From July 5-13th, I hosted the FCA Hungarian U15 baseball team here in Cincinnati. The team consisted of 12 to 15-year-old boys and their coaches. I had taken a team of coaches to Hungary last winter to put on clinics for coaches and practice and gym glass for players, so they had some relationship already with us.
While the team was here the goal was to have them grow as baseball players and to grow their faith in Jesus. During their time here, they did lots of fun activities like canoeing and visiting King’s Island and the Dayton Air Force Museum. They also did ministry in the city and heard from the ministries about how they were helping those they would probably never meet. They painted rooms of a mission guest house for BLOC ministries, did light demolition work at a building that Back2Back ministries is renovating, and sorted clothes for Matthew 25 ministries for victims of natural disasters.
The team also participated in many baseball-related events such as touring the facilities of Northern Kentucky University, watching games and participating at CarniBall at Prasco Park, watching the Cincinnati Reds play the Detroit Tigers, and having practice where they got instruction from high school coach Nathaniel Arington, former Rio Grande University pitcher Kyle Miller, and former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Bill Wegman. The team also played against 4 teams: the Anderson Aces, Red’s Youth Academy, and two Sports Reach teams we made for this trip. The boys heard testimony and the Gospel from myself, Milwaukee Brewers Bill Wegman, two high school players, Nathaniel Arington, FCA Director of Ohio Matt Howe, Northern Kentucky FCA Director Nate Sallee, and Reds Chaplains Kirk Kirland and Danny Gomez. Before each game, we were able to pray and share a bit about why this Hungarian team was playing here in Cincinnati. After the game both teams and fans were fed by us. At the end of the week, we had shared the Gospel with about 200 fans and players and had 200lbs. of baseball equipment donated to the team.
One of the Hungarian coaches said, “This trip has totally changed my life.” One of the US coaches shared, “After the game, my son and I talked about wanting to go see and play the team again back in Hungary!”
As someone who has been taking teams to other countries for a long time, it was a great experience to be the host. It was very humbling to see just how many people came together to help me make this whole thing possible. I want to thank everyone who helped with details, games, driving, food, sharing testimonies, and prayer. I felt the Church move this week.
