By Called and Sent Staff   MAIN STORY   PHOTOS

Joshua Manthe, right, talks over a uniform order with Larry Obmasca, a Manila-area tailor.

MANILA—If Joshua Manthe wasn’t crunching numbers for the world’s largest missionary children’s school, he’d probably still be doing it for the world’s largest retailer.

And though 26-year-old missionary likes his current job at suburban Faith Academy here, he still carries a lot of Wal-Mart manager inside him. That’s why Manthe, a former college basketball player, relishes his roles as business administrator at Faith and head of Buhay Sports, a sports evangelism ministry he founded two years ago.

At Faith, he serves missionaries with his business acumen; with Buhay, he evangelizes basketball-crazy Filipinos while running a custom basketball uniform business that supports local pastors with its profits.

“When it comes to why I’m here and what God has really burdened my heart for, it’s people and outreach to them,” says Manthe, a John Brown University alum. “I love what I do at Faith, but I’m passionate about basketball ministry. The two mesh perfectly.”

Crouched over his computer at Faith, Manthe looks over an illustration of that mesh—a spreadsheet plastered with uniform drawings and a line-item breakout for the project. Most customers (mostly American high school and college teams) send Manthe only a few action photos of pro or college players wearing uniforms they like. The two Manila-area tailor shops that work with Manthe use the photos to either create a physical prototype or to work up a computerized drawing of the finished piece.

Getting uniforms made in the Philippines gives Manthe an advantage over other suppliers. While his competitors routinely charge close to $100 per uniform, Manthe can do them for $40 to $60 and still make money, especially if he can send the finished goods with a fellow missionary going back to the U.S. instead of paying for shipping. It’s all part of Buhay’s dual focus: witness with the basketball, support with the business.

“As a business person, I look for ways to do that,” Manthe says. “The uniforms are a way to help them (pastors) financially, and basketball is a way to recruit and evangelize and build their churches.”

© 2006 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.