerfully and effectively in all these places. Lord, please create outstandingly excellent relationships of mutual trust and ministry partnership between George and local military commanders and chaplains."

Pray that requests for help to run effective and good Alpha training events courses will come to fruition, for the sake of many men, women and family members in the military communities at Fort Bragg, NC, Los Angeles AFB, Fort Wainwright, AK and Fort Leonard Wood, MO.

Pray for Alpha to be warmly accepted by the incoming Chaplain of a US Navy base in the FL panhandle, resulting in the continuation of it at that base.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to anoint Jim F., our A4M Advisor there, with great interpersonal skills as he encourages the Chaplain and others to consider Alpha courses as an effective religious education tool leading to stronger, more professional Sailors, Marines and Soldiers, who are fully rooted in a living Christian faith.

Pray for another US Navy Chaplain soon to deploy to another base in the FL panhandle, that he will be able to communicate powerfully and effectively his enthusiasm to use Alpha as a spiritual growth tool in his ministry 'toolbag'.

Pray that many Alpha courses will get going at his base as a result.
Pray that many in the military community there will find peace, comfort, bright hope and strength in their daily lives.

Pray for a group of Christian military spouses, some of who are also on active duty, at a large transportation base in south east VA. They hopes to get Alpha going earlier in the year but in spite of all effort, nothing has been heard from our contact there for several months. We don't know what happened.

Pray the Lord will be with them, in particular, our contact, and that Jesus will be manifest in their midst in the days to come - especially through the ministry of the Chaplains at the base as well as through the group of Christian military women there.

Alpha for the Military has a strong spiritual vision for growth and be greater effectiveness in its ministry outreach. In the current economic situation we are currently operating on less than a shoe-string income. We are several thousands of dollars being our 2010 budget. This is seriously affecting ministry development and several opportunities have been missed. We are urgently in need of financial support. Please pray.