Inspiring

This story is way delayed in being told. This summer we had an amazing interaction with an awesome young man. My wife Sarah had the opportunity to speak at a few of Youth Conference Ministry's camps. Through that we were able to share a lot about the work of Ubuntu Sports Outreach. At the high school camp, Fun in the Son, they played a game all week called "Minute to Win It." It consisted of crazy activities by the students, but they were playing for a prize of $100 at the end of the week. The final day came and the competition even went to a tie-breaker. It was so intense, kids were screaming, and the two churches represented really wanted to win. You kept thinking, "Oh, if they win, they'll buy their whole church ice cream or something fun." Finally after a long competition, Daniel Nasrallah from Reynolda Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, NC won the competition. They were so excited! They celebrated like they had just won the World Cup! It was really fun to see.
But less than 5 minutes later, Daniel was in front of me holding the milk jug full of cash. Cash that he had worked really hard to win. And then he gave it to me. He said that he wanted it to be used for the work we are doing in Cape Town. I was so humbled by this gesture. Yes, it was really amazing to get the financial help, but even more exciting was the support of his heart. This young man had played SO hard to win this game, and when he could have used his prize on himself or his friends, he chose to sew into God's work here.

We had lots of amazing interactions with people this summer, but this moment with Daniel was particularly inspiring!

Casey

Great Meeting

Mentioned this week that we had an important meeting. Well, that meeting went really well. We were meeting with the most organized local club, Fish Hoek AFC. I played there this season and enjoyed it, but up until recently hadn't really considered us partnering with them. We have started framing our vision with the problems that we are trying to solve and I kept using the phrase, "using unique sports ministry strategies". In an area like this the idea of working together with someone else is actually a really unique idea. People do their own thing all the time and avoid working together.
So, we spent time hearing from them about their history and current status. They have been around over 30 years and were one of the first clubs to integrate during apartheid. They were actually way ahead of the curve. Now almost all of their junior clubs are in Super League, which is the highest division in this area. We then shared about our vision, why we are here in the Valley, and what we see God doing in the future. They asked a few questions and then we shared about how we envision a partnership. More questions back & forth, and it felt like things ended really positive. So, now they go back to their board and decide what they want to do.
Michael and I are really positive about this potential partnership. It makes sense for us to partner with a long-standing, successful club. It honors the work and impact that they have had over the years, and we are convinced that we can take them to a new level. So, we're praying for discernment from God to know if this is the right partnership. Join us in praying!

Casey

Humming Along

Stuff with Ubuntu is really humming along. After great success with the community festival we have begun looking forward. It looks like we may start a 'high performance training program' as a bit of a beta program to lead in to the academy in 2012. It may mean we also have to start the beginnings of a club for those kids to have a place to play their games. It's really exciting to see the movement. Now we just need to have the right things come into place.
We had a great meeting with a guy yesterday that is just north of us that has a dream, not totally dissimilar to ours, and we might work together. He has done some work in schools and has been in the schools that I saw as our place of growth. Hopefully we'll work together on that to combine our strategy with his contacts and relationships. Then, he may know of some talented kids that we can put into our HPTP that would raise the level of our group. So, that was exciting.
We have a BIG meeting tomorrow night with the chairman of the most established local club in our area (the one I played with this season). We are open to working in partnership with them, but if they don't want to work together he has the power to possibly block our entrance into that league, which is the better of the two locally. So, we're hoping for a great movement there.
Pray that the right connections will be made and that people would lock into the vision God has given us. This is the time!

Casey

Festival Follow-up

This Sunday we had a Thank You Gathering for all the coaches, volunteers, and planning team. We hosted it at our house and had some goodies, but also wanted a chance to be in front of these people again. We shared the vision for Ubuntu Sports Outreach so that it would be clear why we exist and where we are going. We also showed them the video that you see on the blog. They LOVED that. So many of them wanted copies to show other people! Then we spent some time talking about the positives of the festival and things we can improve on.
We live in a very wounded community, so lots of our meeting time was spent with them fleshing out the problems of sports in Ocean View and the surrounding area. Most of it I had heard before, but it was good for the rest of our team to hear, and for them to feel 'heard' by us. They were basically saying that the festival really filled a gap for their kids and should continue. They really want the festival to happen more than once a year!! That was great affirmation that we ran a great event. We were so encouraged by our whole time together with them. I'm not sure yet that we are wanting to make that jump, but it's great to know that it's wanted.
As we continue to share the event's success with our host school and other community advocates we are hoping to generate more support, sponsorship, and partners for years ahead. Let's do it!!

Casey