I trust that all of you are doing well and experiencing God’s blessings as you begin this new year. Here at ICA, we are off to a good but busy start of the second trimester. As I mentioned last week, one of the things that is keeping us busy is preparing for the upcoming evangelism outreach in Sikasso, Mali. Although Bob and I aren’t participating in this trip, we have definitely been in on the planning for it.
This is a unique opportunity for our school. The Africa Cup of Nations is Africa’s continent-wide soccer championship games. In Africa, this is an event bigger than the Olympics. This Africa Cup is being held in Mali, with games being played in five cities. One of those cities is Sikasso, only about two hours across the border from Cote d’Ivoire.
You can follow the trip beginning today, read updates and view pictures, by going to the ICA website and clicking on the Africa map with the cross and soccer ball.
About 65 staff and students from ICA will be doing a number of evangelism campaigns – ministering through puppets, drama, story telling, music, preaching, video showings. The Sikasso believers will also be joining us for these presentations. They will also be ministering at the hospitality center that will be located right by the stadium. The local churches are choosing the sites for most of our outdoor evangelism campaigns, but on January 20, we will have an outdoor campaign right by the stadium. The program will start right after the scheduled African Cup match that night. We pray that we will have a big crowd there that night to hear the gospel. The drama team will be doing a number of outings in various places around Sikasso. There are also a number of outings scheduled for the Evangelism Explosion team. Our guys will be competing against one of the local teams in soccer. At half time, they are planing to present gifts and a brief presentation of the gospel.
In addition to the evangelism outings, there are some additional “treats” planned for the team. Our group will be able to attend two of the African Cup matches. One of these matches features Cote d’Ivoire vs. Togo. We have purchased special t-shirts to be worn during this match and ICAers will sit together to form a big Ivoirian flag. Be sure to watch this match January 21 at 6:00 PM. You may see us. 🙂
PRAYER REQUESTS: 1) Health and safety as we travel; 2) That the students will be able to finish all the work they need to have completed in their classes before they go; 3) That God will prepare our hearts and the hearts of those to whom we will be ministering; 4) Smooth border crossings; 5) That the sound system will work well; 6) Good working relationship with the Sikasso churches; 7) That we will get enough sleep and that God will infuse us with His super natural strength; 8) Wisdom on behave of those who will be leading this outreach; 9) That we will be a blessing to each other as well as those to whom we minister; 10) For the different groups that will be ministering: drama team, EE, music team, story tellers, preachers, soccer team; 11) That we will be well prepared to present the gospel; 12) THAT GOD WILL DO GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS AND THAT WE ALL WILL BE DIFFERENT PEOPLE AS A RESULT OF THIS TIME OF MINISTRY.
Tune in next week to hear what the Lord did in Sikasso.