Guest post by Jenny Young
I, along with 31 other teams members, had the opportunity the last two weeks of January to serve with E3 Partners Ministry on a mission’s trip to Kaberamaido, Uganda. Our ministry focus was partnering with 5 mother churches to plant 5 new churches in strategic areas of Kaberamaido. We were comprised of a church planning, medical and sports team. The sports team consisted of three Americans, in which, I co-lead with our purpose to enhance and support the church planting effort in the 5 different sites of Kaberamaido and to increase the engagement of people (especially children) with the gospel and HIV/AIDS education. Our two goals were to equip local church leaders to use sports as a way to advance the gospel and minister to children and adults and to help facilitate relationships between the children of the villages and the new churches that were to be established.
The Ugandans were to have at least 1 person from each mother church to commit to work all week with the sports ministry team. This was to allow us to train the leader in sports ministry while holding sports clinics at their specific church site. We took resource materials on How to Start a Sports Ministry (Foundations Series) from CSO on a flash drive to leave behind for the church leaders and sports leaders to use in sports outreach endeavors in the future.
God provided an amazing group of five young men one from each mother church for us to equip during the week. It was truly a site to behold as their hunger for learning about sports outreach and to use it in their new church plant. Two sports leaders, Julius and Alfred, are featured in these videos with their thoughts and encouragement of sports outreach. I walked away from this trip with a conviction by the Holy Spirit on the importance to equip and train leaders especially in our arena as sports ministry leaders. The Lord is doing great things in and through the lives of these young men in Uganda that will only in turn rise up other leaders they are now able to train and disciple. How amazing is it that God can use a simple tool called sports to glorify Him and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with thousands regardless of location, age, income, gender, race, and the list can goes on. One of our trip leaders encouraged us with these words in Habakkuk 1:5
“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
Watch and be amazed by God in what He is doing in your church, sports ministry, and life.
