By Laura Hall, SF Ethiopia
What is the impact that one week of camp can have on youth, their families, and their communities?
You might remember David – the camper who brought a church to his village. After attending camp six years ago as an 11-year-old, David accepted Christ. Upon returning home, he led many members of his family to the Lord as well. As more and more people in the village heard David’s testimony, the number of believers grew. Before long, the Lord worked through David to build a church of more than 70 people.
Both David and his brother are now Sports Friends coaches. It has been beautiful to see them grow and touch many other young lives in their surrounding communities. Not to mention, it means we get to see them regularly over the summer as they bring more kids from their area to camp. David brought three different groups of boys on three different weeks to Langano over the summer!
We were sad to hear recently that David’s father died. We traveled together with our camp staff to attend the funeral, glad for the chance to pay our respects to David and the others from his family that we know. My favorite part, though, as we drove away, was seeing the church – there she is! – that David was instrumental in founding. The church stands on a piece of land just a few hundred feet away from his house.
David, now 17 years old, hopes someday to go to Bible school.
“I want to be a pastor,” he says, “so that I can preach in my community. I have a passion that the whole world would know God’s word. I want to work in places where there is no evangelist, where there is no gospel presence. I need to go and work in those areas. I have a passion for the unreached people, where there is no witness. I want to go and tell them. My prayer is that God will work through me to do miracles by healing people so that people can see God’s power as we witness.”
How many lives can sports ministry touch? So many more than just the “kid that comes to camp!” How much can one life change from a week at camp? We have yet to really see!
For $75, you can train a coach like David to reach out to young people using the platform of sports. Learn more on the 2015 Coaches Campaign page on our website!