This Year's Conference Is Bigger Than Ever

As I write this, I am four speeches in on “The Seven Super Powers of the Kingdom Minded Entrepreneur." Kathy has given one of her two talks to the women at the conference.Yesterday I finally met the Ugandan team which named their business Paparelli. They are amazing and have created six new businesses in the last year. They are no longer in poverty. Their company is known in the area of their village as PEYDA. This stands for Paparelli Elijah Youth Development Authority. It is an incredible story.There are now 24 men and women in PEYDA. They started with ten. Ten young men attended Youth Ablaze 2017. They came from a single village in southern Uganda. All of them were in abject poverty. Some lived by being thieves, some begged, and others worked as ditch diggers from time to time. Mostly they were poor, did little, and accepted their lives.

The conference sparked hope in them.

They returned to their village filled with hope and knowledge. Ten of them committed to each other to start a company. But none of them had an idea of how to do it. They did realize they would need money to start a business once they had an idea. To this end, they committed to do whatever jobs they could find in and around their village. Any money they earned would go toward feeding themselves and their families with the remainder to be contributed to the PEYDA bank account.Each of these men, ranging in ages from 18-30, contributed at least UGS 1,000 per week for four months. (This is the equivalent of thirty cents.) At the end of four months, they had accumulated the equivalent of $90. Then one of them had an idea, and they decided to do it. They started a hair salon. This began to go well, so they started a second.

They kept starting new businesses.

The profits from these new businesses were then contributed to the PEYDA account so new businesses could be started. Next came a mobile petrol business followed by a grocery store.Their vision for PEYDA was simple. They wanted to lift their community out of poverty.To this end, each member of PEYDA must commit to starting a business one day. They work in the businesses which are already started to learn how to do it. Each member also continues to contribute at least UGS 1,000 per week to build the capital account to fund new businesses.As the PEYDA team approached the end of the first year, they started two more business. They live in a very fertile farming area, so they bought a small plot of land and started a rice farm.The money in their account had swelled from the initial $90 to $208. Now they had excess capital so they started a lending company.

They inspired Kathy and me.

In addition to these 10 men learning how to start a business at Youth Ablaze 2017, three of them became born again at the conference. The chairman, who is 30 years old and married with six children, was one of those who surrendered his life to Christ.They returned to this year's conference to tell their story. They wanted to inspire the other 20,000 attendees to do the same when they leave this Youth Ablaze.

But there is more.

They came bearing gifts. Last year they came with nothing. In telling their story yesterday, they said, "There was not one day we were hungry at Youth Ablaze. We were treated so well and received so much."When they returned this year, they brought bags of rice produced by their farming business. It was enough rice to feed 600 people for one week.Their new big goal is to buy a bus and bring all the youth in their village and the surrounding villages to Youth Ablaze in the future. I think these guys are incredible. I even got one of their company shirts.

I am speaking on super powers.

This year my speaking series is titled "The Seven Super Powers of the Kingdom Minded Entrepreneur." This has been a real hit with the delegates. The Avengers is hot in Uganda, too. They get super powers.I have given the introductory talk and followed it with the Power of God, the Power of People, and the Power of Problem Solving. Four more Super Powers to go before we end on Saturday night.Kathy also spoke once and will speak again on Friday. She is talking to the women of the conference as she shares on her relationship with Jesus Christ and the importance of marriage. She is doing an amazing job. The women love her, just as she loves them.

We also met the Vice President of Uganda.

He was the dignitary invited by Bishop Elijah who officially declared Youth Ablaze 2018 open. Since 70% of the nation of Uganda is under 30 years old, this was a rare opportunity for the government to connect with their voters of the future.I was also surprised to find out the conference is being broadcast. Their entire conference is being broadcast live on Success FM 104.9 Uganda. This covers the entire nation of 40 million people.At peak hours, between 7-9 am and 7-9 pm, there are over 7 million listeners. In addition, the talks are being broadcast via facebook live. God is at work!To watch, go to my Facebook page.