Toloane Toloane, it seems, has always been set apart and appointed for ministry. It could be his quiet confidence and assurance, hallmarks of a great leader. It could be the way pastors, teachers and mentors pointed out his potential. It could be his heart to help.
Learning his story and identifying the way God was woven throughout it over several decades, it could be all of it.
Toloane grew up with his mom in Botswana, a country in southern Africa full of hills, sand and the Okavango Delta and its plethora of wildlife. While his mom called herself a Christian, Toloane said he doesn’t remember his mom telling him a single thing about Jesus. He’d attend church with her off and on but never took it to heart.
During his senior year of high school, missionaries from the U.S. came to the school. Toloane talked to one of them as he thumbed through a Bible tract.
“That was the first time I had ever heard the Gospel presented to me and told what the Lord wanted to do in my life,” said Toloane.
A seed was planted, but the soil was stiff.
“I basically heard it and then forgot about it,” he added. He was ready to move on with his life after graduation, but he didn’t know what came next. As his longtime friend, who also happened to be a longtime Christian, kept encouraging him to consider Christ, Toloane began hanging out at a local Christian school’s basketball court. At first it was open to the public, but then the school changed its rules and required anyone wanting to play basketball to attend the church tied to the school.
Toloane began attending church to continue playing. Shortly after, his friend left for medical school in Norway. But a new voice with the same message soon followed.
Tom Maltby worked at the school and was an associate pastor at the church. He noticed Toloane’s interest in basketball and leader-like personality. He took Toloane under his wing, invited him to his home, cared for him, and showed him consistent love.
“We’d play basketball, and then we would sit around and talk about the Lord,” said Toloane. “He was doing sports ministry with me before I knew what sports ministry was; the Lord really captured my heart using him.” Around this time Toloane surrendered his life to Him.
Maltby eventually offered Toloane a job at the school as a teaching assistant, and after Toloane accepted, one of the first things Maltby did was train Toloane to be a basketball coach.
Toloane worked and coached for two years while attending church regularly, leaning into faith and even stepping in to help teach Sunday school. During those years, Toloane grew tremendously.
In 2007, he felt a nudge to lean even more into his faith. There was an opportunity through the church to attend a Bible school in Guatemala.
“I was up for it,” Toloane said. He packed his things and traveled to Latin America. As the only African person at the school, who didn’t speak Spanish, he quickly realized there would be a few challenges other than studying the Old Testament. But while language and culture could create barriers, he realized that sports translated across countries. He was immediately placed as a coach, and every Friday and Saturday evening he taught students how to play basketball and volleyball.
Two years later, toward the end of Bible school, Toloane witnessed sports ministry in action as men at the school went out into the community and brought children living on the streets to school to play soccer. After the games, they’d hand out snacks and talk about Jesus.
Between watching these men with the children and remembering the times Mr. Maltby played basketball with him and invited him into his home as part of his family, Toloane knew what to do.
“I said, ‘I am going start doing what I saw.’”
Toloane returned home to Botswana and coached basketball and volleyball from 2009-2019, inviting athletes to the church for sports and investing time and energy into getting to know and care for them. In 2020 when COVID-19 began shutting down sports, Toloane and some of his volunteer coaches—many of them young men he coached and watched grow up—went into the community and started playing games with kids on the street and sharing about the Lord.
Later that year, they felt God nudge them to expand their ministry into the capitol city of Gaborone. They prayed for a building and found an abandoned and neglected government building with a tennis and basketball court. They got approval to move in and began hosting basketball, volleyball and soccer camps and clinics.
One day at a market, Toloane was drawn to a black shirt with a verse in red letters. When he got closer, more writing on the shirt showed three letters: F-C-A.
“I was like, ‘I need that shirt’ and I bought it. I loved the shirt and what it stood for,” he said. Toloane Googled “FCA” to try and find out more. He was officially introduced to the ministry in 2022 when he met Lee-Ann Smith, a former missionary in Botswana who connected him with her old schoolmate, Northlands Regional Director of International Advancement Shelley Pearson. Soon after, FCA Ghana Director Vincent Asamoah visited Botswana to see firsthand what Toloane was doing. Last February, FCA South Global Division Vice President Silas Mullis visited him for further partnership discussion, and in May, a group of FCA staff traveled to the country to help run a sports camp and share the vision for FCA with the coaches.
This past September, Toloane attended Training Camp in Kansas City, and after arriving back home, he resolved to train more coaches and move ministry into even more areas. His heart is homebound for his country, captivated by what could be when sports ministry moves into all areas of Botswana.
Please pray for renewed hope and faith for Toloane’s coaches, and for funds to update the sports center.
To help support Toloane and his coaches, give here.
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