I want to give you a quick look at how the program went. And a sneak peek into what God did in me this summer and in those around me. The program had a key focus on discipleship, both learning what that looks like and then living that out through outreaches. A portion of this was through leadership development and all of the training and outreaches were under the umbrella of sports ministry.
The first week of the program focused on just team development, especially the first week, with twenty two others (later due to unfortunate reasons a team member had to drop out) who would become like family members. During this first week we did lots of team building stuff, a day of testing our character (day fast, hiked up a mountain, and worked out), and classroom learning about sports ministry leadership and discipleship.
During the 2nd and 3rd weeks we were doing a mixture of classroom learning and outreaches. A day would look like getting up at 6:30/7am, work out, breakfast, 3 ½ hours of classroom work, lunch, 2 hours of classroom, afternoon outreach for a couple hours, dinner, and then evening stuff. As you can see it was pretty full. The program is designed to be intensive and push you to your limits. I am a pretty detailed person and am a planner, but with this program they wouldn’t tell us what we were doing the next day till the night before, sometimes not even that. I had to learn to just go with the flow and not know things.
A couple of the outreaches we did during these weeks in the afternoons were an apartment outreach and a person of peace outreach. The apartment outreach was simply myself and about 14 other people going to an apartment complex where there are a lot of youth and playing games with them. Some of us would just play soccer with the older boys, while others played on the swings or played a game they called Skalulu, and still some did dance parties or other things. This was a time where we went and tried to build relationships through continuously being present in their lives. We were there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This ministry was going on prior to the internship, but it was just the director of the program, another leader in the program, one of the other interns who was working for the organization the director started. And through a camp later on (during week six) fruit was seen through a camp that was put on at their apartments. I didn’t get to be a part of this camp as I was in Zambia on a different outreach (more on that later), but I heard stories of the commitments made by the kids, the walls broken down, and the impact several other of the interns were able to make. Kids saw them as their heroes and people they looked up to, really positive role models who they could identify with.
The person of peace outreach is really an evangelism outreach. What we would do is walk around a neighborhood or park and pick up trash, while another group starts a pick up soccer game. Though we are picking up trash, our main goal is to strike up conversations with people walking by or who are sitting there. A lot of people we ran into were the homeless people of Stellenbosch. We were looking for those who were receptive to the Gospel, with the goal being they share it with their family or those in their close circles and from there it spreads. A couple of different stories come to mind. One afternoon I merely played checkers with a couple homeless men. I struggled with thinking that I wasn’t making a big difference, but when it comes to the Lord, I don’t know if there is such a thing as small kindness. I was able to be a friend for a little while and hopefully provide some hope. Roughly three weeks later I was at the apartment outreach and one of the guys I played checkers with called out to me. He remembered me and we were able to say hi. Another story started out with one of the other interns, Happy, having to use the restroom. So he walked up to a house, where two guys were barbecuing outside, and asked if he could use their restroom. After he got out we had a conversation for about 15-20 minutes about life, goals, and dreams. I saw the Lord speak through Happy, who shared some of his story and planted seeds. These seeds wouldn’t have been planted had we not stepped out in boldness and obedience.
Three Tuesday evenings throughout the internship our team went out onto the streets for a couple hours and handed out hot coffee and PB&J sandwiches to the homeless population of Stellenbosch. I loved these times, as we got to do something tangible by handing out some food, we got to meet their emotional needs by stopping and talking with them we got to do a homeless out, and most importantly pray for them and share Jesus and His love. This has given me an even greater understanding of prayer. I was able to pray for people who may otherwise not really care to hear about Jesus. But they allowed me and others the space to call on the name the name of the Lord. There is power there and I pray even more that in these moments the Lord truly reaches them. One specific evening sticks out for me. I was blessed with the opportunity to have a conversation with two believers, James and Gordon, who were brothers. I was able to encourage them in their faith, as well as be encouraged by them. I was blown away by their faith and trust in the Lord despite their circumstances.
Our internship team was given the opportunity to run two 3 day, 2 night youth camps for 10-14 year olds in the Stellenbosch area community. For the first camp, which ran June 27th-29th, I had the opportunity to be a huddle leader (camp counselor) for five kids. So for these three days I was around them, helped lead small group discussions, group games, and hung out with them during competitions. Camp is such an interesting time, as it is such a short period of time that you have to make an impact. You also don’t quite know what kind of difference you were able to make over the time. This is what I found myself in. I had one young kid who was a solid Christian and two other kids who made commitments of faith. One of those kids, Donavan, I didn’t know how he was doing all week, as he was pretty quiet. Remember, these are kids whose first language is not English, but Afrikaans or Xhosa. During the last hour I saw Donavan by himself so I went over to see how things were going and how he was feeling about leaving. I didn’t hear him at first, but after asking him again he said what he was going to miss was me. I was blown away, not because of me, but because I was able to make some deep impact on his life for those three days that I didn’t even know about. Praise the Lord. It is only by His work that this was able to take place. And the Lord does this very same thing in each of our lives every day. We just don’t notice all the time. Never underestimate what the Lord can do through you.
We had several days off, during which one of them we moved to a different site, in Muzenberg, close to Cape Town. And then a few days later we started the second camp. This camp ran July 2nd-4th. For this camp I had a different role than the previous 3 day camp. For this camp I helped with the programming and just other miscellaneous tasks. A couple of the highlights of this week for me was that I got to share in front of the campers twice. For the first session I talked about faith, specifically focusing on the story of Peter walking on water in Matthew 14:22-33. It was an awesome time to get to share some of my story over the last two years with the campers. I was like Peter and took my eyes off of Him; but the Lord never left my side. I was able to share that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you (as it says in Joshua 1:5, 9). For the second message I got to talk about what it means to love God and love others, based on Matthew 22:37-40).
During this week I had less of a hands on relational impact, and instead worked more behind the scenes. However, during the second day I had one of my favorite times of any of the camps. For an hour and a half I got to hang out with three students, one of which rarely talked and wanted to go home due to homesickness. And for this time we made paper airplanes and had some competitions. If only you could have seen the smiles and laughs of the kids. I saw joy very much in that moment. Though we didn’t have any “spiritual” discussions, I believe God spoke to them.
One of the definite highlights, as far as outreaches, was my trip to Zambia. I made a ten day outreach trip to Kabwe, Zambia on July 6th-15th. I was joined by one other intern, the director of the Impact program, and local young man from South Africa. This was a completely different experience than my time in South Africa. Though South Africa is Africa it is still pretty westernized; Zambia on the other hand is inner Africa and not nearly as developed. For our time in Zambia we were working with OM Zambia, Operation Mobilization in Zambia, who put us in contact with local sports ministries and the work that the Lord is already doing there.
We would help out with a ministry in the morning and then another one in the afternoon. The first one we got to do, and one we helped out with for four times was a soccer team out in the bush. We walked 30 minutes out into the middle of a village to a soccer field that was out there. We found out that the players had cut down this field with hand tools and it took them 2 weeks. For this first afternoon we spent a little over an hour leading a bible study, on being salt and light, and then a soccer practice. Throughout our time in Zambia we were able to interact with this soccer team and get to know them a little bit. This soccer team is also in a league with some other teams, which is really cool that these kids get that experience. One area of focus for OM is self-sustaining outreaches. What they focus on is establishing ministries that are able to continue on when the person who established it leaves. A big part of this is discipling people in the communities themselves who are able to take over the leadership roles. And another part is to not just provide outside resources. A great example of this is with this first soccer team we worked with. The coach of the team, Alfred, works for OM and was bringing a soccer ball for practices. But as he did this the team would slowly pitch in money to be able to buy a ball. Eventually they had enough saved up and the team bought their own ball. So rather than OM bringing the ball, the team now had their own ball, and some more ownership of the team. This was amazing to see. We ran practice two other times with this team, with the last time being on the very last night with the sun setting in the background. It was unreal and one of the moments where you realized how amazing the opportunity you have. I was getting to run around, play soccer in the middle of a village, in Zambia, as the sun is setting the distance. This moment was one of the highlights of the Zambia trip.
We also got to help out with a tournament Alfred ran in the village with four other teams. We were able to hang out with the teams as “chaplains” and looked for opportunities to speak into their life during the time. At the very end one of the men from OM, Barnabas, who helped with the tournament, shared the Gospel with the three teams that were still present, as well as some community people.
Several of the mornings we went out and did street evangelism. The first day was in Makalulu. Makalulu is what they call a compound, which is as village/town/township suburb of Kabwe, a main city. I was told about 90,000 people live there. This is a definite poverty area with huts or brick buildings and dirt roads. We walked around for a couple hours encouraging and praying for people. Casper, the director of the Impact program, shared the Gospel at one of the houses. One of the older men responded and accepted the Lord. I was blown away. The other evangelism outreach and the rest of the ministries were in Makalulu or other impoverished city areas. We got a quick glimpse of the positive impact that young men are making in the lives of young children. This is a serious need, as there is a huge problem with fatherlessness in Zambia.
I got to share a message at church in Makalulu on. I have never stood at a pulpit and shared a formal message at a church before, so this was completely new and stretching experience. I shared again on love, loving God and loving others, and believe God used it to encourage them. Zambia was a time of resetting for me. I was recharged with time of prayer, studying God’s word, and just listening to Him. The atmosphere was so much more relaxed and I felt like I could slow down a bit, which was refreshing. I definitely felt like I could refocus on what was important and wrestle with some things.
During the time my team was in Zambia, another 6 male interns went on a rugby outreach. They spent roughly a week working a high level under-17 youth rugby tournament in the role of a chaplain. They helped out in any capacity that they could as well as looked for opportunities to have spiritual conversations. Another group of interns led a youth camp at the apartment complex that we were going to each week. Some amazing stories of salvations, healing, and hope came out of the time they had the camp there. And lastly another group helped run another camp with another local ministry in South Africa.
For the 8th week, our program focused on re-entry and adjusting back from mission trips, as well went back to the weekly outreaches from the first half of the trip. Another outreach that half of the interns got to do was work with a youth tennis team in one of the townships two days a week. They would run a practice, lead a bible study, and build relationships with these kids, many of whom do not have positive male figures.
And the last week we got to go to a local prison. Here we got to have a bible study with a prison soccer team. This team is a part of an outreach a man has been running for a while. What sets this team apart is they are believers. After the bible study we played two soccer games against them there in the prison. This was another one of those moments where you realize you will probably never get this opportunity again. It was truly a blessing to be able to fellowship with these men over God’s word, as well as the physical activity of soccer.
And for the rest of this last week we spent doing more touristy things. We got to go to Boulder’s Beach and see penguins, drive out to Cape Point, the farthest southwestern tip of Africa, climb Table Mountain which overlooks Cape Town and the ocean, and lastly climb Lions Head for sunset as well as the full moon that was out that night. These were some of the best views I have ever seen; I truly got to see God’s amazing handiwork. But what was even cooler than these moments was the fact that two of the young ladies on our team chose to get baptized during this last week, one in Cape Town and one at Cape Point. It is an awesome experience to see people you have spent 9 weeks of intense time of community with get baptized.
My two months over in South Africa were arguably one of the richest times of fellowship I have experienced with other young men and women believers. They challenged me, they encouraged me, they accepted me for who I was (weirdness and all), they walked with me, they prayed with me, and lived ministry with me. I was truly blessed and touched by the Lord. I saw the Lord chip away at the fear in my life, something I have and still battle. I saw what it means to find my identity in Him and not in what others think or say. I learned about the importance of prayer, not as something we do when everything falls apart, but something we do and partake in when things are good as well as tough. One of the lessons I learned which has stuck out over these weeks since I have been home is obedience. When I go to Scripture my response has to be a yes to whatever God says before I open the Book. Along with this obedience, an obedience to what the Holy Spirit says. I could go on for pages about what God revealed, but for right now I will leave it here. If you would like to hear more, I would love to share more, whether by another letter or in person.
In Christ,
Seth Henry
Philippians 4:7
Life in His Mosaic 