Igniting the Fire of Hope in Zambia

National Leaders Eager for My Hope Project in December 2011

February 8, 2011 - On January 19, 2011, almost 100 church and ministry leaders met with representatives from the BGEA in Lusaka, Zambia, a sub-Saharan African country.

This opportunity is an answer to my prayers.
~ Pastor Austin Nyaanwa

During this historic meeting, leaders discovered the vision of the My Hope project – to train tens of thousands of lay Zambian Christians to invite their friends, family, and neighbors into their homes to hear a specially produced program that will share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After listening to the presentations about the project, the leaders signed a letter to Billy Graham, inviting the BGEA to work with them to carry out the My Hope project in Zambia. Attending the meeting was a local pastor with the Salvation Army, Austin Nyaanwa.

“This opportunity is an answer to my prayers,” said Nyaanwa. “I have written for years asking for a Crusade, the Rapid Response training and other opportunities. I have kept up with the ministries through the Decision publication, and I am so excited for My Hope in Zambia.”

Pastor Nyaanwa’s story is similar to so many others, as Christian leaders across Zambia have prayed for years that such an evangelistic undertaking would happen in their country.

A few years ago, Franklin Graham wrote: “Unless you've been there, it's difficult to understand how much Africans have suffered from war, disease, famine and poverty. And only then do you appreciate how the Church stands out as a source of help and of hope.”

Pioneering missionary David Livingstone died on his knees in prayer in what is now Zambia. "And, like Livingstone," said Graham, "who sought 'the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has been,' we need a heart for Africa. God has begun a mighty work there.

“We should pray on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Africa,” Graham said, “being confident of this, ‘that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 1:6, NIV).”