Have you ever thought about going to Ethiopia? I know I never thought about it. The thing is when God is in it, you never know where He will send you. Hudson Taylor, who was a missionary to China once said ,“ The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed”. A month ago God brought me a unique opportunity to take a “vision trip” to Ethiopia to see the ins and outs of a ministry called Project Mercy.
Project Mercy was started by Ethiopians Deme & Marta in 1977 to bring hope in a tangible way to impoverished, illiterate, rural African communities lacking infrastructure and concrete programs and initiatives that are both sustainable and replicable. Equipped with an unwavering faith and the Gospel of Jesus Christ., they have seen over three thousands Muslims come to faith in Jesus!
I spent a lot of time in a town called Yetebon, where Project Mercy has a school that runs from Kindergarten thru 12th grade, a house for orphans that is housing over forty kids, and a huge garden where they grow fruits and vegetables so they can teach the farmers about agriculture. The cool thing about the garden is that they are growing seventeen different types of avocados. Yum! All their hard work and thinking is focused on how they can help their community and country. They even started a dairy farm so they can teach farmers how to produce milk, butter, and cheese. Every two months they auction off a dairy cow (no money exchanged) to a farmer to help him start a sustainable business. I believe Deme and Marta have followed the leading of God and He has blessed this ministry in a big way. I am really excited about the ministry of Project Mercy.
As I stated earlier, one of the ways God has used Project Mercy is bringing over three thousand Muslims to faith in Jesus and three churches have sprung up through that. And these churches have a passion to reach their community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please pray for these churches as they are young, and are in need of pastoral training, and discipleship. Also be in prayer for Project Mercy as they continue to minister in Ethiopia and for Gateway as we begin a partnership with them. We will be taking a trip to Ethiopia in June of 2017, so mark your calendars!!!
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