YWAM Kickoff 2014

Monday, September 1, 2014

Slideshow of YWAM Kickoff during the World Cup in Brazil 2014

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Come to Rio de Janeiro in 2016!

Gap year? Come to YWAM in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from January to August 2016!

8 months that will change your life!

Brazil was chosen for two big global sports festivals: In 2014, 32 countries participated in the World Cup in 12 different cities in Brazil.
It was almost like a “training phase” for the Olympic Games in 2016, which will be held in only 1 city, Rio de Janeiro, but where up to 192 different countries hope to participate.

In 2016 YWAM Brazil will offer an eight-month (January 3 to August 28, 2016), bilingual (English and Portuguese) training program in Rio:

• A three-month Discipleship Training School (DTS): Knowing God

• A two-month Outreach: Making God Known among the people and children in need of Rio de Janeiro, and among the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected for the Olympics.
• A three-month Children at Risk School (C@R): God's Heart for Children in Need

This is the challenge: Are you ready for:

• studying and applying God's Word, together with dozens of students from different countries?

• being trained and mentored by a group of experienced international missionaries?

• 8 months of living in one of the most beautiful cities of the world?

• reaching out together to street children, children in the slums, etc., to proclaim God's love in word and deed?

• being in Rio during the great international celebration of the Olympic Games, to spread the good news of Jesus to tourists from all over the world?

• giving eight months that will change your life?

Apply here for Rio: 8 months that will change your life!
Would you like more info? Write to Johan Lukasse at johan@jocum.org.br

Johan and Jeannette Lukasse

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

53. The best World Cup ever! This World Cup Was Won By The Church!

The 2014 World Cup is over!

Two years ago we started our team JOCUM KICKOFF and began preparing: the website, a blog, Power Point presentations with information and prayerpoints on the 32 nations participating in The World Cup, meetings with the coordinators of the 12 World Cup match venues, scoring materials in various languages, developing material against human trafficking: school programs, video clips, documentaries etc., and now.... it's all over!

"This World Cup Was Won By The Church!"
What has happened? Thousands of young people from local churches along with international teams of young people took to the streets to evangelize, pray, dance and sing. They used many different strategies to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation, including handing out 37.300 red cards which had the phone number to dial and report the crime. Others did short dramas at traffic lights; some painted the faces of the fans while they talked about ways to combat sexual exploitation. A curriculum, "Libertodos", was developed to raise awareness of and stand against sexual exploitation. This curriculum is now being presented in our schools. A team traveled by bus to 8 of the twelve venue cities to show a documentary film against human trafficking. And in each of the 12 cities a prayer room was available 24/7.

"This Word Cup was won by the church!" said Regiane, one of the YWAM leaders who works among the women in brothels in Belo Horizonte. We were together in the worship service in the prayer room which was crowded with young people from many churches. 1.500 intercessors had prayed in those rooms for 720 hours. Regiane was beaming, "I could write a whole book of the wonderful things that have happened," she said, "We are so grateful to God."

"Exceeded our Expectations"
We called all of the leaders and organizers in the other eleven World Cup cities and everyone said the same thing: "Exceeded expectations". So much has been accomplished. In our last count 196.400 people were reached by 5650 volunteers. We worked together with 244 different churches. Several cities had campaigns focused on distributing Bibles in every home in many under-served communities. All together 191.000 Bibles and booklets were handed out. A lot of results we will not see until the future because so much were seeds that were planted in the form of Bibles, magazines, brochures and even cookies with Bible verses. We are praying that the Holy Spirit will use these seeds to convince people of God's love for them.

The fact that Brazil did not win The World Cup was a shame. The 7-1 loss to Germany was a shock. No one expected it. But soon we saw our motto appearing in all kinds of advertisements "Our passion goes beyond soccer," The Lord Jesus is our passion! Hundreds of young people participated in training with ministry events during this time and many have applied now to do a DTS (Discipleship Training School). The enthusiasm is contagious.

Thank You Very Much!
Our thanks goes to a long list of people:

Our national KICKOFF team who worked with dedication. You're the best! God has anointed you with special gifts and it was wonderful to see how you used these gifts and skills and how they were developed during this time.
All KICKOFF coordinators, grassroots leaders, and other YWAM staff who worked so hard. International and national teams were met with great hospitality. Space where there had been none was created. You were available to day and night to reach the masses, but also the individuals with the love of God the Father. We are very proud of our YWAM family.
Our national and international partners, churches and organizations, too many mention them all by name; it was spectacular to work with you towards a singular goal: To magnify the name of Jesus!
All national and international teams that have invested time and money to work in the 12 cities in outreach and human trafficking and sexual exploitation awareness, identifying with the longing of God's heart in this area.
The people who sent finances and sustained us in prayer. Without you nothing here would have been possible.
And above all our thanks goes to the Lord God, who has strengthened us every day, guided us and loved us more than we can imagine.

To watch a video clip of our best photos during this time, click here.

What's next? We have plans for the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro! Look here to find out what we are planning from January to September 2016.

Thank you and God bless,

Johan & Jeannette Lukasse and the Kickoff team

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

52. Clip of some of the best pictures of the World Cup

Sunday, July 13, 2014

51. A third team competing to win at the World Cup

Congratulations to Germany on their FIFA World Cup Win!

While we're celebrating, let us not forget the plight of those in need of a win. The trafficked and abused children of Brazil need your support, and your prayers. Watch the video below to learn more about our anti-trafficking efforts, and how you can get involved.

‪#‎WorldCup‬ ‪#‎StopTrafficking‬ ‪#‎GermanyvsArgentina‬

Thursday, July 10, 2014

50. Learning to win and loose, soccer tournament at the Community Center the Lighthouse,

We began with a simple plan, a few teams, 5 or 6 maximum, playing soccer for a couple of afternoons with a USA sports-focused mission team that was going to be with us in Belo Horizonte. Within two weeks of announcing the concept, double the number of responses came in and we were excited! 13 teams of 6 kids each, wanted to be involved in our "Copa da Unidade" - Unity Cup- at The Lighthouse base. Some of these teams came from other YWAM bases, two local community projects sent a team, local churches sent teams, players from our former soccer school, and kids from the neighborhood surrounding The Lighthouse came to join in the fun!

On the first day of the tournament there were people waiting outside the gates of The Lighthouse base, thirty minutes early!!! And they were not only players, but people of all ages wanting to be part of this community event. The second day, as word spread through the community, even more people showed up to watch the tournament.

Each team had a player from the USA mission team, Briarwood Soccer Club from Briarwood, Alabama, and a translator. During the game breaks and at other times, when they weren’t playing, the USA team member and the translator began sharing and relating with the local children through laughter, a testimony, an encouraging word, or a scripture. The children from the community were very receptive to and grateful for their team’s "Gringo" and his or her soccer skills. By the end of the first two qualifying days there were new friendships made and shirts exchanged.

Finals day showcased the best 6 teams vying the title of Champion of The Unity Cup. The last qualifying match came down to a penalty shoot-out. When the championship match came down to a penalty shot, there wasn’t a sound to be heard, all were holding their breath as the goalie and shooter faced off. Once the ball left the foot of the shooter, the crowd erupted! And when the "dust settled", undefeated Columbia took home the trophy. Other awards were also given for MVP, best goalie and most goals scored.

While there can only be one winner in a soccer match, in life it is different. During the tournament, each one of the children that participated were told and shown that they too can be a winner. This weekend they were given a chance to play competitive sports in a safe environment where they were loved, listened to and mentored. They were encouraged whether they were winning or losing, which is exactly what God does for us. We were able to reach many kids that normally wouldn’t come to the regular community activities sponsored throughout the year by The Lighthouse but what has happened is that because of this tournament. many children expressed a desire to come back to The Lighthouse and participate in other activities.

View the video here: