It was in 1961, while still at Fuller, that Michael Cassidy launched the African Enterprise (AE) ministry with the encouragement of Carlton Booth (Kathy Bruner’s father), the support of Charles Fuller, Founder of Fuller Seminary, and the enthusiasm of a few other student friends. Michael was from South Africa and, in 1964, he and a small team went there (in spite of it being a hotbed for apartheid) to focus fulltime on carrying out AE’s calling to evangelism in the cities of Africa. They began holding evangelistic crusades on a small scale, and the movement has grown through the years. Michael’s tireless efforts resulted in AE growing to include twelve African countries. FPCH has been honored to be part of their support team.
A “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” course was presented at FPCH and many church members attended. One was a young man named Jamie Morrison who had grown up in the church. When African Enterprise was mentioned as a place leading the movement against apartheid, Jamie and his wife decided to go to South Africa to help Michael. They wound up staying there seven years and their children were all born there. As the years went on, AE grew tremendously, and the United States representative of the organization retired. Jamie and his family moved from Africa back to the U.S. for their children’s schooling, and he took over the U.S. headquarters in Spokane, Washington.
After many years of brutality, apartheid ended and AE’s evangelistic base expanded. Michael Cassidy has retired and Stephen Mbogo in Kenya is the African director. Last year, AE held a city wide crusade in Lilongwe, Malawi. Staff from the eleven other countries in the AE family descended on Lilongwe, holding meetings in city halls, libraries, fire departments, parks, etc. A group of youth visited schools and gave testimonies, and many children and youth turned their lives over to Christ.
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