BUT I HAD NO IDEA
In the summer of 1976, Dave Meece, a fellow student, invited me to go on a basketball mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I had never done anything thing like this before and it was really an eye-opener.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
I was cut from the Campbellsville College basketball team in the fall of 1976. I had redshirted a year and played just a little the next. When I was cut, I was devastated and had no clue what God was up to. But along comes Don Bishop. He was the Athletic Director and head of intramurals, and I became the director of student Intramurals. This was a big deal for me. I learned about being organized and dealing with a big group of people.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
After graduating from Campbellsville College in 1979, I enrolled at Southwestern Theological Seminary to get my Master’s degree. There I met Don Azevedo and Keith Cating. There was a group of students that had started the Texas Baptist Sports Crusaders in 1979. They had taken one basketball team on a mission trip to Brazil, and I was invited to go on the second one in 1980. It was a month-long trip and very enlightening.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
In 1981, Ron Moreland and I were able to begin helping in the leadership of TBSC. We spent a lot of time talking about our upcoming summer Brazil trip. We also drank a lot of coffee and spent time talking about what could be done in ministry through sports. The trip was the first time some of the wives were able to go, and Jan, my wife, was one of them. This was truly a special trip.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
In 1983, our family of two had grown to three, with Drew being born in 1982, and we headed to Daniel Memorial Baptist, where I got bit by the “softball bug.” I had played some softball before, but this is when I really began to love it. Along the way, I started praying about how I could use softball to reach people all over the world like I had learned about through basketball. I kept thinking, praying, and was excited about what could be done! Then, when we least expected, God moved us back to Kentucky. I did not want to go and really fought it hard. But, I realized I was supposed to go to Severns Valley Baptist in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. In the fall of 1985, our trio loaded up and headed north.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
This was when God brought Larry Pursiful into my life. He was the Interim Minister of Activities and chairman of the Recreation Committee. Larry was well known all over Kentucky as an all-SEC Basketball player at the University of Kentucky in the early ’60s. As a former high school basketball coach, teacher, and business owner, Larry was starting to do a real search as to what God had next. He was wondering if he was being called into ministry. In the summer of 1986, Larry accepted an invitation to go on a preaching mission trip to Kenya.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
Fast forward to February 1921. After Larry got back from Kenya, our lives absolutely blew up. Talk about having no idea any of this was going to happen; we were shook. To give you the short version, we started Kentucky Baptist Sports that a few years later became Sports Reach.
Sports Reach is now celebrating 35 years of ministry. The Lord has taken us to over 23 countries around the world as well as 27 states. The following sports have been used to share the Gospel: basketball, baseball, fastpitch softball, slow-pitch softball, football, soccer, kickball, tennis, golf, sewing, and medical. We have been able to share the Gospel with thousands of people while witnessing many dedicate their lives to the Lord.
BUT I HAD NO IDEA
I share this to encourage you to see where God may be taking you. When you are living in obedience, you never know who you will impact.
