SOS Church Camp

Came home from Tanzania Tuesday night...Have had time to hang out with my family, work out and meet a newly saved friend... Yesterday we had a budget meeting with SOS international board and later that night a Pastor's meeting - love to speak with, pray and hang out with my pastors...

Tomorrow the church will gather at the Rålambshovs Park at 10 am for SOS Church Camp! We'll BBQ, play chess, soccer and laugh a lot! Bring lots of BBQ meat :)!

See ya soon!

Soccer in Tanzania!

Last Sunday, after we had visited four different churches we went back to the hotell and quickly slipped out of our suits, ties and cuff links and put on old jeans and sleeveless t-shirts... We had been given VIP tickets to a soccer game, Emmanuel and I. Dar es Salaam has a super modern stadion that seats 65,000 people! It was packed out! Wow! Atmosphere like crazy! The final game for Eastern Central Africa Soccer Tournament... Teams from Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania among others had played and now two teams from Tanzania had reached the finals! We watched Yanga meet Simba and it was the craziest folk-feast I've attended in my life! So fun! The supporters fought in the bleechers and sent up flares and the police had to intervene about once every 10 minutes or so :).

The Yanga players celebrating...

When Yanga, in the extension of the game, won 1-0, their fans took of their shirts and danced in wild happiness, waving their t-shirts over head and blowing in horns for about an hour... When it was time for the prize to be ditributed to the winning team and a mobile platform was wheeled into the stadion, the power went. There was no national anthem and people blamed Simba's supporters for sabotage and fought with everyone and everything... I loved it when they brought in an ambulance to temporary light up the platform with the head lights from the car... The trophy was given to Yanga and medals to all the players - everything in the light from the car while screaming in megaphones!

Sooo wonderful! Love Africa! What an experience!

See ya!

Reflections After Tanzania

I visited great Pentecostal churches in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last week... Some were 3,000 members, others 800 and one 6,000... Met mature, humble, balanced and very generous Bishops, Pastors and leaders... I was so impressed by their willingness to give and their aggressive faith! One church with only 800 members (15-30 year old members) managed to raise 300,000 USD and buy land with cash to build their church - only in a few months... They sold their cars, computers, cell phones etc... Now they are raising money to build a super modern church with about 4,500 seats! They are wild! I never wanted to stop worshipping when I was there, even though I didn't understand more than a few words of the songs in Swahili that thay sang in their church. The worship leaders weren't just very talented musicians and had incredible voices, but there was something else - Jesus was there and the anointing could be felt right through skin and bone... The blood start to boil and the ground shakes when they dance, sing, cry out and devote themselves in prayer and worship! I wasn't allowed to pay at the restaurants. I wasn't allowed to pay for my taxi. I wasn't allowed to pay for my hotell. I was given a donation to SOS that equals two months salaries for a church here! Africa has so much to teach us! Jesus, help us in Europe! They are passing us!

I so enjoyed to see people saved, the blind see, demons cast out and hungry disciples being baptized in the Holy Spirit in almost every gathering that we had. They churches that I visited were truly lovely! At the same time I was sad when I spoke to African leaders about legalism, religion, false teachings and fanatisicm - that actually bind many wonderful Africans as well and scare millions away from the church. Thank you God for a new, true and pure hearted generation of young leaders that are rising up on the African continent. They refuse to compromise with the Bible and at the same time want to be folksy and modern. Their charm when they combine the Spirit of prayer with smoke machines and cool lighting is lovely. I think I have fallen in love with the African urban teenagers I met last week... The Jesus-loving teenagers of Kampala, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam have stolen a piece of my heart...

I have been invited together with SOS Festival Band to come and speak at the biggest youth conference for the Swahili speaking East Africa in November this year. There is hope for Africa a nd there is hope for the world! The next wave of missionaries will come from Africa to Europe!

See ya!

Healing and Deliverances in Dar es Salaam!

Blind eyes opened, demons cast out, Jesus is in Dar es Salaam... Fun to sweat and work again - preached just a little bit :)...

I was in Tanzania last week to seek God and enjoy life... Have had a lot of time to pray and meditate on the Bible, ate good food; ugali (corn porridge), chapati (thin bread) and a lot of fish. Dar es Salaam is located right by the Indian Ocean and they love fish and sea food...

Ugali...

Chapati

The capital city of Tanzania has an exciting mix of many people; different East African tribes, Indians, Arabs and of course a mix of religions; Christians, Animists, Hindus and Muslims. Churches, temples and Mosques shoulder to shoulder in the street corners... 3.5 million people live there and the hunger for the Jesus gospel demonstrated in power is severe. We enjoyed all the different scents and the music - you hear music everywhere and people are dancing everywhere. One night Emmanuel and I enjoyed listening to a local band that played covers from the Swedish pop group ABBA at the reataurant when we had supper ;). Fun!

See ya!

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

I flew to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania together with my Nigerian friend Emmanuel Chiedebere as my armour bearer Monday morning… It’s wonderful to be in Africa together. Emmanuel hasn’t been in Tanzania for 16 long years, and is probably enjoying this more than I… It’s so beautiful to be here, and God performs miracles.. Today we delivered two precious people from evil spirits… We’re most likely going to hold a large festival here in Dar es Salaam in 2012! :)

You’re coming, right?!

We’re in the middle of summer. Stockholm has shown its most beautiful side with amazing weather! I’m enjoying life a lot! But I can’t stop longing for, praying and dreaming about the fall! I believe that we will explode in SOS Church, it’s so exciting to serve God! I am totally convinced that the Bible school will be awesome this year, and you don’t want to miss that my friend ;) We begin August 26th, and before the month of May was over, we already had more applications than last year! It looks like we’re going to have an exciting fall… You’re coming right?!

Bible School Trailer- Ma-jo from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

SOS Church Stockholm

The church we planted not even two years ago in Stockholm (SOS Church will be 2 years August 28th) have become the greatest joy in my life! Festivals among the unreached people groups, the authorship and coaching leaders are my strongest "branches" as a preacher, i.e what I still do and know the best. Have done this since June 1991, but I have to be honest and say that I love being a pastor more... Hard to admit it, but that's a fact. Pre-marriage counseling, weddings, funerals, home visits and counseling is great! I am enjoying being a priest for Stockholm and pastor at SOS on Kungsholmen! Yesterday Moses was baptized in the Holy Spirit in our house church and started speaking in tongues for the first time in his life - he is free from drugs now and baptized in water since two months back :)!

We have baptized more than 100 people since the church was planted in the city now! We have more than 40 different nationalities in the church and the atmosphere is amazing! All our members make at least one disciple per year, leads him to salvation, baptism in water and the Spirit! If they don't they become stagnant and need to start following Jesus again ;).

I preached at home today :) and I fly out to Tanzania tomorrow to visit good friends, pray and seek God for a week. Fantastic that the the Swedish Social Insurance Administration granted me a trip overseas during my sick leave... It's 90 degrees F today and 82 in our pool :). Had a Bible study with the family, training my injured knee and ariting on my book... Can life be any better?!

God is sooo good!

See ya!