Every time I
look at the numbers it gives me a prompt in my heart, ‘Lord, send me to the
football world.’ Did you know that we’ve estimated 3.5 billion football fans on
earth? Did you know what that means? It
means you can reach half of the world population through this beautiful game. We
all know it, football provides the fastest means of spreading any message
around the earth and we can’t afford to overlook it in world evangelization.
I am already
so excited since I heard that Believes’ love world messenger angel has entered
into every territory inhabited by humans on earth. Rhapsody of Realities, the
daily devotional, has been translated into 203 languages and distributed in 257
countries – 195 sovereign states and 62 dependent territories on earth – that’s
an incredible milestone.
You could
only but imagine how far the gospel has gone through this devotional. Being
translated into languages such as Mandarin, Myanmar, Tonga, Swahili and traveled into places like Fuji Island, Solomon Island, and Tahiti in the
Oceania region offshore Australia. And on the other end of Cook Island, Niue, Tokelau,
in the colony of New Zealand. Truly, the gospel is marching on!
But we may
also want to look at the penetration rate. Over 61 million copies of the
devotional were distributed in 2013 – that’s about 1 copy to 10 million people,
given the world population at 7 billion. Well, if compared with 2010 FIFA world
cup in south Africa, where an estimated 1 out of every 3 persons on earth
watched the football event, then you may begin to understand how large the
football world is.
It’s time we
begin to strategize on fulfilling the scriptures that say: “And this gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world for a witness unto all
nations…” The gospel may have entered all the countries on earth, yet it hasn’t
reached all the nations of the world.
The gospel
of Jesus Christ hasn’t as yet made such significant penetrations in China, a
country that harbors about 1.4 billion of the world’s population. We must begin
to look at other ways of pulling down the barriers set up by the country’s
policy. We may also look at India, with 1.3 billion populations that are
largely Hindu worshipers and Islam.
Internet and
the social media have given the gospel vent to penetrate through some of these
barriers. You can connect to anybody and share any message you wish with person
through the social media platform. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, President of
Believers love world nation, has said that social media is the future of world
evangelization. We must begin to learn how to hold virtual evangelism, virtual
fellowship meetings and virtual church services.
Well, If
social media is the greatest barrier broker, then we must also get serious with
the most popular sport on earth and take
advantage of the opportunities it provides the gospel – football holds the
world attention all year round.
Now, let us
look at the numbers and compare what can be done with these two marvelous
vehicles.
Social media
had a total of 1.4 billion users in 2012, which is expected to increase to 1.7
billion in 2013 – with accumulated usage of 10 billion audiences in 2012. The
number one social media platform, Facebook, has about 800 million users and
accumulated usage of 2.5 billion in 2012.
On the other
side, FIFA world cup alone, which is just one football event, had accumulated
30 billion audiences in 2006 and 50 billion in 2010. Take for instance, 2010
world cup finals in South Africa, had a global audiences of 700 million in just
one football match. We haven’t considered UEFA champions league or English
Premier League or other minor football events down to the grassroots level
around the earth. Truly, football provides us an immense opportunity to break
the world’s attention with the gospel.
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