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Welcome to our First Newsletter!
 We hope you enjoy this bit of news from Sports Friends. God is using
the simple, yet powerful, platform of sports ministry to expand His
Kingdom. We hope this newsletter encourages you and leads you to pray
for Sports Friends and its leaders serving around the world. You have
been included in this distribution either because you signed up on our
website or because one of our Sports Friends missionaries thought you
would appreciate these updates. If you do not wish to receive them,
you may unsubscribe below.
A Faithful Stand
As I listened to Fikadu's story, I thought of the early Apostles - how
they were faithful amidst persecution and how they saw God do amazing
things in seemingly impossible situations. I praised God for Fikadu's
faithful stand for Christ in a land that was so hostile to his
witness.
Fikadu is a sports ministry trained church planter in
Ethiopia. He is using soccer to build relationships with over 75 youth
and young adults in a town with historically no known Christians. Over
the last year, 18 young men have chosen to follow Christ as a result
of relationships Fikadu has built on the soccer field. Fikadu has encountered extreme
opposition. Recently 300 people from the town tried to stone him to
death because of his Christian witness.
Fikadu recounted, "How
could I have escaped? Even just one of these men could have killed me.
Surely 300 would kill me! But God allowed me to escape. God
rescued me!"
 As
Fikadu shared his story of God's deliverance, I looked at the fresh
scars on his face and his broken teeth where he had been hit by stones.
He was humble, yet confident, as he went on to say, "I consider it a
great privilege to suffer for the name of Jesus. In fact, God has used
this attack to not only strengthen my own faith, but the faith of the
18 new believers who now worship Christ with me!"
Fikadu is but one of many sports ministers
faithfully serving in Ethiopia. Over the last six years, God has done
great
things through church-centered sports ministry in Ethiopia:
Over 1,200 churches have developed sports ministry programs.
Over 100 new churches have been planted among difficult to reach people
groups. Thousands have placed their faith in Christ and tens
of thousands are being actively mentored and discipled.
Click here to
read Fikadu's complete story
Camping Ministry Trips in Summer 2008
 Sports
Friends will organize and send 6 short-term ministry teams to serve at
Camp Langano in the summer of 2008. Our camping leaders in
Ethiopia will work with these teams to run 6 weeks of camp with 40
youth attending each week's session. The youth will have one of the
greatest times of their lives -- fun, food, sports, games, crafts,
swimming, singing, drama, teachings, etc. Most importantly, we hope to
shower these young people with God's love and help them grow in their
relationship with God. Over the last two summers, approximately 100 of
the 220 Ethiopian youth attending camp made first time professions to
follow Jesus. Each of these new believers is being discipled by their
sports ministry leader who came to camp with them.
As we have
the opportunity to further develop the physical facilities and recruit
and train a full-time camping staff, we will expand the camping program
to minister to 150 youth at a time for up to 35 weeks a year.
Camp Langano will be the first residential, Christian youth camp in Ethiopia, a country with over 75 million people.
Sports Friends Moving Forward in Asia
 Of
course, sports are a powerful tool - even the elephants play in Asia!
Later this year, Sports Friends will be sending a team of leaders to
live in SE Asia to begin the process of developing church-centered
sports ministry in that region of the world. There are over 2 billion
people in this region who do not know or follow Jesus Christ as Lord.
We hope to partner together with many indigenous church planting
movements, local churches and international mission organizations to
see God's Kingdom expanded in Asia through the platform of sports
ministry.
Over 1/2 of the world's population live within a 4-hour plane ride of Sports Friends regional base in Asia.
Mobilizing the Church in Nigeria
 Nigeria
is the most populous country in Africa and certainly one of the most
influential. Sports Friends is partnering with several of the largest
denominations in Nigeria to train and equip them to use sports ministry
as a tool for church planting, evangelism and discipleship. Our parent
mission, SIM, has a long history in Nigeria dating back to 1893. The
denomination that SIM started through its missionary efforts is now
called ECWA (Evangelical Church of West Africa) and has over 6 million
worshipers. The churches of Nigeria have a vision to send tens of
thousands of Nigerian missionaries into North Africa and the Middle
East. Sports Friends is working with our denominational partners to
equip sports ministry leaders for effective community outreach both
within and across the borders of Nigeria.
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