By Marcus Rowntree

DAKAR, Senegal (BP)—The Muslim religious leaders are upset. It’s a good sign.

They aren’t angry that Southern Baptist missionary Moses Mivedor is showing a biblical film to several hundred Muslims. They are frustrated that he turned it off so soon.

“Every time I come, they are excited to see [the movies],” Mivedor said.

In a Senegal village without electricity or running water, Mivedor’s generator-powered movie projector is a hit. He is harnessing the World Cup mania that has swept through Africa in an effort to connect with villagers. The outreach is already showing results.

“Almost everyone is either watching it on television or listening to it on the radio,” Mivedor said of the soccer tournament. “Everything else is an interruption.”

That gave him an idea for reaching these people with the Gospel.

“Seeing [the villagers’] lifestyle close up, without power or running water, cut off from the outside world, the idea came to me to bring my generator out and show the World Cup games,” he said. “I wanted to see how it might help me build more relationships and gain more opportunities to share.”

Mivedor from Kentucky and his wife, Beth, from Oklahoma, live among the Futa Toro people who, like 94 percent of Senegalese, are Muslims. The Futa Toro are a devout people who have a genuine desire to worship God but do not know Jesus as Savior, Mivedor said.

“They do everything to try to earn God’s favor, which we know is impossible,” he said.

Mivedor put his ministry plan into action. He beamed prerecorded World Cup games on a white bed sheet for two days. It was an instant success, with up to 1,000 people coming from nearby villages. After the games, he showed Bible-based films, which nearly everyone stayed to watch.

“There’s really nothing else to do in the village, and we are literally the biggest show in town,” he said.

The Muslim religious leaders were pleased with the films, which portrayed the life of Joseph and the Book of Genesis, stories familiar to Muslims. There was one brief moment, however, that caused a stir in the crowd.

Mivedor stopped the film about15 minutes into the showing “because it had rained earlier that day, and the termites were swarming me because of the light coming from the computer and projector,” he said.

The excitement generated by showing the World Cup games and Bible films has brought unprecedented openness among the villagers, who include Pulaar-speaking Futa Toro and a different ethnic group, the Wolof.

“Before, whenever I would go to the village, only the Pulaar speakers would come greet me,” Mivedor said. “Now the Wolof members of the community have started asking me to learn Wolof as well. This gives me more opportunities to know the rest of the village and share about my relationship with Christ.”

The Mivedors are now friends with the village chief and his son, Yaayaa.*  Initially, Yaayaa wasn’t open to spiritual topics but is now reading a copy of the New Testament the Mivedors gave him.

“He has been asking questions, and we can tell he is really thinking about what he is reading and hearing,” Mivedor said.

The Mivedors believe if Yaayaa and his father accept the Gospel, it will open the door for many others to follow.

Mivedor plans to round out this outreach when the World Cup ends July 11 with a bold move that could bring many Muslims to Christ.

“After the last game, I will be showing a movie on the life of Jesus in their [Pulaar] language. And at the end of that movie, there is a clear presentation of the Gospel with an invitation,” he said.

“So please be praying for that day.”

* Name changed

Marcus Rowntree is a summer intern for the International Mission Board.

By Jacob Alexander

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa – Today France and South Africa meet in this World Cup host city for a key match that may decide who proceeds to the next round of the competition. But a group of French fans are focused more on the soccer action in townships than those being broadcast on television.

A French team from Athletes in Action is ministering to youth in the townships of Bloemfontein through soccer camps.

Each morning more than 100 excited youth show up at a local soccer field where they learn to sharpen their soccer skills and work together as a team. Most importantly, they also hear a lesson from the Bible.

Joel Theibault, leader for the French AIA team, is coordinating the daily events to reach youth in the area.

“Each day we share the Gospel with them and try to make some illustration with soccer life to real life,” Theibault said. “They are very respectful and very happy to come each day.”

After a morning spent teaching the youth various soccer skills, Theibault brings the young athletes together just before lunch for a devotional and for one of the French team members to share his testimony.

In the afternoons, the youth are divided back into their teams from the morning sessions for a few practice games against each other.

“It’s really a pleasure to play with them, to coach them,” Theibault said. “We are very proud to be here and we learn a lot from them.”

View more photos of the team in action

Jacob Alexander is a writer for IMB’s Global Communications Team. He’s currently a seminary student and plans to be a bachelor until the rapture. His passion is telling the stories of God at work throughout the continent of Africa.

Tata Kepe, 78, talks animatedly to a group of volunteers from Tennessee about the World Cup. He’s excited about the tournament and thinks the development taking place in South Africa is a good thing. “The people will come from overseas and bring their money,” he says. He’ll watch the games on his television.

The four volunteers came to Grahamstown to hold soccer clinics in impoverished townships. Austin Womac and Jacob Thurman are from Alcoa, Kyle Prince is from Murfreesboro, and Ken Brown is from Maryville.

Tata Kepe lives in Joza, a township outside of Grahamstown. It’s on a hilltop, cold because of the winter wind. For several decades he has been a deacon at Albany Baptist Church, the strongest Baptist church in the area. It has the potential to reach many in the region through outreach efforts like the soccer clinics.

Keke’s grandson, Samkelo, 13, attended the soccer clinic and learned stretches, drills and control techniques. He also learned more about Jesus and the importance of a life lived with Christ.

See more photos from Grahamstown

Follow GBC’s journey via their blog

The team from Graceland Baptist Church has been posting updates on their blog since they arrived. They have been partnering with South African university students doing outreach in villages around Mafikeng during the World Cup.

By Toni Braddix

JOHANNESBURG — “I want to believe. I don’t know. But I want to believe,” is the store clerk’s response when asked if South Africa’s team, Bafana Bafana, can win the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

South Africa has geared up for the tournament in a big way, and national pride is evident everywhere. Street vendors dodge traffic at almost every intersection, hawking Bafana Bafana gear and flags of the World Cup nations. Many of the vehicles moving past have South Africa standards fluttering above their car tops. Multi-colored soccer balls, flags and vuvuzelas (horn-like noisemakers) fill store windows and aisles. Mall shoppers, office workers, bank tellers, doctors and dentists — people from all walks of life –don Bafana Bafana jerseys on Football Fridays.

Brandwag High School student Lucky Smith, 17, declares, “It’s great that the World Cup is coming because it means people will come to witness how great South Africa is.”

Smith and other young people at Northmead Baptist Church are excited the World Cup is coming for another reason as well.

“As Christians, we will use it as an evangelism opportunity to tell the countries where there aren’t believers, to tell them the Word of God,” says Michael Chaparika, 18, a member of the church youth group. He thinks of the World Cup as a missions opportunity — those who hear the Gospel in South Africa can take it back to their countries and share the Good News there. Read more…

The 2010 World Cup will see Christians both on the field and off as players and missionaries prepare for the big event.

By Charles Braddix

JOHANNESBURG – What is considered by many to be the world’s most anticipated sporting event – the FIFA World Cup™ – is set to kick off in South Africa’s largest city on June 11.

Those involved in Christian ministry plan to take advantage of this global soccer tournament that happens once every four years.

They will share the Gospel with the hundreds of thousands of fans who attend the month-long tournament, some from countries with no missionary presence. In addition, efforts will be made to use the event as an avenue to evangelize and plant churches in some of South Africa’s major urban centers.

“We have the ability to use soccer as a vehicle to get to places where it’s normally not easy to get into,” said International Mission Board missionary Kurt Holiday. Holiday is the IMB’s urban strategist for South Africa and Namibia. “We have a tremendous opportunity to use volunteers and others to go into the cities.”

Holiday plans to start a church in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg, as a direct result of World Cup ministries.

This is the first FIFA World Cup held on the African continent and is expected to draw a cumulative global television audience of over 26 billion. It will consist of 64 games held in 10 stadiums throughout the country.

Team USA’s first match is against soccer powerhouse England on June 12, followed by games against Slovenia on June 18 and Algeria on June 23.

U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, an evangelical Christian who openly shares his faith, said the team is up for the challenges of the World Cup. “We have a good, experienced bunch [of players], and that’s what I hold on to,” Howard said. “We’re ready.”

He recently signed autographs at a team practice session with his name and the Bible reference Philippians 4:13.

Other evangelical players participating in the World Cup who are open about their faith are Kaká and Lucio of Brazil and Emmanuel Eboué of the Ivory Coast.

Lucio became a believer as a result of Southern Baptist missions efforts in Brazil. The assistant coach of the Brazil squad, Jorginho, is also a Baptist.

“I have preached God’s Word everywhere I have been,” said Jorginho, who has played in two World Cups and the Olympic Games.

In addition, there is FIFA referee, Eddy Maillet, from the tiny island nation of Seychelles. Soccer City stadium, site of the opening and closing matches, seats more than the population of his country of 86,000.

Maillet will referee the match between the U.S. and England.

“My faith is very helpful for my refereeing,” said Maillet. “… I ask [God] to help me – to guide me in decision making.”

– 30 –

Charles Braddix is writer for IMB.

By Martha Richards

Philane Mjijwa is a Christian role model for his soccer students – the kind of positive influence he never had growing up. But his life wasn’t always something of which he was proud.

Soccer was Mjijwa’s passion since childhood. He would sleep in a stadium the night before a children’s soccer event so he wouldn’t miss his chance to “make it big.” He thought his dream was realized when he was chosen as one of the best in his league. But his excitement quickly turned to bitter disappointment when an official told him he must pay a $2,000 bribe to continue playing.

Knowing that his underprivileged family could not meet the demand, 12-year-old Mjijwa returned home feeling hopeless. He lived in a poverty-ridden area of Soweto, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg known for its professional soccer clubs.

“Here in South Africa, we have a lot of talent when it comes to soccer, and it is hard to succeed,” said Mjijwa.

With his soccer dreams crushed, he began to notice the success and wealth of some of the men in his neighborhood. These men weren’t working. They were stealing cars, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, robbing houses and even killing people. But all Mjijwa could see was they were rich and popular.

“As [children], we look up to those people,” said Mjijwa. “We have never seen someone who is a Christian who is living a good life so that we can say, ‘I look up to that guy.’”

It wasn’t long before drugs, alcohol and crime became a way of life for Mjijwa.

“At home I used to go to church, but I wanted to live an extraordinary life,” said Mjijwa, referring to the prosperous lives of the criminals in his neighborhood. “For me to be known, I think I was influenced to do those [bad] things. But I knew in my heart that there is a God.”

And Mjijwa knew that God would not approve of his lifestyle. As a young adult, Mjijwa decided to go to church one day – and found Someone to fill the hole in his life.

“The Holy Spirit just came upon me. … Immediately I started to have an intimacy with God and a relationship with Him,” Mjijwa said excitedly. “But I still had the influence of doing those [bad] things. It wasn’t easy to leave drugs and other things.”

He checked into a rehabilitation center to get clean, but it wasn’t easy. As his life was being transformed, Mjijwa’s friends turned against him, thinking he would judge them because of their sinful lifestyles. So he began to stay home, read the Bible and pray.

Today in his mid-20s, Mjijwa is hardly recognizable as that heartbroken boy who turned to a life of crime. He now teaches his soccer students the Bible during breaks. He also shares his experiences – good and bad – with them. His hope is that they will come to know Christ and avoid the same mistakes he made.

“Working with those youngsters and contributing to [their lives] – it’s not about soccer only, it’s … about God,” said Mjijwa. “[I] build their character and their talent at the same time. I feel honored to do that. It’s the grace of God.

“When [these boys] say, ‘Hey, Coach! Coach!’ there’s something in my heart that gives me peace,” he continued. “For all the sufferings I’ve been through, it’s better now. Because I understand these boys and their lives.”

To read more about life and ministry in Soweto, visit http://www.africastories.org/a-better-alternative/.

By Tristan Taylor

Brazilian churches plan to share a Christian witness at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ set for June 11 to July 11 in Johannesburg, South Africa. For 20 days, 200 Brazilian volunteers working with the 2010 African Connection Project will conduct outreach activities among those gathered for the tournament.

The World Mission Board of the Brazilian Baptist Convention is organizing the project as part of its volunteer program to send Brazilians overseas on short-term missions trips.

“The 2010 African Connection Project is one of the biggest volunteer projects in the history of the missionary church in Brazil,” said Brazilian Baptist Pastor Marcos Grava, coordinator of the project. Grava said its goal is to bless the people of South Africa with the Gospel message.

“We ask prayers for local security, volunteers’ security and many fruits among the South Africans and tourists,” Grava said.

Some of the planned outreach includes praying and doing personal evangelism in front of stadiums, conducting arts and sports clinics with spectators and providing a health clinic for poor communities in Johannesburg. The project’s volunteers will travel from Brazil to Johannesburg in two groups. The first group will serve from June 3 to 20, the second from June 6 to 22.

In discussing plans for the project, Grava said he was particularly interested in the opportunity to reach out to players from countries that are traditionally closed to the Gospel. Brazilian volunteers will minister to supporters of these teams.

Grava also hopes to prepare the Brazilian players to present the Gospel to other countries’ players on the field when their teams compete against each other. Jorge “Jorginho” Oliveira, assistant coach for the Brazilian team, knows about and supports this outreach, Grava said. Oliveira is president of Atletas de Cristo, one of the Christian organizations supporting the African Connection Project.

Out of the 1,300 people who applied to participate in the project, only 200 were selected. Each was required to provide a recommendation letter from an evangelical pastor indicating the volunteer’s previous church involvement. The cost of participating in the project is about $2,500, and volunteers are providing their own funding.

“We have people from different backgrounds and professions,” said Grava. “We have different skills and gifts in this group.”

Ten evangelical denominations are represented in the group. Many of the volunteers speak English and Spanish, but some also speak French, Arabic or Korean.

“We hope to work among groups from Mozambique who speak Portuguese like us,” Grava added.

Many World Cup games will be played in South African cities other than Johannesburg. But before the World Cup draw—which determines schedules, locations and team groupings for the matches—project organizers bought a Johannesburg campground from the Baptist Union in South Africa. They made the purchase knowing that two stadiums in Johannesburg will be playing host to World Cup games and Brazilian Baptists already have two missionaries leading churches in that city.

A month later, when the World Cup draw determined the Brazilian team will play its first two matches in Johannesburg, Grava took it as God’s confirmation that they had chosen the right location for the project.

“We are sure that God is blessing this project even before it starts, as we have prayer support from the brothers and sisters here in Brazil,” Grava said.

To donate to the 2010 African Connection Project, e-mail conexaoafrica2010@fabteo.com.br. All contributions will be used to buy materials for evangelism.

Tristan Taylor, an IMB writer in the Americas, is based in Santiago, Chile.

By Jeffery Aaron

Note: The term Coloured in this story refers to a defined people group unique to southern Africa.

Andile Gova was one of nine children growing up in his grandmother’s house in Port Elizabeth.

He, three siblings and five cousins lived in a small place, trying to survive each day. There are not many options for a young, Coloured teen growing up in South Africa. Many of Gova’s friends joined gangs and got hooked on drugs. Life was hard, but his grandmother made sure they went to church every Sunday.

It wasn’t until his late teens that Gova gave his life to Christ. It took a missionary starting a basketball team. It took the combination of sports and Bible studies.

Basketball changed Gova. Before, he had no focus, no real hope for his future. He wanted to avoid the struggles that captured his friends, but it was getting harder. At first, he played sports to run from his problems, but through basketball he learned discipline and teamwork, skills that had a life-changing impact on him.

More importantly, basketball helped him find Jesus. The same coaches who taught him sports disciplines also taught Bible stories, showing Gova what it means to be a follower of Christ.

“He is the Lord of my life,” Gova said. “I don’t have to take care of it myself.”

One of his coaches, Boyd Hall, is an IMB missionary who works in sports ministry in Port Elizabeth. Hall dedicates his life to keeping youth focused on their future and on finding Christ.

“Reaching students and youth through sports and caring about them is how I share about Christ,” said Hall. He’s noticed a trend – if most students don’t decide to follow Christ by age 16, they’re more likely to get addicted to drugs, become involved in gangs or die of AIDS.

One of the students Hall helped escape this trend is Gova. Many South African Coloureds do not go farther than eighth grade, but Gova worked hard and completed high school. He credited Hall’s commitment to teach him basketball, which helped him learn to work hard for what he wanted. Hall also helped Gova grow in his relationship with Christ.

Now Gova works for Athletes in Action, a Christian sports organization with a branch at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the school in Port Elizabeth where he is now a student. He received a scholarship because of his skills on the court.

“I wanted to give back [to the community] using sports,” Gova said. “If [Jesus] can change me, He can change someone else.”

Gova believes sports are a way to reach his countrymen with the Gospel. He said most sportsmen are too committed to their sport to go to church.

“If we are going to wait for [sportsmen] to go to church, we are not going to [reach] them until we go to them and minister to them,” Gova said. ”I believe a lot of work is not inside the church but outside the church, and sports is one of the tools we can offer this generation of today.”

Boyd Hall, Athletes in Action and many other organizations will run sports camps during the 2010 World Cup. Follow their ministries in Port Elizabeth and throughout South Africa on this website, which will feature daily updates throughout the World Cup.

Compiled by Melanie Clinton

Throughout March and April, Christians in South Africa gathered to pray in stadiums in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

For the story in photos, click through the images:

By Jeffery Aaron

Note: The term Coloured in this story refers to a defined people group unique to southern Africa.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Many Coloured teenagers in South Africa only see one way out of a life of gangs and drugs: to become a professional soccer player.

For the young Coloureds living in Cape Town, soccer is their sure way out. But the professional and club teams are hard to get in and highly competitive.

Nash Booysen, a former professional soccer player in South Africa, saw nothing was being done in his Coloured community to keep the young teens out of gangs. “All over the place, every corner where you go, [there] is just drugs,” he said.

Coloureds are a people group whose heritage is a mix of African, Malay, Chinese and European. Most of the people living in Cape Town’s Coloured neighborhoods will never finish the eighth grade.

By eighth grade Booysen was out of school and involved in drugs and gangs. After playing awhile for a professional team in Bloemfontein, he got into some legal trouble and the government gave him a choice: prison or the army. For seven years he served in the South African military. It taught him discipline, and he became captain of the army soccer team.

When he left the army he moved to Ocean View, a Coloured community on the peninsula south of Cape Town. He saw the poverty and the gangs, and he wanted to find a way to help the young people.

“My vision was to get the boys out of the community and into a professional set up where they can play [soccer] and they can make a living for themselves,” he said.

Booysen created a soccer academy in order to train young athletes while also sharing the Gospel with them. He starts working with the guys and some girls at a young age, most before they are teenagers. He trains them until he can place them in any school that will offer them a scholarship. The schools offer soccer players a team to play on, and many scouts follow high school teams looking for recruits for professional teams. Once the players get into a school and work hard at the sport they can move up more easily into a professional league.

Several of the guys have gone on to play for professional teams around South Africa. One, Franklin Cale, now plays for Bafana Bafana, the South African national team.

“The reason I teach football is to just get the boys out of drugs,” Booysen said. “That’s all I’m doing; there is nothing special I am doing. Just to see one boy turn his life around from nothing into something. … That’s all I want to see.”

After each training, Booyson teaches from the Bible on topics such as laying down their lives for each other. He emphasizes that God loves them so much that He laid down His life for them.

A lot of the guys share with Booyson about their lives at home. Sometimes they invite Booysen to their homes so he may share with their families.

“Most of them come to play sports and then get saved,” Booyson said. “Share the Word with them, share on their level. Their lives are changed.”

Several of his students now play for a sports high school in Cape Town. They board at the school and go home for holidays. They see the school as an opportunity to keep off the streets and get one step closer to their dream, to play professionally.

One of these students, Shane Petersen, loves the game and has played since a young age. Most of the guys his age are in gangs and addicted to drugs. Petersen plays to become famous and to make a name for his community.

Petersen’s classmate, Shaun September, plays soccer to stay away from drugs. He wants to do his best in front of scouts and play on a professional level.

Booyson’s teenage son, Diego, wants to play for Bafana Bafana. “Soccer, it’s a sport that brings all people together,” he said. “[I play] to set a standard for myself and to be a role model to others.”

“God said to go and make disciples. That’s all I do is go and make disciples,” Booyson said. “I don’t want them to grow up like I grew up. I grew up as a gangster, drug addict. I am hungry to teach them.”