By Mia Smith and Lemmy Delano
From a young age Sanchez was enthralled with the world of soccer. Throughout his childhood and then into high school he poured in endless hours to improve his skills and set his sights high on the dream of someday playing professionally. Shortly after graduation Sanchez was offered a position on a professional team – his efforts had paid off. Soccer became his everything, yet there was always a subtle tugging towards youth he knew he had to respond to.
After his professional career ended, Sanchez began to immerse himself into communities drowning under the oppression of drug abuse, robbery, and the excessive crime that was sprouting from the lack of parenting the youth received. Having grown up in similar conditions, Sanchez saw himself in the hurting eyes of those around him. His background in soccer was used as a way to develop relationships through establishing sports teams in the area.
He realized that he couldn’t just train players and have them being killed because of their lifestyles. He realized that there needed to be deeper transformation of the attitudes and characters of the payers. They needed Christ.
In the process of his coaching, one of the youth on his team was shot and killed by a police offer because of his involvement in a car jacking. With this event, Sanchez’s focus shifted off of himself and onto the Savior he had turned his back on. The ministry he was involved in took a turn as he realized that the youth he was coaching also needed what he had found. Surrounded by crime and the chances of an unsuspected death looming overhead, Sanchez fervently sought to show his players the peace and promise that rested in God. Sanchez’s coaching changed to something more intentional, and instead of leaving the pitch after games he stayed a while talking to the youth or returned home with them to visit with their families.
Soccer wasn’t the point anymore – Christ was.
Through various connections, Sanchez became involved in Sports Friends and received training in how to better reach out to his players with the Gospel. With the strong relationships he already had in place, his ministry has grown at an astounding rate. Others within his denomination have also discovered a calling to ministry through Sanchez’s example and he has begun to train those people in using sports as a tool to spread the gospel.
Transformation is evident in those Sanchez has come into contact with. What started as the hopes of a young boy grew into the discovery of a greater hope that overflowed and filled those around him. The ongoing ministry continues to reach those who previously would have been left to a life of destitution.