“There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.”
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications
Last night Duke beat Wisconsin to win the National Championship... again. With Coach K at the helm, the Blue Devils have won 5 national championships in 10 finals appearances, with 12 final fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, 13 ACC tournament titles and oh, two gold medals on the side. What Coach K has done to dominate through several different eras of college basketball is "Woodenesque." He's had NBA talent, a solid fan base and plenty of good luck but what makes Coach K incredible is his ability to adapt and reinvent Duke without compromising his standards. That's what Uttermost wants to do in the sports missions world. We want to adapt and sacrifice everything but the gospel for the sake of the gospel. We want to continually reinvent ourselves in order to reach as many people, in as many contexts as possible without distorting the good news of Christ's death for sinners.
For the Win[dow],
Bubby Bryan
DOC
VERSE OF THE WEEK: 1 Corinthians 15:3-5
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and he appeared to Peter and then to the 12."
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Ethiopia
Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of a short-lived Italian occupation from 1936-41. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. In November 2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) issued specific coordinates as virtually demarcating the border and pronounced its work finished. Alleging that the EEBC acted beyond its mandate in issuing the coordinates, Ethiopia has not accepted them and has not withdrawn troops from previously contested areas pronounced by the EEBC as belonging to Eritrea. In August 2012, longtime leader Prime Minister MELES Zenawi died in office and was replaced by his Deputy Prime Minister HAILEMARIAM Desalegn, marking the first peaceful transition of power in decades. (CIA World Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for supporting nations to be wise in their programs and not cause diminished work ethic among Ethiopians.
- Pray for a resurgence of the deep Christian beliefs held by this nation from the earliest Church history.
- Pray for militant Muslims to know the truth of Jesus Christ and to stop persecuting believers.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
- Pray for the US office.