Return to Ministry -July 2010

"Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.'"--Acts 15:36

This being my 3rd summer here, it's interesting how my ministry differs from past trips. My ministry has gone from personal evangelism/witnessing to following up. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of going to Huntington, WV with First Baptist Church of Bowling Green, KY. In the past, their youth group had gone to a summer camp known as CenterFuge and M-Fuge. During this camp, they would go on certain service projects but this time around they wanted to do their own and ended up in WV. A close friend of mine from the church (who used to take me fishing during my years in college) brought me along to do what I did in Philly--play ball, pass out gatorade, and share the gospel. While there he told me he would love to go to the same place every year. We talked about how many church groups go somewhere different each year, as if the mission trip is more for themselves than for the community they witness in. I personally see this a lot--we go in, develop relationships and get things going, leave after one week, then that's it. But as seen in Acts, and in many encounters with Christ, there is follow-up involved.

I have been so blessed to be able to come back every summer and follow up. It's been amazing to see the growth from several people. There are guys in the league that have been around since day one who used to be hot heads... not anymore. They kept their attitude under control and were very respectful and took a lot of pride in the league. Many are stepping up to help set up on game nights, help score keep, etc. (which is great since it has been so hard finding volunteers). Joey even said to me, "It's amazing to see how these guys have progressed." And there has been so much joy seeing these guys again, especially when they show excitement to see me again (many do not know when exactly I'm coming back, so it's a surprise for them once I'm there). One of the guys I've gotten to catch up with is Tony Spain who used to run in the streets and became a Christian through open gym/league. He told me a little more about him coming to Christ--he remembered the first time he saw me at the park and thought "who is this white guy?" And he admitted he stayed away--then some of his friends prompted him to come to open gym...since then he has given his life to Christ, performs Christian rap, and is now involved in Joey's church (Bridge of Hope, our partners) and is married with a wife 8 months pregnant! It has been a blessing to see how he has journeyed with Christ since my last visit, and recently his brother accepted Christ. I must also share about Sergio, who God, in his infinite wisdom, arranged "a reunion" so I could follow up with him. Last year I met twins--Sergio and Jose who came to many open gyms and joined the league, and were the most fun guys I had been around. They were a huge blessing to me and came to several bible studies. They were not walking with Christ, but were certainly interested and always asked that I pray for them to "quit smoking weed." Well during the year, we kept in touch, but then they got a new phone # (which I deleted before saving!) and I never heard from them again. Well... I went out to dinner with Danny and his girlfriend (Danny is the one who came to KY to visit) and I asked him about the twins. He told me he hadn't really talked to them in a long time. I was really upset because I was really missing them and just had to get in touch! We left dinner that night and stopped to
get gas; after filling up, we are waiting to pull into the street and suddenly Mary yells, "Jeff! That's Jose! That's Jose! Jose!!" Now... we know about 20 Jose up here, so I'm screaming "which one? Which one?" But I finally spotted who she was talking about--one of the twins (it was actually Sergio--on the back of their arms, Jose tattooed a "J" and Sergio tattooed an "S"). Of the 5.149 million people in the Urban area of Philadelphia, Sergio, who just 30 minutes before I was talking to Danny about wishing I could see him again, was sitting in his car right in front of us. I popped my head out our door, "Jose!" (didn't know it was Sergio yet)... he look at me like "what the heck do you want?" I shouted "You remember me?"... "JEFF! What up man?" (he actually used a different word than "man"--starts with an "n") He pulled into the gas station and we got to catch up. He is about to get married and he informed me that has become heavily involved in church. He attends a church every Friday and Saturday (even bypassed my open gym on Friday to go to church!). It was so blessed to hear how he was doing. However, his twin, Jose, is not in church, so please pray for him. I'll be getting together with him throughout the summer.

I mentioned earlier how my ministry is somewhat different now. While it will still be important for personal witnessing (as there are still plenty of new faces), there has been more focus on investment. From all the "incarnational ministry" I have become so infused into the community and culture here that I am being invited to baby showers, birthday parties, dinners, etc... I am one of them! I've had the joy of seeing Danny finally get a job (he had been asking me to pray for awhile) and he has decided to go back and get his GED, and he has made me a part of that journey. This year I am really focusing on investing and getting them plugged into a church... Other than that, the league is going well. We have 16 teams this year (up from 12 last year)--in my next post I will give more specifics about the actual league, I think this is enough for now.... before I go--special thanks to my new church in Shelbyville, KY (Christ Community Church). They raised the money we needed for two mega fans to put in our gym. When it reaches 102 degrees outside, and there's no AC in the gym and windows are drilled shut, having fans is a big deal. We mounted them yesterday and it was a big help!