Tag Archives: Missions

The Beautiful Game on Forbidden Fields

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A young staff member I’m coaching recently led a mission team of 18 to North Africa (to a country that hasn’t hosted an AIA team since around 2009). Her reflections:

From the very beginning, it was clear that this trip would be both significant and stretching. For many of our team, this was a completely new ministry context. We were in an extremely secure country where open proclamation of the Gospel is not possible in the ways we’re often accustomed to. Instead, we were invited to trust God to work through our presence, our relationships, our humility, and our love. It challenged us deeply to rethink what faithfulness looks like and to depend on the Holy Spirit in fresh ways.

One of the greatest highlights for me personally was also hearing the stories of local brothers and sisters who have come to know Jesus. Sitting in a pastor’s home, listening to testimonies marked by courage and the evidence of God’s hand was incredibly humbling. We had the privilege of worshiping together in both English and Arabic. It was a powerful reminder that the Church truly transcends language, culture, and borders.

Here are some quotes from some of the testimonies we got to hear:

“It was through a group of Christians who came to my country to play sports that I first heard the Gospel. That’s my vision, to create opportunities to have Gospel conversations through sports with the students in our country.”

“The Sermon on the Mount was like a manifesto that I had never heard before. It was so contradictory to all the evil and hatred that I had seen in my religious circles and that is the moment where the Holy Spirit changed my heart.”

An athlete who went on this trip said: “Going to North Africa with AIA Soccer was an experience I will never forget! I experienced what it’s like to be on mission in a country where Christians are the vast minority. The team interacted with local believers, shared testimonies, and experienced mutual encouragement. We played soccer with kids and students, and built relationships through the beautiful game. It’s amazing how a simple soccer ball grants access into people’s lives! Being on this trip helped me embrace a lifestyle of living for God’s kingdom.

Please review ourprayer page and support needs and lift our ministry to the Lord. Click on the following: February 2026 Hard Copy Newsletter.

Bringing the news to everyone

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Did you know that AIA ministers not only to athletes and coaches, but also to sports fans? Through AIA events like the Super Bowl Breakfast and the All-Star Breakfast, we share the gospel and testimonies of faith with hundreds of people. Last month, AIA welcomed 1600 guests to the NFL-sanctioned Super Bowl Breakfast in Las Vegas where the Bart Starr Award was presented to Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jr. for exceptional character, service and leadership in his life.

Sixty people accepted Christ in response to the gospel, 200 others expressed interest in learning more about faith, and all of these were connected with local churches. More than 800 others watched the live stream of the event. 

Last month in Indianapolis, AIA presented two awards celebrating faith and character in the NBA. New Orleans Pelican Cody Zeller received the Bobby Jones Award and Jim Morris received the Jerry Colangelo award. The All-Star Breakfast takes place in the host city of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Many heard the gospel as a result of this gathering!

Athletes in Action’s “Keys to Life” Breakfast is held every year at the NCAA Men’s Final Four Tournament. This year’s event is on April 6 at the Phoenix Convention Center and will honor character, leadership and integrity on and off the court. The gospel and faith stories will also be shared.

Italy Team

AIA’s GO’24 campaign is a focus on mission trips, and March was a very busy month for spring break trips. Staff and students traveled to South Africa, Croatia, Albania, Costa Rica, Italy, South Asia, the Caribbean and some inner cities in the U.S. to share Christ cross-culturally. Several students who went are praying about serving in some of these locations for the next year. On these mission trips, there are opportunities for students to learn to share the gospel and their own stories of faith, to care for widows and orphans, to engage in athletic competition and to lead clinics for younger students and children. GO’24 will continue in the summer with many other short-term mission trip opportunities.

Croatia Team

Croatia Team

Finally, the Wooden Family Fieldhouse will be completed in the next several weeks. With indoor basketball and track, athletic training facilities and meeting space, it will enable us to serve thousands more people at our campus in Xenia, OH. The grand opening will be on June 15th.

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:  April 2024 hard copy Newsletter.

Cancelled means Opportunity

Posted in Hard Copy Newsletter, Sports T.E.A.M. by

As of January 30th, the Sports TEAM division of AIA planned 40+ mission trips, leadership academies, and camps for 2020. Meanwhile, our leadership had been tracking the Covid-19 outbreak and planning since early January.Cancelled Image

Then on March 13th, we received an email from Cru stating:

“Effective March 15, all ministry sponsored projects, missions and conferences are postponed through June … limit group meetings to a maximum of 20 people until then… comply with all local, city, state and university guidelines during this time.”

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Like every other organization, AIA is adapting to ramp up all forms of digitally operations for at least the next 30-90 days and maybe longer, while closing our traditional ministry facilities.

Stay tuned, we will share more about how AIA is adapting to full-time digital ministry. The good news for Karen and me is that both of us can and do much of our work through virtual and digital means.

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Karen is coaching and encouraging new staff. We just heard 58 people are currently applying for staff. God is clearly calling more to serve with AIA. In addition, she continues to write and edit for a variety of our platforms.

Rick Working

Rick’s role of providing analytics and insights for Sports TEAM leadership has become even more important around transitioning to an entirely digital ministry. He will be helping our division redefine and manage assisting our staff as we expand and explore new opportunities for ministry to athletes, coaches and sports fans. Your partnership with us is touching many lives through our staff.

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following: March 2020 Newsletter to print a hard copy newsletter.

Praise God for how He is leading us in redefining our ministry today and in the coming year! Your partnership makes a difference. 

Plenty Left Over …

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At our recent national staff conference, a major focus was our goal of unity and oneness. One of our speakers, Latasha Morrison, founder of Be the Bridge, says, “The church is the only place equipped to do racial reconciliation well.” We who know Jesus should lead the way!

Interns Jun 2019

When Cru was founded in 1951, our country was 90% Caucasian. This is no longer the case, and we want our staff to accurately reflect the current ethnic realities of our culture so we can reach EVERY person with the gospel.

A barrier to this goal has been the difficulty faced by ethnic minority staff in finding enough prayer and financial partners so that they can minister without hindrance. Cru and AIA have been working diligently on finding ways to change this. As new staff are trained, we share with them the opportunity to advocate for others. We encourage staff members to raise support so that they and others can serve as front-line laborers in the harvest.

Interns, Karen, June 2019During their initial training, interns participate in an object lesson which drives home the point that some people face challenges that others don’t. We talk about leveraging our resources for the sake of the body of Christ, just like in a church where different members have different gifts, but all the gifts are given by the Holy Spirit for the equipping of the saints.

The last several years I have rejoiced as I coached our newest staff. Some have had a relatively easy time finding the support they needed, and they have joyfully shared so that others will have the resources they need to report to their assignments.

To illustrate, a former intern, Lauren shared some of her support with Bethany who shared some of her support with Lucymar who is now sharing some of her support with Marie. God’s provision for one person caused a ripple effect to impact others down the line.

“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” 2 Cor 9:8

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following: September 2019 Newsletter to print a hard copy newsletter.

Thank you for your love for us, for Jesus and for those He came to save! We appreciate your partnership. We love you!

Competition and the Gospel

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In 2016 Rob, an AIA staffer, took a group of students on a mission trip to Central Asia. At one place they wrestled, the host country coach asked Rob if he could bring a team to wrestle in the U.S. Plans were made to bring 14 wrestlers and coaches to the U.S., but only two could get visas, including K., a skilled wrestler who really wanted to compete here.

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So K. came and lived with Rob’s family for two months. Rob took K. to several schools to attend practices and work with many wrestlers. Because K. was such a good wrestler, he was invited by a major Division I university to stay and compete with their athletes because “iron sharpens iron,” and the coaches knew K. would be able to give their wrestlers serious competition. The head coach, assistant coach and numerous wrestlers on that team are believers who understood the opportunity to influence this young man’s life with Christ’s love.

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His six-month visa expired, so K. went home country, but Rob made a connection at another school where K. is now training with two AIA alumni. K. recently competed at the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament at the Olympic Training Center. Rob asked BJ, a great wrestler he knew who is a Christian, for the loan of a couple singlets since K. hadn’t brought any. BJ didn’t loan, but gave K. two! Later Rob connected with BJ’s coach, an Olympic champion and a strong believer, to thank him. They hadn’t met before, but this coach had heard about Rob’s trip to Central Asia and wanted to send the guys he coaches on their next trip.

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Through all of these relationships, God is opening doors for the gospel. Staff members like Rob are taking every opportunity to connect with others to widely sow the seeds of the gospel. Competitive trips like the Central Asia one serve several purposes: they give American athletes a chance to compete worldwide while giving them extraordinary opportunities for discipleship, fellowship and evangelism; they enable students to see and participate as God draws people to Himself; they serve as a catalyst to ministry in other countries; and they give American students a vision for reaching their own campuses once they return home.  Each year the Sports T.E.A.M. division of AIA sends out 30 – 40 mission projects like this one.  Rick’s role is to help make these trips more effective. 

We are deeply grateful for your partnership!
Thank you for helping us mobilize labors for the harvest.

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following: March 2019 newsletter to print a hard copy newsletter.

You’re Sending Laborers

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At Cru headquarters in Orlando stands a sign that reads: “Boldly proclaim Jesus Christ and His life-changing love and truth to every person, and urgently mobilize co-laborers for the global harvest.”

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A few weeks ago, I (Karen) had the privilege of traveling to Cru’s headquarters to meet a group of about two dozen men and women from their 20’s to their 60’s who have responded to God’s call on their lives to proclaim the gospel all over the world. This newest group of staff met in Orlando to receive training to assemble a team of prayer and financial partners so that they can report to their assignments. They will be serving with Athletes in Action and eight other Cru ministries which all share the vision of building spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

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The AIA staff who participated are assigned to campuses in Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Rhode Island. Because of their presence on these campuses, athletes will hear the gospel, be discipled and begin reaching their friends, their teams, their campuses and the world with the gospel.

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I am working with a group of these new AIA staff to encourage, disciple and help them prepare to win, build and send multiplying disciples into the harvest. I love working with them, helping them to be accountable, cheering them on and encouraging them take leaps of faith and obedience to Jesus. They are taking initiative to reach out to everyone they know in the power of the Holy Spirit to invite them to be part of changing the world for the glory of God. This week I have heard comments from my interns like, “I really needed to hear that,” “Our conversation was a game changer,” and “I thank God for your help.” Thank you for helping us mobilize laborers for the harvest!

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Interns in the midst of their training weekend.

Our new address is 6300 Sedge LN, Hilliard, OH 43026-2111. Update our contact info.

Your support impacts countless lives with the gospel every day!

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.

Click the following: October 2018 to print a hard copy newsletter.

74 Days this summer

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This summer Athletes in Action will have at least one missions project in the field from May 15th to August 27th. . There will be 40 teams serving in 30 countries from New Zealand to South Africa to Poland. Right now, Screen Shot 2018-05-22 at 9.20.12 AM.pngthe Poland Basketball and Ivory Coast Volleyball teams are conducting their training camps in Xenia. In addition, our men’s soccer project to Portugal and East Asia basketball teams are in country. Get a glimpse into their mission by going to Goaia.org’s Opportunity Blog. My role continues to be providing financial/operational insights to help each team complete their mission.

Our basketball ministry just put on a Men’s Captain’s Academy where 21 athletes spent five intense days learning how to integrate their faith and love of basketball to help them Screen Shot 2018-05-22 at 9.22.10 AM.pngbecome not only leaders on their teams, but to become all God wants them to be for life.

In June and July there will be Ultimate Training Camps and leadership projects on our Xenia campus. I (Rick) am blogging for the high school Ultimate Training Camp (UTC), June 24th-30th.  Last year 28 of 75 athletes accepted Christ! Follow this year’s project now at Goaia.org’s High School UTC and ask the Lord to change the lives of those attending the 2018 camp.

On the homefront, we celebrated Annie’s graduation from Eastern Michigan U., and Aaron is finished with high school. Screen Shot 2018-05-22 at 9.59.42 AM.pngWe have also been working the last few months to sell our home and downsize. We plan to list May 31st and then live in an apartment for at least a year. As of August 1st our new address will be 4300 Sedge Lane, Hilliard, OH 43026.

Your support impacts countless lives with the gospel every day!

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.

Click the following: May 2018 Newsletter to print a hard copy newsletter.