Matt Williams obediently follows Jesus. The last 18 years of his life read like an adventure novel.

The amazing things he has done, he says, were guided by God.

There was a time in his youth in England that he was anything but obedient. He was in a destructive relationship with a heroine addict and floundered in his quest to find his purpose.

That was before he read the book “The Cross and the Switchblade.”

It was a turning point in his life.

He prayed for God to reveal himself.

In a dream he was told to find a church and get involved. He found one nearby, joined and soon was running their soup kitchen. That led to a position in Africa working with street kids for 4 years.

“Ocean Masters,” a discipleship program, took him to the coast of Madagascar. By then he had immigrated to South Africa.

Finding Christ

Shortly after his mother passed away, a friend from his university days, Isy, came to visit. He took her to his church’s picnic on the beach and baptism.

She was so moved that when she returned to England, she went to a Christian book store for help, found a church and was saved.

After that, she returned to South Africa, joined Matt in his ministry and they were married.

They served there together before returning to England for 6 years.

There he worked with the top 2% of the most violent young offenders.

Matt and Isy were planning a world trip when, in a vision, he was told not to leave his work. They cancelled the trip and decided to go to a bible college.

The father of an old UK skateboarding friend was pastor at Victory Christian Church in South Africa. They sold everything and enrolled in Victory Christian Church Bible College.

While in bible college, Williams and his wife taught people who wanted to go into ministry.

In another vision, the Lord told him to change countries. God works in mysterious ways.

New goals

His uncle Denis asked him to come to help run his business, Riverside Golf Center in Columbia.

Williams is now the center’s social and community service manager.

Uncle Denis wants to use the center to promote community life.

One goal is to partner with First Tee, a program that teaches underprivileged kids to play golf. They want to work through schools, church groups, scouts and other youth groups and YMCAs to provide a place for a family recreation center and summer camp.

Another goal is to use the facility to promote marriage and family life.

Those are big goals but I believe God has the right man for the job.