Chicago Sports and Discouragement- FCI Pollack Follow Up

I've written about this plenty of times before, but I am Chicago sports fan.  We have 1985, 2016, and the Jordan years.  Other than that, there are several years of bad bullpens, bad quarterbacks, bad draft picks, double doinks, and fans interfering with catchable foul balls.  To be fair, we also had some good hockey years but you get the point.  There is usually at least one discouraging Chicago sport going on at all times.  

Of course, discouragement doesn't just live in Chicago sports.  It also lives in ministry too.  Our team devotion for the 2nd night of the trip was about being faithful in ministry despite discouragement.  

The apostle Paul spoke of several hardships that would have been discouraging.  

2 Corinthians 11:23-28-  23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Despite all of those challenges and frustrations, we see over and over again that Paul was faithful to the ministry.  There have been several times of frustration and discouragement while serving with the Saints, however, we know we need to be faithful.  

2 Timothy 4:1-5- I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I really appreciate everyone who has prayed for the ministry and for me personally.  There is always going to be discouragement in ministry but we all must press forward!

We arrived at FCI Pollack and they were excited to have us there.  The FCI team was on the field warming up and they looked like they would be pretty good.  We came right out of the gate slugging and got out to a really big lead.  The other team tried their best to compete but they couldn't overcome the initial lead.  After the game we went into ministry mode and handed out Gospels of John in the yard.  Geoff Saturley from the Northeast team shared his testimony with the men in the yard.  After Geoff was done sharing his testimony, my good friend Burce Buri shared the Gospel.  Bruce is passionate about prison ministry.  In addition to going on as many Saints Crusades as he can, he also leads the softball team for a prison ministry in Wisconsin called Brother Bob's Outreach.  

After our ministry time, we played another game and won again.  After the win, we met with the guys in the yard and prayed with them and encouraged them to believe in the Lord and to follow Him.  

We had another opportunity to enjoy some lunch at the staff dining hall.  This was a fun lunch because we had the opportunity enjoy some time together which was mostly spent telling stories and teasing each other!

After lunch we took the field again against the first team we played.  They played a little tougher but we still pulled out a victory!

After the game, Tom Carberry shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord.  After Tom was done sharing his testimony, Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel.  I've had the opportunity to share a field with Tom and Jimmy several times over the years!

While Tom and Jimmy were speaking, I had the opportunity to have a few good conversations about the Lord.  Bruce Buri and I had an opportunity to talk to a group of guys who were hanging out in the yard.  We handed out literature to them and Bruce boldly shared a mini sermon with them in the yard.  

We got to play one more game and won the fourth game of the day!  We huddled up with the men one more time and reminded them that while softball is fun, the real reason that we were there was to tell them about the Lord.  

Overall on the day we handed out 406 Gospels and saw 34 men make professions of faith in the Lord!

We got back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and enjoyed some team fellowship at a local BBQ place.  

When we got back to the hotel, we did our team devotions and got some rest.  

Tomorrow is the last day of our trip!  Please pray for us as we visit the camp at FCC Pollack!