Sports Missions Works!

Greetings from the Carribean! Not a bad place to be just a week or so before Christmas when we usually have below-zero wind chills and multiple feet of snow in northern Wisconsin at this time of year. I am certainly enjoying the warm weather and natural beauty of the Dominican Republic, but I have a more eternal purpose in being here. I am here to plan a sports mission trip for the women’s basketball team from Northland Baptist Bible College. The trip will take place in May 2009. Northland has a few current students and alumni who are either from the Dominincan Republic or are serving as missionaries here. We are planning on working with them and are hoping to be an encouragement to them. Personally, it is always a blessing when we connect current students on a trip like this with former students who are serving on the mission field. There is nothing like experiencing the mission field first-hand. It is life-changing and always results in shaking us out of our complacency and our "American comfort zone". It also renews in us a greater burden for missions.

Northland’s men’s basketball team was here in May 2007 and we made contact with a number of people that have helped us in making a return trip with the women’s basketball team this year. One such person is Giovanny Valdez. Giovanny was an excellent basketball player and, without a doubt, still is. He was the starting point guard for the Dominincan National Team for a number of years and played against some of the best players from the United States, some of whom are in the NBA now. While he was playing on the Dominican National team, a sports mission team from the U.S. came to compete against his team and to share the gospel. As a result, Giovanny trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Since then, he has stopped playing for the Dominican National Team, and is now serving the Lord in a full-time sports ministry. He helps plan mission trips and sets up exhibition games for teams that want to share the gospel with the Dominican people. Because of his previous experience, he has many contacts and God uses him to open many doors. He has a great burden to see more of his own people respond to the gospel. He obviously knows from personal experience that sports missions works.

If you have never been able to visit a mission field, taking a sports mission team is a great way to do it. It opens many doors and breaks down many barriers. If you have questions about the possibility of doing something like this with your team, please feel free to contact me. You would never regret the personal sacrifices made or the cost incurred for such a trip. The value can only be measured in eternity. The impact of the gospel here in the Dominican is continuing through the life and testimony of a young basketball player named Giovanny Valdez. Sports missions works.