What if he grew up on one of our Sports Friends teams?

When I read about the 23 year old young man from Nigeria on the Northwest flight recently I just couldn't stop thinking about our Christian Coaches in Nigeria and our church centered sports ministry teams. Our coaches seek to impact the hearts of young men through the platform of sports by becoming "Life Influencers." This Nigerian who attempted to blow up a plane that was about to land on US soil admitted he was lonely, depressed, and basically down on life. How many other Nigerian young men feel the same way? There is a epic battle between christians and m*****;s being being waged in this country (in the capitol where I just came from 2 weeks ago there is a huge huge Mosque and a huge huge church right across the street from each other....that says it all!) for the hearts of the youth, the lonely, and those down on life looking for a life purpose. Let's involve as many youth in our CCSM movement in Nigeria as possible so we can wholeheartedly attempt to positively impact their hearts in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit for the Kingdom of God. If we don't then our enemy will. The enemy will use these man/woman for evil purposes, but God can transform their lives for our Heavenly Fathers purposes on this earth. What if our coaches, who are trained to be life influencers, had this young man on one of our teams over the past 6 years? Instead of trying to blow up a plane and now facing life in prison or worse he could have been a vibrant witness for Christ in his own town, city, nation or to the ends of the earth. What a difference one SF trained coach can make in one life. Pray for our SFN coaches who work in these type of villages and for the youth they have a chance to influence for the cause of Christ. May this young Nigerian man come to Christ in the prisons of the United States of America. To God and God alone be the glory. PS If we Christians don't find ways to reach these youth outside the doors of our church I promise you others will. Ck this out: link http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/07/purefoy.nigeria.child.cnn

New Home in 2010

Ethiopia here we come. We will be traveling back and forth regularly between the US and Ethiopia. However, we do see ourselves (circumstances can always change which cause reshaping and refiguring of plans) setting up in Ethiopia for our home base.... if we can work out all the logistics (need reliable renters for Charlotte home, finances and other personal challenges still need finalizing)!!! More on all the specifics in future updates. Your prayers for everything to fall into place would be greatly appreciated. All three of us really want to spend the next 2-3 years back in Ethiopia.

Chris Has Surgery on Her knee toDAY......

Pray for Chris minor surgery toDAY, Wednesday the 30th, at 6am on her torn menicus.

Christmas 2009 Was an Awesome Family Experience

A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL. Joy and Nathan surprised us Christmas am with their "presence." It was one of the best "presents" of the year. Chris was given a book that she has wanted for years but has been out of print (very expensive) by her parents (that got a great deal!)...WOW was she excited! The boys played lots of WII and Play Station 3 (Nathan's gift from lots of people) games while the girls watched movies on their laptops. We played family games, had friends over and just had so much fun together. Hate to see it all come to end tomorrow.

Nigerian Leaders.....

It's all about leadership. Leaders needed to be able to make a lot of good decisions and some great one's as well. In our ministry they must be able to be competent in training and/or implementing sports MINISTRY philosophy, principles, and priorities. They need to be able to be above reproach, motivate others and be passionate about the lost. It must be about doing the Father's will not making a name for oneself. Would you pray for these four SFN ministry leaders. Daniel (picture with training slide in the background) and John (solo shot) are both on SFN staff. Pray for wisdom in decision making, balanced lives (Daniel is married with 2 girls while John is single), and for all the qualities mentioned above for them. The two men pictured with me are top coaches in the ministry who we will be investing in further over the next year. They desire to be "Life Influencers" and multipliers for the CCSM. Pray that all of them will love God wholeheartedly and spend time alone with God daily. Thank You.

ECWA and COCIN in Nigeria

Top leadership from ECWA, which is the denomination that SIM planted starting in 1893 that now numbers 7,000 plus local churches and 1000 church planters, and COCIN. The gentleman I'm laughing with is Seth who is the General Sect., a most powerful position, within the COCIN denomination. The man pointing at the map is the COCIN church planting director. I loved strategizing with him on that day. Stephen, who is between Chris Lemanski (our SFN director) and I is the Church planting director for ECWA and is a OUTSTANDING young leader. Then Mipo, the tall man next to me in the picture with the four of us is the GS for ECWA (the smaller man in the picture of 4 people is the President of ECWA). He along with Stephen and Seth came to Ethiopia for our African Expansion mtgs this past July. The bond we created as the result of this trip is deep and we are praying that it translates into church planters and local churches effectively using sports to deeply impact the hearts of the youth of Nigeria. Pray that the Church leadership really owns this vision and youth ministry strategy. REALLY PRAY for this because if it does we are talking about impacting upwards of 100,000 youth in the name of Jesus Christ.

Nigeria

One of the major challenges facing our Church Centered Sports Ministry in Nigeria. At our coaches training we had several individuals who are working in these types of villages and communities. There is a lot of tension between Christians and those from this religion. Last year our staff had to flee the town where are office is located because of increasing violence which led to the burning of houses, businesses and loss of life. Would you pray for our work amongst this group of people today?

Liberia

Shocking to see the devastation of this country from the Charles Taylor raceme. Twenty four years ago I had visited this country and stayed in the exact same location I stayed this time. ELWA was looted big time once the CT rebels took over. This high impact radio station location where over 200 missionaries once served was a mere shell of it's once thriving self. BUT God gave me vision to see a thriving camp ministry down the road connected to our CCSM. If you remember last summer and our African Expansion mtgs you will recall that the Liberian leaders weren't able to come to Ethiopia for our conference due to visa challenges. So this was an important time to meet with leadership for vision sharing and planning for the future. Guess what? The enemy tried to prevent us g=from getting there. What a story! I won't share it in detail but basically I flight got turned around in mid air and we returned to Ghana just before we were to land in Monrovia. That lead to an amazing sequence of events which didn't see us getting to Liberia till Monday....the night we were set to leave back to the States. God was good because we got there despite incredible odds. We were tenacious in our efforts but God unlocked the door. With less than 24 hours to work with we went to town on mtg with 7 top leaders from ECUL and the President of Liberia's son. God went before us and all that was needed to get done got done with time to spear. Pray for our future planning for Liberia and the leadership team lead by Chairman Jeremiah Kolie! PS had a mtg in the former location where CT set him self up....eery feeling, especially when we were told about the torture chamber in the basement and the blood stained stairs & walls they cleaned before moving in. I know in my heart God is going to do a GREAT work in this country in the hearts of young people and the Liberian coaches from our churches who participate as Sports Friends ministers are going to be equally impacted! Can you see it?

Ghana

Rev. Stephen came to Ethiopia as part of the African Expansion conference last July. We could tell then he was a special leader and that was obvious from how incredible this part of the trip was. Our focus for ministry here is a particular area of the country which is mostly unreached with a high influence of people from another religious background....if you know what I mean!

We did a vision sharing with 17 leaders, some who traveled 15 hours to be there, who represented 11 different key districts. These guys were sharp! God moved amongst our time together. It was worth the little plane flight ( I hate flying in small aircraft..scared to death to tell you the truth) we had to take to get there. Then it was off in a small pick up truck to another location some three hours from our previous training spot. There we did a 2 day training initiative for sports ministers who would implement our ministry in 7 strategic spots in this one particular region. Pray for these guys to go back and implement what they have learned in their communities. Pray for miracles, divine appointments, funds for start up and some "trophies of grace" stories to ignite this ministry. Unlimited potential in this area for transformed lives and strengthen communities. Follow up plans include mtgs in 3 cities with those who participated in these trainings and another basic sports minister training within 4 months. Then a our first camp there in September. Thanks for your prayers for this trip I really, really felt them and needed them. The travel was intense, the food was challenging, the weather was hot, the training location was interesting and we had one driver for 3 hours that almost killed us (he did kill a goat, hit a parked car, and wound another goat). Pray for the unity of the leadership of this denomination as well.

Nigeria

What a blessing it was to see a solid foundation being built in Nigeria for the work of Sports Friends. The SFN team is doing an excellent job at reproducing leadership, training, mentoring staff members, meeting with church planters and connecting regularly with key top denominational leaders. The SFN ministry is now partnering with 10 different denominations at various levels around the country...WOW is that exciting! The church planting training program has trained over 400 in two major denominations. The next few years I believe we will hear so many stories of how God has used these men and their families to reach into totally lost villages with the Gospel message using a silly little soccer ball as a tool to build friendships, then relationships. It was so awesome to sit with one CP director and look over the map of the country to strategize with them on the future. I also got to spend time with the President and GS of ECWA (a large denomination in the country tied to SIM since 1893) who we have been working with since 2005. Man oh man is it thrilling to see there backing and support of SFN. Our level 3 conference was a huge success. 88 coaches receiving further training by the staff. It was a blessing to take part in the training, to see our SFN doing such a great job and to hear the questions being asked as well as to be a part of the discussions pertaining to reaching the unreached, empowering more woman in CCSM, working together in certain area's of the country regardless of denominational affiliation, and how to more effectively reach the hearts of the youth. It was a special time in Nigeria. We even had time as a staff to have dinner at the Lemanski's and play some ping pong. Pray for the follow up of these 88 coaches and the hundreds of others who have taken the level 2 champions training. This will be the SFN staff's emphasis for the first half of 2010. Finally, let me say it was a privilege to invest in the lives of Daniel and John who traveled with me to Ghana and Liberia. I loved it!

please pray for...

A. Nigeria nov 30- Dec 7 (goals and brief review found in prior post). B. Ghana Dec 7-12th launch of New SF work -vision sharing to Pastors and basic sports minister training for those who will champion the cause for a local church. C. Liberia 12-14 vision sharing and ministry probing which includes a meeting at the Executive Mansion for a mtg with the President of Liberias son who is a top senior advisor in the goverment who has connections to charlotte as well as friends of Tripp. I am grateful to all of you who partner with SF and/or the davidson family. Please pray for my above itinerary and scheduled trainings together with numerous key mtgs. Thank you, brian ps I'm absolutely blessed by what I have seen and been apart of here in nigeria. I'm on a big time spiritual high from this visit. Praise God for the leaders and implemtors of the work here.

Greetings from Jos Nigeria. Jenn brady and I arrivied in nigeria on the first of dec. After spending the night at the baptist guest house in the capitol city of abuja we traveled out in the morning to the HQ of Sports Friends Nigeria (SFN). In Jos I was reunited with chris and staci lemanski (SFN director) and his Nigerian staff team of daniel, john and solomon. We have an awesome sfn staff who are unified, strategic, outstanding in their passion to develop the ccsm movement in nigeria and very component trainers. Our goals this week were: 1. Country review of the sfn ministry 2. 2.a 3 day coaches training 3.mtgs with ECWA and COCIN top church leaders as well as church planting directors (together they represent 10,000 local churches and more than a thousand church planters) 4.photograph, video tape and interviews of SFN staff, champions, training sessions and more. I can say that I was deeply moved and greatly encouraged by the overall development of the work. Wow, what a wonderful work of God going on here through our sfn staff who have trained over 900 champions for the cause of ccsm. Top leaders are providing significant support to the growing work. Fruitful models are emerging with touching trophies of grace stories. Their camp ministry had 300 involved this year and expects to double next year. So much more to report and many pictures (slideshow will be up when I return)to share with you. Tomorrow we headed back to abuja and monday we head to ghana to launch our new sports friends ministry. Pray for protection from the evil one, good health, strength and wisdom from the holy spirit as we share the vision with pastors (top denominational leaders spent a week in ethiopia last summer) and as we train 50 champions for local churches. John and daniel will be assisting in the training. Pray for chris and johanna as I travel This update came from my blackberry.

Thanksgiving....

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Kyle is a gem of a son who loves the Lord, works hard at his education and is committed to his running despite the physical challenges he has faced the last 18 months. He has a gentle, kind, faithful, loving and obedient spirit. He is such an awesome role model as a Christian athlete. I'm soooo thankful for him! Johanna is so much fun to be with and she has a quick wit. She loves adventure, being active and going to DD with Dad. She is incredible with young kids and has worked hard in school as well as on the court. We had a blast in Orlando together. She is thrilled about returning to Ethiopia. I'm sooo thankful for her! Chris....WOW....what a BEST FRIEND! She is an incredible teacher, with a huge and compassionate heart for the needy, who loves her family time. I'm so thankful for Chris. Her faith and knowledge in the Word of God is inspiring. Spending time with her is what I always look forward to. I'm very thankful for Joy and Danielle as well as they have both married two wonderful guys in Nathan & John. I miss them tons but I'm so glad that they faithfully follow the Lord's calling in their lives. They live simply and give generously. I'm soooo thankful for the four of them! Also, so thankful for Tripp and Alison Johnston who have been our partners in ministry since the beginning and for Danny Imes who has helped me so much this year with administrative responsibilities. Well, it's off to Cape Cod for a thanksgiving with my sister and brother in law (so thankful for their spiritual investment in my life over the years). Tim, Liz and Pete (&family) will be joining the party. Should be a wonderful family time. And THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT and PARTNERSHIP with the DAVIDSON FAMILY over the years as we serve Jesus Christ WHOLEHEARTEDLY to the ends of the earth through SIM/SPORTS FRIENDS. brian

Fasil is dying...

It's 4th and very long for Fasil right now, but we are praying for divine intervention. We need his body to gain strength so he can take the medicine he so desperately needs. Fasil is like our Ethiopian son who we had the pleasure and privilege to be totally used by God to see him become a transformed young man. He is a follower of God with a passion for football. He is our Women's team coach in Addis Ababa, but is currently confined to bed. I spoke with him 3 days ago and Chris spoke to him (in Amharic) early this morning. We expressed our love for him. We challenged him to keep the hope, to keep fighting as best as he can, so that we stay in position for a miracle recovery. We have doctors and experts doing their best to help him gain the strength he needs to begin taking medicines that could lead to his recovery down the road. Pray with us for a miracle because it truly is going to take one based on the reports we have received from Ethiopia. WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE FASIL!

Never forgetting the day.....

On November 3rd, 2002 we almost lost Johanna to a terrible horseback riding accident........but we didn't!...THANKFULLY! So every Nov. 3rd (it was crazy with the guys here so celebrated last night) we celebrate her life, thanking all the angels that intervened on her behalf that day. How many times have Angels intervened in our lives to save us from tragedy? We always wonder why when something terrible happens to us or someone we know, but we seldom thank God for sending angels to protect us. How many close calls have we had in this life that we know about? I bet there are plenty of others that we have been absolutely oblivious too. God is good all the time. All the time God is good. We enjoyed a dinner out last night including a big dessert (we never get desserts out!) to celebrate God's goodness to us and the wonderful blessing it is to have Johanna still with us. She is a special girl, wonderfully made, and we are looking forward to how God will use her for His purposes in the years to come.

Tigist Yemane - 12/12/85 to 11/07/2009

Tonight we have a gathering at Grier Funeral home at 7 pm to remember Tigist Yemane. All the money was raised (thank you Ethiopian community, Steele Creek church, and friends of Tigist) to send Tigist body back to her family on a 5:20pm Lufthansa flight tomorrow. It will take time for the body to clear customs, therefore we don't expect the family to receive Tigist until Sunday mid morning. PLEASE pray for the family during this time and for the ensuing funeral procession.

..."Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where o death is your victory? Where o death is your sting.? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." I Corinthians 15:54b-55

It is finished! See Slideshow from our time together.

the "boys" wanted to drive back to Ethiopia in this, but the best we could do was Ethiopian Airlines. Berhanu and Ephraim finished there 37 day "Great Adventure" yesterday as they departed Charlotte around 2:30pm. No confirmation yet on whether or not Ephraim made all his connections. Yenu his wife called this morning asking where he was....hmmmm? Glad for the time with these guys we had productive meeting together. Starting December 23rd our SFE staff will be having a fellowship time together with all our level 4 leaders. Please pray for this time that it would be refreshing, encouraging, spiritually invigorating, and positive with regards to developing our ongoing teams ministry.

"You do what?"

Wow, where have the days gone? It's now Tuesday morning and we have been going morning, afternoon and evening since the last time I updated this blog. Our Int'l training team met each day all day starting on Wednesday right through Saturday. We had a very productive time together. Jen and Jill have done a tremendous job over the last few months on updating our material. Kyle Abts from our SF Nigeria team contributed greatly to our discussions as did both our Ethiopian leaders. John Yip from South Africa was a part of our discussions for a full day on Saturday. Thank you for all your prayers as we develop our training materials to better serve the development of the church centered sports ministry in Africa and Asia.

The guys enjoyed their first ever Carolina Panthers football game on Sunday (even though the Panthers stunk!) but Ephraim couldn't understand the role of the cheerleaders! The eight people kicked out of the game in our section only added to the excitement of the day.

One of the funniest moments so far on this trip was when Ephraim discovered we walk our dogs so they could do their business and then we pick up their business. "You americans have surely lost your minds!!!!" "You pick up their POOP?????" "Oooohhh Nooo, this isn't right!"

Sadly, after we stopped laughing so hard, in a sobering moment, Ephraim did mention the dogs in America receive better care then the children of Ethiopia and all of Africa. He had interesting insights into why we treat our dogs so well and yet only have shallow relationships with so many of our neighbors and friends. I will develop his thinking in a further blog....very interesting and thought provoking.

Last night we had a "friends" mtg at the Tenneyson's house and God really met us there. There was a special moving of the Spirit in both Ephraims and Berhanus heart & presentations that led to many tears in the room. Thank you Jeff and Kathy for hosting our time together.

Tripp arrived late Sunday night and so today we begin our Sports Friends International meetings. We start with an all day SF Ethiopia country review. Pray for wisdom for Jill, Tripp, Ephraim, Berhanu and I as we discuss every aspect of this large ministry in our Jerusalem location. Specific topics include: how to reach the 15 unreached people groups in the country, handling the numerous challenging situations with the new M*****converts, the multiplication strategy for training coaches to be life influencers, hiring new staff, developing our camp ministry, mobilization of Ethiopian Sports Ministers for cross cultural service and many more strategic topics. Thank You for praying.

The Heart of the Matter!

Ephraim's Heart: Local doctors have given a clean bill of health to Ephraim's heart.....YES! Some concerns had been raised in Ethiopia about his heart from a local hospital, but no serious issues were discovered during his evaluations yesterday.....THANK YOU for praying for our smiley Sports Minister's HEART from Addis!

Talking about the heart......

The heart is the engine for our desires, motivations, and ambitions. According to Scripture: The heart is above all else evil and wicked. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Our only hope for our heart is found in a redeeming relationship through Jesus Christ which brings about the transforming power ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a cleansing agent which can bring healing to our wounded hearts, and purity to our actions through. The fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts is found in bringing about love (for God, and the things that matter most to God i.e. caring and loving others like the youth in Ethiopia) which manifests itself in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control towards others.. The heart can only be fulfilled when our desires, ambitions and motivations are focused on the purposes of God. We need to have a good heart for this work. Therefore, we need to examine our hearts regularly to check on the condition of our heart:

1. inpurities that have gotten in through our blood stream (worldly influences that come in from our culture, from TV, movies, books, etc. -like clogged arteries from fatty issues which can lead to death)

2. hardness of a heart - Example: When we don't forgive someone for something. An unforgiving heart turns into anger, bitterness, hate and sometimes revenge. God's Word can't take root in a hardened heart/ Jer. 4:3

3. fleshly desires that have damaged the heart (not functioning at capacity and/or death is near -like a stroke or heart attack!)

Heart Scriptures for our next examination:

a. Benefits of a right heart/Deut. 10:16-19

b. the need for a pure heart and spirit/Psalm 51:10

c. spiritual heart transplants/ Lk 1:17

d. Jesus requires a willing heart/mt 5:20

e. God knows our true intentions/Mt 21:30

Have a Great Day and Please pray for our training conference today. Thank you. brian

Great time at Liberty, thanks for Praying.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME time at Liberty University. Much more on our experience, which included 2 wonderful hours of connecting with the students going to Ethiopia through Light Ministries in March 2010, a meeting with Johnnie Moore, two divine appointments, time with the Women's soccer coaches, prayer time in the chapel, a first ever visit to a tanning booth for Ephraim (oh my goodness, what a riot), a first ever tubing ride down the ski slope at the school (this was crazy funny) and more, when I have time to summarize for you. For now, thank you for your prayers, the time was truly blessed foreach of us.

Today they have medical and dental exams and we start with our training curriculum conference with Kyle Abts from Nigeria, Jill Ireland from Thailand and Jenn Brady from here in Charlotte.

Please pray for our full schedule this week. Pictures on the Liberty trip forthcoming when we slow down enough to get them up for you. Thanks friends.

brian

To Liberty University today -Monday, Oct 19th.

Pray for the guys and I as we head to Liberty University today to share with a group of 20 who will be heading to Ethiopia to work with Sports Friends in March, 2010. We will also be meeting different leaders in the Global Missions department and members of the soccer teams. Thank you.

PS Pray for Jill Ireland who has had complications with her flights to the US from Thailand to work with us on curriculum development. She is due to arrive tomorrow but has been delayed. We need her here as soon as possible. Pray.

Thank Church at Charlotte for Hosting "the boys" yesterday!

The CAC did a wonderful job of hosting Ephraim and Berhanu yesterday....THANK YOU PASTOR JIM, RALSTONS, HEFNERS, Lloyds, Hardings, and so many others that played a part in yesterdays "hosting initiatives" at the Church of Charlotte! The evening sharing time was well attended by our "friends" from other churches in the Charlotte area who have participated in partnering with the Sports Friends Ethiopia ministry. Over 150 people from outside of CAC came last night including 2 couples from SandHills Church in the Pinehurst, NC area which is 2 1/2 hours a way. It was a blessing to visit with so many Sports Friends "friends" last night.

Thank you to all of you for your partnership and encouragement in The Lord's Work in Ethiopia through the mission of SIM (last night it should have been mentioned that new SIM USA President Bruce Johnson was in attendance along with SIM USA's deputy director Fred Ely with his wonderful wife Grace....thank you for coming). Remember Sports Friends is not the only ministry you can get involved with in Ethiopia through SIM. Hope for AIDS is a powerful ministry that is looking for partnership assistance from both individuals and churches as well. You would be deeply blessed by getting involved in that ministry. Yvonne Mildred who also was there last night can be contacted through the SIM Int'l number 803.802.7300 for those who want more information on how to connect with this ministry. Moreover, there are 15 unreached or limited reached people groups in Ethiopia that SIM has a burden to reach with the Gospel. Along with a funding need for M**** ministries in the country. Want to help? E-mail me at brian.davidson@sim.org and I will get you connected. Check out SIM.org for more news on the Global ministry of SIM.

WWW.Sports-Friends.org has new prayer requests for your consideration. Please be willing to be an intercessor for our ministry. Last week Daniel from Nigeria was in prison because of a vehicle accident that led to a death of individual. He has been released now but we need your prayers for our ministry around in Africa and Asia. Don't forget SF Asia, we have an amazingly gifted staff there launching church centered sports ministry in that part of the world.

Finally if you attended one of the times yesterday and heard Berhanu and Ephraim's testimony and sharing time you were probably impacted in your heart. God has done a great work in their hearts but guess what? God has done a great work and paid a huge sacrifice for each of us. Don't live your life through them, but do follow their example. Be obedient, faithful to God's commands in His Word, listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance for being actively involved in your Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, then be willing to sacrifice and suffer for the cause. Your desire to sacrifice and your willingness to commit wholehearted obedience to the purposes of the Kingdom of God on this earth with be in direct proportion to the faith your have in your Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. God is in the business of using the weak and ordinary people of this world who love Him and Him only to do extraordinary things. The one catch is it won't be about you because it's all about HIM. To God and GOD alone be the Glory for the GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE in ETHIOPIA and will do in the future.

The Wind Tunnel at Discovery Place!

They have been enjoying most American food so far.

the boys love their coffee.

Pray for Berhanu and Ephraim as they share at Church of Charlotte tomorrow. Morning SS and evening service starting at 6:30.

Two Girls who love Ethiopia and the Dorrances-Johanna and Jamie! They both enjoyed our UNC day and we loved having them!

Arborbrook School Photo's

A UNC Chapel Hill Day!

M'Liss Feed Us!

Anson Supplied a 2-1 win!

Pets for Sale?

Wednesday we visited Pet Land, one of Johanna's favorite places to go, to see all the dogs, birds, fury things, and fish. Ephraim was BAFFLED by the visit. You buy dogs? You pay that much for a dog? You feed or school 50 -75 kids for a month for that price! You put clothes on them? How much does that dog food cost? What? You have hospitals/medical clinics, and a pet cemetery? You Americans are CRAZY! You have too much money that now you are spending too much on animals. Interesting perspective. We all loved seeing live shark eggs....WOW was that cool!

Restful day for the men. They are now enjoying staying with the Hardings for a few days. On Saturday we are off to Chapel to watch the Woman of UNC play. We will enjoy a feast at the Dorrances for lunch before heading over. Johanna and Jamie Waldron are coming along (both loved their time getting to know the Dorrances on one of their two visits to Ethiopia) as well as Joe Harding...should be a fun time together. Pray for our time in fellowship as we will spend 6 hours of traveling time together and also pray for our time with M'Liss and Anson Dorrance. Also, pray for our time with the Evans family who will be meeting us at the game. They are FCA leaders in Southeast USA and several family members have come to Camp Langano over the best two years. thanks for praying. bd

Arborbrook School - Thank You Johanna for initiating our visit.

Thank you Arborbrook High School for inviting Berhanu and Ephraim to your classes this morning, they had a blessed time with both classes. It was wonderful to see the Holy Spirit take the lead in our sharing today with these students. This morning we prayed together that God would do just that. Walking across the parking lot after we had finished one girl approached us and said that was GREAT today! I hadn't even recognized the student from the class. But the way she said "that was GREAT today," with such emotion, really impacted me because I knew that what she heard today really impacted her heart. I knew that was the work of the Holy Spirit, it always is, he goes before you and prepares the heart of the listener. When you share, the Spirit is powerfully communicated in simple words and the heart of the hearer is moved deeply, even brings some to tears. Thank you Holy Spirit for using us today at Arborbrook, brought back AWESOME memories of the three of us being used in the early years of the church centered sports ministry work in Ethiopia. We pray that the truth of God's word, the life experiences of following Christ, and the challenges that were shared with the students would manifest themselves in these young men and woman's hearts & minds. Ephraim, Berhanu and I desire that in the days, weeks and months ahead each of these students would be more grateful for the the opportunities they have to study and learn the truth's found in God's Word, to give from their abundant resources to those in need, and to just be more grateful in all area's of their lives. Moreover, we desire that they would love God with more passion, and have a greater zeal in following Jesus with absolute reckless abandon and total surrender to His Kingdom purposes on this earth. PRAY with us for these 30 students hearts as they attend Arborbrook HS this year. Pray also for their teachers!

The Calm before the Storm.

Our brothers in Christ from Ethiopia enjoyed a "sleep in" till 9:30 this morning. They are struggling with the time change big time. Cooked a big breakfast for them this morning and then we fellowshiped together. Our morning worship time focused on Acts 2 and the transformation of Peter's leadership post Jesus ministry timeframe. He went from a impulsive, brash and unstable leader to a humble, confident in God, and full of the Spirit servant leader. We had a wonderful time reading the passage and expounding on what we learned from Peter and the text. Together we talked about the power of forgiveness, the right source for our confidence, the constant need to discover how we can spend more time residing in a spirit of humility and our keen desire to finish strong. We followed this study time with prayer for all the speaking engagements upcoming. It was a wonderful morning of fellowship.

The guys loved their ride on the train into Uptown. We spent a couple of hours enjoying Discovery Place and the "Ship Wreck" exhibition as well as the IMAX theater which showed a movie entitled "Under the Sea." They loved it. They are easily pleased. After a mid afternoon stop for coffee we arrived back home around 4:30pm. Chris fixed us a big homemade dinner complete with lots of dessert choices. Ephraim tried them ALL! Then we settled in for the World Cup qualifier between the US and Costa Rica. The boys barely made it through the end of the match and were in bed by 9:30.

Pray for them between 10 - 11:45 tomorrow morning as they speak in two Bible classes at Arborbrook School.

Pray for Ephraim & Yenu and Berhanu & Adonech, that their marriages would stay rooted in their love for God and each other. Pray for the wives as they are home alone with the kids. Pray for these men to finish the race strong!

What a FIRST day!

After a cup of coffee or two this morning in our home it was off to a late breakfast at where else but Chick Fila Arboretum (the best one in the world, right Hope?). On the way, Ephraim was like a little kid looking out the window so interested in everything he saw. "What's those boxes," he asked. "While those are mailboxes, they bring the mail right to your house," I answered. "How do they do that?" Before I could answer he said with enthusiasm, "Oh that's why you need those zip codes right?" That's right Ephraim. And the fact that we actually have street names, house numbers and town maps helps a ton too. After a healthy breakfast it was off to Chris and Johanna's school for a visit. Johanna loved showing them around the grounds and introducing them to all her friends. From there it was off to see the Billy Graham Library. Both of them were deeply moved by the experience. Inspired for sure! Now for those of you who have been before you will remember the talking cow when you first come in. We saw it on the way out because the tour had just started and the first movie was playing when we arrived. So we hurried up and joined in with the group already assembled. When we finished the tour they both really wanted to go back and see the cow they had missed at the start. As we were walking over to see the cow I said to them this was the only real live talking cow in the world. When we got there the cow began to talk. The two of them stared at this cow for almost 10 minutes, they couldn't believe what their ears were hearing or their eyes wre seeing (pictures will be posted tomorrow). A TALKING COW! I hated to break the news to them that the cow really wasn't a real cow. Ephraim refused to believe me at first. Berhanu wasn't sure what to believe. "It looks so real," the two of them exclaimed. "What about the cat, is it real?" Ephraim asked. "Nope, not the cat either, all fake," I exclaimed. "Are you sure," Ephraim said. I'm sure Ephraim. He loved that cow exhibition.

The rest of the day we enjoyed visiting Jamie at the YMCA, visiting the "Nate Watkin family" (Nate spent 6 months in Ethiopia in 2003 and Jenn visited around 2005?), eating dinner at "On the Border" (they definitely loss money on the unlimited chips & dip we ate and Ephraim devoured) and then a Charlotte Latin soccer game where we enjoyed the company of LuLu (Ethiopia 2008) and seeing Mitch (Coaches training 2007) and Mark Steffans (First tour to Ethiopia in 2001) after the match. What a day! Evening prayer and then off to Bed by 10pm.

Tomorrow we head Uptown on the train where a visit to Discovery Place is planned. Just trying to get them to relax a little while seeing some of the sights in Charlotte and visiting some special friends who use to live in Ethiopia before all the planned meetings, travel and speaking engagements begin. Yet invites galore are coming in for these guys (4 new terrific opportunities today for them that we had to pass on) to speak or meet with folks. We are really trying to protect them as much as possible by not adding any more on to their already full schedule.

We have lots of work ahead of us in our upcoming Ethiopia country review, camp langano planning day, our 4 day curriculum development training time, board of advisor mtgs, donor desserts, numerous speaking engagements, Florida ISC conference, Texas visit, Montreat trip, Chapel Hill visit and Liberty University engagement as well as medical & dental exams squeezed in between everything else. We just can't do anymore and we hope our friends who love our Ethiopian brothers will understand. Ephraim and Berhanu do so much and run so hard while serving the Lord in Ethiopia. With lots of meetings ahead of us we want to be sure they can breath, relax, laugh, have a bit of down time, enjoy fun experiences and have time for them to prepare in prayer and in the Word for all that's ahead of them. Thank You for understanding.

Brian

PS Gifts. People have inquired about giving to these men. If you want to give to Berhanu or Ephraim a gift we ask you to consider giving them a card, maybe a family photo, with cash so they can buy what they need here before they go back or just use the money to buy clothes etc. when they return to Addis. With limited baggage to return with and $150-$200 per extra baggage we really would love for you to go this route if possible. We will take them to stores before they leave to fill one bag with their needs and desires from the cash they receive. If you really must buy them something feel free to give me a call regarding a potential needs and desired list for both of them (i.e. maybe you want to just give them $?? bucks to buy something at a Disney World shop) and/or to see if there is any room left in the extra bag for something you already bought. If your willing to pay for an extra bag you can let me know that as well. Thanks friends and if you live in Charlotte don't forget the Sunday night at 6pm testimony sharing at Church of Charlotte.

Berhanu and Ephraim are in the house!

Ephraim and Berhanu arrivied safely on Monday night, thank the Lord. Jamie Waldron who lived in Ethiopia with us for three years and Hope Terkuerst our summer Ethiopian daughter joined our family in welcoming the boys from Addis to Charlotte. Our first stop was Chick Fila Arboretum where owner Art Terkuerst treated the guys to their first meal which included a "to die for" cookies and cream milkshake. The welcome "committee" for our Sports Friends Ethiopian leaders grew as the Hardings, Lloyds, Kuykendalls, John Sterrett and Art joined us at Chick Fila.

We reached home close to 9pm and I couldn't resist having fun with Ephraim. As we entered the driveway I told him if he clutched my right hand when we got close to the house the garage door would go up. Sure enough it did...imagine that. He was startled and amazed. He hit the sack around 10pm and wasn't seen until 10 the next morning...he was exhausted! It's so awesome to have these guys here.

Is the US of A ready for Ephraim?

I haven't even seen Ephraim yet and we have had to rescue him from himself. If Danny and I hadn't he would be living at Dulles airport until we could unravel his ticketing mess. Remind you of a movie? He reminds me of Peter from the scriptures in so many ways. I love Peter! Too long of a story to tell, but the skinny on it is he ended up double booked (he booked his own ticket on impulsive decision) on flights from Dulles, with different dates heading to two different locations in the US and one almost got cancelled today....the one he was using to come to Charlotte with today. Danny with help from another ministry partner was able to get everything worked out. Funny thing is I'm sure Ephraim doesn't have a clue anything was wrong as he waited 10 hours at Dulles (despite the fact that flights come to Charlotte from Dulles almost hourly) for his United flight to Charlotte today. He is too too much. Is America ready for Ephraim? Ready or not here he comes. PS Picture of him and I above is his version of balancing a knife on the spoon he has in his mouth...he is trying to mimic the real magican we had earlier in the evening in our talent show who actually did spin a knife on a spoon held in his mouth BUT without help! I just laugh thinking about him!

Post a Comment of Welcome to Berhanu and or Ephraim

This comment below (go to 1 comment which is listed underneath the last post and click on it to read the post) came from one of our long time ministry partners and dear friends of ours. She had trouble posting it so I did it for her. Then it made me think.....hey....what a GREAT IDEA! Have you ever prayed for Berhanu? Given to our ministry? Been to Ethiopia with Sports Friends? What a great encouragement it might be to send a greeting to Berhanu and Ephraim who are wonderful brothers in Christ. They have been obedient and faithful servants of our Lord and Savior. Encouragement is powerful. Let's flood them with short greetings of welcome ok? If you can't post on line then send it to my e-mail and I'll post it for you. Thanks friends! And a special thanks to Sylane (I left her ministry information in her post because she has an amazing testimony and ministry to woman....maybe you could contact her about either or both? A powerful powerful ministry testimony of how she was transformed by grace) for her thoughtful and creative idea.

WELCOME TO THE USA EPHRAIM AND BERHANU!

Isn't Ephraim just a hoot! Here he is holding in his breath for the picture. What a riot! Well he has just landed at Dulles airport and his feet are now on US soil......HE IS ONE HAPPY CAMPER! Unfortunately due to ticketing in Ethiopia he and Berhanu won't be arriving in Charlotte till 6:39pm tonight. We plan on taking them to Chick Fila at the Arboretum after we locate their small bags and make the short drive there from the airport. Maybe you just can't wait to see Berhanu and Ephraim and want to welcome them to our city. You can do so by meeting us at the airport (United flight 7189) around 6ish or at the Chick Fila around 7:30 (they clear customs in DC). We will just be there for no more than an hour. If you have been to Ethiopia with Sports Friends or have real interest in doing so in the future you will love joining us at Church at Charlotte next Sunday. On October 18th at 6:30pm at Church of Charlotte (2500 Carmel Rd., Charlotte, 28226) there will be a Sports Friends ministry update that will focus on Ethiopia. One of the guys will be sharing their testimony, lots of camp stories from Ephraim or SFE ministry update from Berhanu I'm sure. Moreover, a short global Sports Friends update will be given which includes our African Expansion plans...exciting times! The schedule for these guys is beyond packed for the next 37 days (not all in Charlotte) which includes medical exams, out of town visits, SF training curriculum conference, meetings with donors, speaking engagements, country review, meeting with Liberty University officials & first ever tour participants, and even doing fun things like going to a Panthers game (hmmm...is that fun these days?), a UNC Chapel Hill Women's soccer game (hosted by the Dorrances themselves), and a day at Disney World (can you even imagine Ephraim there?....no worries...we are getting his heart checked BEFORE we go!). Please join us in praying that this time will be productive and fun for these two incredible Ethiopian servants of God. brian ps I will be posting updates of their trip regularly so sign up to be a follower of this blog...might even do some twittering and most definitely will do some facebooking (all information will be on this blog along with regular prayer updates). If you want all the latest on the Ethiopian boys visit to the USA stay connected to this blog throughout their stay (Oct.12th - Nov. 18th). Thank You Davidson Family and Sports Friends Partners.

Channel 9 News feature and Hope on Oprah

Click on the link below if you would like to see our families recent interview on local news about Hope for AIDS in Ethiopia.

http://www.wsoctv.com/family/index.html

And if you remember our summer daughter Hope Tekeurst you might enjoy viewing Oprah from Friday, Oct. 2nd. Her and her family we

re featured yesterday and what Oprah calls one of her favorite stories in 24 years of doing the show. We were so proud of her! Well done Hope and the Tekeurst Family!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090409-tows-charlotte-liberia-adoption

All the SPECIAL Friends who participated (some willingly others not so!)in Chris 49th!

A great time was had by all on Sept. 22nd, the date of Chris 49th birthday. Doesn't she still look GREAT? I had lobsters brought in from Cape Cod, still alive, for the special occasion with "chowda", corn on the cob, fresh shrimp and more. Thanks to my sister Carol and brother in law Bill for helping to make this incredible celebration possible for Chris.   

This coming Monday morning at 9:30am at our house channel 9 news from here in Charlotte will be coming to our house to interview Chris and Johanna about kids with AIDS in Africa. The question they will be asking us is "why should people here in Charlotte care about those with AIDS in Africa?"  Rather than having talking heads in an interview you will see mostly pictures of Chris and Johanna loving on kids who have AIDS. You will hear our response to this question posed to us by channel 9 in the background.  Feel free to give us your thought's on what should be included in our response to this question. Also, on Oct. 5th there will be a special Hope for AIDS speaker from Africa at SIM USA. For more details call SIM USA at 704.588.4300 If you live in Charlotte your support for this event would be greatly appreciated. ***PLEASE pray for Chris and Johanna on Monday morning at 9:30. They are both very nervous but see this as an opportunity to not only promote the Oct. 5th event but to challenge fellow Charlotteans to get involved with making a difference in Africa by assisting kids who are fighting AIDS by no choice of their own. Thank you. brian for the Davidson family.

Ephraim is coming to the US of A!

This week we learned that Ephraim was granted his visa from the US Embassy in Ethiopia. Honestly, I thought there was no more that a 10% chance of this happening for numerous reasons. We rejoice that he will have the opportunity to take part in our training times, strategic mtgs and partnership development gatherings from mid October to the first week of November.  He is OVERJOYED with the fact that he will be coming to the US for the very first time. Along with the mtgs we have some very fun times planned for him. For those of you who know him you know he loves to laugh and have fun. Well let me tell you a little secret.....shhhhhh......Ephraim is going to Disney World! He has no idea! One problem and that is his heart...seriously.  So pray that we can get him a proper medical check up and that his heart will be just fine for life and Disney World. Also, pray for his wife Yenu, as well as his two sons Brook and Eyob, while he is away. Ephraim is a SOLD OUT sports minister for the cause of Christ in Ethiopia. He is our top church centered sports ministry trainer in Africa. Let's pray that his time here is not only productive ministry training wise but is rejuventating for his heart and spirit.

In October Sports Friends will be gathering our training leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina to work on our Coaches 7 curriculum. One of top trainers in Africa is Ephraim shown here with his son Eyob. If you ever been to Ethiopia to serve with SFE you probably have met our Ephraim....our SPECIAL SPECIAL Ephraim. He is an incredible trainer who loves the Lord deeply and is extremely passionate about church centered sports ministry. We need him here for these meetings so would you PRAY PRAY PRAY that he gets his visa to attend. It would be the first time he has been to the US and he really is excited about coming. Lots of other reasons for him to be in the US including some special SFE update gatherings. If you never have met him you will love him. Let's pray Ephraim here!

Sweet Sixteen

The Sweet Sixteen party with the 90's theme!

Of course Danielle was the party host and had all sorts of games organized to play, a photo booth set up so all night long people could go in and take fun pictures,  karaoke  singing, and much much more. The girls went tubing, zip lining, sliding at the rock, and swimming at looking glass falls all in less than 24 hours. Pinky was bragging that the girls said it was the best 16th birthday party they had ever been too! She received guitar hero, her first cell phone, a i pod touch, a beautiful hrose painting, and more gifts from family and friends.

What a special party for a special special girl!

We thank God and His Angels that he spared her  life that horrific day on Nov. 3rd in 2002 while riding a horse in Ethiopia.