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| (L to R) Dr. Walker, Fanny, and Rev. Asare |
I returned yesterday from Ghana, having spent time doing Discipling Marketplace Leader conferences for about 140 pastors and church leaders in both Accra and the northern region of Ghana, in Tamale. The Northern Region of Ghana is dominated by Muslims and is a region of greater poverty than the regions in the south. Before I moved from Ghana in 2013, my colleague, Fanny Atta-Peters, and I had talked many times about the desire to work in the Northern Region of Ghana and had started some communication with pastors there. It's great to see those conversations from years ago coming to pass now.
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| Cross in red brick at the top |
One of the pastors with whom Fanny has been communicating is Rev. Johnson Asare, the owner of the Radach Hotel and Conference Center, a beautiful and successful business (
www.radach.org). Each of the four towers in this hotel has the cross in the bricks as can be seen in the picture, and therefore the cross can be seen from almost any angle of the hotel. This hotel and conference center is doing so well that Rev. Asare is building an eight story building directly behind it. He has invested $1,000,000 USD of the company money into this new building and is looking for investors to help with the balance $4,000,000 USD to complete the building. This is not a man with small visions and dreams! He employs about 155 people at this hotel and conference center, and gathers them for morning devotions each day at 8 am. We were privileged to join them on two different mornings.
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| Many women work on the construction site. |
Rev. Asare is also the founder/director of Markaz Al-Bishara (Center of Good News) Ministries (
www.bisharapraise.radach.org). The tagline for this ministry is "using the business platform to nurture the Great Commission" and Rev. Asare's first words to us is that everything he and his employees do, from carpentry to room cleaning, is an act of worship. Certainly we have found a brother in Christ who speaks the same language as us! Approximately 90% of his ministry is funded by the hotel and conference center, which is very impressive! Rev. Asare employs about a thousand more people indirectly through his many off-shoot projects, such as shea butter farming and processing, other micro-development projects, evangelism, and education projects. His heart's desire is to reach Muslims for Christ.
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| The eight-story building, with two pools, being built. |
He has been preaching about work as worship for about ten years but he says it has fallen on deaf ears. He was very encouraged to hear us affirm what he believes and has been preaching; he told me after our first day of the conference that I had "stolen his heart" and referred to me afterward as "his professor." High praise from such a successful man who could teach me so much!
The response from the Northern Region was very encouraging and at this time we are planning to hire someone for DML Ghana, through Hopeline Institute, to begin working with these pastors and churches, walking alongside them to start Marketplace Ministries in their churches. Please pray with us for this ministry, especially as it relates to spreading the church in the marketplace in a heavily dominated Muslim area. Please pray for Fanny as she looks for the right person who can speak effectively to both church leaders and business leaders alike, and for me as I look for the funds to help this ministry get started, with the goal of it being self-sufficient in three years.
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| Dr. Walker and Fanny promoting the DML workshop at Rev. Asare's Christian radio station which has two million listeners. |
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| The conference center at the hotel. |
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| Fanny and I in an intense planning meeting at the hotel. |
