by Luke Voight, Sports Friends Malawi
17 July 2012

As we approached the field, we couldn’t help but smile at the sight before us. Honest, at 6 feet 2 inches tall, towered in the middle of a rambunctious group of kids. They were jumping and chanting a praise song in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi. Every one of those mud-caked faces looked up at him as if he was their hero. I believe that God has shown us one of the few that the Lord of the harvest is sending into ripe harvest fields.

A few months earlier, Fostance Mtolo, national youth coordinator for the Africa Evangelical Church, and I met with the leaders of Honest’s church to cast a vision for sports ministry. The church showed lots of interest, and after a few weeks of prayer, the church selected Honest to start a church-centered sports ministry. So they sent him to the Basic Training in June 2012 to learn how to most effectively do it.

Honest arrived with a huge smile on his face. The joy of the Lord exuded from this guy. He was one of few youth who really understood the Gospel and how the Great Commission is not an option for a select few to obey, but a command for every follower of Jesus.

Through every training session, Honest burned a hole in his notebook writing down everything taught by the Sports Friends Ethiopian leaders who came to facilitate the training. But only time would tell if he would put what he was learning into practice.

	Honest teaching kids at the community sports field

On the final day of the Basic Training, the participants were instructed to go into the community and try to lead a group of kids in a sports outreach. This is where I and the other Sports Friends leaders came upon Honest standing in the middle of the jumping and chanting kids, rallying them to play games that he had just learned in Basic Training.

The practical ministry session lasted a few hours, and then all the kids begged Honest to return the next day to teach them about God and soccer again. Nobody stops to play with these kids who are often shoved to the side and told to go away, but this big guy was inviting them to play. He looked at us and asked, “Where should we meet and when?” Now that’s the type of person we are looking for in sports ministry!

One week later, Honest had met with the rapidly growing group of kids five more times. He loves them and teaches them about the Lord at each training. God has awoken in him a passion to make disciples through the platform of soccer. He understands what Jesus means when He says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

PRAY

• for Honest and the new sports ministry that has sprung out of this Basic Training.
• for the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts of the kids as they see their new coach live and speak the Gospel daily.
• for more young leaders to come alongside Honest so that he can disciple them, teaching them how to begin their own church-centered sports ministries.
• for a highly neglected group of kids about three miles away in a rural area. Honest has a heart to reach them, but for now he will start in Blantyre.

PRAISE

• for the completion of the first Sports Friends Basic Training in Malawi held June 2012. The Holy Spirit was present, and we are excited to have identified the men and women into whom we can pour ourselves
• for Honest, and others in the Basic Training, who are an answer to our prayer for sports ministers in this country
• for Fostance Mtolo, an incredible man of God who is a huge blessing to Sports Friends.

To learn more, visit Sports Friends International

photos courtesy of Jennifer Brady