Kwame Mensah shares his faith in a unique way
Meet Kwame (Kwaw-mee) Mensah. He is a senior on the varsity football team at Glenpool High School near Tulsa, Okla. He is also a Seventh-day Adventist. This creates some unique challenges for a young man who puts service to God above his desire to serve his team.
Kwame is thoughtful and quiet—well respected by friends and teachers in the halls of a school where football is king. He has been a member on the football team for the past four years, showing up to early morning practices, working out during summer training sessions, and practicing after school. But when the sun goes down on Friday night and the lights on the field burn bright, Kwame is at home with his family bringing in the Sabbath.
When asked why he goes through all the pain and suffering of hard workouts and hot summer training without the joy of participating in most games, Kwame is quick to point out that, although football brings great joy, serving God is even greater.
Kwame began playing football at the junior varsity level when he was in elementary school. Most of the games were on Thursday evenings and didn’t conflict with his commitment to keep the Sabbath. But when the time came for Kwame to join the varsity team, he had a tough decision to make—one that at first seemed like “either-or.” Either he would stay off the team and remain true to his convictions or join the team and compromise.
Steve Edwards, Kwame’s coach and also a committed Christian, encouraged Kwame to join. Edwards told Kwame that being on the team would give him a great opportunity to share his faith in God. Edwards also suggested that God is the source of Kwame’s talent for football, and that he would waste that talent by not being on the team.
After much prayer and discussion with his parents, Kwame decided to join the varsity team—with one condition: he would give 100%, participating in all the practices and working hard to prepare his team for their games, but he would not play any games on Sabbath.
Edwards accepted Kwame’s condition and supported him from the start as a member of the team. Although Kwame has had the chance to play in only two official games during his high school career, he has nonetheless been a major team contributor.
Edwards comments, “Most people would wonder why I’m so enthusiastic about a young man who never gets to suit up and play on Friday nights, but the answer is simple—morale. If he is willing to be there at 5 a.m. practices in the middle of summer and work as hard as he does, how can any of his teammates complain?” Coach Edwards says that Kwame has been a great influence on the team.
One of the penalties for missing a Saturday practice is to run laps on Monday. Kwame is technically excused from that penalty, but he runs the laps anyway, to be a good example to the others. Each Monday, Kwame joins any teammates who missed Saturday practice to run the penalty laps. Several of his friends often run with him—to show solidarity.
As Kwame’s senior football season drew to a close, his top-ranked team was scheduled to play two Thursday night games. Kwame suited up and joyfully took to the field with his cohorts. Those games—and Kwame’s faith—were reported on local television and on the front page of the sports section of the Tulsa World News.
Kwame is a member of the South Tulsa Adventist Fellowship, and often brings friends from his team to church with him. “He is a quiet evangelist, both on the field and off,” says Stephen Carlile, Kwame’s youth pastor. “And he’s a great asset to our youth group.”
Kwame plans to eventually take law after graduation, but he knows that wherever God leads, he will continue to stand true to his convictions.
source from: Southwestern Union Record
http://www.swurecord.org/record.php?storyID=441&&issueDate=200902
