"This World Cup Was Won By The Church!"
What has happened? Thousands of young people from local churches along with international teams of young people took to the streets to evangelize, pray, dance and sing. They used many different strategies to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation, including handing out 37.300 red cards which had the phone number to dial and report the crime. Others did short dramas at traffic lights; some painted the faces of the fans while they talked about ways to combat sexual exploitation. A curriculum, "Libertodos", was developed to raise awareness of and stand against sexual exploitation. This curriculum is now being presented in our schools. A team traveled by bus to 8 of the twelve venue cities to show a documentary film against human trafficking. And in each of the 12 cities a prayer room was available 24/7.
"This Word Cup was won by the church!" said Regiane, one of the YWAM leaders who works among the women in brothels in Belo Horizonte. We were together in the worship service in the prayer room which was crowded with young people from many churches. 1.500 intercessors had prayed in those rooms for 720 hours. Regiane was beaming, "I could write a whole book of the wonderful things that have happened," she said, "We are so grateful to God."
"Exceeded our Expectations"
We called all of the leaders and organizers in the other eleven World Cup cities and everyone said the same thing: "Exceeded expectations". So much has been accomplished. In our last count 196.400 people were reached by 5650 volunteers. We worked together with 244 different churches. Several cities had campaigns focused on distributing Bibles in every home in many under-served communities. All together 191.000 Bibles and booklets were handed out. A lot of results we will not see until the future because so much were seeds that were planted in the form of Bibles, magazines, brochures and even cookies with Bible verses. We are praying that the Holy Spirit will use these seeds to convince people of God's love for them.
The fact that Brazil did not win The World Cup was a shame. The 7-1 loss to Germany was a shock. No one expected it. But soon we saw our motto appearing in all kinds of advertisements "Our passion goes beyond soccer," The Lord Jesus is our passion! Hundreds of young people participated in training with ministry events during this time and many have applied now to do a DTS (Discipleship Training School). The enthusiasm is contagious.
Thank You Very Much!
Our thanks goes to a long list of people:
- Our national KICKOFF team who worked with dedication. You're the best! God has anointed you with special gifts and it was wonderful to see how you used these gifts and skills and how they were developed during this time.
- All KICKOFF coordinators, grassroots leaders, and other YWAM staff who worked so hard. International and national teams were met with great hospitality. Space where there had been none was created. You were available to day and night to reach the masses, but also the individuals with the love of God the Father. We are very proud of our YWAM family.
- Our national and international partners, churches and organizations, too many mention them all by name; it was spectacular to work with you towards a singular goal: To magnify the name of Jesus!
- All national and international teams that have invested time and money to work in the 12 cities in outreach and human trafficking and sexual exploitation awareness, identifying with the longing of God's heart in this area.
- The people who sent finances and sustained us in prayer. Without you nothing here would have been possible.
To watch a video clip of our best photos during this time, click here.
What's next? We have plans for the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro! Look here to find out what we are planning from January to September 2016.
Thank you and God bless!
