Praise be to the Lord!!! What a joy it is to gather with people from
all over the world to encourage, worship along side, strategize, and
plan church-centered sports ministry across the globe. This week we
are blessed to have Sports Friends’ leadership, both US missionaries &
local leaders, serving in Malawi, Zambia, jndja, Senegal, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Peru, Ghana, and Nigeria here at Camp Langano for leadership
training. The amount of Biblical knowledge and spiritual wisdom
permeates the meeting room is amazing. A passion to see the church
bring the Gospel to unsaved youth through sport seems to ooze out of
everyone’s pores. It has been such a joy to hear how the Lord is
working in the lives of coaches and youth in other countries. The
testimony of faithful believers as they labor for the sake of the
Gospel has been blowing my mind this whole week. At first many church
leaders scoffed at the idea of the local church using sports as an
outreach tool. Now, 10 years later, Sports Friends (SF) Ethiopia has
over 62,000 youth actively participating in sport teams that are
coached by members of local churches. Men and women of all different
tribes, speaking different languages, all across the world are now
using sport to build relationships for the purpose of sharing the good
news of the Gospel with their community. I can’t help but smile at the
fact that God chooses to use sport coaches as a means of grace to tell
others about himself. It is so stinking cool!!! To God be the glory!
all over the world to encourage, worship along side, strategize, and
plan church-centered sports ministry across the globe. This week we
are blessed to have Sports Friends’ leadership, both US missionaries &
local leaders, serving in Malawi, Zambia, jndja, Senegal, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Peru, Ghana, and Nigeria here at Camp Langano for leadership
training. The amount of Biblical knowledge and spiritual wisdom
permeates the meeting room is amazing. A passion to see the church
bring the Gospel to unsaved youth through sport seems to ooze out of
everyone’s pores. It has been such a joy to hear how the Lord is
working in the lives of coaches and youth in other countries. The
testimony of faithful believers as they labor for the sake of the
Gospel has been blowing my mind this whole week. At first many church
leaders scoffed at the idea of the local church using sports as an
outreach tool. Now, 10 years later, Sports Friends (SF) Ethiopia has
over 62,000 youth actively participating in sport teams that are
coached by members of local churches. Men and women of all different
tribes, speaking different languages, all across the world are now
using sport to build relationships for the purpose of sharing the good
news of the Gospel with their community. I can’t help but smile at the
fact that God chooses to use sport coaches as a means of grace to tell
others about himself. It is so stinking cool!!! To God be the glory!
