from Vincent Asamoah, YLI’s leader in Ghana —

“This is my first time ever in Liberia.  I was not sure what to expect, and I was open to whatever there is to be seen.  

 This afternoon I had the privilege to drive through the city of Monrovia with some friends from the US and Caleb Dormah, a Liberian who happens to be a three-time national basketball most valuable player!

As we drove through the densely populated city (1.6 million people), Caleb said that about 40% of the people in the city were involved in the civil war that claimed over 300,000 lives.

From this story, I felt that the only way to bring about true healing, forgiveness and reconciliation is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and YLI is poised to do that.

Please pray for YLI’s leadership as we pray for God’s leading for 2010; especially in regards to how He may lead us to engage young people in Liberia.”   

“Mohammed A.  had no knowledge in listening to God until we finished the first day’s topic of Intimacy with God. It has been over a year now after the program and he is still growing.

Evangelist Mohammed in his testimony talked with passion how Incarnational Evangelism (loving the people around him) has been a powerful tool for him, penetrating into the ‘Konkomba’ community in getting his ‘Timothys’ (mentoring a few). Through love, kindness and sharing the little that he had (e.g. .clothing, food) with them, it has been easy for him to plant a Church in the Moslem Community where he lives with a membership of 20.This feat seemed impossible to others but it is a reality now because he identified and did things in common with them.

He thanked God for YLI, it’s leadership and their families, he also prayed for more blessing and support for YLI to extend the “Lifestyle of Jesus Christ” to others.”

This is an excerpt from Vincent and Churcher’s report from our time in Tamale, Ghana.  Even through I don’t specifically remember him, I met Mohammed a year ago.  The exciting thing is the impact that he has made on his community over the past year because he simply listened to God’s voice, and loved the people around him with the love of Christ.

That’s what its all about.

As I was going through all of the photos from the trip I found a couple of short videos that Mike shot.   They are in HD and look really good.  The first one is of kids singing to us in the village of Kpenchela, where Pastor Brown is discipling a few young leaders who are ministering to the kids of the village.   The second is of us getting the car out of the mud we got stuck in on the way to Kpenchela!

I am writing this update as we begin the YLI coaches conference in Tamale, located in North Central Ghana and referred to as the Muslim capital of the country. Today is Thursday, our seventh day in Ghana.  There are several spirited games of Jenga and Connect 4 taking place as I write; (almost as if to say, “Jim Moye was here!”).

Ghanaian leaders who have received YLI training and mentorship are introducing unbelievers to Jesus Christ through relational evangelism (loving and serving their neighbors), and are encouraging believers to go deep with Christ through listening to God and discipleship.  I will provide you with one example.

In the village of Moseaso we met with a vibrant group of over 100 villagers comprised of every church denomination.  Each person at the rally introduced us to either the person he or she is discipling, or the person who is discipling them.  The joy in the room as we praised the Lord was heartwarming.

After the rally we were invited to the house of a man named James who is being drawn to Christ, in large part because of the relational evangelism of Dominic, a believer who befriended him when no one else dared.  James is the son and helper of a fetish priest and has been in bondage to dark spiritual forces his entire life.

James was at the rally. At the beginning of the rally I could see the pain in his face.  Later in the day when we prayed with him, his countenance began to brighten.  Jesus is breaking the bondage of spiritual darkness in his life. Dominic is the “hands and feet” of Jesus in James ‘ life.

Interestingly, none of the people in Moseaso knew Jim.  The invitation for YLI to do a conference in Moseaso came after Jim’s death.   Although the people in Moseaso did not know Jim, they do now know the importance of love evangelism and going deep with Jesus through listening to God and discipleship. They have learned these transformational principles because of the efforts of YLI coaches like Isaac, Naomi and Esther.

– Mike Moye

Here are some other photos of Mike from this week.

Some of you out there may be interested in additional photos and updates from our trip (hi Mom).  If you’re interested you can vist Flickr for more photos, and join our Facebook group (look to the right) for more updates on the trip. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!