One of our favorite things about sports is collisions. Runners crashing into a catcher, NASCAR crashes, anytime someone gets checked into the glass during a hockey game, and anytime a quarterback gets sacked....unless it's the Bears quarterback.....If you look up that the list for the most sacked single season leaders, you see Chicago Bears 2nd year starter Caleb Williams right there tied for #3 on the list. (This has nothing to do with this update but former Bears quarterbacks Justin Fields, Jay Cutler, Jim Harbaugh, and Jim McMahon also appear on this depressing list as well...)
And sometimes there are collisions in ministry...
I just celebrated my first full year of being an elder at Calvary Baptist Bible Church which was a few days apart from celebrating my 14th year of being involved with the Saints Prison Ministry.
It has been cool how the Lord has worked in both ministries over the years, but this past weekend, both ministries collided!
This past weekend (8/9), I had the opportunity to spend an entire day serving in two different prisons and preach during the worship service at my church! While I would wholeheartedly admit that I was exhausted afterwards, it was a blessing to serve in both capacities.
Sunday (8/10), I preached from John 13:31-38. The main point of my message was from verses 34 and 35 about how we as Christians are to love other Christians sacrificially like Christ. One of the application points that I had was that loving other Christians is going to be inconvenient. It is going to interrupt sleep. It is going to interrupt finances. It is going to look like walking across the pew and praying with someone who is hurting. It is going to look like spending time over coffee discipling and being discipled. It is going to look like taking joy in spending time with someone whom you have nothing in common with other than you both have been saved by God and will spend eternity together in His glory. We don’t want to do any of those things naturally. God has to work in us and He sent His Spirit to help us. That should drive us to our knees to plead with Him to change our hearts to love one another and to love one another sacrificially.
This ties in with how I need to serve my church and how I need to serve my Saints team. I am proud of how my Saints teammates sacrificed comfort and sleep to spend the day sharing the Gospel and serving one another.
We gathered up in our usual meeting spot to pray and to pack up the vehicles. We were on the road heading towards Centralia a little after 4 am. Despite the early morning, we had some nice conversations in the van while making the drive down.
We arrived at Centralia on time, gathered our literature and equipment, and made our way through security. Centralia is very much a prison but it almost has a college campus feel to it with the layout of the buildings and sidewalks. We made our way past the gym and the chapel and made our way out to the field. We got out there before the team and had some time to stretch out before we started. We also had some time to talk about some of the trips to Centralia from years gone by and also some stories about the prisons in Kentucky for those of us preparing for the upcoming Kentucky trip!
The other team came out to the field and we got the game started shortly afterwards. Centralia had three teams ready to play so we made plans to play three shortened games. Despite the "jet-lag" of driving three hours early in the morning, we came out swinging and won the first game easily. Kyle Krall shared the Gospel with the men there. After Kyle shared the Gospel, we played games two and three and won those two games as well.
After the games were over, we had an opportunity to acknowledge the umpires and a team MVP before circling up and praying with the men. During this time, we encourage the men to think about the Gospel message and encourage them one last time to believe and repent.
Overall at Centralia, we handed out 65 Gospels of John and had three men make professions of faith.
After we wrapped up at Centralia, we got in the van and headed back North to Vandalia. To save some time, we bought some sandwiches the night before so we were able to enjoy those in the van.
We got to Vandalia CC on time and made our way through security before going out to the field. Vandalia CC is one of the oldest prisons in Illinois and definitely has an "Old time prison movie" feel to it.
The Vandalia field is one of our favorites to play on and we came out roaring in the first inning by scoring several runs. The Vandalia team started to come back at times but managed to keep scoring runs and we won game 1.
In between games, I shared my testimony of how I came to know the Lord. After my testimony, AJ Salmon shared the Gospel. AJ did a good job illustrating that there was a price that needed to be paid for our sins and that Jesus Christ took that punishment on the cross for us.
After the ministry time, we played another team and came away with another win in a time shortened game.
After the game we huddled up on the pitcher's mound, handed out some award books, and had one last moment to talk with them. Just like we did at Centralia, we encouraged the men to get things right with the Lord by believing and repenting.
Overall on the day at Vandalia, we handed out 73 Gospels of John and we saw 14 men make professions of faith.
We circled up in the Vandalia parking lot as a team and shared stories of conversations that we had with the men we saw and shared praises of how the Lord worked in both prisons. After that, we prayed and hit the road back toward home. We stopped in Springfield and enjoyed some "horseshoe" sandwiches as a team. The team meals are a blessing where we tease one another, share more stories about the day, challenge each other to keep growing as men, and to encourage each other to be men who serve in our churches.
Our next Illinois softball visit is September 6th as we visit Danville CC.
...However...
This week several Missionary Athletes from across the country are heading to Kentucky for a four day trip to play softball and share the Gospel.
Thank you for supporting the ministry and for praying for us as we travel and share the Gospel!
