Mikhail Kornev, Regional Director, Youth for Christ Easter Europe
From the 9th to the 11th of January, Youth for Christ Eastern Europe organised an International Christmas Soccer Tournament in Minsk, Belarus. (Note: In Eastern Europe a lot of people celebrate Christmas on January 7th.) Over 130 youth from four countries of Eastern Europe took part in this event.
Teams from Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and teams from different cities of Belarus united around the ball and the Gospel. About 90 of the young people who attended are not Christians and so it was a good opportunity to share our faith and salvation with our friends. Each game started with prayer and a message to the players.
In the evenings, we had programs with Christian music bands, testimonies of Christians from different teams, speeches from the chaplain and pastor who came to Belarus with his team from Ukraine. Teams from Moscow (Russia) playing with the Ukraine teams served as a symbol for peace between these countries at this time.
We thank God for His Gospel of peace. Also the leaders of the teams who came to the tournament with their teams having their soccer process in their countries during the year. So it was a good platform of communication for key leaders who organize and influence the development of evangelism through soccer. We pray for this platform of communication and evangelism to grow and invite teams from other countries to take part in International Soccer League in January 2016.
