Mohammed was born in a remote village in eastern Malawi. For decades, his family has been full of individuals who have been born, lived their entire lives and then died as non-Christians. A normal person in his community adamantly resists the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are precious people made in the image of God, and that is the way that one of our trained sports ministry coaches in the area views them.
Just a few months ago, Kumbu was trained to be a sports ministry coach who specifically reaches out to populations of people who are hostile to the message of Christianity. He left the Sports Friends training full of the joy of the Lord and zeal for reaching the lost with the Gospel through the platform of sports. Coach Kumbu quickly had a crowd as his church helped him buy a ball to start his team with. His team was full of young non-Christian boys who were deeply excited and interested to become part of this new soccer team in their village. The ball was rolling and the Lord was moving in hearts.
One thing that we always try to encourage our new coaches to do is to get to know the families of the youth who are on their teams. Coach Kumbu took this to heart and got to know each and every family of his players. Even though he was a Christian among many non-believers, coach Kumbu earned the respect of his village. For the first time, he had a voice in his community. Little did he know that God was about to speak powerfully through him.
Once he had developed respectful relationships with his players, their families and the community, Coach Kumbu began to gently introduce people to Christ. He would teach his team Sports Friends character studies which are specifically geared towards communities resistant to the preaching of God’s Word. The Lord magnificently used these studies during soccer practices to awaken a hunger in the kids of Kumbu’s team for biblical truth. One of those hungry kids was Mohammed.
Mohammed really leaned in to hear what this man named Jesus is all about. As he listened closely, something profound happened inside of him. The Lord, by His great mercy and love, “took the blinders off” off Mohammed’s eyes and it was like someone switched the lights on for this boy for the first time as he saw the glory of God in the Gospel and, specifically, in the person of Jesus Christ. He got it! From that moment, Mohammed was not the same, and his actions quickly followed his heart. He began to desire new things that lined up with God’s Word and think new thoughts because of the Holy Spirit residing inside of him. He was a changed person.
It didn’t take long for Mohammed’s parents to begin noticing significant positive behavioral changes in their boy and they went straight to Coach Kumbu. They asked the coach… why?
Why is our boy different? Why is he not fighting often with others now? Why does he want to help more around the house? Why?
Coach didn’t have the answer to the “why” questions because he knew it wasn’t about behavioral change or some new discipline that their boy picked up from coach. Coach pointed them to a different question: Who? And by God’s incredible saving grace, when Mohammed’s parents asked the “who” question, Coach Kumbu pointed them straight to Jesus.
Today Mohammed’s whole family is redeemed by the blood of the risen Lamb. They have come to faith in Christ, have been baptized into the local church and are growing in discipleship. Glory be to Christ for his salvific work in the heart of lost people! They are His now.
*real names changed