Be aware. Divine appointments. Atmospheric shifting keynote message. Personal prayer and prophetic ministry. Creating and nurturing relationships. Impromptu preaching opportunities. All this and more made up a recent trip to Ethiopia for ARC leaders Graeme Sellers and Mike Bradley. Mike and Graeme were invited to attend the 2012 Missions Conference and Theological Convention (pictured above) for the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). Mekane Yesus (the house or place of God) is a network of 5.8 million charismatic Lutherans. Most of what God did during the trip was not on the published schedule, but was on God’s schedule.

In the weeks prior to leaving for Ethiopia, Graeme, Mike, and a team of intercessors were praying for the trip. Two things in particular stood out during these prayer times. First, there was a word to be aware of divine appointments not merely during the events in Ethiopia, but also as we traveled. The second turned out to be a prophetic picture come to life.

It began the first night as we flew to In Washington D.C. We met Yalda, a non-practicing Muslim who was our waitress at a restaurant we stopped in for a meal. As we visited with her we asked if we could pray for her and she immediately told us about her mother, Nazifa, suffering from uterine cancer. She welcomed prayer for her Mom and for herself right there, right then. We continue to pray for Yalda and Nazifa, that God’s purposes might be accomplished in their lives.

Our first day in Ethiopia included a trip to the grounds of the EECMY seminary where we met and were asked to pray over the team that was organizing the missions conference. The event would attract more than 12,000 attendees over the next two days, with many people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. As we prayed, God gave prophetic words through us to the five conference organizers; words which had a visible impact on each of them

At a dinner hosted by the Speaker of the House of the Ethiopian Parliament, we shared a meal with a young pastor and his wife whose church, part of the new apostolic reformation movement, is making serious inroads with young adults. God gave life-breathing words to this couple through Mike and Graeme, and as a result they were invited to minister at the 2,000 member church the following Sunday.

We returned home with some new relationships, and with some already existing relationships having been deepened for us personally, and for the ARC and MI organizationally. God created some new relationships for us with leaders in the EECMY, and in the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which was represented by Bishop John Bradosky, and General Secretary Mark Chavez. We enjoyed our time with both of them as well as with other pastors from the NALC in attendance. We were also blessed to spend time with Mark Vander Tuig, Kip Tyler, John Waak (pictured above praying with Graeme), and other leaders from Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC).

Be aware. Divine appointments. Personal prayer and prophetic ministry. Atmospheric shifting keynote message. Creating and nurturing relationships. This was our trip to Ethiopia. Thank you all for your prayers. Let’s continue to pray and see how God might use this trip and these relationships in carrying out His purposes for the ARC and MI.