Kickoff

So here we go...

I'm starting this blog to keep a running record of what is going on during my stay in South Africa. If you don't already know what that trip's all about, here's the 5...

Who: Eastside Community Church, four other interns, my supporters, God, and me.
Where: Pretoria, South Africa
When: I leave Dec 29th 2008 and will becoming back sometime around Dec 20th 2009
What: The Eastside staff and 5 interns will be starting a multi-faceted ministry leading up to and during the 2009 Confederations Cup and passing it on for another year through the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The program is called Ignite and the part I am involved in is called Ignite Sport. It is designed to help underprivileged youth in the area by involving them in community soccer programs and eventually community youth groups. There is also a separate prison soccer ministry we will also be working on. The ultimate goals are helping meet peoples immediate needs, sharing the gospel, and planting churches after the tournaments are over.
Why: Ha. That's the million dollar question isn't it?

What it comes down to is this...I have never been more confident that God was asking me to do something than I am about this program. Does it make financial sense? No. Does it make professional sense? Absolutely not. Does it make relational sense? Far from it. Does IT make sense? Yes. It does; Maybe not to me, or to my family, or too my girlfriend, or to this world, but God has made sense of my life already from start to finish, and He is asking me to go.

So what's left? Am I going to be a Jonah? Or am I going to be a David?

For the record, all those people i just mentioned are supportive of this :)

I stole the word "Kopanya" from FIFA's ad campaign for the upcoming tournaments. It is a Southern Sesotho word that translates to "join together." It is a great phrase for a tournament drawing participating audiences from 32 countries and interested audiences from, well, all the others. It is a better phrase for a ministry of the Christian God who asks us to "make disciples of all nations" and to "love your neighbor as yourself." I hope to not only join together kids onto a team, or families into a church, but join each individual we meet with the same Holy Spirit who has rejoined me with God through Jesus.