Throughout my professional career, I,ve gotten to meet many people both inside and outside my industry. Manny Ohonme is one of them and his story had many impacts on my own life. Manny has a marvelous and inspiring story. He didn’t own a pair of tennis shoes until age nine, which was given to him in his Nigerian homeland by a missionary named Dave.
Manny later earned a scholarship to play basketball in the U.S. and had a successful career in transportation logistics. But Manny had a broader vision of greater desires placed upon his heart by God.
It led Manny to forfeit a successful career in transportation logistics for pursuing a goal of placing ten million pairs of shoes onto the feet of ten million people over ten years time. This decision was not made lightly, nor was it easy. His career was already in response to a God call, but Manny kept putting God’s greater desires off. Over time, God progressively broke Manny until it was obvious he could do so no longer. He relented and jumped head-first into a spirit-filled pursuit of that vision.
God provided mightily for Manny Ohonme and Greater Desires.
Everything that happened in his life, God used to prepare Manny for the moment in which he finally said “Yes” to God’s call. As he says in his book, Sole Purpose,
“I’m amazed at how God ordered my life’s series or events… I didn’t know it at the time that this was all part of my boot camp to prepare me for what I am doing today” (64).
Manny Ohonme Said “Yes to Samaritan’s Feet” and had world-changing impact. Photo Credit: Brave Heart via Compfight cc
God gave Manny the privilege of being a vessel for amazing kingdom building work. My introduction to Manny and Manny’s story had me reflecting upon my own life and for a vision God had been telling me to pursue. After variations, prayers, and reflections, I had come to call that vision “1Glories” because God and I were going to use stories to “inspire and save the world.” These stories would be glorifying to Him and Him only.
As I contemplated everything I wasn’t doing and all the reasons I kept telling God no, Manny asked a pretty important question.
“What would happen if you said ‘yes’?”
It sent me reeling, but the long story short, I’m writing in response to that very question at this very moment. Yet, this is not a post about 1Glories or me (more on that in the days that lie ahead). This is a post about impact.
Manny’s vision, called Samaritan’s Feet, has since evolved to include many facets that not only puts shoes on the feet of people worldwide, it also educates the public on the health implications of not having proper footwear, short-term mission trips, service projects and more. Tens of thousands are having their feet washed while being introduced to the Gospel in a loving and kind way.
The impacts are enormous.
Countless lives have been improved and God’s kingdom continues to grow. All because Manny said “yes.”
Click here to read other 1Glories stories from the Greater Desires series.