“Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are hopeless against our prayers.”
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Partnerships
Uttermost Sports had the privilege of being invited to be a part of the IMB's South Asia NOW conference at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, TX last week. And because I am the Director of Partnerships, I had the privilege of going to represent Uttermost -- getting to man our conference booth, share what God is doing through our sports business, and meet people who want to use their sports skills to reach the lost in South Asia. Seeing God expand the vision people have about what missions can look like and how our unique backgrounds can be used overseas was so exciting.
South Asia, which includes India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, has a larger Muslim population than the entire Middle East!! As a region, it is also home to 1 billion Hindus, who worship more than 330 million gods. This unique melting pot of people groups and religions has the greatest concentration of lostness in the world. The numbers alone are staggering, but hearing stories of the need and seeing the beautiful faces of those unengaged, unreached peoples that are dying without hope -- that made me want to get on a plane right then!! Even more so in light of the devastating earthquakes in Nepal. This part of the world needs medicine, education, infrastructure, and most importantly, the Word of God and hope of Jesus Christ who died for them. The incredible thing is that sports provides a real vehicle to meet all of those needs, and we have all the resources and training and skills that we need within the Body of Christ to accomplish this!!
Are you a businessman with a heart for the unreached? Is your church looking to adopt an unengaged, unreached people group? Are you willing to sacrificially give to further God's work among the nations? Are you a sports professional willing go overseas?
Most of all, will you pray? For the lost of South Asia, for workers on the field, for Uttermost Sports, for God to show you how to be involved.
For the Win[dow],
Annie Fox, DOP
VERSE OF THE WEEK: 1 Peter 2:21
"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Mauritania
Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976 but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984 and ruled Mauritania with a heavy hand for more than two decades. A series of presidential elections that he held were widely seen as flawed. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council that oversaw a transition to democratic rule. Independent candidate Sidi Ould Cheikh ABDALLAHI was inaugurated in April 2007 as Mauritania's first freely and fairly elected president. His term ended prematurely in August 2008 when a military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ deposed him and installed a military council government. AZIZ was subsequently elected president in July 2009 and sworn in the following month. AZIZ sustained injuries from an accidental shooting by his own troops in October 2012 but has continued to maintain his authority. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population (Afro-Mauritanians) and white and black Moor (Arab-Berber) communities, and confronts a terrorism threat by al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb. (CIA World Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for the Word of God to be preached among Mauritanians in their heart language.
- Pray for God’s mercy in the wake of severe drought and a poor economy that plagues the people.
- Pray for Christ’s freedom to be understood by those suffering under the bondage of slavery.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
- Pray for the US office.