Sports Evangelism Launching-27th September, 2008

On Saturday the 27th September 2008, CML officially launched the first Sports Evangelism Tournament at the Kitere Technical School grounds. A total of 13 (thirteen) teams are scheduled to participate in this tournament. They include 11 (eleven) Community Youth Soccer Clubs/Teams and 2 (two) teams from the local Learning Institution- Kitere Technical School and Moi Institute of Technology (MIT). The tournament is scheduled to run through to December 14th for finals.

The function started at 3pm instead of 2pm as we had scheduled because many people were coming from far walking on foot. After the opening prayer by Pastor Paul Ochieng, Brother Maurice Ambonya did a preaching session encouraging the people to choose life by choosing Jesus Christ. He shared the Scripture from Psalm 107:10-16 and encouraged the people to desist from rebelling against God’s word, but come to Him so that He can deliver them from darkness, suffering and eternal destruction.

Mr. David Atinda, the Chairman of the CML Sports Evangelism Committee then took the opportunity to invite a few community stakeholders to speak to the gathering. They all emphasized the importance of sports in uniting the community as well as helping facilitate behavior change amongst the youth.

He then gave the Head-Teacher of Kitere Technical School, the opportunity to address the people. He declared that it was a blessing for them that their Institution would host the sports tournament and encouraged good behavior from all participants throughout the tournament. He also took time to encourage everybody exercise discipline while using the school property and facilities. He ended by welcoming all to the venue.

It was then my turn to clearly let the people know the object of this occasion and the tournament as a whole. I emphasized the fact that in organizing these events, our main objective is to facilitate transformation amongst the youth and in the community as a whole. Through sports, we get to gather people together for leisure, physical exercise talent development and social interaction. However, we also get the opportunity to preach/ teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. The love of Christ has the ultimate power for real transformation in individuals and the community. It is great to have better life, but it is better to have eternal life through Christ. For that matter, I stated that as a rule, all will be required to assemble together for prayers and preaching/teaching sessions before every match. I encouraged all to use this opportunity to interact, get to make friends and know each other deeper.

For motivation purposes, as the organizer of the tournament, on behalf of CML I had to make known to the people the prizes expected to be won by the participating teams in the finals. These are as follows:

Position 1: A trophy, a soccer ball and cash award of 5,000Kshs.
Position 2: A trophy, a soccer ball and cash award of 2,500Kshs.
Position 3: A soccer ball and cash award of 1,500Kshs.

I also made it known that CML values partnership and in this particular program, acknowledged SoccerGrow as our special partner and sponsor. CML is certainly blessed to have SoccerGrow as a partner. I let them know that SoccerGrow (http://www.soccergrow.org/) had already shown their commitment to this partnership by sending CML soccer equipment to be used in this tournament. They all applauded the partnership. I extended an invitation to other potential partners in this program.


Brother David then took us through the rest of the program. There were two matches to be played as curtain-raisers to entertain the people on this day. CML Football Club played Kitere Technical team. They tied by one goal each. Penalties had to be used to determine the winner- CML Football Club won. They later played against Kuja Sambo Football Club, which emerged the winner in the second match.


One unfortunate thing happened during the second match, one of the CML FC players incurred a fracture on his leg and we had to take him to hospital after first-aid was administered on him.

Brother David and Pastor Paul then facilitated the distribution of the soccer balls to the participating teams. Thirteen (13) teams registered for the tournament with a non-refundable fee of 200Kshs each. These are the teams which would be included in the fixture for participation in the soccer league. I presented the representatives of these thirteen teams each with a soccer ball for their training.

Thereafter, there were various announcements and Brother Ouma closed with a word of prayer before everybody departed.

Below are some pictures from the event:

Below is Pst. Paul welcoming everybody as we begin the event.

Everybody got seated...

Pst. Paul and Brother Maurice Ambonya preaching...

Then I addressed the gathering...

CML Footbal club playing against Kitere Technical School soccer team(in blue jerseys)...

We had spectators of all ages....

We even had a very creative commentator...

These young boys could not afford to miss every move in the game...they opted for a vantage point of view....on the trees...

Both teams had a brief moment during half time to strategize for the second half of the match...

The CML Team Captain emphasizing a point...

The Kitere Technical School team adviser also had points to emphasize....

Second half of the game...its getting abit darker as the sun goes down....

It was time for penalties to determine the winner...

Everybody wanted to congratulate the CML Club players after they displayed skilful penalty shots that declared them winners....

Kuja/Sambo club players seem almost anxious as they wait to play against the CML team....

David Atinda- The CML Sports Evangelism Commitee Chairman sorting out the balls for presentation to the participating clubs....He may be walking with crutches, but "Ja-Kisumu" as his nickname goes, is a man with varied abilities...


We appreciate all the participants and supporters. And we give all the glory to God Almighty.

Blessings.

The St. George's Mission- 21st September, 2008.

The morning's session started at 8:50am. After the opening prayer, we were taken through a teaching session on the fruit of the Spirit by one of the student leaders. She read from Galatians 5: 22-23. She emphasized the truth that, unlike the gifts of the Spirit which are bestowed differently on individual believers as God wills, the entire fruit of the Spirit is available to every Christian believer. She ended by challenging us to pray that the Holy Spirit help us to have the fruit of the Spirit manifest in and through our lives. We should all desire the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

I must say it's as if she had a glimpse into what the Lord had prepared me to talk about. I later Read from Galatians 5: 16-26 and talked about "Self-Discipline" emphasizing the fact that as Christian believers, we have the Holy Spirit permanently resident in us. This means we have the potential to live by the Spirit and in obedience to God, even though our default nature tends towards disobedience as all mankind is born in sin(Romans 3:23). That is why Paul encourages us in Galatians 5:16-18 to live in the Spirit.

The essence of Romans 12:1-2 is that we ought to walk in self-discipline, keeping our bodies holy unto the Lord, understanding the will of God and then renewing our minds to conform to God's perfet will. This is ultimate obedience. We must remember that it is God who even works in us to will and to do according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13). On our own we are incapable of walking in obedience, yet we have a part to play as we allow he Holy Spirit to help us along the way. He is the best teacher and helper. For those who are not yet in Christ, I stressed that the initial step is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, through faith.

As Christian believers, if we live and walk in the Spirit, our lives will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. We are then not subject to punishment, neither by God, nor man. I went further to challenge all the students to determine to practice self-control which is one of the fruit of the Spirit. It statrs with acts that may seem less significant like deciding to wash dishes at home instead of watching a TV program that is not neither educative nor informative. With time, one becomes capable of making the right choices in more challenging circumstances e.g. when one has to decide whether or not to join the majority students in destroying school property.

I concluded by proposing that if we all lived by the Spirit, our lives manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, and thus in obedience to God and all godly authority and discipline, there would be no need for punishment. This would mean no need for discussions or debates as we've had in this country in recent past as to whether we should or should not have "Corporal Punishment" in our schools. Such debates, if you ask me, are not addressing the core issue. The fundamental approach would be to facilitate people encoutering true transformation through Christ. Only then can human beings be truely disciplined and obedient.


The Student leader Teaching on the Fruit of the Spirit.

Thereafter it was a time for Praise. We danced, jumped and made joyful noice unto the Lord! Below are the girls leading the session of Praise.

Following Praise was a time of Worship. Below are the girls leading Worship and the students engrossed in deep Worship of the Lord.

Then it was time for presentations. several student groups and ndividuals glorified God with their gifts and talents. Below are some of the girls' doing their presentations.

Below is the Christian Union (CU) Choir doing their presentation.

At the beginning I almost thought I was alone, but during the time for presentations I was joined by two young people from the Petram Ministries. This is a ministry that also reaches out to students like CML. Here they are introducing themselves and giving information about their forthcoming Students Camp to be held in December.

Then it was my turn to share the Word. I must be emphasizing a point.

The girls are paying close attention!

After my teaching session, I invited the young man from Petram to conclude with a word of Prayer. We all said the Grace and the main meeting was called to an end after the announcements.

But as it is their custom, the CU Leadership at St. George's usually have brief meeting after the Sunday Service. Below are leaders meeting for prayers, encouragement, planning and briefings.

This is the Praise and Worship Team.

The Servants Team group meetings.
The CU Leadership team meeting the Petram Ministry representatives for more information about their Camp.

At the end, these girls just loved taking photos.

We had a blessed time and God is Glorified in all.

CML to launch Sports Evangelism Program in Rongo

As a Ministry with a "Holistic" approach, we value Sports Programs because through these, we are able to minister to the various aspects of the people's needs.

We are in the process of launching the CML Sports Evangelism Program, a multi-faceted strategy we plan to use to facilitate the young people’s social, physical, spiritual, emotional and talent development, through organized Soccer tournaments, bringing together institutional teams and local community youth clubs. In the process, we get the opportunity to have a preaching/teaching session before every match.

To support this program, we have secured a partnership with SoccerGrow, a US-based Soccer Charity Organization to help with the supply of Sports Equipment. SoccerGrow has the mission committed “to support and grow positive change in the world by changing lives through the power of Soccer”. The first consignment of Soccer Equipment to facilitate the launching has already been dispatched on the 10th of September 2008 and we are awaiting receipt of the same. We appreciative and are excited about this partnership!

For more information about SoccerGrow check this link:http://www.soccergrow.org/about

Apart from availing the opportunity to have the Gospel of Christ preached to the participants (including the spectators) during the tournaments, we have seen Sports Evangelism to have the following impact:

1. Young people's talents get to be identified and nurtured.

2. The people's Social growth gets facilitated as they interact during the tournaments.

3. The participants' physical development is facilitated as they engage in physical exercise.

4. All the participants get to be nourished spiritually as the Gospel of Christ is preached and taught. We have witnessed young people's lives transformed as they receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

5. We have witnessed behaviour change in terms of reduction in crime, drunkenness and idleness amongst the youth in the community, during and after the tournaments.

6. We have found Physical exercise and time to socialize helping reduce stress and facilitate focus amongst students.


At this initial stage, we expect 11 teams to participate in the Community Tournament, 14 High School Teams and 8 Primary School Teams to participate in the Schools Tournaments - a total of 33 Teams. However, the magnitude of actual participation may increase as already indicated in update reports by our organizing committee on the ground.

We are planning to start with the Community Tournament and the Primary Schools Tournament (under -15 years of age). The High School Tournament will commence early next year since the High Schools get very reluctant to participate in extracurricular activities during this 3rd term of the academic year.

As an incentive, we plan to give each participating team a ball for their training sessions. After the finals, we would also plan to give some awards to the 3 best teams and individual players in each tournament.

Tentatively, we plan to kick off the tournaments in the last weekend of September 2008. The launching is scheduled for Saturday the 27th September, 2008 at the Kitere Technical School Sports ground in Rongo District.

We expect wonderful testimonies of lives transformed through this program. Kindly pray and believe with us! You are also welcome to support this program financially or by donating Sports Equipment.

God bless you.

An Invitation to pray with us

Pray with us for God to continue granting us favour with Head-teachers, Christian Union Patron teachers, Guidance & Counseling Head of departments, the students and all the other stakeholders in the education fraternity, so that CML and other essential ministries may continue to have opportunities for in-campus ministry during this 3rd term.

The following is some background information regarding this prayer request:

During 3rd term, some schools tend to adopt a hard-line policy against extracurricular activities, including in-campus Christian ministry like the one CML offers. They claim to be preparing for end-year final exams.

Due to the undesirable post-election events early this year, Kenyan students have had to cope with a rather hectic academic year characterized by short term /semester periods and pressure to cover the academic syllabus. In addition, some of the students have had to cope with the resultant trauma and stress. The 3rd and last term in the Academic year normally pose even additional weight and cause for stress especially to the candidate students- the pressure and anxiety of the looming exams, worsened by the skewed emphasis placed on “academic performance as the key to all success”.

Although many cultures in Africa have almost idolized education as the key to success, various special factors have led to the elevated esteem with which academic performance is held amongst certain Kenyan people. The socio-political and economic history of the Kenyan nation is one such factors- apparently some tribes and communities have by default been disadvantaged in all other aspects, forcing them to resort to academic achievement as the possible way of survival. And even when that has been achieved, other factors like tribalism have continually played against them, leading to their perpetual state of being disadvantaged.

So, a child from such a community grows hearing the same adage; “Education is the key”. Parents at home sing it, teachers at school sing it, their peers sing it, and the mentors sing the same song, the musicians echo the same… almost the entire community sings it. Even the government education policy formation and implementation has for some time been influenced by this unfortunately skewed perception. This has gone to the extent that nobody seeks to identify, and nurture the gifts and talents that a child may have. It is not uncommon to find cases where a child who is talented in soccer or music is subjected to massive pressure to perform academically, and almost no encouragement at all to perfect the gift.

The aftermath of this imbalanced trend has led to many institutions producing graduates who may have academic qualifications and papers, but are miserable because they are not fulfilled even as they function in society. Yet, it is worth noting the existence of many people who are underachievers in academics but experience joyful, productive, fulfilled, effective and less stressful lives because they identified their talents and gifts early in life, continued to perfect them and are currently making use of the same in their careers.

CML takes a balanced approach in encouraging students towards academic excellence. We emphasize that a balanced education is one of the important factors, but not the ultimate key to a good, productive, fulfilled and purposeful life. In fact we let them know that God also uses high academic achievers, but that does not mean that He loves or values them more than the low academic achievers. Not everybody is gifted with intellectual aptitude to achieve high academic performance, but God has divinely and uniquely wired each individual with the ability to function best, with utmost efficiency and optimal output in a given area. That field may be sports, drama, music and any other area including academics, and if God intended the person to glorify Him in that, failure to do so, if you ask me would be tantamount to absolute failure.

We encourage the young people to intentionally endeavour to discover, embrace and develop the gifts God bestowed in them. Likewise, we encourage teachers, parents and all stakeholders to be deliberate in facilitating the process of identifying, motivating and facilitating the nurturing of the gifts in the young people.

“Academic Excellence” is one of the topics we handle in our sessions with students. Other related topics are “Life Purpose” and “Career Choice & Development”. In all these, we emphasize one common core value: “True success is determined by the extent to which a person accomplishes the purpose for which God created him/her”. We are normally seize the opportunity to underscore the truth that "to be in Christ is the first key towards unlocking authentic success." By God's grace, many have decided to take that first step. All glory to God!

For some other points we normally emphasize during our sessions on “Academic Excellence", please read the blog entry just preceding this one.

We cherish your support in prayers.

Keep Blessed.