Dear EPC leader,

I hope you saw our announcement on EPConnection and social media about this weekend’s Call to Prayer and Fasting. Andrew Brunson’s trial resumes on Monday, May 7, and the need to bathe the entire situation in prayer is more important than ever.

Also, this Thursday (May 3) is the National Day of Prayer, and I don’t believe the timing of this observance and the resumption of Andrew’s trial is a coincidence.

Here are four specific ways you and your church can pray:

1. Pray that Andrew will be strengthened, emboldened, and released:
   Isaiah 42:3 (A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness, He will establish justice.);
   Isaiah 40:31 (Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength);
   Luke 4:18 (The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free).
2. Pray that Norine will not grow weary:
   Exodus 17:12 (When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady until sunset.);
   Isaiah 40:29 (He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak).
3. Pray that the Brunson’s children (Jordan, Jacqueline, and Blaise) would walk in the steadfast love of the Lord:
   Lamentations 3:22-23 (Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness).
4. Pray that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, would be directed by the Holy Spirit:
   Proverbs 21:1 (The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases).

Norine and I were in touch last week, and she has told Andrew about our prayer emphasis this week. They are very thankful that so many people are standing with them in this ordeal.

To help facilitate corporate prayer in your church, this prayer guide can be downloaded in printable, pdf format at www.epc.org/news/freepastorandrew. You can use it as a guide as you observe the National Day or Prayer on Thursday, or as a bulletin insert this weekend—or both. It is available in two sizes and is designed to be printed on standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper and cut in half (horizontally or vertically).

I hope every EPC church will use the guide above to pray for Andrew, Norine, their family, and the rest of the trial as Andrew faces the judges again. Also, nothing in this email is sensitive, so feel free to share these specific prayer focuses with your networks.

Thank you,

Jeff