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Stories, news, and events from Soccer Chaplains United’s grant program to help distribute new and used soccer gear for use in local and global projects.

Creek Goes to Ethiopia to Work With Hope for the Fatherless

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Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, a Soccer Chaplains United church partner, is sending a team (including Senior Pastor Brad Strait, his wife, Soccer Chaplains United board member Darren Dragovich’s family, and Children’s Ministry staffer Lea Wright) to visit Hope for the Fatherless, a Christian ministry that serves orphaned and vulnerable children in Ethiopia.

Hope for the Fatherless strives to create a culture of adoption and orphan care worldwide by working in and through local communities. The team from Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church will be ministering to the children who are part of HFTF’s group homes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. There are ten children in each home.

Bontu will get to meet her sponsoring family

In addition, the team will also visit one of the children who are sponsored by the Dragovich Family through Compassion International. Bontu lives about an hour outside of the capital and attends a Compassion project site that serves over 200 kids. These children are from difficult and impoverished situations.

The Cherry Creek Team is bringing gifts including school and crafting supplies and jump ropes to the Compassion site. They are also requesting some One World Play Soccer Balls to provide HFTF and Compassion opportunities to continue their work with these children. The team is looking forward to using soccer to provide a chance to easily cross language and cultural barriers and engage in a fun, loving, and meaningful ways with the children from both organizations.

Specific Request:

  • 7 soccer balls
  • 18 youth jerseys

To support this specific request for Hope for the Fatherless, or future ventures like this, please donate through PushPay — simply select “Timothy Project” from the selectable funds to contribute to.  Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project in Eswatini Three Years In A Row!

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The Timothy Project, through Soccer Chaplains United, is returning to the Kingdom of eSwatini for the third year in a row!  Never heard of eSwatini?  That’s because up until April 2018, the country was named Swaziland.  (The king renamed the country in honor of the 50th anniversary of gaining independence.)  Despite eSwatini being only the size of New Jersey, and almost literally halfway around the word, the Timothy Project has been connected in 2016,  2017, and now again in 2018!

Adventures in Missions Sports Ministry team

I will be going to eSwatini with a team from Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs in coordination with Beyond Survival.  Once again, we will be working with Adventures in Missions on the ground in eSwatini.  Adventures in Missions serves 30+ care points and 6,000+ children on a daily basis.

Beyond Survival has been forming relationships in eSwatini for 12 years now, and I have been able to be part of the team for the past 4 years.  I have been especially privileged to form a relationship with Xolani Moyo, who started a sports ministry that has now blossomed into a few teams.  The motto is “Sport.  Faith.  Future.” noting that soccer is an avenue to reaching souls and providing hope and a future.  Xolani now leads a team of soccer coaches and sports ministry personnel.

Prior to this trip, Xolani indicated there was an amazing opportunity for one of his U20 teams.  According to eSwatini Premier League soccer regulations, each Premier League team should have an U20 team in the junior league.  However, one of the newly promoted teams doesn’t have such a team.  Xolani is currently negotiating for his U20 team to participate in the junior league, connected to the Premier league team.  Xolani states there is a “high chance this will be successful,” however asked for prayer for a successful negotiation.

New gear for Xolani’s sports ministry

Through the Timothy Project, Soccer Chaplains United was able to provide approximately 40 pounds of gear, consisting of new cleats, jerseys, balls, and cones.  According to Director Brad Kenney, this was the first time Timothy Project had provided a full set of new gear.

To support Timothy Project: Mountain Springs Church/Beyond Survival trip to eSwatini, or future Timothy Project ventures like this, please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to.  Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project: Valor Discovery Off To Guatemala

Timothy Project: Soccer Chaplains United team members had the joy this week to deliver soccer gear that will change lives forever. For the sixth year, Valor Discovery is sending a team of students to Zacapa, Guatemala.  Soccer Chaplains United has had the pleasure of supporting the team in the past and is pleased to do so again this year.

It was a beautiful spring afternoon as the teenagers sorted and organized the donations to be taken to Zacapa.  Rev Brad Kenney spoke words of encouragement and blessing to the team on a driveway that was overflowing with donations, new and used.  The generosity of the local community is moving.  The students will be able to touch many lives with the donations they gathered.

The role that Soccer Chaplains United is playing in this project will be measured in an entirely different way.  Through support given to the Timothy Project, we were able to purchase unique and rarely found evangelism soccer balls. Evangelism soccer balls tell the gospel through colors and images printed on the balls.

In addition to giving a box of eBalls to the team, Soccer Chaplains United gave several dozen traditional soccer balls, in sizes four and five.  We gave them cones to mark out a field or run games and drills.  We also gave them all the soccer cleats we had on hand.

May this team’s experience this summer be impactful to everyone they come in contact with, even one another. You can follow the team on their blog, by clicking here.

To support Timothy Project: Zacapa, Guatemala or future Timothy Project ventures please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project: Soccer Key In Valor’s Trip to Zacapa, Guatamala

Timothy Project: For the sixth year in a row, Valor Discovery returns to Zacapa, Guatemala.  This Spanish speaking team will spend 30 days immersed in the community.

Danny Brooks of Valor Christian High School explains the commitment the team members have made and how soccer is a bridge to helping them achieve their objectives.

Over the years, soccer has been a key component of our ministry in Guatemala. Unique to our team is that everyone speaks Spanish (and has committed to using no English), which means that soccer can be a key stepping stone that will allow for deep conversations and authentic relationship building. We will not only play soccer in the various communities, but soccer will open the door for our team to use our language abilities talk with, pray for and minister to these communities.

The relationships that Valor maintains have been growing over several years.  In 2013 the Valor team built a home in the community.  Since then, the people of the community eagerly await their annual return. Pastor Wilmer is their primary contact in Zacapa.  The soccer players, in particular, have been asking Pastor Wilmer when the soccer-playing, Spanish-speaking Americans will return.

Brooks lays out the plan for this summer,

This year, our goal is to continue playing soccer on their mountain top field. We would love to impact their lives by leaving players with cleats and balls (many play in crocs except for the cleats we brought them 3 years ago). We would also like to fix up their field and provide goals and nets. Additionally, this year we have planned to launch a community/family wide carnival – to include soccer as the main event and also include other activities to reach out to the families. All of these projects are designed to connect people with Jesus and, in particular, the church in Zacapa.

To support Timothy Project: Zacapa, Guatemala or future Timothy Project ventures please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project: Cherry Hills Christian Middle School Juarez Update

Timothy Project: Cherry Hills Christian Middle School (CHCMS) returned to Juarez, Mexico after several years away.  This trip of 24 middle school students and a handful of teachers and parent chaperones marked the return to serving the impoverished and orphaned in Juarez, a city on the Mexico side of the border.  The team’s week of serving proved not only to be safe and free of violence but full of great rewards few expected.

The team’s primary objective while at Arbol de Vida was to pull out dead and damaged trees in the orchards and replace them with healthy saplings.  When the students were not honing their arborist skills, they were bonding with the orphans who live there.  A highlight of their time with the children was the giving of the soccer gear donated by Soccer Chaplains United.

Isabella Carpinelli, an eighth grader from CHCMS, said,

The kids were overjoyed to see everything. Right away they ran out onto the field with their new soccer gear and played for hours on end.

Soccer Chaplains United sent with the team a few dozen complete sets of soccer gear.  With their new cleats, soccer jersey, and shorts the kids from Arbol De Vida experienced Christmas-like joy.  The gratification did not end with the children, it rippled through the Cherry Hills Christian students and even into the adults. Todd Burmeister shared,

As a supporter of Soccer Chaplains United, I was excited to see how the Timothy Project works in its entirety. It is one thing to organize and donate gear here (in Denver), but quite another to see the joy and excitement in the children’s faces when they receive it. I now know firsthand what a blessing the Timothy Project is.

Todd Burmeister has been a supporter of Soccer Chaplains United and a parent of a Cherry Hills Christian Middle School student.

Since returning from their trip, the students have begun plans to continue to grow the relationships they started while in Mexico.  Several of the students hope to return to Arbol De Vida as well as support the children with gifts and cards of encouragement.

To support Timothy Project: Middle School Returns to Juarez, Mexico or future Timothy Project ventures please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project: Middle School Returns to Juarez, Mexico

Every spring Cherry Hills Christian Middle School (CHCMS) takes a week out of classroom learning for a different kind of learning, real-world, hands-on serving communities in need.  Some local, some states away and this year, after several years to our southern neighbor, Mexico.

Gary Babb, a CHCMS teacher, is leading the group of students, parent chaperones and teachers to an orphanage outside Juarez.

Our school, Cherry Hills Christian Middle School, has been focused on service outreach for the past 20 years. We began traveling to Juarez Mexico in 2000 to build homes with an organization called Missions Ministries. The impact on the students, staff, and chaperones was profound in so many ways. Unfortunately, the drug wars escalated in 2010-2014 and our church and school made the decision to suspend trips to Juarez until the situation became more stable.

Stability has returned to the area and school administration has deemed it safe enough to send students back for this mission week.  The students will be serving in an orphanage familiar to the CHCMS staff.  Babb shares his personal connection with Arbol de Vida.

Two teachers from our school, Nate and Berenice Schrimp served as the on-site directors at Arbol de Vida for over two years prior to Nate becoming a full-time teacher at Cherry Hills Christian Middle School. After coming to CHCMS, Nate began to take other teachers and their families to Juarez to build relationships with the staff and students there. We have continued to travel to Arbol de Vida for the past six years now and continue to connect with staff and students through the year. Our annual trips at Thanksgiving have been a highlight for my family and many others from CHCMS. Our main focus is always to build relationships based on Jesus Christ. We have all been blessed by the way Jesus has used the staff and children at Arbol de Vida to see life from a very different perspective. To date, at least eight teachers and our families have traveled to Arbol de Vida and we are hoping to have several more join us for Thanksgiving 2018.

It will be a different, yet exciting, experience to take a few dozen middle school students to Arbol de Vida than the usual Thanksgiving family trips.  The focus on this trip will be manual labor in the orchards that have recently been damaged in harsh weather conditions.  When the students will not be pulling out dead trees, they will have the opportunity to play soccer with the children of Arbol de Vida.

Over the past 20 years traveling to Juarez, one of the highlights of each trip is always the soccer games we play with the children in the communities. Whether we are playing in the streets of the neighborhoods or on the field at Arbol de Vida, futbol (soccer) is a great way to connect with the children there. One year we played a game with old rags wrapped in plastic and tape. The result was still the same: lots of sweat, smiles and laughter, says Babb.

To support Timothy Project: Middle School Returns to Juarez, Mexico or future Timothy Project ventures please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Timothy Project – Valor Costa Rica 2018 Final Update

Timothy Project: Soccer players from Valor Christian High School traveled back to Tamarindo, Costa Rica in March 2018 to continue the mission they began years ago, to touch people with the love of Christ through soccer and building homes. The team partners with Mercy Homes Ministries through which they work with locals to build homes for families in need and stay focused on the mission at hand.

The team of nearly 30, including Soccer Chaplain United’s Executive Director, Brad Kenney, spent their days building homes and their evenings running soccer clinics.  Two homes were built during thier time in Tamarindo.  Valor senior and varsity player, Nicole Wright, wrote about her experience,

We built two houses for two families – one of the families was living in a tin shack prior to this trip and the other family’s home recently burned down in an electrical accident.

Wright adds, One of my favorite memories was the dedication of the two completed houses at the end of the trip. Even though we experienced a grueling schedule (8 hours of construction followed by 2 hours of soccer outreach almost every day), my team and I were able to accomplish incredible things in the name of the Lord during our time in Costa Rica.

In addition to building two houses, the team collected and transported almost 40 large duffel bags worth of soccer gear from local schools, clubs, ministries, and families – nearly 2000 pounds of balls, cleats, shin guards, gloves, and training gear.  All the gear carried from Denver to Tamarindo is used for the soccer outreach, the soccer clinics and is left for the community. To read more of the story please visit this Valor link.

To see previous stories about this trip see Timothy Project: Valor Costa Rica 2018 – Return to Tamarindo and Timothy Project 2018: Full Bags for Costa Rica.

To support Timothy Project: Valor Costa Rica 2018 or future Timothy Project ventures please donate through PushPay — simply select Timothy Project from the selectable funds to contribute to. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor an individual or organization in an outreach effort, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!

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Currents in Costa Rica

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A final few thoughts from my time in Costa Rica. One day, after our work time, we all jumped in the ocean. The waves were hug! The riptide, though, was pulling us further and further down the beachfront and out to sea. I reflected to the team and on the Valor Discovery blog and I want to share that reflection with you here:

Not many of you know me. I was born in Denver, but grew up in Arizona. My grandparents lived in Laguna Nigel, CA for several years and I have many fond memories of the beach and the ocean. I learned early how to body surf and boogie board and I love playing in the ocean.

Now, I was a bit disappointed to miss out on all the big beach days for the trip (I joined Sunday afternoon and left Friday). But the moments we did get to jump into the ocean were refreshing and fun after a long, hard, hot day at work.

One of the days we were all out playing the ocean there was particularly strong riptide. If you don’t know what a riptide is, it’s a strong tide or current that is particularly dangerous because it can pull you out to sea. This particular riptide was pulling everything sideways up the beach and if you didn’t pay attention, you oddly find yourself not only out to sea, but far from your original insertion point.

The team was having a blast because the waves were huge and crashing down on everyone, but the riptides kept pulling us further and further away.

We gathered the students in and pointed out what was happening.

We setup a boundary — play, have fun, enjoy the waves, but stay aware of your surroundings. When you see you’ve been pulled to this point, get out and walk along the beach back to the other boundary line.

It seemed silly at first, but it was safe.

God, in many ways has marked out similar boundary lined in his Word, the Bible.

There are strong, dangerous currents — ways in which the world is trying to pull you, me, and our children out into an overwhelming sea. God acts as lifeguard — He lays down a boundary line for our safety and protection and in the times when we are nearly swept away He is able to save.

As parents, you and I have been entrusted, for the time that our children are in our homes and under our stewardship and care to help them understand the marking out of the boundaries. To help encourage awareness of their surroundings. To help remind them that sometimes they need a break from being out in the ocean where waves can engulf and knock one off their feet.

I pray that we will not take this task lightly and that this powerful lesson, learned from a Costa Rican riptide could be firmly planted into your son and daughter’s minds as they navigate the sea of life with Jesus.

Pura Vida,

Rev

Costa Rica waves

Critters in Costa Rica

So, one of the more interesting parts of Costa Rica and our time there was seeing the many different animals in the wild. Not usual for someone from Colorado! Sleeping bats in the morning hut where we did devotions. Monkeys dropping mangos on to cars in the hotel parking lot to break them open for a mid-morning snack. Gila monsters crossing the road. Gecko lizards in the luggage and more!

One of my favorite moments was seeing a stick bug who had found one of our green walls to have a similar color to a tree. Such a small and fragile feeling creature. An amazing wonder and complement to God’s created world. I literally thought a small twig or branch had fallen across the fresh paint of one of our walls, and yet it moved!

But that wasn’t to be all! The last night that I was with the team (Thursday) I decided to take a shower before heading out for dinner. The rest of the team was down at the beach to watch the sky after sunset. Ahh the peace and quiet of a room all to myself!

Then — pinch!

Ouch! Must be a muscle tweak from all the hard work today.

Pinch.

Ahh! I must be getting old.

And then, pinch!

What is going on?

I turned my towel over to reveal another of Costa Rica’s critters. I snapped my towel in surprise and he happened to land on the shower curtain as pictured below.

Yes, folks, that’s a scorpion!

I loved it when Coach Brian Shultz walked in and asked if I had any last requests. A team member said, “I remember when I had my last meal with my best friend.” Comforting words to be sure.

Team doc kept his eyes on me that night just to make sure.

What was even more fun was when we returned from dinner that night. The body of the crushed scorpion was missing. This put all the young lads in the room into a bit of panic. It wasn’t until a couple of red fire ants sauntered into the bathroom for a late night snack that we realized they had probably taken up a scorpion take-out order for dinner!

Cancha in Costa Rica

Driving through some of the towns and villages in Costa Rica, it was amazing to see some things which stood out. Namely, the cancha fields. Here in the midst of tin roof buildings on the side of a road would be a beautiful turf field with lights and netting. “Cancha” in Spanish means court. The small-sided field would host a 5 v. 5 match. Games were fast-paced. The ball, more like a futsal ball, had less bounce and a softer feel. (I know because one hit my face!)

After several hours at the work site, our Valor Discovery Team made up of members of the boys and girls soccer team at Valor Christian High School would play small-sided games against local teams from the surrounding towns. After the games, which would sometimes feature a mixing of the players in order to build relationships, the Valor team would hand out soccer cleats. Several of the Ticos only had tennis shoes to play in and no studs. They would gather around the bags and say which number or size they would like to try on.

With a beautiful Costa Rican sunset in the background, the team poses before starting to play a small-sided game in “La Cancha.”

On one night, the team leaders were invited to mix-in and play with the students before the local teams showed up. Reluctantly, I got situated in goal. Goalkeeper. Great. There was a slight fear and trepidation in me as I had seen how hard some of the student athletes had fired the ball on their local opponents. To be honest, I did better than I thought I would and it was fun to engage with the students in this way.

I did make a “Scott Sterling” type of save with my face and took some studs in the thigh, but tried to hold my own.

The redemptive nature to our time in the evenings was in the relationship building and the provision of soccer gear to those who had so very little. A goalkeeper with duct tape to hold his gloves together. A player with holes in his cleats. Another wearing shoes too small. Another with shoes too big for him.

We are not possessors. We are not consumers. We are stewards.

As Christian people, when we realize that everything we have has been given to us by God, we realize that we are called to steward what we have. We are not possessors. We are not consumers. We are stewards. The new and slightly used boots (cleats) that we would give away at the end of the night might be regarded as garbage or unusable in American culture, but here, they became prized possessions.

I met Josef the first night — a spry, goalkeeper he found a pair of boots (cleats) that fit him just right.

But more important than a new pair of boots or gloves, is showing the love of Jesus. Many of these young people come from homes broken. Many have little in this world to call their own. I heard one story of a flood last year. As the waters rose, a young man we were playing with put all of this prized possessions into his hammock some 5 feet off the ground — a pair of cleats, a ball, and a jersey out of the floodwaters. Everything else was ruined or washed away.

The Bible says,

Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The cancha fields of Costa Rica are not the reason why Valor went down to Costa Rica. Rather, it was to introduce those that we played with and against to a heavenly court, God’s court. And while many might appreciate the beauty of a nicely laid out, turf field there is a better place where we can run, and live, and breathe. An eternal place.

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