Mediterranean (MNN) — Starting today, one missions initiative will reach 22 nations with the Gospel in three weeks.
Operation Mobilization 'Transform 2010' launches today in Rome, Italy, with 500 mostly college-age adults. Participants will train for one week in Rome, split up into 40 teams, and spread out among the nations of the Mediterranean.
These nations include Morocco and Algeria in North Africa, France and Spain in Europe, and Israel and Syria in the Middle East. "It's such an incredibly needy region and very diverse. You've got areas that are strongly Muslim or Catholic or Orthodox or Jewish," says OM's Richard Sharp, who will be attending ‘Transform 2010' as part of a prayer team in Malta.
The 40 different teams coming out of Rome will employ various approaches, from music to drama, to dance to puppetry. Some teams will go out to internet cafes, some to parks, some to beaches. Depending on the team, they will spend one, two or three weeks each in whatever country they have chosen to minister.
The time in the Mediterranean will be rich with the Gospel, and OM is praying that people will respond. "We find the young people in these nations are very open," says Sharp, a hopeful fact for these next few weeks.
Beyond serving the obvious purpose of bringing the Gospel to the nations, OM is hoping that many of the young adults attending ‘Transform 2010' will feel the Lord's pull on their lives to long-term commitments of a year or two years. As believers see the need in the Mediterranean, they may be inclined to make a full-time response.
Of course, this ministry will not come close to reaching its potential if nobody prays. If you go to the OM Web site, you can find a list of countries that will be reached in the next few weeks. Click on one of them there, or as Sharp suggests, point your finger to a map of the Mediterranean and pray for the country you land on. Whichever method you use, be sure to be praying for at least one specific country throughout ‘Transform 2010,' that God will use the teams there and move in that nation. For specific prayer requests and country background, visit the OM Web site. Pray and watch these nations Transform.
