48 – 0, Not the Big Story!
Team USA’s on-the-field performance wasn’t 
the biggest story of game. Their off-the-field and between-the-whistle character was the true story. They helped Team China up after hits and always had a positive word for them. They slapped hands with kids and signed autographs. One of the more powerful moments came during halftime, though. Team USA invited Team China to meet up at midfield and prayed for them. The moment wasn’t planned. It was spurred on by an injury to one of Team China’s players.” (Team USA: Rock Stars for Christ)
Can you image an entire football team playing for Christ? Catch more about their adventure as they participated in the Football – World University Championships in Monterrey, Mexico.
This is just one post among over 700 to-date in 2016, from 35 mission projects on AIA’s Team blogs. “That the world may know” from John 17:23 is the heart of AIA’s Team Blogs’ purpose. We are called to “declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 96:3)
In order to accomplish God’s desire to share His marvelous deeds and the gospel, today’s reality requires us to do so digitally through websites and social media platforms. Our strategic opportunity is that the message can go directly to over 90% of those under 40 through their smart phones!
Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support that allow us to help lead these mission teams as they share their faith through projects around the world. You can also make a difference by helping us share what God is doing through our Basketball fall tour by following and sharing their project in your digital world today. Their project runs into early November and can be found at Here.
Please review our prayer page and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.
Click the following: October 2016 Newsletter to print a hard copy newsletter.
This summer has been quite eventful! Our family witnessed two big events for Ellie and Elizabeth.
This is a very exciting summer for us. In addition to our regular work of managing 
In family news, we rejoiced to watch Elizabeth graduate from high school, which is a miracle we continually thank God for; we are preparing for Ellie’s wedding to Austin Church; and we recently learned we will be grandparents to Erica and Parrish’s first child.
AIA’s vision is to see Christ-followers on every team, in every sport, in every nation by using the platform of sports so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus; in other words, the Great Commission found in Matt 28:18-20.
players from around the country and took us to the Philippines. We knew we would be playing against university and professional teams and doing mission work, but we all discovered our plans pale in comparison to the plans God has for us.
clicking as if we had known each other for years. We were able to go so much further than surface level conversation and shared life together as men. We discovered what it means to be a man of God’s kingdom through His Word and the experiences He took us on. God grew each of us closer to Him and to the life He has for us.
really about. Many of us discovered our “why”-our foundational rock on which we will build for the rest of our lives. We discovered we can use our gifts and passions to bring glory to God. Using our play as our worship and our worship as our play, we can use basketball or whatever we do to be a spotlight for Jesus.
bigger than the scoreboard. It was so cool to fellowship with the teams after our games and share laughs, God’s love and the gospel story. It was counter-cultural in the realm of sport. It’s amazing that each one of us went on the same trip, did the same activities, and yet God worked in different ways in everyone. He marked us in ways that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
and exhaustion. She will start her senior year next week and will graduate on time with her class. The U. of Pittsburgh Concussion Clinic put her on the road to recovery. The director hadn’t ever seen a patient work as diligently as Elizabeth has! Thank you for praying! God has graciously answered. Please pray she’ll continue to recover and for strength as she returns to school.
CRU15: Last month, Rick and I attended our biennial staff conference along with 5,000 other staff members from Cru ministries all over the U.S. It was a wonderful time of connecting, worshiping God, hearing challenging messages from godly men and women and learning about exciting new strategies to reach the world with the gospel. The theme “Together” focused on ethnic oneness and partnering with others to spread the gospel. Here is a five-minute update we saw at Cru15 about several Cru ministries:
The Rogers 