Executive Director Search Prayer Updates

Executive Director Search Prayer update #7

Dr. Stephen Co­ertze has been appointed to suc­ceed Dr. Kirk Franklin as Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor of the Wycliffe Global Alliance. Agnes Lid, Chair of the Al­liance Board of Directors an­nounced the news on 26 Sep­tem­ber 2019. Stephen is a mem­ber of Wycliffe South Africa and cur­rently serves as the Di­rec­tor for Mis­si­ol­ogy on the Al­liance lead­er­ship team. He will as­sume the role at the Global Gath­er­ing in Sep­tem­ber 2020.

Thank you for pray­ing with the Al­liance dur­ing the en­tire se­lec­tion process. We can re­joice and praise God to­gether for his lead­ing and the ways that he guided this im­por­tant process and helped the Search Com­mit­tee and the Board.

Please pray for Stephen, his wife Lezelle and their fam­ily as they pre­pare to take up these new re­spon­si­bil­i­ties. Pray also for Kirk Franklin and his wife Chris­tine in their fi­nal months of ser­vice in this role. Ask God to pro­tect, pro­vide abun­dantly for their needs and strengthen both fam­i­lies. Pray that God will equip them for his ser­vice in their next steps. Pray for a smooth tran­si­tion and han­dover period.

Executive Director Search Prayer update #6

From 9-12 July the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor Search Com­mit­tee gath­ered in Ger­many to in­ter­view the can­di­dates and their spouses. It was a rich time of en­gag­ing with the can­di­dates, mak­ing de­ci­sions based on the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor pro­file, and dis­cern­ing the lead­ing of the Holy Spirit. The search com­mit­tee has given their re­port to the board. The board will con­duct the fi­nal stage of the process at their meet­ing in Sep­tem­ber 2019. Dur­ing this meet­ing, the board will make the fi­nal de­ci­sion about who God is call­ing to be the next Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor of the Wycliffe Global Alliance.

Thank you for pray­ing for the in­ter­views and through­out re­cent months as the se­lec­tion process has un­folded. The Search Com­mit­tee has had a great sense of the Lord lead­ing and was uni­fied in their re­port to the board. Please con­tinue to pray that the can­di­dates and spouses who have been in the process would ex­pe­ri­ence God’s grace in this sea­son and equip­ping for the next sea­son. Please also con­tinue to pray for wis­dom and dis­cern­ment for the board as they make the fi­nal de­ci­sion in Sep­tem­ber. An an­nounce­ment will be made soon af­ter this meeting.

Executive Director Search Prayer update #5

In April, all lead­ers, Board Chairs of the Wycliffe Global Al­liance or­gan­i­sa­tions and the Al­liance Lead­er­ship Team were in­formed about the four can­di­dates who will be in­ter­viewed in July. They were in­vited to give feed­back to the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor Search Com­mit­tee and to con­tinue to pray for the can­di­dates and the se­lec­tion process. As the Search Com­mit­tee mem­bers con­tinue to re­ceive feed­back they are in­te­grat­ing it into their prayer­ful, on­go­ing discernment.

Dur­ing May and June the Search Com­mit­tee will gather vir­tu­ally in or­der to plan the in­ter­view process. In­ter­views will be based on the key char­ac­ter­is­tics and cri­te­ria that have been ap­proved by the Al­liance Board.

The can­di­dates and their spouses will be in­ter­viewed in Frank­furt, Ger­many July 8-12, 2019.  Af­ter these in­ter­views one can­di­date, or pos­si­bly two, will be pre­sented to the Board for the Board to make a fi­nal de­ter­mi­na­tion at its Sep­tem­ber meet­ing. There will be an an­nounce­ment about the next Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor by Oc­to­ber 2019.

Con­tinue to pray for the Search Com­mit­tee as they seek to know God’s will and guid­ance through the se­lec­tion process. If God speaks to you as you pray, please share your in­sights, verses from Scrip­ture or im­pres­sions with the Search Com­mit­tee. You can email on ed_​search_​[email protected]​wycliffe.​net.

Pray es­pe­cially dur­ing the week of in­ter­views; Psalm 121 pro­vides a good out­line to guide our prayers.

verses 1-2

“I look up to the moun­tains— does my help come from there?
 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” (NLT)

Praise God for help­ing the Search Com­mit­tee this far. He has guided them and brought unity through each stage of the de­ci­sion-mak­ing process; thank God for his faith­ful­ness. Ask him to con­tinue to help the Search Com­mit­tee and the Board in these fi­nal stages of the se­lec­tion process. Pray that he will give wis­dom, dis­cern­ment and clear guidance. 

verses 3-4

“He will not let you stum­ble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
In­deed, he who watches over Is­rael never slum­bers or sleeps.”

Some­times we strug­gle with weak­ness but let us re­mem­ber that God is more than able to watch over the se­lec­tion process. Praise him for this and ask him to watch over the in­ter­views and be glo­ri­fied in the process.

Ask him to strengthen each of the can­di­dates, their spouses and fam­i­lies as they are near­ing the end of a long and chal­leng­ing process. Pray for grace and rest to be poured out onto each of the can­di­dates. Ask him to help each of them to go through the in­ter­view process humbly and help each one of them to sub­mit to God’s will. Pray that they will un­der­stand how pre­cious they are to God and grasp the value he places on each of them re­gard­less of the outcome.

verses 5-6

“The Lord him­self watches over you! The Lord stands be­side you as your pro­tec­tive shade.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.”

Pray for each of the Search Com­mit­tee mem­bers, the can­di­dates and their spouses as they travel to at­tend the in­ter­views. May no harm come to them and may they ex­pe­ri­ence stress-free jour­neys. Ask God to give strength and good health to each per­son. May he watch over their fam­i­lies and other re­la­tion­ships, their work and other ministries.

verses 7-8

“The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Con­tinue to praise God for the lead­er­ship of Kirk Franklin and how God has used him to lead and shape the Al­liance. Please pray for him to fin­ish his term as Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor well. Pray that God will be prepar­ing the next Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor and fam­ily mem­bers for the chal­lenges of the role. Ask God to guard the hearts of the other can­di­dates as they con­tinue in their cur­rent min­istries. Ask God to ac­com­plish his pur­poses in the lives of each of the can­di­dates through this process.

Executive Director Search Prayer Update #4

“Thus far the Lord has helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV)

Thank God that as we en­ter this next phase of the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor (ED) Search that he has led us so far. The ED Search Com­mit­tee mem­bers re­port that at their meet­ings in Ox­ford in March there was deep­en­ing sense of com­mu­nity amongst them as a team. They con­sid­ered deeply the ap­pli­ca­tions that were sub­mit­ted. As they prayed and read Scrip­tures they sensed the Lord’s guid­ance very pow­er­fully. Four peo­ple were asked to con­tinue in the search process.

In­ter­view dates have been set for the week 8th July. In­ter­views will take place in the USA at a cen­tral lo­ca­tion that best fits with the ap­pli­cants’ work com­mit­ments and travel schedules.

Please pray for each of the can­di­dates that were not in­vited to in­ter­view. May they ex­pe­ri­ence God’s grace and lead­ing in their cur­rent roles and in what he would have them do in the fu­ture. Pray for the four se­lected can­di­dates and their fam­i­lies as they pre­pare for the in­ter­views. Ask God to ac­com­plish his pur­poses in their lives through this process, whether or not they are se­lected as the next ED. This is a long process. Pray that they will ex­pe­ri­ence grace and rest in the waiting.

The Search Com­mit­tee are now in con­sul­ta­tion with peo­ple who can ad­vise them on how to craft the in­ter­view process and which ques­tions to ask based on the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor Pro­file that has been ap­proved by the board. Ask God to guide these dis­cus­sions. The Search Com­mit­tee will have vir­tual meet­ings once a month be­tween now and the in­ter­views in July.

Dur­ing the week of prayer and fast­ing in Feb­ru­ary, we asked for feed­back from the Global Al­liance as in­di­vid­u­als and groups lis­tened to God. We are thank­ful for those who took time to send in re­sponses. What emerged was a pic­ture of a leader who was some­one af­ter God’s own heart. This per­son should have dis­cern­ment, in­tegrity and hu­mil­ity and demon­strate love. The next ED should be some­one who is strong in lis­ten­ing to God and to the Global Church. This per­son also should be whole­heart­edly com­mit­ted to obey­ing God, no mat­ter the cost. The Global Al­liance should see this time of search­ing for a new Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor as well as the han­dover pe­riod not so much as a time of wait­ing but as a time of wait­ing on God.

With this in mind, please con­tinue to lis­ten to God as you pray for this search process. Share any­thing you feel he has said to you with the ED Search Com­mit­tee by email­ing ED_​search_​[email protected]​wycliffe.​net. The Com­mit­tee are keen to hear from the whole Al­liance. They want this process to move for­ward through every Al­liance or­gan­i­sa­tion lis­ten­ing to God and shar­ing what they feel he is saying.

Executive Director Search Prayer Update #3

Those on the Search Com­mit­tee vol­un­teer their time for this ef­fort. Each one has other re­spon­si­bil­i­ties and jobs. Some are Global Al­liance Board mem­bers who do not serve with the Al­liance or an Al­liance or­gan­i­sa­tion. Ask God to help them as they seek to bal­ance all their re­spon­si­bil­i­ties and still make time to hear the Lord’s voice on this im­por­tant mat­ter. Pray for health, strength and pro­tec­tion over them and their fam­i­lies and in all they do.

The Board has called for a week of prayer and fast­ing for the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor search from 18  to 24 Feb­ru­ary. Re­sources for that week are avail­able to down­load (see be­low). Please pray that the Search Com­mit­tee will be at­ten­tive to the words that come to them from the Al­liance com­mu­nity. You are in­vited to share what you feel that God is say­ing dur­ing this time by email­ing the com­mit­tee at ed_​search_​[email protected]​wycliffe.​net .

Praise God that sev­eral peo­ple are mov­ing for­ward with sub­mit­ting for­mal ap­pli­ca­tions to the Search Com­mit­tee. The dead­line is 28 Feb­ru­ary. Please pray for each one who is ap­ply­ing and that they will be sup­ported by those around them with words of in­sight, di­rec­tion and en­cour­age­ment. Pray also for an en­dur­ing sense of God’s pres­ence and words for them in this season.

The Search Com­mit­tee will meet from 6 to 8 March in Ox­ford, UK. Please pray for safe travel for Com­mit­tee mem­bers and for a fruit­ful time to­gether. It will be their first face-to-face meet­ing since June 2018. Dur­ing that meet­ing they will con­sider each ap­pli­ca­tion. Ask God to give them ro­bust analy­sis, a con­tin­ued sense of his guid­ance and the abil­ity to see var­ied per­spec­tives with­out con­fu­sion. The Com­mit­tee aims to com­pile a short-list of ap­pli­cants for in­ter­view dur­ing these meet­ings. Ask God to give each Com­mit­tee mem­ber per­sonal dis­cern­ment in this process and to lead the Com­mit­tee to com­mu­nal agreement.

Week of Prayer and Fasting for the next Executive Director of the Wycliffe Global Alliance: 18-24 February

As the Al­liance moves through the sig­nif­i­cant lead­er­ship tran­si­tion we call upon each of the Al­liance Or­gan­i­sa­tions to par­tic­i­pate through prayer. The Board of the Wycliffe Global Al­liance has called for a week of prayer and fast­ing be­tween 18th and 24th February for the search process.

Why fast?

Fast­ing is a way of sub­mit­ting our­selves to God and seek­ing his per­fect will for us dur­ing the process of se­lect­ing a new Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor (ED). As we hum­ble our­selves through fast­ing, we will ask God to guide us and we will lis­ten to his voice. We long to hear what is on God’s heart for the Al­liance com­mu­nity. What does he want us to be­come, as a move­ment, in prepa­ra­tion for what is to come? Pray­ing and fast­ing this week is also an op­por­tu­nity for us to par­tic­i­pate with the ED Search Com­mit­tee in the process of dis­cern­ment through prayer and in lis­ten­ing to God.

How should we fast?

We are fast­ing from 18th – 24th Feb­ru­ary 2019. Staff of each in­di­vid­ual or­gan­i­sa­tion can de­cide how much of that time to fast from food or some­thing else, and whether also to fast from other dis­trac­tions such as so­cial me­dia. We have cre­ated these ma­te­ri­als as an out­line. They con­sist of ideas to shape our prayer times over five con­sec­u­tive days. How­ever, you are free to shape your prayer times as you wish. We en­cour­age you to join to­gether with other mem­bers of your or­gan­i­sa­tion and pray cor­po­rately as much as possible.

When we lis­ten to God cor­po­rately he will of­ten give part of the pic­ture to one per­son and an­other part to an­other per­son. Un­less we all share what God has said to us each as in­di­vid­u­als we re­ceive only a par­tial pic­ture. If you feel God is speak­ing to you through this pe­riod of prayer and fast­ing about the se­lec­tion process or the di­rec­tion in which the Al­liance should go, please share it with the Search Com­mit­tee at ed_​search_​[email protected]​wycliffe.​net.

Day 1

Read: Psalm 29

Re­flect on who God is. Take time to med­i­tate on his power and great­ness, his majesty and strength. Praise him.

Pray: Ac­knowl­edg­ing that God is “The Lord” who “reigns as King for­ever.” (Ps 29:10) Ask God to strengthen his peo­ple and give them peace. Pray this for the whole Al­liance, for the Search com­mit­tee, Kirk Franklin and the cur­rent Al­liance Lead­er­ship Team as well as the per­son that God has se­lected to be the next ED. These types of se­lec­tion process can be gru­elling, ask God to give grace to every­one in­volved and draw them close to him.

Lis­ten: Ask God to show you how you can best sup­port, care for and strengthen those in­volved in the se­lec­tion process. Feel free to send words of en­cour­age­ment or any­thing that you feel God is say­ing to the Search Com­mit­tee to­day and in the days following.

Day 2

Read: 1 Chron­i­cles 29:10-20

Re­flect: Let us join David in bow­ing be­fore the Lord, our God and maker. We must sub­mit to his plans and paths. Our de­sire is for God to be ho­n­oured and glo­ri­fied; how can we serve him so that his name will be ex­alted? Make God your fo­cus today.

Pray: Ask God to glo­rify his name through­out this ED search process. Ask him to give us a new spirit of grat­i­tude. May all our thoughts, ac­tions and words give glory to him. Pray es­pe­cially for the Search Com­mit­tee to act with wis­dom, in­tegrity and pu­rity. May we oth­ers see how we be­have through this tran­si­tion and be drawn to God as a result.

Lis­ten: Each leader is given cer­tain tasks to ac­com­plish. God did not al­low David to build him a tem­ple. That was the task of the King who fol­lowed him. David laid the ground­work and helped pre­pare all the nec­es­sary re­sources for that task. How can we pre­pare for this change of lead­er­ship? Ask God to show us what we should do through the se­lec­tion and han­dover process to pre­pare for our new leader.

Day 3:

Read: Acts 5:26-40

Re­flect: “We must obey God rather than any hu­man au­thor­ity.” (Acts 5:29) Take time to sub­mit to God and gladly ac­cept his will for our new Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor, whomever that will be.

Pray: Ask God to give us a godly per­son of in­tegrity, wis­dom and strength to lead the Al­liance. Pray for his or her fam­ily. Pray for the min­istry he or she is cur­rently in­volved in dur­ing  this tran­si­tion. Ask God to give the new leader stead­fast prayer war­riors and faith­ful fi­nan­cial supporters.

Lis­ten: Ask God to show us in­di­vid­u­ally whether there is any­thing that is stop­ping us, as a com­mu­nity, from fully obey­ing God. Pray for the mem­bers of the Search Com­mit­tee to have hearts that will be un­com­pro­mis­ingly obe­di­ent as they seek God’s will.

Day 4:

Read: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Re­flect:  The next per­son that God has cho­sen to lead us may not be an ob­vi­ous choice. How should we re­spond if the per­son cho­sen is not some­one we would have chosen?

Pray: Ask God to help us to have his per­spec­tive and give us courage to obey his lead­ing. Pray for each per­son who has been nom­i­nated and has pro­ceeded through the can­di­date ap­pli­ca­tion process to dis­cern God’s lead­ing in their lives. Pray for the Search Com­mit­tee to have spe­cial dis­cern­ment at their meet­ing in the United King­dom from 7th to 9th March as they con­sider which ap­pli­cants to in­vite to interview.

Lis­ten: “Don’t judge by his ap­pear­ance or height, for I have re­jected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way we see them. Peo­ple judge by out­ward ap­pear­ance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7) God’s ways are not our ways. Ask God to give us his per­spec­tive and un­der­stand­ing as we go through this lead­er­ship tran­si­tion. As char­ac­ter­is­tics and traits come to mind about the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor, please send them to the Search Com­mit­tee so that these in­sights can be part of the dis­cern­ment process.

Day 5:

Read: Eph­esians 4:1-4

Re­flect: The Wycliffe Global Al­liance is an al­liance of widely di­verse or­gan­i­sa­tions, from dif­fer­ent cul­tures and back­grounds and with dif­fer­ent in­volve­ment in Bible trans­la­tion. How can we grow in unity?

Pray: Ask God to con­tinue to grow unity amongst us. May the Search Com­mit­tee func­tion in com­plete unity. May we all be united be­hind the per­son that is ap­pointed. Ask God to help us lay down our own agen­das, hopes and fears. May we sup­port each other and carry one an­other’s burdens.

Lis­ten: Ask God to show us bar­ri­ers to unity amongst us. Be ready to re­pent if needed to and put re­la­tion­ships right with oth­ers in the Al­liance and our part­ners. What verses or im­ages of unity come to mind as you pray? Please share these with the search com­mit­tee as they arise.

Down­load the PDF prayer guide.

Executive Director Search Prayer Update #2

The Board of Di­rec­tors of the Wycliffe Global Al­liance has called for a week of prayer and fast­ing be­tween 18th and 24th February for the search process. We will pro­vide re­sources to help you pray specif­i­cally that week. Please note the dates and ask God how your or­gan­i­sa­tion should par­tic­i­pate in prayer and fast­ing dur­ing this week.

At the meet­ing held on 10th De­cem­ber, the Search Com­mit­tee mem­bers ex­pe­ri­enced a strong sense of God’s guid­ance. They re­joiced at the sig­nif­i­cant re­sponse and are par­tic­u­larly grate­ful to all who made nom­i­na­tions. The Com­mit­tee is also deeply thank­ful to God for a strong list of po­ten­tial can­di­dates, male and fe­male and com­ing from all re­gions of the Al­liance. They were nearly com­pletely in agree­ment about which nom­i­nees should be asked to be­come can­di­dates, based on the lead­ing of the Holy Spirit and the cri­te­ria set forth in the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor pro­file. Their next step is to ask the agreed upon list of nom­i­nees to sub­mit ap­pli­ca­tions. Based on the di­rec­tion of the Board and the strength of the cur­rent list of can­di­dates the Com­mit­tee will not pur­sue ex­ter­nal nominations.

Please pray:

• Praise God for his guidance during the recent meeting of the Search Committee. Thank Him that, as they have a robust list of internal nominees, the Committee will not pursue external nominations.
• The application process is rigorous and therefore time-consuming. Pray for each candidate as he or she decides whether or not to submit an application. Pray for their individual communities to encourage them to submit an application and support them through the selection process.
• Pray that each candidate will be able to complete their application well and before the closing date of 28th February.

Executive Director Search Prayer Update #1

The Board of the Wycliffe Global Al­liance has called for a week of prayer and fast­ing be­tween 18th and 24th February for the search process. We will cre­ate some re­sources to help you pray specif­i­cally that week. Please note the dates and ask God how your or­gan­i­sa­tion should par­tic­i­pate in prayer and fast­ing dur­ing this week.

Here are some ways to pray now:

• The nominations phase of the process runs until 1 December 2018. All staff of Wycliffe Global Alliance organisations are invited to nominate those they believe would be suitable to take up this position. Please pray that God would prompt people to make appropriate nominations.
• Ask God to speak to the person that will ultimately lead the Alliance beginning in 2020. Pray that this person would be Christlike and full of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to prepare him or her for the task that lies ahead.
• Praise God that the Search Committee is working well together yet some in the group have faced illnesses. Please pray for them to continue to be men and women of great personal discernment. Ask God to protect them and sustain collective wisdom and insight as they work together. May they sense God’s Spirit leading them clearly as they steward this process of transition for the Alliance community.
• Through December please pray for the Search Committee as they consider the nominations and ask some of those nominated to apply for the Executive Director role. They will have a virtual meeting on 10th December between 1:00pm and 3:30pm (UTC). Ask God for clarity and wisdom as they process together.

Through­out this process of se­lec­tion and tran­si­tion over the com­ing months ask God to show us as the Al­liance com­mu­nity how He is at work amongst us, where He is tak­ing us as a whole and how he would shape us in this season.

What a priv­i­lege we have to seek God to­gether for the per­son who will be­come the next Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor of the Alliance.