We flew into Cape Town, South Africa not knowing exactly what to expect. We were planning on holding a seminar teaching local missionaries and other volunteer workers about MST Project ministry. Other than that, we kept our schedule fairly free for meeting new people and for the ability to be lead by the Spirit.
But we also went to the country at the beginning of the 2010 World Cup. Tourists were flocking to Cape Town from all far flung corners of the globe, and the infamous vuvuzelas blowing 24/7 were a testament to this. New restaurants and hotels were opening before our eyes and salesmen of fortune were hitting the streets.
While one may think that ministry would be easy in an area with such an influx of tourists the truth of the matter was slightly different. The police were on the prowl and whatever “sex industry” existed here before was now merely pushed underground. After a brief loop around the main tourist spots we quickly realized that MST Project ministry would take an incredibly different look.
We thought and we prayed. Come Wednesday and Thursday we hosted our seminar with a decent sized crowd. But the seminar certainly didn’t feel lead by the Spirit, at least not in the way that we have felt it be lead before. A ministry time was followed by perhaps an equal response. All of us on the MST Project team were learning the need to hand everything over to God, be it the ministry, our fears, or just plain old time.
So by the end of the week we felt as though we had failed. We hadn’t had “ministry” in any way that we thought that it would go. We hadn’t had held a seminar that we felt content with. And we hadn’t had good answer to the question of what MST Project ministry would look like either in South Africa or at a global sporting event in the future.
But God was working through the all of it. He was steadily teaching us about the vision of the MST Project to expand to global sporting events. Pursuing this will take a lot of preparation on our part as well as the knowledge of the unknown. He was revealing lessons to us personally and teaching us new ways to trust in Him during ministry in the future. Our time in South Africa was a learning experience for all of us, but the MST Project will grow and be strengthened because of it. And in no way was the trip a failure or waste of time. God was working though all of it and He brought us thousands of miles away to teach us, learn us, and grow us.
Written By: Tyler E.
