Blogger's note: Usually I start my Saints updates with either something that God has laid on my heart from hearing or reading His Word and sometimes I choose something I think is witty or funny. For my Kentucky Crusade updates, I wanted to share part of the team devotions that our team shared on the trip. My good friend and coach of the North Georgia Saints David Cogliano wrote and shared the devotions on the trip and I wanted to share them in my update posts about our Kentucky Trip. The theme of the devotions is "Compete for the Crown".
2 Timothy 2:5- 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
Paul emphasizes that integrity as the key to winning the prize. Now if you're a Boston fan or more specially a Patriots fan (By the way, David Cogliano is a HUGE Boston sports fan), you could have some connection to this verse right? The Patriots have been known to blur the lines of competing according to the Rules.
We then starting pointing fingers at each other for being fans of the Patriots, Sammy Sosa, and Ryan Braun before coming back together in unison in agreeing that Lance Armstrong was the poster boy for not competing according to the rules!
We then talked about the spiritual shortcuts that we are tempted to take. We can sometimes use an out of context verse and try and make it say what we want it to.
We then talked about how our integrity affects our witness and what that looks like when Christians disqualify themselves because of sin.
One of my biggest fears is being a Christian who fails and is disqualified from serving. Please pray that I desire following the Lord more than my own heart.
We got up early on Friday morning (8/15) and grabbed a quick hotel breakfast before making our way to Northpoint Training Center. Northpoint has been a fun prison to play at over the years. The outfield is extra hilly and there is a lot of drainage ditches in the outfield...
...and we thought that would still be the case...
When we arrived, we made our way through the security. The security was a little tougher than I remember but the team there did a good job of getting us through and getting us out to the field. When we arrived out to the field we found that they fixed most of the hills and ditches in the outfield. It was in much better shape than in years past!
We could tell that the team was going to be good. We came out of the gate really strong and got out to an 8-0 lead. The game intensified and we both played hard. Both teams hit well and made great plays on defense. Unfortunately, they kept chipping away and we found ourselves tied 22-22 in the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th, they got some runners on and managed to get one across to win the game in walk off fashion.
We set up our sound system and started our sharing time with the crowd. Robert Jones shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord. Robert plays with the Middle Georgia team and is a fun guy to be around! After Robert shared his testimony, Erik Meyer from the NJ team shared the Gospel. Erik is a legit swimmer and is a really good athlete. He has been a solid addition to the ministry since joining last summer.
After our ministry time, we started another game and played a really fast game with the short amount of yard time we had left. We won the shortened game and shook hands with the guys that we saw. After shaking hands, we huddled up with the guys, handed out some awards, and reminded them of the Gospel message they heard today.
After we said goodbye to the guys in the yard, we headed back to the vans, and had a quick moment to reflect on the day. We shared stories of our encounters with the men that we saw and prayed for them as a team.
Overall on the day, we handed out 131 Gospels of John and had 5 men indicate that they made a profession of faith.
We then headed back into Lexington and had a quick meal at a local Chick-fil-A. This was a nice time to reset from the games and ministry of the morning and have a some time as teammates to tease each other and to fellowship together.
Once we finished our Chick-fil-A, we went across town to FMC Lexington. This was another Federal prison and the building was historic and built like a prison you would see in a prison movie. We got through security and left the security office to a downpour of rain. There wasn't any rain in the forecast but it rained hard and there were puddles everywhere. We walked through the rain and arrived at the prison field. The field was incredibly muddy. If this was a normal softball league, there is no way we would have attempted to play on that field but of course, playing softball in prison isn't exactly normal. The men there had been waiting for months for us to arrive and play softball with them. They put a bunch of work into the field and were ready to play when we got there. Nobody from the administration told us that we weren't playing softball so we didn't think twice and played a very rainy and muddy softball game! The field conditions were bad and made for some interesting trots down to first after we hit the ball.
We got beat and while I think we could have won if it wasn't so muddy, both teams had to compete in the exact same conditions so it was more than fair.
In between games, Warren Miller shared his testimony. I've talked about Warren several times over the years in my update posts but Warren is a former Yankees minor league second baseman. Warren is currently 84 and is still going strong. Whenever Warren has to say something, the men in the prison yard are very attentive. It is always a blessing to hear him talk and interact with the inmates.
After Warren shared his testimony, Bruce Buri shared the Gospel. Bruce is one of my closest friends in the ministry, and, like Warren, I have brought him up a few times in my updates over the years. Bruce gave a very clear Gospel presentation. After Bruce's presentation, I was collecting response cards. I talked with one guy who marked that he became a believer today. I walked through what he meant by that and we had a good conversation about the Gospel. Please pray for this guy and that God sends other men to disciple him and tell him more about the Lord.
By this time it had stopped raining. Of course the sun came out and totally warmed everything up so it was very humid! We played a second game and ended up tied before we ran out of time.
We circled up with a bunch of men who let us know that they were thankful that we came, braved the elements, and played some softball with them. We circled up on the pitcher's mound and shared with them again that the reason that we were there wasn't about softball but rather to tell them about Jesus Christ and the relationship they need to have with Him.
Overall at FMC Lexington, we handed out 217 Gospels of John and had 17 men make professions of faith.
We circled up briefly in the parking lot and shared our stories from the day.
We made it back to the hotel and got cleaned up before venturing back out again to get a good Mexican food meal. We had a new missionary athlete from Wisconsin named Wyatt Jicha. One of the things that happens a lot on our trips is that the newest guy will often get to "celebrate his birthday" during a meal on the trip. While Wyatt was eating his meal, the restaurant staff brought out some cake, a sombrero, and sang happy birthday to him in the middle of the dining room. That was a fun moment with lots of laughs!
We went back to the hotel and did our team devotions on 2 Timothy 2:5. We prayed for each other and for the men we saw.
Our group leader, JJ, let us know that the second prison of the day was cancelled so we would only be visiting one more prison on the trip. That was a bummer, but we know that God timed this accordingly.
After we prayed, Rodney Stewart and I (at the egging on of Bruce Buri) tried the new and most likely soon to be discontinued, Sprite tea. We tried it together and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...with that being said, I wouldn't try it unless you too are caught up in the egging on of a pal...
After two days of softball and travel, I fell right asleep after devotions and the Sprite tea!
