Have you heard of these cities?
Momba, Ipinda, Dodoma, Ndhiwa, Migeri, Nairobi, Mwaza Town, Blantyre, Nhamatanda, Nsanje, Nimba, Caldwell, and Buchanon. These are most of the towns and cities in Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, and Liberia in which national teams conducted Men of Valor conferences in 2019. (That is in addition to the four conferences led by US teams in Sierra Leone, South Africa, Liberia and Eswatini.) Last December, we asked for prayer for 13 jumpstart conferences in 2019. Thanks to you, God arranged 19!
The conferences averaged about 80 men each. Thanks to you, we gave out about 1,600 Bibles this year. At the end of every conference, using our conference notebooks and two special MOV Bible studies, we launched men’s discipleship groups. That’s why we call them “jumpstart” conferences.
We estimate that around 2,000 men are now in 450 or so new men’s discipleship groups. Thanks to you. Before this year, most of them had no men’s teaching, Bible studies, or discipleship.
But that’s not all. Forty-four men came to Christ, and ten were baptized, thanks to you. Pastors, husbands, young men, fathers, grandfathers ‒ and wives ‒ testified about the changes God wrought in their hearts, families, and in their more than 250 churches.
2019 has been the most active year in MOV’s 15-year history! Thanks to you.
Previous Conferences Still Bearing Fruit
In 2016, Charles Mwaze led his first conference in Dedza, Malawi.He recently returned andmet with many pastors who had attended. Here is what a few told him:
Pastor Maxwell B. said: “…today [our] church has more men than women after I applied what I learned from Men of Valor ministry. My family has changed because I have understood how I can provide for my family. My children were told not to ask me of anything but they should go to their mother first then to me. But this now I have changed. My children are [now] coming to me direct…”
Clement P. confessed, “I was so rude and harsh to my family, but now have a blessed family. We had few men members in my church but now many are coming to our church. We started a football team to draw more men.”
L Bentala said, “[I used to] fight with my wife most of the times but now I am a changed man.” His wife confirmed this, saying, “I have seen the change in my husband’s life after attending the conference…”
In 2012, we conducted a small conference in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Attendee Shepherd M. from Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, later reported:
“I just want to let you know that I have started reaching out to men in my local church. I am targeting the “part timers” for a start. I am glad to tell you one young man in his mid 20s who hasn’t been coming to church for some time is now coming. In fact he hasn’t missed a service since I spoke to him when I came back from Pietermaritzburg. I also reached another family man just like the one above. He has never missed a service also. He is bringing his whole family with him – they had stopped coming when he stopped. True to your teaching.”
Then Shepherd started a “road running” ministry to men in the community. Later, he started a men’s ministry in his church and district. A year later, he wrote an update:
“We nurtured three men to positions of “deacons in waiting”. They are doing well, are zealous, and are now leading services ‒ a thing they could not do before. I have realised that once we start giving them tasks they feel recognised and appreciated (as you taught us in South Africa – I still remember that clearly). We put that in practice and it works.”
Last month, Shepherd wrote again, asking for a Men of Valor conference in his country!
That conference in Pietermaritzburg in 2012 also yielded in an invitation to travel to Kenya ‒ our first time in that country…and now MOV has a national team working there!
Another attendee from that early conference heard we were going to be in Eswatini this year and wrote to a colleague there that he should get in touch with us. We had a great visit with him and his wife, and that may lead to other ministry opportunities later.
Even if MOV reaches just a few men who make a commitment to personal discipleship and live out the man of valor they are, we have succeeded. Men change marriages and families! Men change communities.
Why Men?
Going after men is the biblical model. Men matter because women and children will follow godly men (but men habitually do not follow women). It is often men who grow and sustain the church. That’s why we say that if you change the man, you’ll change his family, his workplace, his church, and his community.
In fact, Men of Valor is about much more than conferences; it is about a war. We are raising men, training men, discipling men, and launching men to fight for their families and communities.
Just last month, Charles conducted follow-up men’s discipleship training in Blantyre, Malawi, where 20 men’s groups launched at the conference in February. Green led his third conference to 150 church leaders and men in Momba, Tanzania. Michael traveled to Jinja, Uganda, and Mombasa, Kenya, to lay the ground-work for future ministry. Men of Valor has been growing each year, but in 2019, national teams in four countries led more than 78% (15 of 19) conferences!
In addition, a pastor in northern Virginia asked us to consider going to Cuba – a country that they have been heavily engaged in for several years. We’ve also received new requests from Nicaragua, Russia, Congo, Zimbabwe, Trinidad, Canada, Germany, Romania, Montenegro, Ukraine, and the US… to do even more. There is a war on, with our mission to make known the godly standard for men around the world.
We Need You – Now More Than Ever!
Men like Charles, Michael, and Green rely on Men of Valor-US to sustain their efforts. They do not receive a salary or personal stipend for their conference or ministry activities. We just help with actual conference costs. But, they are SOLD OUT for men.
God uses people as His hands and feet to do His work, and He needs us all in the battle. MOV needs your prayers and financial support.
