Dear Church,
Thank you for the generous outpouring of financial support that you gave last Sunday to Foursquare Relief for the people affected by the cyclone in Myanmar. Since we have a Foursquare presence there, Foursquare will be able to insure that the relief funds are well used. You may still give—if you choose to put something in the offering, make sure you earmark it “Foursquare Relief.” Naturally, please don’t divert your normal tithes to this, but a special offering that you are generously giving over and above your tithe.
I am copying and pasting part of Pastor Jack Hayford’s message on the situation there. Pastor Jack is the president of our Foursquare movement.”
“Over the weekend Cyclone Nargis struck the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar—also known as Burma—with 120 mph winds and caused widespread devastation. The cyclone may have claimed the lives of 100,000 people. More than 70,000 are still missing and 1 million are now homeless. This disaster is already being compared to the 2004 tsunami that hit south Asia. The most recent report received states that 15 churches (some of which are not Foursquare) were destroyed as a result of the cyclone. Many Foursquare family members are among those who are homeless. The urgent needs are for drinking water, food and shelter.
“The Foursquare Church in concert with a few other non governmental organizations (NGOs) has begun a relief effort to help meet the needs of the people. Due to the great difficulty in reaching the areas most affected by the cyclone (because of travel restrictions placed on foreigners by the government of Myanmar) Thailand has been chosen as the staging area for this relief effort. Teams of people are in the process of securing and shipping solar water purifiers and PACP (Personal Assistance Care Packages) units to the team that will soon be in place in Thailand.
“Intercession is requested by the Foursquare family for the relief response action plan to be effective. Please pray along these lines:
- Ask the God of comfort and peace to minister to victims in the midst of the confusion.
- Ask God to move on the hearts of the members of the Myanmar government and that in response they will issue visas to our relief team members and other aid workers.
- Pray that the provision and resources sent will reach the people who are in need. Pray specifically that the government will allow aid from the U.S., U.N. and many other relief organizations that currently have been blocked from assisting in this disaster.
- Ask the Lord to continue to give our Foursquare leaders wisdom in how to respond and advance His kingdom.”
Pastor George P. Jones