When we first went to Kenya there were several things that we needed to learn. One of them was the idea that their favorite sport is football but not American football. They love soccer. They cheer for teams with names like Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. The first year we lived in Kenya I saw hoards of people standing on street corners peering into electronic stores or crowding into places with televisions. I wondered what was going on then I realized it was the World Cup and everyone was yelling for their team.
Sports is a part of every culture in most of the world and it touches the youngest to the oldest people in any population group. In every village in Kenya you will find a group of boys (sometimes girls) playing soccer and imaging a day when they will stand on the world stage playing for their favorite team in the World Cup. It is exciting to see them dream about a bright future but the truth is that most will never reach this goal.
This year, Injili (Gospel) Baptist Church started a sports ministry at our high school property. They developed a soccer team from their church and now are using it as an evangelistic outreach. They have invited the Muslim community to develop their own teams and come and play at the high school. This is allowing their people to have a starting point to reach young people with the gospel message. At each game, they pray and sing to God. They even have a devotional challenge.
Eddie Fox once wrote, "The roads of Rome carried the gospel in the first century, but sports is the means of carrying it today." He is right. Sports opens doors into houses and communities that would otherwise be closed to a Christian voice.
Please pray for the leaders of Injili Baptist and the hundreds of young people that are getting a chance to hear about the love of God monthly. Our prayer is that many will come to Christ this year through the sports ministry. The goal is fifty new believers in 2015.
Sports is a part of every culture in most of the world and it touches the youngest to the oldest people in any population group. In every village in Kenya you will find a group of boys (sometimes girls) playing soccer and imaging a day when they will stand on the world stage playing for their favorite team in the World Cup. It is exciting to see them dream about a bright future but the truth is that most will never reach this goal.
This year, Injili (Gospel) Baptist Church started a sports ministry at our high school property. They developed a soccer team from their church and now are using it as an evangelistic outreach. They have invited the Muslim community to develop their own teams and come and play at the high school. This is allowing their people to have a starting point to reach young people with the gospel message. At each game, they pray and sing to God. They even have a devotional challenge.
Eddie Fox once wrote, "The roads of Rome carried the gospel in the first century, but sports is the means of carrying it today." He is right. Sports opens doors into houses and communities that would otherwise be closed to a Christian voice.
Please pray for the leaders of Injili Baptist and the hundreds of young people that are getting a chance to hear about the love of God monthly. Our prayer is that many will come to Christ this year through the sports ministry. The goal is fifty new believers in 2015.
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