An Interview: AIM and the NFL Team Up for Swaziland

NFL Agent Phil Williams took several NFL players, including Anthony Hargrove (New Orleans Saints), Cornell Green (Buffalo Bills) and George Foster (Cleveland Browns), to Swaziland with AIM.  Phil answers some of our questions about the vision trip they took.

It was my idea [to go to Swaziland] but I also knew NFL players, some of African descent, who were interested in going to Africa.  I looked at places that would make the most sense; I waited until my wife went there and she said it was a good place to go.  Once these NFL players got out of their comfort zone and experienced something real, it was clear to me that not just NFL players but most Americans need to be exposed to the pain of the world.  Swaziland was the right fit.

Can you tell [us] a little about each player’s story?  What were their reasons for wanting to go to Africa?

Anthony Hargrove, Cornell Green and George Foster are believers.  It was a combination of sharing my experiences and them realizing [that] the height of the NFL is not all that its built up to be.  They were all willing and ready to see something out there.  They felt the Holy Spirit telling them get out of their comfort zone.

What did you do on a daily basis during your stay in Swaziland?

Nothing glamorous.  We woke up early, went out and did various things like hanging out with kids who had nothing.  We did some work (building the fence in Nsoko), went to see injured kids and/or families that had death in their families.  Some of the homes we visited had twenty kids living in it; their parents had died and the only had each other.  Then we came home dirty, with hearts changing and processing what we were just exposed to.

I sensed that as a group after having been with the kids in different places – I don’t care who you are – you cannot go without falling in love with the kids.  Even though it felt like a menial task, putting up the fence in Nsoko seemed to really excite the NFL guys.  They could have easily written a check to get the job done, but doing it themselves and seeing the effect on the community changed their hearts.

God touches people in different ways, some immediately, for others it’s a process.  With the exposure from this trip, they began asking themselves, “Why am I doing what I’m doing?”  They are now more aware of aiding locally as well as globally.  They now realize that finances aren’t everything; they need to help others with what they have.

Are you planning any future trips to Swaziland with other NFL players?

The intent is to have an annual February trip because of the NFL schedule.  It’s possible to incorporate [athletes from] other sports in the future.  But, Lord willing, February will be a time the players can go again.  It was good to see the guys come back and share with their teammates how the trip affected them.

How can we pray for the men who went on the trip?

I believe that God is moving and speaking to people in many different fields today.  I am big believer that the guy cleaning out the gutter can have just as great an effect as the President of the United States.  These guys are in a unique position in the world of the NFL [and the] entertainment industry.  If they go to and return from places like [Swaziland], pray that God would not allow them to be blended back into the world.

Pray that these guys would be so impacted that they would have a Kingdom mindset.  Satan wants to get back in and trap them into our culture.  Pray that what God has done in their hearts while [they were] in Swaziland would continue to be fanned it into flame.  There is something far greater going on than what they are doing in the NFL.