As football fever spreads across Germany, Europe and the world, YWAM World Cup Outreach volunteers discover there is enthusiasm both on and off the pitch.

"People are so open to talk and receive the gospel! We have Africans, Middle Easterners, Latin Americans and North Americans out there on the streets, the squares and in the parks, but we need more Europeans! The harvest is ripe, but we need more workers!" reported Sokol Hoxha, base leader at Schloss Hurlach in Bavaria. Having just returned from Munich, Sokol is clearly excited by what he’s seen.

Two weeks prior at the Kick Off for the World Cup Football Outreach in Schloss Hurlach, Sokol prepared with hundreds of young people from around the world to assemble into teams to spread out across Germany to the World Cup cities. Along with the teams, an international prayer camp has been established by the German Evangelical Alliance in Blankenburg, East Germany. Intercessors housed in prayer rooms in each of the twelve World Cup venues are praying through stories from the field.

One such report was from Tilman Pforr, organiser of the YWAM outreach, who is meeting Germans who, upon hearing a gospel presentation, said they had been waiting to hear such good news! Hitchhiking between World Cup cities, Tilman was picked up by a German driver who immediately started telling him his problems. His wife had left him, so he had had an affair simply to get revenge. In tears he confessed he was in a mess and saw no way out. Tilman shared his need of Jesus. Another passenger, a non-Christian, told the driver that what Tilman was saying was indeed the only way out of his predicament.

Another team of Middle Easterners met a burly Arab bodyguard on the streets of Salzburg in Austria. He reacted angrily at their efforts to share Jesus with him. He accused them of being traitors to Islam, but the team responded warmly and openly to him. They told him he would meet more people who would confirm what they were saying. A few days later in Munich, the young Arab met another team of Middle Easterners who indeed confirmed what he had heard in Salzburg. This time he responded with great interest. What the team was doing was great, he said, and he wanted to support them!

Sokol added that on his visit to Munich, one of the team leaders, himself from a Muslim background, could not stop talking about stories of Muslims wanting to hear about Isa (Jesus). One German who had converted to Islam after marrying a woman from the Middle East now prayed with the YWAMers on the street to give his life to Jesus. And, he added, he wanted his wife to do the same.

Sokol had also met a young German-Italian named Daniel who had rebelled against his Catholic upbringing. But now he admitted that over the past few weeks, different people had come across his path to challenge him to look again at the truth of the Christian message. He was now weighing his decision about the claims of Jesus on his life.

All reports coming from Germany say that the crowds are open and receptive, but that there are too few workers. "It’s still possible for people to join us," Sokol appealed. "We can take people in Berlin and Munich as well as a number of other places. We really need more Europeans involved!"

For further information or to join a team, contact the World Cup Outreach office at Schloss Hurlach:

• phone +49 8248 122 47

• fax +49 8248 122 41,

• email at

The original production of this story may be found at Jeff Fountains’ Weekly Word at: www.ywameurope.org/news/word.asp