Tag Archives: Rick and Karen Rogers

Gifts, Passions and Glory

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

“Let me tell you about my journey (really God’s) halfway across the world. He brought together a group of basketball Wills Story Photo 4players 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.

“From the start, we discovered a brotherhood no one could have anticipated, Wills Story Photo 5clicking 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.

“Sharing the love of Jesus in Manila in a prison, an orphanage, a school and a hospital opened our eyes to what life is Wills Story Photo 1really 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.

“Although our team found success in our games, we were playing for something Wills Story Photo 2bigger 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.

“Personally, I came back with a renewed sense of purpose.  God spoke to me and opened up my eyes to see where He is leading.  I’m sure all my brothers have stories and experiences that would never have happened if they hadn’t taken this flight of faith to the Philippines.

“I’m so thankful for all the amazing things God did in us and through us on this trip.  I encourage you to say “yes” to any sort of mission journey that God presents you with-there is truly nothing like it! But I also want to encourage you that you don’t have to travel across the world to make a difference.  Wherever you are and whatever you do, you can bring honor and glory to the Lord and together, He will use us to change the world!” ~Will

Your support enables students like Will to experience God in new ways.

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:   Oct 2015 to  print a hard copy newsletter.

Discover your “why!”

Posted in Sports T.E.A.M. by

Why do we work, play, or do anything?

There’s a motivation for everything we do, whether we are conscious of it or not.

In three minutes you can watch how AIA is helping hundreds of athletes and coaches every year to discover their “why.”

During this project, many on the team discovered their foundational rock which they will build upon for the rest of their lives.

Can you imagine helping someone discover their why, their foundational rock of life?  Now imagine this being your job!  That’s our privilege.

Please share this post so others can learn about opportunities with AIA.

If you are on Facebook, please like our ministry page and start following Athletes in Action’s Ao1 page. You can partner with us by sharing AIA’s ministry with people in your network.

Learn more about Athletes in Action or our ministry.

Healing, Cru15, and Digital Strategies

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

Healing: We are delighted to tell you Elizabeth is finally recovering after almost three years of headaches, dizziness, nausea Elizabeth, Aug 21, 2015and 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.
Next week Aaron starts his sophomore year in high school, Annie returns to EMU for her sophomore year and Ellie begins her senior year at OSU. Erica started her job as a social worker and recently became engaged! Andrew continues work in NYC as a value-added arbitrage of web traffic (don’t ask—I don’t know what it means either), and Emily is working and pursuing certification to teach English in Korea.

CRU15, cru640x360CRU15:  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:

Ministry Update Cru15

AIA’s Ultimate Training Camp is featured in the third segment. It was our first partnership with Cru City, and it was held at AIA’s Total Athlete Complex in Xenia, OH, where Rick serves. We’ll share more in subsequent newsletters.  Ultimate Training Camp is featured in the third segment. It was our first partnership with Cru City, and it was held at AIA’s Total Athlete Complex in Xenia, OH, where Rick serves. We’ll share more in subsequent newsletters.

Digital Strategies: In June, we introduced AIA’s new digital strategy to more effectively reach those we minister to. Our reasoning: 1 Corinthians 9:23, “for the sake of the gospel!” We must reach the current and future generations where they live! The most exciting part is you can literally join us in sharing the gospel and life-change stories.
Check out the digital/social media platforms on the left. If you are on Facebook, please like our ministry page and start following Athletes in Action’s Ao1 page. You can partner with us by sharing AIA’s ministry with people in your network.

Thank you to everyone who helped us attend CRU15!
For those who still want to help, go to https://give.cru.org/0530568

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:  August 2015 to  print a hard copy newsletter.

 

Concussions, graduations, teenagers, and dependence

Posted in Sports T.E.A.M. by

Family Life

Concussion, Therapy, College Graduations, Teenagers, Dependence. These words sum up the Rogers family experience.

June 2015 Word MapConcussion & Therapy: While Elizabeth is better, she has significant retraining for her brain ahead. The journey will be very difficult, but doable according to the doctors.

College Graduations: We rejoiced to see Erica graduate from OSU and Emily from Tiffin U., both magna cum laude. Emily is working to obtain a TESOL certification to teach English in South Korea and Erica started with Franklin Co. Social Services the week after graduation!

Teenagers: For most of you, no further explanation is needed. Life is full of school and social activities, and of course, driving almost everywhere.

Dependence on the Lord: We (Rick & Karen) have been living a Romans 5 experience, teaching us that suffering produces good results in us when we will choose to trust the Lord through it. Suffering leads to endurance and on to proven character, resulting in hope, thus preparing us for future service.

Ministry Life

Karen: She continues to write and edit written, and an ever-increasing amount of digital content for AIA. She has been discipling and coaching a group of interns who will be sent into the harvest field with AIA this fall.

Rick: He moved in a new leadership role focusing on digital communications. In order to reach those under 40 with the gospel or pursue/equip those in the sports world, you must do it digitally. If you don’t exist on websites, social media or email, you don’t exist! When people have questions, they find answers through “Google” or through relationships on social media. Digital communication is the 21st century equivalent to the Gutenberg Press in fulfilling the Great Commission. Rick is co-managing content for AIA’s athletesinaction.org, Facebook and Twitter pages and administrating AIA’s Team Blogs.

You are a vital part of this ministry, and we are grateful! The best news of all is our partnership can grow significantly in the coming years. Stay tuned!

Your prayers and support allow us to serve!  Thanks!

Please review our prayer page  and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:   Jun 2015 to  print a hard copy newsletter.

Your prayers for Elizabeth

Posted in AIA Global Sports, Prayer by

It was a warm, sunny October afternoon when our guests arrived to pray for Elizabeth. We were enjoying the hint of color appearing in the trees in the front yard and the gentle breeze.  By 5:20 PM,Elizabeth Nov 26 2014, resized, cropped we had gathered around Elizabeth as she sat comfortably in the middle of our family room.  We felt grateful for all the prayer that had already been offered on her behalf, and hopeful about how God might use the prayer and anointing to heal  her. (Why? See “She needs your prayers“)

Our family is so thankful for the many people who have prayed, fasted, and invited others to pray for healing! We tangibly felt God’s love through the texts, emails, phone calls and cards telling us of even whole families fasting and praying on her behalf.

So, how did God work?

Elizabeth has experienced a marked improvement in her balance, vision and noise tolerance.  Both her doctors  have said she is doing better than they have ever seen her do. Elizabeth’s capacity to do more around the house and spend time with others also significantly improved through October and into  November.  Praise God for all of these developments!

The doctors in Columbus and Dayton both agreed that another round of intensive sensory integration therapy would be the best course of action.  She started it on November 17.  It will run at least through December 15th.  Please continue to pray:

  • for the therapy to help her brain to completely heal
  • for her to feel God’s presence and love
  • for her ability to read and think again without intense pain
  • for her ability to resume some kind of schooling

We have felt overwhelmed by your love and support for Elizabeth and for us as you offered a sacrifice of prayer.

“May [their] prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of [their] hands as the evening offering. Psalm 141:2

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we are grateful for the improvement Elizabeth has experienced, and also for you, our dear friends and family who are supporting us in this journey.

 

 

 

 

Principles Matter

Posted in AIA Global Sports by

Deverin had decided to play basketball for the glory of God, but now he found he couldn’t play at all.

Christian athletes often struggle to combine Deverin in AIA jackettheir faith with their sports. Deverin, a lean, 6’9” basketball player is no exception. When the opportunity arose to put basketball and his new faith together by going on a tour with Athletes in Action, Deverin wasn’t sure he wanted to, but a persistent AIA staff member convinced this former atheist, now a new Christian, to apply.

“I had not counted on God capturing my heart during training camp and changing me.”

During training, Deverin learned The Principles, AIA’s curriculum giving athletes a biblical framework in which participation in sport is an opportunity to worship God. Each of the five principles focuses on a story from the Bible and applies it to sport and competition.

As he competed, Deverin experienced the power of Principle #1: Audience of One, which emphasizes how to worship God while participating in your sport. He learned that God alone is worthy of worship, especially on the ball court where his performance becomes a thank you gift to God.

Determined to be a witness to his teammates on his campus when he returned from the AIA tour, Deverin began to apply The Principles. Then, unexpectedly, he injured his shoulder, a devastating blow for any athlete. But God did something totally unexpected. Rather than use Deverin’s stellar performance on the court, God used his injury and inability to compete to reach Deverin’s teammates.

As Deverin recovered, Principle #4: Hurtin’ for Certain took center court. This principle focuses on God’s purposes for our trials. Because Deverin trusted in God‘s sovereignty, the door was wide open for him to share his faith with his teammates. Then things started to change on his campus. First, his teammates started to attend campus Bible studies, then other athletes from other sports teams, until the group went from 20 to over 200 athletes by the end of the semester.

In Deverin’s own words, “The trip with AIA made me realize what living your faith looks like…It taught me to be humble and surrender myself to God.”

Your prayers and support allow us to serve!  Thanks!

Please review our prayer page  (latest news on Elizabeth’s condition) and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:  Nov 2014 to  print a hard copy newsletter.

She needs your prayers

Posted in AIA Global Sports, Hard Copy Newsletter, Prayer by

Biff, Oct 2014 Newsletter, ResizedImagine walking when your brain’s ability to process sensory input lags behind, like when audio and video are out of sync on your TV. Imagine an unstable world where focusing the words on a page is nearly impossible and you have no down dial for volume or brightness; where there are unrelenting headaches, dizziness and nausea, and your heart constantly races 50% faster than normal because your nervous system is just trying to keep up.This is the life our 16-year-old daughter Elizabeth has lived for the past two years since suffering a concussion playing field hockey.

Since then she has endured testing and treatment from many doctors and therapists and has tried meds, therapies and treatments we had never even heard of. The past several months have been filled with appointments and exercises we are to do with her. At this point, school is nearly impossible for her since she can’t read, use the computer or concentrate for more than a short time without worsening her headache. She needs your prayers.

On Monday, October 13th at 5:00 p.m. we are inviting a couple of pastors from our church to anoint Elizabeth with oil and pray with us for her. Would you join us on that day through prayer and fasting for her? You can fast from a meal, all your meals or anything else you are willing to fast from. Jesus said that some things are only accomplished through fasting and prayer. We are not trying to persuade an unwilling God, nor are we attempting to obligate Him by the number of people praying or because of our fasting; we are crying out to a loving Father who created and knows Elizabeth and has good plans for her.

Please pray for:

  • complete healing of Elizabeth’s brain
  • Elizabeth to allow God to use this trial for good in her life
  • wisdom for the doctors and therapists treating her now
  • the provision and direction to seek further treatment for her

Your prayers and support allow us to serve!  Thanks!

Please review our prayer page and support needs and lift up our ministry to the Lord.  Click the following:  Oct 2014 to  print a hard copy newsletter.