Just a couple weeks ago, the third Timothy Project recipient for 2012 hosted its summer camp outreach to those in the Glenbrook community in southwest Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Of the 83 children in attendance, the church (Christian Life Assembly) was able to sponsor 58. Through the Timothy Project, CrossTraining helped to sponsor 4.
According to Wendy Aston, all the campers seemed to have a good time and were inspired and challenged by the devotionals offered daily during the soccer camp. The church is already seeing 2 new families beginning to attend on Sundays.
The area of Calgary where the church and camp are based is very diverse with many different nationalities and social and economic backgrounds. One neat story was when the mother and sister of a Muslim camper attended the celebration event at the end of camp. The father had been quite nervous about sending his son last year and specified that he would have to sit out of the devotional time if he came. And the church was sensitive to the families request. The camper, though, stayed for the whole week, attended the devotionals, and then brought his family to the party. A very encouraging time for the family and for the church in reaching out and showing love.
In another story, a single mom whose daughter attended last year, had been
in contact a month before camp started to ask for prayer. In order to
complete her university and qualify for a higher paying job, she needed her
ex-husband to resume his child support. Things were not looking good. A
handful of our ladies gathered around her at camp to pray with her. She
came to us during camp after her court appearance with cold hands and a look
of despair. She got the same judge as she had had in the past whom she
didn’t trust. He had told her he would have to sleep on his verdict. Our
head coach and Pastor Wendy took some time to pray with her right there and by the
afternoon celebration event she reported that the judge had made an about
face and ruled in her favour granting her 2 more years of support.
God’s faithfulness is evident through these stories and more and CrossTraining and Christian Life Assembly are excited at how God continues to use soccer as a means to touching lives.