Growing and maintaining partnerships is a fluid process that ebbs and flows as relationships begin and change over time. Our network of churches, Christian sports organizations, missions agencies, and individual advocates has supported the work in every way from sending coaches and sports experts overseas, to giving financially, to inviting us to present at their missions events. And for this we are so grateful. But the push in the secular sports world for programs that use sport to impact communities and at-risk populations has opened the door to a new type of partnership. Grants.
It's a relatively slow week here in the office which means we can take a breath and focus on more longterm, ongoing projects. One of which, is compiling a list of resources for our workers. This has proven to be more complicated than we anticipated because our workers come from vastly different backgrounds (some have a cross cultural mission mindset with little sports management experience while others have strong athletic credentials and little culturally appropriate evangelism training) and are heading to very different locations.
Last weekend I had the chance to attend the Northwest Baptist Church (OKC) Global Impact Conference 2015. This year’s theme was “Give an Answer,” taken from 1 Peter 3:15 — "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
More than thirty missionaries and mission organizations were at the GIC, and it was a beautiful time on two fronts: 1) praising God for all He has done, and 2) asking God to do even more.
I have always had a passion for the least of these. I recently heard that “passion” (Latin verb patere) means to “suffer greatly for something.” My heart suffers greatly for the poor and vulnerable. Perhaps that is the case for you too. Whether or not He has given you a passion for the least of these, using a passion like sports as a catalyst to reach those who do not know Him, is God-given. He has instilled in you passions and talents to glorify Him and to reach the world. Your passion for sports flows over to your next door neighbor who you talk sports with weekly, to those you attend games with, and can overflow globally. My five and seven year old love sports. It provides an opportunity to talk about Truth in our community and to tie in what the Bible says about rules, fairness, and attitude.
Well, college football is over for the year. Ohio State beat Oregon last night to win the National Championship and I quietly slipped into my annual depression where I pretend to be interested in basketball. The NFL will console me for another couple of weeks but I'll have to wait until September to enjoy sports again. (I should note that Arena Football starts in 73 days but NO ONE cares.)
So as I begin this work week, bummed about life in the 'off-season,' I am reminded about how powerful sport is. It really does cross race, age, gender and language and brings people together, thus making it a perfect tool for evangelism and church planting in restricted access countries. That is exciting.
First week back in full swing after the holidays and our office is looking forward to 2015. Lots of changes. New Director of Development, new season of projects, new revenue streams. Annie got a dog. (Not crazy about him. Smells weird.) I'll have a kid this year (probably will also smell weird). Same mission though. Get people into countries - that without sports - wouldn't be possible otherwise. That's still the plan. And given the regions we focus on, with the constant threat of Islamic terror, political unrest and economic limitations, its still an important and urgent mission.
