A few photographs from the World Prayer Assembly stadium event in Jakarta Indonesia

There are about 100 thousand people gathered in the Jakarta Stadium tonight for the World Prayer Assembly stadium prayer gathering- amazingly there are another 373 stadium gatherings throughout Indonesia at the same time. It is estimated that about 9 million people have gathered for prayer tonight across this nation. It is always a wonderful experience to pray together with so many people from all over the world!

Our broadcast will be seen by a few more million people across the world tonight and another 400 million people when we rebroadcast this event on Pentecost Sunday, 27 May 2012 (which is also the Global Day of Prayer).

We set up a studio to do interviews with parter ear organizations in prayer, ethics, justice and mission work across the world. Here are a few pictures of some friends doing their interviews among them Jason Mandryk from Operation World, Pete Greig from 24-7 prayer, and a host of others.

It is so great to share in this event with so many great friends! I will have the joy of highlighting the work of our Ethics campaign (Unashamedly Ethical - http://www.unashamedlyethical.com), and our corruption and poverty campaign (EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption - http://www.exposed2013.com) in a 10 minute interview at the end of our broadcast this evening.

World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta Indonesia

I leave for Jakarta (via Dubai) in a few minutes.

This time I will be at the World Prayer Assembly - a very special global gathering of Christians from across the planet (about 6000 or so). See http://www.wpa2012.org for details

I have the privilege of having 3 speaking slots at the conference (all around poverty and corruption / ethics), and a slot on the Global Day of Prayer studio broadcast on the 17th of May on GodTV.

At this conference I'll representing the work of our 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption' campaign (see http://www.exposed2013.com for more), and the Unashamedly Ethical movement (see http://www.unashamedlyethical.com for details).

Please could I ask for your prayers for this journey and work? My desire is to activate many more Christians and Christian movements for God's work of justice and mercy.

Please also pray for Megie, Courtney and Liam at home. I miss them already!

Rwanda to Bryanston, and the Passion Narrative of John

It is Good Friday - by God's grace I woke up early this morning and have been given the gift of quiet time to pray, read, and reflect.

Since my last post, from Kampala Uganda, it feels like a lifetime has passed.  It has only been a week. 

Last Saturday I flew from Rwanda to Johannesburg.  Megan and our children flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg as a gift from one of the members of the Bryanston Methodist Church.  Such gifts are truly an expression of God's love for us as a family through the goodness of others.  By Saturday afternoon we were all together at Megan's sister's home in Bryanston.

I had come here at the invitation of this wonderful Church to preach the Holy Week services, based on the theme of Jesus' High Priestly Prayer (John 17.1-26).  The High Priestly prayer is normally only considered after Easter in the lectionary.  However, in its placement in the text it fits nicely as a build up to Easter, since it is likely that the prayer itself would have been prayed at the conclusion of the Last Supper, or on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

It is a wonderful text to shape one's thoughts on Jesus love for the Father, the Triune God's love for the world (although there is no direct mention of the Holy Spirit in this text), and of course Jesus' prayer for his disciples and the Church that would come (that is you and I).

You are most welcome to download the 4 sermons that I preached from Sunday evening from my dropbox account here on the following links:

• "1 Refocusing your gaze s31 March 2012 number 1 knowing God.doc" in my Dropbox: http://db.tt/r6S7lEgz
• "2 Rediscovering your true identity 1 April 2012.docx" in my Dropbox: http://db.tt/U3NlAlWi
• "3 Recapturing your life’s true calling 3 April 2012.docx" in my Dropbox: http://db.tt/HA3OGrBk
• "4 Repurposing your relationships 4 April 2012.docx" in my Dropbox: http://db.tt/anBMx4f2 

If you don't already have a free DropBox account please sign up: use my referral link, and I will get an extra 250MB storage, a great help to me.  Thanks!

As I was preparing the reflections for this week I found the following quote.  It is quite thought provoking:

Indeed, Saint John’s whole Passion narrative is built on this connection between humble service and glory (doxa): it is in Jesus’ downward path, in his abasement even to the Cross, that God’s glory is seen, that the Father and, in him, Jesus are glorified. In a brief scene on ‘Palm Sunday’ - in what might be termed the Johannine version of the Gethsemane story - all this is summed up: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’” (12:27-28). The hour of the Cross is the hour of the Father’s true glory, the hour of Jesus’ true glory.

Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two (via invisibleforeigner)

So, let me take a step back to Rwanda. I only had the privilege of visiting Kigali, the Capital City, of that beautiful nation.  I was struck by the beauty of the place and its people.  It is hard to imagine the horror of the genocide that took place there when one encounters the current beauty!  I wrote the following short reflection on my Tumblr blog while waiting for my flight from Kigali to Johannesburg.

 

(Source: peacerockandnature)

Rwanda is so beautiful. This morning all of the citizens of Kigali work in the city from 8am - 11am to clean and tidy this beautiful place. It is hard to imagine the horror that transpired here with the Rwandan genocide. I am left with a host of conflicting emotions - the conflict between the horror and depravity of human sin, and the possibility and beauty that God has placed within people and creation. I recognise that I carry that same conflict in my very nature. I am prone to sin, anger, selfishness, self-righteousness, pride… Yet, at the same time God gives the gift of empathy, the faculty of reason and the frailty of needing to depend on others… Without my kind French speaking taxi driver, who had to explain to police in a roadblock why he was driving me to the airport instead of working in the city, I would not be returning home to my wife and children for whom my heart aches with longing. I am dependent, dependent on God’s grace, and dependent on the good will of others, and dependent on love and beauty. This is a good place to reflect on the value of dependence.

It was good to be back in South Africa, a country to which I came as a young 'refugee' from Zimbabwe.  Here too we have immeasurable beauty, incalculable wealth, and wonderful opportunity.  I am blessed and thankful to be a citizen of this nation.

However, I also recognize that this privilege comes with a great responsibility.  South Africa is one of the most inequitable nations in the world.  We have the 27th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world.  The province of Gauteng has the 3rd largest economy on the continent of Africa (if I am correct, the largest economy is the nation of South Africa, then Nigeria, then the Gauteng Province, then Egypt).  Yet, there are some signs of concern.  Last year Rwanda rose about 4 places on the Transparency International Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) to being perceived to be the 4th least corrupt nation in Africa (behind Botswana, Cape Verde, and Mauritius).  South Africa, however, dropped 16 places in their CPI score in 1 year!  This is a grace concern.

So, this week was spent preaching in the evenings, and during the day I used the opportunity to meet with some of the most influential business, political and Church leaders of South Africa who live and work in and around Johannesburg.  In each instance I shared the challenge to stand for values, ethics and clean living, by joining us in the Unashamedly Ethical campaing.

I also asked these persons to book the dates of 14-20 October 2013 for a week of witness, action and advocacy on behalf of the poor and the corrupt, by joining the 100 million others who form the EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption campaign. By the way, EXPOSED is featured as the lead story on the World Evangelical Alliance website this month - I met with the vice chair of the WEA here in Johannesburg, Ndaba Mazabane.  I will be meeting with the chair of the World Evangelical Alliance in the USA in about three weeks time (Geoff Tunnicliffe).

This Easter Friday morning I am considering the fact that the passion of Christ is intricately linked to His glory. What some would consider a defeat, death at the hands of his adversaries, was the greatest victory in all history. Because of His sacrificial love the world is saved.

In John 17.4 Jesus says that he brought Glory to his Father by completing the work that he had been sent to do.  It is my desire to bring Glory to the Father, Son and Spirit by completing the work that I am sent to do - and I ask for your prayers in this task.

Please join me in the work of healing and transforming the world for the sake of God's Kingdom.

A blessed Easter to you!  It is Friday, but Sunday is coming!

Uganda - from the pavement to the palace

It is just after 6 am in Uganda. Graham Power and I have just returned from speaking on Power FM, the radio station of Watoto Church.

This truly is a Church that is being salt AND light! By this I mean that they have a consistent Christian witness, giving expression to God's love in ways that are traditionally associated with being 'the Church' i.e., preaching the good news of God's love for people and the world, gathering for worship, discipling their members etc. However, they are also being salt (in the sense that this phrase 'salt and light' was used in the New Testament). Salt was used to prevent the decay of food stuffs in the days before we had refrigerators. Watoto Church is a Church that is actively 'salty'. They serve the poor, they care for the orphans and the vulnerable. It is truly a remarkable thing to see how they give expression to the Good News - they not only preach what the 'gospel sounds likes', they also 'show what the Gospel looks like'.

In a few hours Graham and I will be speaking at the Makerere University on Unashamedly Ethical and EXPOSED. We end our time in Uganda by speaking at a Watoto Church to a group of about 1000 business people tonight. From there we fly to Rwanda for some more speaking engagements and the grand finale of the East African reality TV series - Inspire Africa (a show that is quite similar to Donald Trump series 'The Apprentice').

What prompted this post, however, was a series of experiences I had yesterday.

After arriving in Kampala just after midnight I slept for a short while before going to a business breakfast at the Africana Hotel. A couple hundred entrepreneurs had gathered to hear Graham Power and Mrs Janet Museveni - the First Lady of Uganda. It was a wonderful time. It is always deeply inspiring to hear Graham's testimony, and it was wonderful to see so many passionate and talented business people with an interest in Ethics and business. It is a great honor to share some encouragement and challenge with them. Mrs Museveni is an inspiring woman of faith - her love for God and her people is deeply moving.

Later in the morning I needed to walk into Kampala to buy some supplies. My friend Graham Vermooten and I were walked through the busy streets, dodging the boda boda motorcycles and taxis! Kampala is a bustling city with a great deal of emerging wealth and a seemingly growing economy. The familiar sights of South African retail and commerce are evident here - MTN, Standard Bank, Nando's, Mr Price etc.

However, as we rounded the corner I saw a little girl, no more than two and a half years old sitting all alone in the middle of the pavement begging for food or money. I was arrested in my steps. I felt such a sense of pain and shame rise up within me. How sad it is that a child of that age should be begging for enough food just to survive! Poverty is frequently associated with laziness and poor choices in adults. However, a young child, in fact a baby, is a victim of poverty. There is no other way to put it.

As we walked a little further there was a group of four or so women and girls - clearly street people - sleeping in the grass on the pavement. I wondered if the baby belonged to one of them? Regardless, I was so moved by what I had seen I could not get it out of my mind. Rounding the corner there once again signs of emerging wealth, an upmarket shopping mall with a parking lot filled with luxury 4x4 vehicles, busy shoppers, stores filled with food, clothing and all sorts of unnecessary distractions. The contrast is just so stark!

What shall we do with the poor? I choose that phrase deliberately 'with the poor'. I am certain that the solution to poverty is not to keep a person enslaved and dependent on others. That thought had crossed my mind - the little girl, if she survived into her teens, would most likely become enslaved in sex work, or at best dependent upon the alms of others. It is highly unlikely that she would end up differently from the four women fast asleep on the grass.

Indeed, what shall we do with the poor? How shall we work alongside them, with them, to engender a change of heart and mind that will break the cycle of poverty?

This post is entitled From the pavement to the palace because the day ended on the opposite extreme - our team was invited to dinner at the Presidential residence in Kampala. A beautiful compound with lush gardens. Not extravagant by any means (I have certainly seen more ostentatious homes in Bryanston, and Somerset West where I live). The President and First Lady live in a beautiful but modest home. Of course security was extremely tight and no cell phones or cameras were allowed. However, we did take our camera crew (with permission) to film Mrs Museveni for the Unashamedly Ethical and EXPOSED campaigns.

It was Mrs Museveni who stated so clearly that poverty is frequently entrenched in the mindsets of individuals and upheld through structures in society. Injustice and corruption are frequently the primary cause, and the ongoing catalyst, of poverty. However, a solution to poverty is not only to be found in handouts and charitable work. She eloquently stated that the solution is to be found in restoring human dignity and worth, in helping persons to see and discover their human potential. In releasing untapped ability, creativity and opportunity in both individuals and communities. Enterprise development, education, and spiritual and moral formation are all necessary elements in working alongside the poor for transformation and renewal.

I am still haunted by the sight of that little girl.

However, I am encouraged and thankful that God is placing persons throughout the various strata of society to partner with Him in bringing renewal, healing and transformation in the world. From the ordinary person like me, to the first lady of a nation, God has planted within us the capacity for care. The ability to make difficult and sacrificial choices about our time, our money, our space, and our energy. The Watoto Church is a testimony to that! These are not wealthy people, but the wealth of their love is extravagant for the poor!

Please can I ask you to pray with me for those who awoke today hungry? Please will you pray for that little girl? Graham and I fed her something as we walked back to our lodgings. It was something small, another little bit of sustenance that would take her a step further in her life. Please pray that she would not only have food today, but be nourished in her body, mind and spirit so that she may grow to become just like the first lady of her nation. God's desire is that we should all become fully human. We can be a part of that wonderful work!

Please join us in shining a light on poverty - a positive light of care! Please join the EXPOSED campaign and start planning what you will do during EXPOSED week 14-20 October in 2013. Share your story on our Facebook page and encourage others to join you in God's work of renewing the earth and its people.

Uganda - from the pavement to the palace

It is just after 6 am in Uganda. Graham Power and I have just returned from speaking on Power FM, the radio station of Watoto Church.

This truly is a Church that is being salt AND light! By this I mean that they have a consistent Christian witness, giving expression to God's love in ways that are traditionally associated with being 'the Church' i.e., preaching the good news of God's love for people and the world, gathering for worship, discipling their members etc. However, they are also being salt (in the sense that this phrase 'salt and light' was used in the New Testament). Salt was used to prevent the decay of food stuffs in the days before we had refrigerators. Watoto Church is a Church that is actively 'salty'. They serve the poor, they care for the orphans and the vulnerable. It is truly a remarkable thing to see how they give expression to the Good News - they not only preach what the 'gospel sounds likes', they also 'show what the Gospel looks like'.

In a few hours Graham and I will be speaking at the Makerere University on Unashamedly Ethical and EXPOSED. We end our time in Uganda by speaking at a Watoto Church to a group of about 1000 business people tonight. From there we fly to Rwanda for some more speaking engagements and the grand finale of the East African reality TV series - Inspire Africa (a show that is quite similar to Donald Trump series 'The Apprentice').

What prompted this post, however, was a series of experiences I had yesterday.

After arriving in Kampala just after midnight I slept for a short while before going to a business breakfast at the Africana Hotel. A couple hundred entrepreneurs had gathered to hear Graham Power and Mrs Janet Museveni - the First Lady of Uganda. It was a wonderful time. It is always deeply inspiring to hear Graham's testimony, and it was wonderful to see so many passionate and talented business people with an interest in Ethics and business. It is a great honor to share some encouragement and challenge with them. Mrs Museveni is an inspiring woman of faith - her love for God and her people is deeply moving.

Later in the morning I needed to walk into Kampala to buy some supplies. My friend Graham Vermooten and I were walked through the busy streets, dodging the boda boda motorcycles and taxis! Kampala is a bustling city with a great deal of emerging wealth and a seemingly growing economy. The familiar sights of South African retail and commerce are evident here - MTN, Standard Bank, Nando's, Mr Price etc.

However, as we rounded the corner I saw a little girl, no more than two and a half years old sitting all alone in the middle of the pavement begging for food or money. I was arrested in my steps. I felt such a sense of pain and shame rise up within me. How sad it is that a child of that age should be begging for enough food just to survive! Poverty is frequently associated with laziness and poor choices in adults. However, a young child, in fact a baby, is a victim of poverty. There is no other way to put it.

As we walked a little further there was a group of four or so women and girls - clearly street people - sleeping in the grass on the pavement. I wondered if the baby belonged to one of them? Regardless, I was so moved by what I had seen I could not get it out of my mind. Rounding the corner there once again signs of emerging wealth, an upmarket shopping mall with a parking lot filled with luxury 4x4 vehicles, busy shoppers, stores filled with food, clothing and all sorts of unnecessary distractions. The contrast is just so stark!

What shall we do with the poor? I choose that phrase deliberately 'with the poor'. I am certain that the solution to poverty is not to keep a person enslaved and dependent on others. That thought had crossed my mind - the little girl, if she survived into her teens, would most likely become enslaved in sex work, or at best dependent upon the alms of others. It is highly unlikely that she would end up differently from the four women fast asleep on the grass.

Indeed, what shall we do with the poor? How shall we work alongside them, with them, to engender a change of heart and mind that will break the cycle of poverty?

This post is entitled From the pavement to the palace because the day ended on the opposite extreme - our team was invited to dinner at the Presidential residence in Kampala. A beautiful compound with lush gardens. Not extravagant by any means (I have certainly seen more ostentatious homes in Bryanston, and Somerset West where I live). The President and First Lady live in a beautiful but modest home. Of course security was extremely tight and no cell phones or cameras were allowed. However, we did take our camera crew (with permission) to film Mrs Museveni for the Unashamedly Ethical and EXPOSED campaigns.

It was Mrs Museveni who stated so clearly that poverty is frequently entrenched in the mindsets of individuals and upheld through structures in society. Injustice and corruption are frequently the primary cause, and the ongoing catalyst, of poverty. However, a solution to poverty is not only to be found in handouts and charitable work. She eloquently stated that the solution is to be found in restoring human dignity and worth, in helping persons to see and discover their human potential. In releasing untapped ability, creativity and opportunity in both individuals and communities. Enterprise development, education, and spiritual and moral formation are all necessary elements in working alongside the poor for transformation and renewal.

I am still haunted by the sight of that little girl.

However, I am encouraged and thankful that God is placing persons throughout the various strata of society to partner with Him in bringing renewal, healing and transformation in the world. From the ordinary person like me, to the first lady of a nation, God has planted within us the capacity for care. The ability to make difficult and sacrificial choices about our time, our money, our space, and our energy. The Watoto Church is a testimony to that! These are not wealthy people, but the wealth of their love is extravagant for the poor!

Please can I ask you to pray with me for those who awoke today hungry? Please will you pray for that little girl? Graham and I fed her something as we walked back to our lodgings. It was something small, another little bit of sustenance that would take her a step further in her life. Please pray that she would not only have food today, but be nourished in her body, mind and spirit so that she may grow to become just like the first lady of her nation. God's desire is that we should all become fully human. We can be a part of that wonderful work!

Please join us in shining a light on poverty - a positive light of care! Please join the EXPOSED campaign and start planning what you will do during EXPOSED week 14-20 October in 2013. Share your story on our Facebook page and encourage others to join you in God's work of renewing the earth and its people.

Another journey begins - Uganda and Rwanda (and Bryanston!)

Tomorrow I depart for Uganda and Rwanda. 

These two nations have been in the news a great deal in recent years.  The populations of these two beautiful countries have faced a great deal of struggle and hardship in their history - however, both countries seem to be finding their way out of that legacy and charting a new path.

Rwanda is popularly known as the Switzerland of Africa because of its mountainous beauty, its cleanliness and emerging social and economic efficiency.  This is wonderful news when one considers the genocide that brought this nation into the news a few short years ago.

What has always struck me about the Rwandan genocide is that the population is overwhelmingly Christian - I believe that 98% of Rwandan's profess the Christian faith.  However, I'm sure that we would all agree that there is something wrong with a faith that allows neighbours to kill each other, children to kill their friends, and ethnic ideology to outweigh Christian peace and loving conviction.

I will also be spending some time in Uganda doing some television work, speaking at the Watoto Church, and doing some speaking engagements for business people (Christian, secular and persons of other faiths).  Uganda is also showing wonderful signs of social and economic reform.  Many in Africa look to such countries, who are trying to combat poverty and corruption, and take the lead from them.  I hope that we too can learn something about what they are doing, and perhaps add a little something in return.

I will be in Uganda and Rwanda with Graham Power, and together we will be representing the Unashamedly Ethical campaign. I will be speaking about, and representing, 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption' (follow us on Twitter @EXPOSED2013.  Our friends form Media Village will also be in there with us to do some of the television work for Inspire Africa.

Please could you pray for us?  The darkness does not like to be pushed back by the light.  Pray for our families back home. Please pray that God prepares the way for us, that we have great love and humility in our lives so that we can serve His people.  Please pray that God gives us courage, together with His love, to encourage, support and inspire his people.  Please thank God for the people of Rwanda and Uganda and for all that God is doing.

I return to Johannesburg on the weekend and will spend Holy Week preaching at the Bryanston Methodist Church.  From Sunday the 1st of April to Wednesday the 4th of April we shall be concentrating on Jesus prayer in John 17.  There are a number of very important lessons to consider in that important prayer.  They teach us about our relationship with God, our relationships with others, and our responsibility in this world.  Please do join us each evening you can find out details about this event here.

Megan, Courtney and Liam will be joining me in JHB for the week.  It is going to be great!  We retun to Cape Town just after Easter and then I will be working in Cape Town until the 23rd when I'll be going to Orlando and New York for some meetings for EXPOSED campaign.

Vulnerable, gentle, powerful self-giving love

Happy New year to all of the wonderful readers of this blog!

It is set to be an exciting year for my family and I - we have that wonderful mix of security and change.  It is wonderful to know that we will remain in Somerset West for another year, enjoying our friends, our community, our home and our beautiful surroundings!  Yet at the same time it is a blessing to consider that we have a few new challenges ahead.

As of today my time will be split between three primary work projects and one personal project.  

First, I will continue to serve alongside Graham Power in the Power Group of Companies with chaplaincy responsibilities and opportunities to offer leadership within our two main initiatives, the Global Day of Prayer and Unashamedly Ethical.

Second, I was appointed to a post at the University of Stellenbosch in Ekklesia within the faculty of Theology. Here I will have three primary tasks: oversee two Master of Theology courses in missional leadership and spirituality, to coordinate research outputs and projects for Master, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral students who are in the partnership of Missional Churches. It is such a blessing to be back in an academic post! I am looking forward to a great deal of creative growth this year!

Third, I will be coordinating an international campaign to mobilize 100 million Christians around issues of ethics, justice and poverty.  The Campaign is called Exposed - Shinning a light on corruption (14-20 October 2013). The cost of corruption is staggering, over US$1 Trillion each year! In most instances it is the poorest of the poor who bare the brunt of such abuse. We will never rid the world of systemic poverty until we deal with systemic corruption. As Christians we need to be informed and empowered to deal with corruption in our own lives, and hold persons and institutions who have power accountable for their use of the world's resources.  So please do look in on this blog from time to time to see how this magnificent initiative unfolds in the months to come!

The personal project that I will continue to be involved in is a second PhD.  I was truly fortunate to be awarded a scholarship to do a second Doctorate at the University of Radboud in Nijmegen, Holland.  I have been working on that for a little less than a year now and will continue to do so this year.  I am working under my mentor in New Testament studies, Professor Jan van der Watt.  In short I am developing a new narratological approach to reading John's Gospel using integral (intersubjective) identity theory.

When I think of what lies ahead I get a little anxious!  I frequently feel that I may not have what it takes to do each of these tasks well, least of all to care for my family and honour God in the process.

However, in my devotional time this morning this quote from NT Wright offered me great encouragement:

When God wants to change the world, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on. Just as God’s whole style, his chosen way of operating, reflects his generous love, sharing his rule with his human creatures, so the way in which those humans then have to behave if they are to be agents of Jesus’s lordship reflects in its turn the same sense of vulnerable, gentle, but powerful self-giving love.

- N.T. Wright

Please can I ask for your prayers for my family and I?  Please also pray for each of these projects that I am involved in - each one is making such a significant difference in bringing transformation and renewal in the Church and the world.

May you be richly blessed in all that you do this year! Please let me know what your plans are, and if I can pray for you.

Exposed - a new global Christian campaign against corruption

Today is international anti-corruption day.

The cost of corruption amounts to trillions of dollars each year. Most frequently it is the poorest of the poor who suffer the weight of this abuse.

As Christians we have a responsibility to act against injustice and abuse (Micah 6.8).

Please see this new campaign to fight global corruption - it is called Exposed.

The excerpt below is taken from the Unashamedly Ethical website, one of the Exposed campaign partners:

Christians around the world will raise their voices together in a united response against corruption in 2013.

EXPOSED – Shining a Light on Corruption - 14-20 October 2013

We aim to challenge the global Church, business and governments. Every year well over US$1 TRILLION goes missing through mismanagement, illicit business practices and poor governance. It doesn't have to be this way.

POOR: This money doesn’t just evaporate - it is actually deducted from the livelihood of some of the poorest people in the world.

BRIBES: In September 2005 a Transparency International report showed that poor women in some parts of the world may have to pay an average of US$22 in bribes for maternal services when having their babies. 

DESTITUTION: As Dr Goodwill Shana, chair of heads of denominations in Zimbabwe, put it: “While corruption is present everywhere from the boardrooms of corporations in developed countries to the dusty streets of Africa, in Africa it plays a far more significant role in keeping the poor in the unrelenting grip of destitution.”

OPPRESSION: Corruption is one of the greatest obstacles to dealing with extreme poverty and the campaign aims to mobilise Christians to join with wider society in exposing the practices which oppress the poor.

PROMISES TO THE POOR: Corinne Woods, director for the United Nations Millennium Development Programme, is enthusiastic about the campaign: "Every individual has a part to play in combating the corruption which erodes the promises of the millennium declaration. If we are to reach these goals in 2015 and respond to extreme poverty beyond we really do need to tackle corruption wherever it exists. I am so pleased that EXPOSED is picking up this challenge."

WHO ARE WE? EXPOSED is a coalition of Christian organisations.
The campaign is currently hosted by a group of Christian organisations including Bible Society of UK and North America, Salvation Army, Unashamedly Ethical and Micah Challenge International.  

REDEMPTION: “Our job is to provide a forum in which 100 million Christians will remind ourselves and the world of God’s passion for the poor.” said Rev Joel Edwards, chair of the steering group.

“We are also excited about the growing interest from a wide range of churches and organisations who are passionate about this issue. EXPOSED is not about aggressive protest for its own sake. We want to shine a light in order to bring hope and redemption and we hope to bring examples of good practise as well as offer robust challenges to institutions which oppress the poor.” 

I leave for the USA tomorrow - already missing my family!

First Coast Global Day of Prayer

Tomorrow I'll fly from Cape Town to JHB, from there to Dakar, to Washington and then to Jacksonville - it is a marathon 33 hour flight / transit.  I did it in March.  I'm seriously praying for good seats all the way through!

We'll be in Jacksonville form the International Conference form the Global Day of Prayer, and then the international broadcast from the anchor stadium event at the Veterans Memorial Stadium on the 11th of June.

Please see http://www.fcgdop.org for details of the conference and the Stadium event on Saturday.  If you're in Florida I would love to see you!  Please come along to the conference and say hi!  We'll be speaking at two plenary sessions and a total of 6 breakout sessions.

From there I'll be heading to New York to spend some time with the folks from the Gotham Fellowship, an initiative of Tim Keller's Church (Redeemer Church, New York City).  Gotham focusses on ministering to people in the world of work, helping them to discover and fulfil their Kingdom potential through using the skill, influence and ability to work for the establishment of God's Kingdom of grace in every aspect of society.  I met Katherine Leary and David Kim here in Cape Town earlier in the year and was so impressed by the work that they're doing!  I can't wait to spend some time with them!

Fortunately I fly directly to JHB from New York and then back to Cape Town.  I'll be leaving the US on the 15th and be back in South Africa on the 16th of June. Take a look at this cool picture of my kiddies, Courtney and Liam - I took the picture at Steers when we stopped for some ice cream.  This photo was made with a great little app called 'wordphoto'.

Please pray for my family while I'm away - it is always tough to be away from Megie, Courtney and Liam. I will Skype (FaceTime) them daily, but it is not the same as being at home!

Please also pray for me and our team as we speak at various conferences, events and meetings. Etienne Piek from 24/7 Prayer, Steve Johnstone from Unashamedly Ethical and Isebel and Dawie Spangenberg from Global Day of Prayer will join Graham Power and I on Tuesday.

Also, on Thursday we'll be launching the American edition of Transform your work life at the GDOP conference! I am very excited about that! Thanks so much Mark Russell and Russell Media for their incredible work on the book!

I'll post updates here and on my twitter, Facebook and tumblr feeds as often as I can.

Unashamedly Ethical and the controversy in Malaysia - please pray!

Since our arrival in Penang a furore has erupted over Unashamedly Ethical in Malaysia. In fact, this morning the Prime Minister of Malaysia commented and it made the front page news of The Star newspaper.

He said:

JAKARTA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called on all groups to calm down and stop exploiting the issue of a purported attempt to make Christianity the official religion of the country. Religion, he stressed, was a sensitive matter and that he did not want any religion-related debate to create tension among the people. “Cool it and calm down until we find the facts. It is not going to be of benefit to anyone. “Whoever it is, whether they are opposition or pro-government, they cannot and should not exploit this issue,” he told the Malaysian media at the end of the 18th Asean Summit yesterday.

Please see the rest of that newspaper article here. We have since departed from Penang and are back in Kuala Lumpur

What is certain is that the accusations are not true. Our intention is to bless the nation of Malaysia, to pray for her leadership and to see ethics, values and clean living established in greater measure among her people and leaders.

The security police have been asking questions, visiting locations we have visited and spoken at, and are looking to question some of the local hosts of our events.

What I do know is the promise of Romans 8.28 "In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him". Please pray for our local hosts, the thousands of new signatories to Unashamedly Ethical here in Malaysia, and for us!

Here is the story from yesterday's paper:

KUALA LUMPUR: A meeting between the Penang Chief Minister and Christian leaders has turned into a controversy with claims that the participants discussed making Christianity the official religion. The meeting was front-paged by Utusan Malaysia which quoted two blogs making such a claim. However, Penang CM Lim Guan Eng dismissed the report as a fabrication. He described such irresponsible reporting as playing dangerous politics. The DAP secretary-general said the party would lodge a police report against the daily over the matter. “We have never asked for Malaysia to become a Christian, Hindu or Buddhist state,” Lim said yesterday. The organisers of the meeting were the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship. They, too, denied the claims, saying: “The Christian community in Penang is disturbed by the unwarranted and unsupported claims. “The seminar was organised to discuss and address the issue of bribery and corruption in the marketplace and had nothing to do with political succession.” Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has described the purported meeting of pastors as serious. He said any action by followers of a religion would invite reactions from followers of others. “The status of Islam as the official religion is sacrosanct and can never and must never be questioned. “The police must investigate whether or not such a meeting took place and whether or not this movement is under way. “Such a movement is seditious and places the entire country in danger,” he said. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar, however, cautioned the public from playing up sensitive issues. “Don’t play with fire, or you might end up being burnt. We will not allow people to deliberately exploit this issue,” he said. MCA Youth Chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong described the report byUtusan as provocative, saying the newspaper should be more professional in its reports and not base them on blog posts. Party presidential council member Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn said there was nothing wrong for religious groups to meet with political parties. “MCA can meet with Christians, Muslims and members of other faiths.Utusan should not impute any religious motives,” he said. Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia Ng Moon Hing said Christians had never challenged Islam as the official religion and had no plans to do so. Police reports were also made by Malay and Muslim rights groups Perkasa and Pembela, urging authorities to examine the validity of the article. “This has to be investigated. If this is true, we have to be careful,” said Pembela president Dr Yusri Mohamad.

With rich blessing from Malaysia!

Penang - wonderful people, a beautiful place!

Last night Steve Johnstone (from Unashamedly Ethical), Pr Looi Kim, Eugene and I arrived in Penang. It is a beautiful Island in Malaysia.

We were met by members of the Marketplace Ministry committee (isn't it great that they have an organised committee to encourage, support and develop marketplace ministers?)

Over the next 4 days we'll be speaking at various events with Pastors, Marketplace Leaders, Local politicians, and then on Sunday we'll be preaching various Churches. In particular we shall be launching Unashamedly Ethical, and talking about the critical relationship between Pulpit ministers and Marketplace ministers for Transformation.

Please join us! If you're looking more information please visit the NECF website.

I would also appreciate your prayers for Steve, myself, the local team and all of those who will participate! Transformation is God's desire, and God's idea. Let's pray that together we can take another step within His will!

I took the picture in this post when I got back from my morning run along the beach. It is a beautiful place! It reminds me a little of the Strand back home.

Speaking in Kuching Malaysia

We had a wonderful response from our friends in the beautiful city of Kuching in Saruwak. Here you'll see a picture of the city from the air, and a picture of Graham Power speaking on Unashamedly Ethical.