‘Ball of Many Colors’ proves an effective evangelism tool
NAIROBI, Kenya – Evangelism doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as a conversation in the street, or even kicking around a soccer ball in the African plains.
That was what Keith Vawter, director of missions for Wright-Douglas-Ozark Baptist Association, found out on a recent mission trip to Kenya. Joining with Alan David, pastor of First Baptist, Bonne Terre, and Jeff Everard, pastor of First Baptist, New Offenburg, as well as other local pastors, he spent time outside Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya telling people the good news of Christ.
The Missouri men (missing their luggage, which was delayed in transit) led a week-long revival meeting, taught evangelism and then went door-to-door sharing the gospel in the streets. They also led two pastors conferences for nearly 400 pastors. In all, they saw 2,338 people profess faith in Christ and gifted each of the pastors new Bibles.
NAIROBI, Kenya – Keith Vawter (right), director of missions for the Wright-Douglas-Ozark Baptist Association, uses a multi-colored soccer ball to share the gospel to children here. “It’s one of the most successful tools I’ve ever used to share the gospel,” he said. Read more on page 11. (Photo courtesy of Keith Vawter)
When it came time for Sunday School, Vawter and the team took the children gathered into the streets and began to gather a crowd.
“We just shared the gospel with them,” he said.
At that stop, nearly 50 children prayed to receive Christ. A few blocks down the road, they met with the same results.
“By the time we got back to the church, we had 99 names of children who had prayed to receive Jesus,” Vawter said.
Vawter said the whole trip made an impression on him, but it was perhaps the reception of an unusual, if simple, evangelistic tool – a soccer ball – that sticks out in his memories.
“It’s one of the most successful tools I’ve ever used to share the gospel,” he said.
The “Ball of Many Colors” is similar to a beaded evangelism bracelet, with each section of the surface a different color that helps tell the gospel story: black prompts a discussion of sin, red points to Jesus and His sacrificial death, blue denotes baptism, green Christian growth, and yellow, the streets of Heaven.
Soccer (or football, to use the term the rest of the world prefers), is far and away the most popular sport in Kenya, so it was an instant hit when the Missouri team spoke at half a dozen schools there, private and public. The immediate conversation starter led to an immediate gospel opening, contributing to the 2,338 confessions of faith.
When they presented the balls and gospel presentation to 90 student-leaders at one all-boys school, Vawter said the response of the school’s leadership surprised him.
“They not only all prayed to receive Christ, the headmaster instructed them that the next day they were to going to take the balls and explain it to each of the groups they were in charge of. It wasn’t just them becoming believers, they became missionaries the next day.”
Vawter said the harvest he saw there was a vivid reminder of the power of Jesus, even as many American churches can grow complacent in the gospel.
“I’ve never seen a response like we had going into these schools,” he said. “Jesus is still on the throne in Kenya.”
