Zambia, get ready.
My Hope is coming.
There was a moment on Monday, around 3:30 p.m. local time, when the My Hope Zambia project launched in front of 11 local media outlets at an outdoor press conference in Lusaka. There was a sense that something big had started.
But what?
Revival? Repentance? Renewal?
Or maybe all of the above.
“We are excited about getting into the visionary phase, which by the way is starting right now,” said Hans Mannegren, Director of International Ministries. “It is with great excitement that we are here.”
And just like that – in a spot less than 1 kilometer from where the Rev. Billy Graham made a brief stop at an airport on a 1960s preaching tour, back when the country was known as South Rhodesia – My Hope Zambia was now out in the public eye.
Although the planning stages have been going on for several months.
But the clock is now running as far as the country is concerned. Less than seven months are left before the national TV and radio broadcasts on Dec. 1, 2 and 3, likely at 7:30 p.m. local time, on prominent stations.
“We consider this to be a very timely event that is coming to our nation,” said Bishop Stanley Simunyola, part of the national committee. “It’s a great privilege for the local church to partner with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for the cause of bringing souls into the kingdom of God.”
“And through the My Hope Zambia, we have the hope of impacting the nation, saturating every place In Zambia, every district with the Gospel.”
But that will be no easy task here in Zambia, where nearly 13 million people call home, but so many of them are tucked away in remote and rural villages around a land mass that is equivalent to almost three times the size of Texas in the USA.
“Our desire is that when we’re done with the project we want to have every church have had the chance to sign up, if they so desire,” Mannegren said.
Last week, 43 district coordinators and 4 regional coordinators were trained by the BGEA team and then sent out Friday afternoon to cast the My Hope vision to pastors in every corner of the 9 provinces.
“It is time for Zambia,” said Rev. Mpundu Mutala, national coordinator. “It is time for us to receive from the Lord a Good Word, that we may see many people turn to the Lord.”
The goal for My Hope Zambia is 6,000 churches and 60,000 “Matthew” hosts signed up, reaching at least 600,000 Zambians with a clear Gospel presentation.
And while some may watch it on TV, others will hear it on radio or through a projector.
“The reasons we’re using radios is the reach is much farther and has a greater impact in the rural areas,” Mannegren said. “We will train the pastors out there to be apart of the project.
“And there will be projector teams that will go out to really, really remote areas where they have no radios.”
Rev. Mutala is confident that when it comes to the most rural pockets of his country, My Hope will find a way to reach the ends of the earth.
“We’ll go as deep as we possibly can,” Mutala said. “We’re determined to be prepared to reach those areas where they are waiting to receive the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
