The Way Sports – Ministries

Our focused on spreading the Word of God…the message about Jesus, through youth sports. Our mission is to step out into our communities and around the world share to Jesus.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Where are We Going to Share the Gospel in Summer 2012

We have two mission trips scheduled for the summer of 2012. The first is our football group which will be heading to Austria and the Czech Republic. We will be departing on June 29 and returning on July 14. This trip is lead by Mike Cochran, Head Football Coach at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. We expect several coaches from his staff plus one coach from an NCAA Div. II school as well as high school coaches from Oklahoma.  We also are looking forward to having former NFL player Michael Cobb of the Chicago Bears join us again on this mission trip.

Our Basketball mission group will be departing the USA on July 13 and will be returning home on July 28. We will be going to share the Good News of Jesus in the countries of Latvia and Estonia. At this time we have on NJCAA coach who is planning to travel with us as well as several high school coaches and school administrators from Oklahoma. We also may be taking a small group from a local church.

If you are interested in being a part of one of these mission trips please contact us.

Summer 2011 Recap

What an amazing opportunity to see God move on the hearts of so many young people.

June 24-29, 2011 – Talsi, Latvia It’s a great feeling to see the students come to camp that we had met the previous year. How much some of them had grown over the past 12 months was amazing. The Gospel message was well received again this year. We had a total of 55 students who attended our basketball camp. On the last day of the camp, 31 students committed to follow Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.

June 30-July 5, 2011 – Kaunas, Lithuania  We then drove about 6 hours (much of the time on rough dirt roads) south to the country of Lithuania. We held camp this week in a town called Kaunas. Being our first year in Lithuania we really didn’t know what to expect. We had a few obstacles to overcome, but in an amazing fashion God was present in every detail of our camp. On the first day of our camp we had four high school aged boys show up at camp. They were actually from the local prison. This was the first time they had been outside the walls of the prison for 4 years. That day after camp we were ask to come to the prison and “teach basketball” to the other boys. We did. We also were able to share the Gospel with approximately 200 boys ages 16-18. That day 50 young men prayed to accept Jesus as the Lord of their life. We saw the boys from the previous day while we were at the camp. They were still wearing the camp t-shirt with “The Way” sports printed in their own language that we had given them the day before. At the end of the regular basketball camp in Lithuania 16 students ranging in age from 13-19 were saved on the last day of camp.

July 8-12, 2011 – Graz, Austria  After spending two days traveling south through Eastern Europe we arrived in the country of Austria. Here three of us from the basketball camps met up with the inbound group of coaches from the USA to start our first American Football camp. We were joined by 3 college coaches and a former NFL player who came to spend two weeks teaching football and share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our camp took place in Graz, Austria where we had the privilege of working with some really great guys. This camp was different. We were working with grown men…not students. These men ranged in age from 19-33. Each day camp was in the evening instead of the mornings due to the work schedules of the players. At the end of a very productive 4 days of camp from a football perspective, we had an unbelievable response to the Gospel message. A total of 12 “MEN” decided to follow Jesus, including the head coach of the local host team. Wow!!!

July 14-18, 2012, Krakow, Poland   If you haven’t spent 12 hours on a train traveling from Austria through the Czech Republic finally arriving in Poland with no air conditioning…well let’s just say you should try it. Arriving in Krakow, Poland we got right to work starting another week of football camps. Krakow was the home of Oskar Schindler from the movie Schindler’s list, and Irena Sendler (Google this lady and read about the wonderful things she did to rescue children during the Holocaust). This historic city was our home for the next few days while we had the opportunity once again to share the Gospel with men who came, some from several hours away to the American Football Camp. During the camp we did teach the game of football. We also taught them about the person of Jesus. On the last day of the camp we gave the men a chance to respond to our daily Gospel message. Sixteen men prayed that day and ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of their life.

A total of 125 people committed their hearts to follow Jesus during our time in Eastern Europe. What an honor to be a small part of such a big thing.  If you feel called to join us in spreading the Good News of Jesus to those in other countries, please contact us at 918-478-3231.