Week of June 22, 2015

“Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the spirit of God.”
— Edwin Keith

FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications

We're in the dog days of summer. NBA Finals - over. US Open - over. Just women's soccer and June baseball. I'm counting down the days until football (75) starts. For sports fans like me this is the worst part of the year. I'm also convinced that there are only 9 people in America that care about the Arena Football league ... which hurts because I love Arena Football!

Come on Fall! You cant get here fast enough!

For the Win[dow],

Bubby Bryan, DOC

VERSE OF THE WEEK: Romans 1:16

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Pakistan

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world and dating back at least 5,000 years, spread over much of what is presently Pakistan. During the second millennium B.C., remnants of this culture fused with the migrating Indo-Aryan peoples. The area underwent successive invasions in subsequent centuries from the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs (who brought Islam), Afghans, and Turks. The Mughal Empire flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries; the British came to dominate the region in the 18th century. The separation in 1947 of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with West and East sections) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily resolved, and India and Pakistan fought two wars - in 1947-48 and 1965 - over the disputed Kashmir territory. A third war between these countries in 1971 - in which India capitalized on Islamabad's marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani politics - resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. In response to Indian nuclear weapons testing, Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998. India-Pakistan relations have been rocky since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, but both countries are taking small steps to put relations back on track. In February 2008, Pakistan held parliamentary elections and in September 2008, after the resignation of former President MUSHARRAF, elected Asif Ali ZARDARI to the presidency. Pakistani government and military leaders are struggling to control domestic insurgents, many of whom are located in the tribal areas adjacent to the border with Afghanistan. (CIA World Factbook)

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PRAYER REQUESTS:

  • Pray for breakthroughs in reaching spiritually oppressed people living in areas currently beyond the reach of a Christian witness.
  • Pray for leaders of integrity to carefully navigate ongoing tensions with neighbors which threaten the nation’s stability.
  • Pray for the strongholds of Islamic extremism and terrorist violence to be broken and rendered powerless.
  • Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
  • Pray for the US office.

Week of June 15, 2015

I was out of the office last week spending some time in Mississippi and Alabama. Its weird to observe the differences between the deep South (a culture massively influenced by the Church) and the places our reps live - the Middle East and Central Asia - (where the Church  has zero influence). Ironically, the majority of people that live in both cultures are unreached, some just attend Sunday services as a hobby. My prayer is that the Lord would continue to raise up Pauls to pioneer to territories - to take the Gospel to places not yet reached but also that he would raise up Peters - to shepherd those living in overtly religious contexts and call them to the true Gospel - not just the cultural trappings of playing church. 

Week of June 1, 2015

Two quick updates around Uttermost HQ. One, our international office is now fully stocked with new personnel. We can't tell you how great this is. They have been stretched pretty thin for years now (our admins keep leaving to go be field reps ... jerks) and the brass travels 90% of the time - leaving the US office to pick up the slack (not the most economic way to run a global organization). Now that we're back to full strength, we're not only more efficient in supporting our 50+ reps scattered around the world but we can take a few deep breaths and devote more resources towards long term planning.

Week of May 26, 2015

To the shock of absolutely no one, headlines this week spotlight massive corruption at FIFA. Soccer's premier governing body has been accused (again) of accepting bribes and payoffs. These rumors have persisted for years and serve to confirm the two things that Uttermost Sports has been preaching for years; one, sports are a big deal - the only thing more telling than multi million dollar athletic investments is illegal multi million dollar athletic investments - which leads us to number two, people are sinners. We are people are in need of a savior.

Week of May 18, 2015

If we wanted to, we could devote this weekly blog exclusively to updates regarding ISIS movement in Iraq and Syria. Our work in this region has slowed to a crawl (as it should... sport development is not a national priority during violent jihad) and today it appears that ISIS has once again made major strides by taking Ramadi - a strategic city about 100 miles from the capital of Iraq.

Week of May 11, 2015

My brain is still a bit fuzzy from jet lag this morning, as I recently returned from two weeks in Southeast Asia. For those weeks, I was honored to spend time with athletes finishing their training for the SEA Games in Singapore next month — the end of two year’s of hard work and sacrifice. They live away from their families. without much of a choice when selected to join these sports teams, and they feel immense pressure to perform well at the Games. Athletes in Action  one of our partners in sports missions, sent 22 staff members and volunteers to provide spiritual training during the past four months. Athletes, coaches, and administrators were encouraged to consider life beyond sport, and particularly, to consider their soul. What is your identity and worth beyond sport performance and success?