Celebrating 39 Years of Ministry With
stories of impact
We invite you to join the mission you hear about in these stories by making a year-end donation.
As we close out 2024, we’re excited to share some of the impactful stories from over the years with you.
Leading up to Christmas, we will highlight different people’s stories and testimonies from different areas of our ministry: Prison Ministry, Sports Mission Trips, Basketball Teams, and more. These stories showcase the lives touched, the hearts changed, and the communities transformed through your support and God’s power.
Your prayers and generosity have helped this life-changing work continue. Let’s end this year by celebrating God’s goodness together. Thank you for being a vital part of Sports Reach.
Read the stories below!
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stories of impact
“I’m writing to you today to share a cause that is near and dear to my heart, Sports Reach. I first encountered Sports Reach in 1988, when it was known as The Crusaders, and it has impacted my life in a great way. What started as a prison ministry has grown into a major platform for spreading the Gospel to those who are incarcerated. Sports Reach’s programs provide hope and faith to people in despair, both in prison and around the world.
I can personally attest to the transformative power of Sports Reach. I met Robby Speer while incarcerated forty years ago, and the message of hope and faith he shared has resonated with me ever since. Today, I work as a counselor, helping men and women re-enter society, and I hear stories similar to my own about the hope and faith they found through Sports Reach.
In a world where it can be hard to know what to support, I encourage you to invest in Sports Reach. Your support will help this incredible ministry continue to change lives and bring hope to people in need.”
– Brian Scully | Micah 6:8
Have you ever considered the impact of a question? Have you ever been asked a question that has made you deeply think, change, or caused you to look in the mirror?
My name is Mark Fothergill and I am an original member/recruit (1987) of Kentucky Baptist Sports Crusaders, which is now Sports Reach. From your favorite bible app., look up the top questions asked in the bible. You will get serious and significant questions to ponder. Questions such as “Did God really say?” Genesis 3:1, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8, “What is Truth?” John 18:38, and arguably the most important question ever asked, one that was asked by our Lord Jesus “But who so YOU say that I am?” A question that every person will have to answer. A question that determines and settles our eternal salvation.
Bear with me as I share two questions that have had major impact in my life. My senior year in college, as I played basketball at the University of Maryland, Pastor Charlie Chilton asked, “Mark, if you were to die today would you go to heaven?” It was a question that I struggled with for several years until the Lord revealed to me that I was dead in my sins and my need for a Savior. (That’s a longer story for another day) The Lord called me to Himself in January 1987. One of the major people Jesus used at this time in my life was Robby Spear (I think everyone is familiar with him).
Six months later during a Basketball mission trip to Kenya, Robby asked me another question that continues to impact my life today. We were walking Sunday morning, two by two, to church and Robby casually tells me, “By the way, you are preaching this morning”. I stopped in the middle of the road and proceeded to forcefully question his sanity. He stopped also and gently asked, “Can you tell people what Jesus has done in your life?” I said yes. He started walking again and said “OK, you are preaching this morning”.
That is just one of the many spiritual Truths that I have learned during my time with Sports Reach. Paul urged the church in Ephesus to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” Eph 4:1. How do we do that???…..Tell people what Jesus has done in your life, not only on a mission trip but also in the gym, on the field, in the classroom, at work, in your neighborhood, over a cup of coffee. Really…wherever you go, as you go, always for God’s Glory.
– Mark Fothergill
“Sports Reach is a phenomenal outreach program that travels everywhere to try to bring people to Christ. I was in prison, had I not been I probably wouldn’t have found the Lord. My life was headed to destruction. These guys give up their life on the outside to come in and try to reach people with lost souls. For years I ran and ran and ran, but October 16, 2009 I gave my life to Christ. I’m so grateful to that, that I can say I’m standing here a free man because of Sports Reach.”
– Jimmy Powell
For me, these words have never been more true. I wasted a lot of years just simply playing the game of life. I traveled and played high-level softball all over the country. God gave me a tremendous platform, and all I did was waste it. I look back at it now and wish I could go back and change all the things I did that weren’t pleasing to God and a help for His Kingdom. It wasn’t until I realized that God sent His only son, Jesus, and he died on the cross to forgive me of ALL my sin–all that just because He loved me enough to want a personal relationship with me.
After I gave my life to Christ, I was introduced to Sports Reach. I have come to love this organization and what it stands for. I sincerely appreciate all that Robby Speer does with and for the organization. He has taken the platform of sports, softball particularly, and made it a mission field. Spreading the gospel of Christ is the greatest thing we can do for mankind. And after being involved with this organization for about 10 years, I can see how great of an impact Sports Reach has in sharing the gospel.
I get the opportunity to go with a group into prisons and do ministry there. We play softball with the prisoners and share the gospel with them. We make sure the inmates know two things:
1. You are important
2. God loves you
That mission field inside that razor wire is unlike any other. Sharing Jesus with those men is one of the greatest things Sports Reach does. We meet them right where they are in their brokenness and hard times. We have a great time playing softball with them, but more importantly, we are sharing Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” And that’s why Sports Reach is so important to me. Being able to share those words with a sinner on their way to hell and see them pray to receive Christ in their heart, knowing then that they have a home in Heaven someday and a personal relationship with Jesus–it’s worth whatever it took for me to get there.
I love this ministry because it has changed my life. It has given me other avenues to share the gospel and use sports as my platform. Knowing what Jesus has done for me, I want other people to know that same change for them. God bless everything about this organization and may it continue to spread the love of Jesus for the Kingdom.
– Nathan Holcomb
“We ready… We ready… We ready for y’all,” the men at Polk Correctional Institute sang as the chain link fence rattled around us in the small courtyard our Sports Reach Basketball Team had been welcomed into. With my legs quivering, I looked at some of the guys on the team and mumbled, “We ain’t ready.” The metal door behind us had just closed with an almost
cinema-esque “AHH!” There was no turning back. The churning in my gut was telling me that I better toughen up and “get ready,” or I needed to find the nearest bathroom to hurl.
Robby, Andrew, and Brandon had, of course, prepared us for what to expect on our trip to share the Gospel in several prisons throughout the Sunshine State. They had walked us through what we could take in the prisons and what we could not. They had shared about how the first time going in can be a little intimidating. They had also shared about how the expectation was to win every single time we laced up and stepped on the court (most often blacktop) that we would be playing on. Our team, the Warriors as we had proudly named ourselves, was ready for battle, that is until the chanting began.
After what seemed like a millennia, we finally exited the courtyard and made our way to the court. I drew on my high school experience thinking about how all the nerves immediately calmed once the referee blew the whistle and the ball was tipped. I prayed that scenario would play as usual out on the blacktop that day. Thankfully, it did. As we ran up and down the court (more than our team leader Brandon probably wanted to), the nervousness quickly turned to intensity and joy as we played. I remember the whole crowd going nuts after I hit the best between the legs step-back of my life in the second game. He probably wouldn’t give me or the team this much credit after seeing us play more throughout the trip (we lost a couple games), but Robby was pretty impressed with the ball myself and our team played that day.
As the day came to a close, we gathered up in a big circle to share the Gospel. The Good News came into clear focus as we stood in a circle looking at one another that day at Polk. The mystique of them being inmates had kind of rubbed off. As we stood in the circle, it was no longer “them” vs. the Warriors. See, the Gospel levels the playing field. The Gospel boldly announces that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glorious standard of God (Romans 3:23). According to scripture, there are only people in desperate need of hope. As we shared the Gospel, some of the guys went on to tell their story and a few shared about how they ended up where they were. A couple guys shared about how God had redeemed them while they were behind bars and how they were freer in prison than they’d ever been in their life.
The same happened at about every prison we went to. That paradox of freedom behind bars is utterly perplexing to a watching world, but it makes sense to the followers of Jesus who have been truly set free by the grace and hope offered to us. That trip shaped the way I lead, serve, and care for others. I now firmly believe that nobody’s too far gone, hope is for everyone, and grace changes everything.
I can’t say enough great things about the work Robby and his team do. It will be my honor to get to suit up for Sports Reach again someday. The trips will definitely stretch and challenge you (my knees may not let me hit the between the legs step-back like I used to), but isn’t that where we grow and are transformed? I can’t wait to go again and see all the lives Jesus is transforming on our team, behind bars, and in the communities we get to serve.”
– Chapman Bean
“When I think of Sports Reach Ministries the first thing I think of is Robby Speer and Sports, however, it is much more than just sports. It is about using Sports anywhere in the World to share the Love of Jesus Christ and the message of the Gospel to people who desperately need hope. It is about seeing lives changed for all of Eternity. It is Christ-Centered in all that it does.
In 1996, I was the Family Life Minister at Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN. I needed someone to come to our Church to do a Basketball Camp for us and God led me to Robby Speer and Sports Reach Ministry. He came and did an outstanding job leading our Sports Camp. However, little did I know that God was up to something much bigger than just a Basketball Camp. During that week Robby introduced me to the Softball Prison Ministry and convinced me to jump in and get involved in Softball Prison Ministry. So in August of 1996 we took our very first Trip to Kentucky State Reformatory, fell in love with it, and 28 years later we are still involved in Softball Prison Ministry, with (7) Trips per year. It is one of the greatest blessings in my life.
I truly believe that God used Robby Speer, Sports Reach, and Softball Prison Ministry, to change my life, and to change the lives of so many other men who have played with us over the 28 years that we have been doing it. Not only our lives but the lives of Inmates, Guards, and Administrators who have gotten saved or been encouraged through this ministry. I have learned how to be a better, and bolder witness for Jesus Christ, I have learned how to love those who are down and out, and I have without a doubt grown deeper in my Walk with Christ. Now Softball Prison Ministry is just a normal part of my life, and I can’t wait for the next Trip “Behind the Razor Wire”. Thank you Robby Speer for allowing God to use you in my life. It has been and continues to be a Great Adventure.”
– Carl Smith
“In the summer of 1987, I experienced my first of many sports ministry trips with Sports Reach. I traveled with our team, led by Robby Speer and Larry Pursiful, to play basketball against the Kenya National Team, help lead basketball clinics in various locations of the country and share my story of how I became a follower of Jesus. That first trip opened my eyes to see how God wanted to use the passion and abilities I had received from Him in the area of sports to build His Kingdom in the world.
Following that trip to Kenya, I played basketball, taught basketball skills, and shared about Jesus in many high schools, colleges, sports fields, and churches throughout America and the world for the next 15 years. My experiences with Sports Reach prepared me to eventually pastor a church plant in Ohio, and currently lead our family foundation that partners with various ministries focused on reaching the world for Jesus Christ.
Sports Reach has been an instrumental piece in my spiritual journey over the last 37-plus years. It helped to lay a foundation for building a great life by helping me realize that to have a great life, I needed to commit my life to a greater purpose, a purpose greater than myself. Basketball was (and still is) fun to play and coach but it is merely a tool to connect the world with a God who desires an intimate relationship with each person that He has created.
Sports Reach also helped me see that I needed to team up with great people committed to the same purpose. Serving alongside people like Robby Speer and Larry Pursiful, Mark Fothergill, Stan Curry and many, many other athletes, coaches involved with SportsReach over the years, created a much stronger impact together in the area of evangelism and ministry.
I Corinthians 3 says, “We work together as partners who belong to God.”
Lastly, SportsReach helped me see that great opportunities to impact the world for Christ are all around me. Before being involved with SportsReach, I really didn’t know how to see them. I didn’t know how to sense them. I didn’t know how to sift or select them. And I certainly didn’t know how to seize them in the moment!
But after traveling to Kenya and continually involving myself in sports ministry, I learned more and more of this skill. The Bible says in Colossians 4:5 to “make the most of every opportunity.” Ephesians 5:16 says Christians must “make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” I think it is fair to say there is a lot of evil in our world so God commands us to make the most of opportunities to bring the good news of Christ to a hurting world.
Thank you Sports Reach for helping me see that real success had nothing to do with my basketball abilities, my business acumen, my wealth or health. Success is the stewardship of God given opportunities, to see them and seize them every single day – to be salt and light to people that are placed in my path looking for real hope and purpose found only in Jesus.”
– Jeff Arington
My name is DeWayne Gibson, I am the senior pastor at Parkway Baptist Church in Hodgenville and a special education teacher in the LaRue County School District in central Kentucky. I have been truly blessed to be a part of Sports Reach for the past 25 years.
In 1999, Robby Speer asked me if I would be interested in going on a softball mission trip to China with him. At this point, I had surrendered my life to Christian ministry for nearly 15 years and yet had never been on a mission trip quite like this. Using a sport to share Jesus—count me in!
From that moment until now and until the day Jesus calls me home, I believe in and will be involved in this ministry. I have seen Jesus use these sports and other games that we are passionate about to share the Gospel. I have seen the effectiveness of this ministry from foreign countries to some of our most hardened prisons across the United States. I have been so blessed to see God open doors to Sports Reach to come in that were otherwise closed to anyone else. And I truly believe the heart of Jesus lives in Robby Speer as he continues to grow this ministry and reach the lost for Jesus.
I have been SO blessed to be a part of this ministry and now that I am retiring from public education, I look forward to a lot more involvement.
Over the years, I have learned so much from Robby and the Sports Reach ministry, but mostly, I have learned that to reach people, you have to love them right where they are. I am so thankful for Sports Reach, and I look forward to how the Lord will use this ministry as the years go by. God’s Glory!
“The Sports Reach guys out of Knoxville, TN concluded their 28th year of traveling to intuitions across Kentucky and Florida this past weekend. Their mission is to play softball while spreading the word of Jesus Christ. They have completed 7 trips during 2024, and their most recent trip included stops at Everglades, South Florida Reception, and concluded at Hamilton C.I. Main Unit. During their three stops, they reached over 400 inmates who they preached to, prayed for, handed out Bibles and shared life lessons with. Sixty-one of those inmates committed their lives to Jesus Christ during this trip! Although Hamilton C.I.’s outside work squad lost the game of softball, they won in life by accepting Jesus in their life. Thank you to Mr. Carl Smith and his teammates for volunteering their time.”
– Hamilton Correctional in Florida