The Mwanza’s

Over the past few years, we have found that people have financially supported us for various reasons.  Most do it because they personally know us and love us and want to support us in that way.  Some do it because a mutual friend came along and encouraged that person to get involved.  Still others have a passion for Africa itself and want to see God’s Kingdom come in a larger way there.  What I want to do with this blog is speak to all of those people (and whatever other category you might find yourself in!) and introduce you to George and Michele Mwanza.  Christina and I met George during our first year in Jeffreys Bay and became very close friends over the next few years.  Michele came into the picture soon after when she married George in the summer of 2007.  She is from Idaho and George grew up in a small village in Zambia.  They are amazing people and head up an amazing ministry in Jeffreys Bay.  

Below is a little intro to the couple and what God has called them to do in JBay, as written by Michele:

George and I are the
directors of a servant leadership program called The Leadership Experience
(LXP).  LXP is an independent
ministry that George originally founded under the auspices and spiritual covering
of South Africa’s Uniting Christian Student Association during the time that
their missions department, Mission Expeditions (MXP), was administering the
Beat the Drum program started by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson (author of The Prayer of Jabez).  The first LXP intake began in February
2006 with the primary goal of raising up leaders for Beat the Drum, but it has
since become a program with a focus much broader than Beat the Drum alone.  The students of 2009 are the fourth
group to take part in LXP.

 The founding principle
of The Leadership Experience is discipleship. Due to the way the Gospel was
introduced to Africa by early missionaries and evangelists, the African
continent has been highly evangelized but with little true discipleship. The
result is a missing link between the profession of faith and the living out of
faith in practical, daily life. The effect of this has manifested itself in
corrupt leadership and governance in Africa at both secular and spiritual
levels. LXP seeks to influence change in this crisis of Africa where faith and
lifestyle fail to connect. Africa’s biggest spiritual dilemma is a lack of
Godly leadership, and LXP was created to make a difference.

LXP conducts its
discipleship program through morning classroom lessons, study of the
Scriptures, prayer, outreach ministry exposure, mentorship, and the
facilitation of a variety of community-based projects.  In all of this, the three main emphases
of the program are character formation,
servanthood, and basic life skills development.

 

George and I have been married for a year and a half.  Prior to our wedding, I had been living
in Zambia (which incidentally, is George’s home country), carrying out youth
discipleship programs that focused on sexual purity and HIV prevention.  Because of George’s leadership in Beat
the Drum-which also focuses on sexual purity-we realized during Beat the Drum
in Zambia that both of our hearts are passionate for the process of true
discipleship in people’s lives.  It
has been such a joy for me to join him in LXP.  Having lived in Zambia for almost 5 years, I observed over
and over that the youth of Africa pray and worship with such fervency and
passion…but there are often so many inconsistencies in the outworking of their
faith in the character issues of life. 
In LXP we see the lives of our students rocked in so many ways as their
eyes begin to open to the deeper issues of integrity, transparency, honor in
relationships, success of the Kingdom vs. success of the world, etc.  As we talk about stewardship, the students
are challenged to take action in trusting the Lord for wisdom in how to invest
into their communities even when they may not have enough personal resource to
buy toothpaste or soap for that week. 
It is truly a faith-based venture, for the vast majority of the
participants struggle to raise anything toward their tuition fees.  But God somehow continues to provide
what is needed, and so many people of other ministries have come to believe in
the program and to support us relationally and materially where they can.

              

In addition to running LXP (which is now in 2½
bases and has a total volunteer staff of 10 people), we are helping to pastor
the township church called Ithemba, where many AIM volunteers have helped out
during the week with the kids programs. 
Also through LXP, we started a youth program called the D.o.G.s
(Disciples of God), and God’s has been blowing us away by His work in the
hearts of these teenagers who are just now coming to know Him and to take
ownership of their faith.  The
Presence of the Holy Spirit at our kick-off for D.o.G.s 2009 was so precious
and humbling as one by one the kids began to lift up prayers on behalf of their
families, their education, their friends, the leaders of the program, and their
relationships with Him.  George and
I often feel we have bitten off more than we can chew, but as I sit here today
with a bit more sleep that usual from last night J, I am so, so thankful to be at a place where we
are seeing people really come to know Jesus and to be undergoing the process of
discipleship to ground themselves in Him.

 

Christina and I have so much respect for George and Michele and believe wholeheartedly in what God has called them do.  As we’re rolling off support at the end of the month, some of you who have been supporting us might be looking for where else the Lord would be calling you to give financial support to.  Without any hesitation, we’d like to recommend George and Michele to you.  You can send your tax-deductible donation to:

Boise First Community Center

3852 N. Eagle Road

Boise, Idaho  83713

On the memo line, you’ll need to write something like “George and Michele Mwanza support” so that it will go where it needs to go.  Thank you so much for you commitment to us, and I know that the Mwanza’s will be humbled and grateful for it as well.