Prior to moving to Haiti, our family was involved in a
full-time children’s music ministry called Mister Bill Music.
The Mister Bill Music Ministry was birthed out of my (Bill
Manassero’s) early involvement, as a new Christian, in Children’s
ministry.
Because I came to Christ late
in life, at the age of 33, I felt I had a lot of “catching up” to do to make up
for all the “lost years” so, as a new Christian, I always volunteered at my
church for anything and everything they needed when they called for
volunteers.
One of those “calls” was in
the area of children’s ministry, or, more specifically, in the nursery, or, as
my friend Pastor John McHoul calls it, the “poop ministry.”
As a single guy, I knew nothing about about babies and even
less about changing dirty diapers. But I
didn’t complain because I died to my old self and I was a new creation ready to
suffer for the cause of Christ. The
veteran moms that served along with me used to get a kick out of watching me
struggle with the complexities of baby maintenance. But, over time, I eventually triumphed, learned
the system and became a lean mean diaper changing machine.
By the grace of God, I eventually got promoted up to the
toddlers/Pre-K crowd. Now they were fun.
I loved playing with the little
kids. I also was blessed to be matched
up with a super Sunday school vet, a lady with 20 plus years of experience, who
even knew how to make her own play dough.
She was the perfect Sunday school teacher and I learned a lot from her.
When it came to “song time,” she put me in charge of leading
the kids in singing little kid church songs little, “Jesus Loves Me,” This
Little Light of Mine,” and “Father Abraham.”
The only thing was, I didn’t know any of these songs. Having been raised a Catholic as a child, I
never heard of these songs, so I had to listen to these cassette tapes (remember those!), learn the songs
and then teach the songs to the kids.
Now, I didn’t tell the teacher that I was a musician because
that was part of my “dark rock n’ roll past” prior to becoming a
Christian. To me, music was of the devil
(well, at least the music I used to listen to and play in my various bands). But over time, and as I read God’s Word, I found
out that the Lord actually loves music and that, used properly, can be a powerful means to glorify God and
to reach young hearts with the Gospel.
So, one day, I pulled one of my old guitars out of cobwebs and brought
it to Sunday School class. Now, instead of singing
along with tapes, I was able to lead kids worship by singing along with the guitar.
Years later, I got promoted again, but this time, I was the
main Sunday school teacher for older kids and
pre-teens. To help reach the kids and help them remember
specific lessons and verses, I would write little themed songs with a rock beat. Certain songs became favorites for the kids
and we would sing them all the time in class.
Some of the kids’ moms would ask if they could come to the class and
record the songs so they could sing the songs in the car and at home with their
families. One thing led to another and
we ended up going in the studio and recording an album of some of the more
popular songs.
So, to cut an already way too long story down to size, a
local Southern California radio station picked up the CD, started playing the songs and before
long, our songs were being played on over 300 radio stations in the US and
internationally.
By now, I was married, had five children and a very busy
life. I had a responsible job and
traveled extensively. The only drag was
that my business took me away from my family a lot and I didn’t like that at
all.
As our music spread, many requests came in to do family
concerts, play for VBS events, children’s camps and music festivals. Unfortunately, it was difficult to do both
music and my “real” job. I loved the music
ministry because I was able to serve alongside my family. My wife Susette, and eventually, my kids,
created hand motions for the songs and we even had a band with my
brother-in-law Tim on drums, son Jordan on lead guitar and oldest daughter
Jasmine’s boyfriend Danny on bass. We were a regular Partridge family! Haha.
We would do music events on a weekend here, use vacation time there and before we
knew
it,
were doing up to 30 music events a year – all while I still had a full-time job
in business.
The pressure
was on and I felt the Lord wanting me to choose between my business career or
full-time music ministry.
I prayed a
lot.
I loved the music ministry because
I was with my family and we were reaching children and families with the
Gospel.
But, the problem was,
I never thought we would be able to survive
doing music full-time.
It was a labor of
love.
It was never about money.
I prayed more and the Lord made it clear He
wanted me in full-time ministry.
But I just
couldn’t see how it would work even though He said, “Just trust in me.”
After much much more prayer and much kicking and screaming I quit my
“real job” and went into the music ministry full-time.
A giant leap of faith for me and my family! .
We sold our home, rented a tiny house, bought a 34 foot RV
and spent years traveling and ministering together. And the Lord always provided for our needs. They
were precious years.
During those years, my daughter Ariana and I traveled a lot
to places together where I couldn’t afford to take the whole family – Russia,
Africa, children’s ministry conferences and special week-long events. At a lot of the events we attended,
Compassion International would often have a booth or display and Ari used to
love to go and hang out at their booth with her best friend at the time
Alyssa. They would spend hours just looking
at the faces of the children in need of sponsorship on the sponsor packets. She got to know the people at the Compassion
booth so well that they often asked her and Alyssa to watch their booth
while
they went on breaks, even though she was only 8 or 9 years old at the time.
She would always show me the pictures of the children she
wanted to sponsor and asked if I would pay the monthly sponsorship. I thought about it but wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to just pay for her to sponsor
the child because then it would be “my thing” and not hers. I wanted her to "own it" and appreciate the importance of what she would be doing. Later, when Compassion International came to our home
church, I told her she could sponsor a child but she would have to pay for the
monthly sponsorship out of her own allowance and savings. That way she would appreciate the true value
of the commitment. She agreed. It was not easy and she struggled with only
being able to choose one child. Eventually,
she was able to narrow it down to one little child. She ended up choosing a boy named Donald.
He was from a place called Haiti.
She loved having a sponsor child and would write to him and
patiently wait for his return letters.
She would send him pictures of herself and draw him little pictures
too. Her love for Donald grew and so did
her love for the island nation of Haiti.
When she could get on the Internet, she would just research
everything she could about Haiti. She
was impacted by the vast number of orphans and children living on the streets
and in orphanages. She would find
orphanage web sites and print out pictures of all the babies at the orphanages
and would put their photos in her “Haiti Notebook.” (We went through a ton of HP ink jet cartridges
during this period). When we traveled,
she would take her Haiti Notebook with her everywhere and stare for hours at the
babies’ photos, memorizing their names and facts about their lives.
One day, when I noticed a jar full of coins on her dresser, I asked her what she was saving for, she
responded with, “Dad, I’m saving to
build an orphanage, hospital, school and church to help the children in Haiti.” And the rest is all history…
It started with a child sponsorship. A child sponsoring a child. And then, a child leading a family to
Haiti. And then a family being led by
God to raise-up fatherless and at-risk children whom, Lord willing, will one
day transform a nation.
Today, other little boys and girls are choosing from
amongst a bunch of photos of “Ariana’s Haiti kids” at Child Hope’s web site to
sponsor a child. To change a life… and
not just the life of a child from the third world country.
This Christmas, some moms and dads are going to select a unique
gift for their kids, one that will not end up broken or worn out in a month or
two, or end up in a box at a garage sale.
They will give a gift that can change a child's life -- eternally.
Jesus said, “Let
the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
Child Hope has lots of children still in need of
sponsors. Children in need of an
advocate. Someone to pray for them, to
invest in their future and give them a chance to succeed. People who are willing to make a small
sacrifice so that big things will happen in the life of a child who was once
without hope. A Child Hope child sponsorship.
If you are interested in sponsoring a child or giving a
sponsorship as a gift this Christmas
click here.
God bless you.