Well, it’s Manistry Month. Hallelujah! In case you don’t know what that means, Manistry Month is a month of the World Race where all of the men are put on a team together and the women are split up in to teams. As men on the Race we are constantly surrounded by our sisters for ten of the eleven months. Our squad has nine dudes and thirty five chicks because, let’s face it, missions is an area of ministry almost completely dominated by women. For some reason men either don’t feel they are called to the mission field or they ignore the call because it gets in the way of their goals and dreams. Either way, it leaves the men who do answer the call to go on the Race greatly outnumbered. We love our sisters. It is a great honor to be called to serve and protect them this year. God has used them to speak into our lives, care for us, and show us incredible amounts of love. We have learned things from living in close community with them that will greatly impact the rest of our lives, but sometimes there are things we can only learn from other men. There are things about us that they will never be able to understand and there are things about them that we can’t possibly understand too. This month gives us all the opportunity to split up and be poured into by other people who really know where we are coming from. It gives us an opportunity as men to sharpen each other so that we can better serve them for the rest of the Race.
For our Manistry Month, we are living in an area of Cape Town, South Africa called Ocean View. Ocean View is an impoverished neighborhood overrun by gangs, alcoholism, and drug addiction. People here have very little. Children are mostly fatherless. Women raise their kids the best they can while the fathers run in the gangs and drink their days away. It is a very familiar story. It feels like being back in America in some of the neighborhoods I used to run around in. I walk these streets and it is like looking back in time to the days when it was me sitting on the stoops getting high and selling drugs. It reminds me of the incredible redemptive work God has done in my life and the blessing it is to be called to use my past to speak into the lives of others in similar situations.
I can feel God at work in this place. There are a few faithful servants, like our host Bradley Barnes, living out the gospel day in and day out here. Bradley is a former professional soccer player with a shady past who uses his past to minister to the children here. He runs a sports ministry called Kingdom Sports Ministry that gives the kids another choice besides the gangs. He shows them how to live out a Christ centered life using their lives and their testimonies as the evangelism tool instead of beating people over the head with the bible. Like people in America, the people here are already familiar with the bible and have been given all of the tracks. They have had people come in and quote scripture at them their whole lives and they can quote it right back. What they need is a way to find an authentic relationship with their Creator. They need real life examples that they can relate to. The people here are just looking for people to be real with them, so that is exactly what Bradley does and it is what he teaches his kids to do.
For us this month, ministry looks different than it has other months. There really isn’t much of a schedule. We are forming relationships with the kids and putting on a sports camp this weekend. We are being examples of what men can be when they live a Godly life. We are also walking the streets and forming relationships with the people most would consider lost cases. Drug addicts, alcoholics, and gang bangers. We have basically just been commissioned to follow where the Spirit leads us and release the kingdom among the lost and broken. This is exactly the kinda ministry I was created to do. I’m loving every second of it.
We will also have opportunities to do some other stuff while we are here. Our host Bradley has presented us with a whole list of cool stuff to do in Cape Town. There are shark diving trips, sky diving trips, mountain hikes, a tour of the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, penguins, surfing lessons, and a lot of other cool male bonding stuff to choose from. I’m not sure what we will decide to do yet, but it should be a great month with the guys. I will be needing some money to do whichever activities we choose. My personal budget won’t cover many of the things listed. If anyone would like to contribute to this, you can contact my dad, Harris Willman by email at [email protected]. He has access to my personal bank account and can set something up. Obviously, you folks didn’t send me around the world to jump out of airplanes, but if you feel led to help out, it would be really fun.
Men’s ministry has been something God started putting on my heart back at training camp. Before then I really tried avoiding anything involving only men. I never joined a frat, I didn’t play sports, and I never joined the military. Honestly, most of my life I felt like when men got together, they turned into a bunch of douche bags. During our men’s hike at training camp God put it on my heart to put aside my old viewpoint and see how men can build each other up and become a strong force for the kingdom if they have the right mindset. Now I see that if I don’t like the way a lot of men act, it is on me to be an example and speak into the lives of men. I realize that God isn’t just going to change things if no one is willing to step up and implement that change. This month is a great opportunity to have eight Godly men speak into my life and sharpen me so that I can hopefully become a greater weapon for the kingdom. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Love Y’all!!!
