In March, I was able to visit my good friend Coach Ricardo Edwards at his new home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. We have worked with and continue to work with him in his home country of Jamaica. However, since he is living in the States now, I asked him if there would ever be a need for sports ministry in his new community. After talking to his church, the answer is yes! On the short visit, I was able to scout out the locations where we could host sports camps in the future. It was good to see him and his family and pray over their community. Sports Reach has received a lot of sports gear and equipment this month. We have been able to ship out baseball gear to Hungary and Ukraine, Soccer and basketball gear to Jamaica, lacrosse jerseys to Ethiopia, football jerseys to Brazil, track and field jerseys to Croatia, and basketball gear to the Philippines. All in all, this was about 1000 lbs of jerseys and gear. Lastly, I was able to lead a 3-day soccer camp for about 20 kids ages 8-10 in the Price Hill community of Cincinnati. We partnered with the Lord’s Gym, which connected us with a local elementary school. This was one of the first opportunities for the Lord’s Gym to connect to this Hispanic community. Each day we ran through drills, shared testimonies and devotions, and let the kids scrimmage. On the last day, kids asked very deep questions such as “What happens to those that don’t follow Jesus?”, “Who created God?”, and “What was happening before the Universe?” Each kid got to go home with a soccer ball and a water bottle. Many high schoolers waited around until after we finished and asked if we could do a soccer camp for their age. So, new opportunities may arise for more soccer camps! Following the camp, someone wrote me that he used to buy drugs where we held the camp, and he was so happy to see us sharing something good in a very hard area. I want to thank our coaches, Javell Rewood, Kyle Miller, Taylor Stump, Steve Ellis, Patrick Naughton, and Tyler Pollock. God’s Glory!
