Athletes in Action News and Commentary

New Zealand - Home safely

We're home safely.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  The boys did a great job.  We call them the boys because we love them and take care of them, but they truly our young MEN of God and it was our honor to serve alongside them.  Keep them in your prayers as they go back to school and begin their ministries there, and please continue to pray that God would intersect the basketball community in New Zealand and then use that community to reach that country for Christ.

Thanks again.

New Zealand - Open gym and final ministry night

Today we went to a rugby school to start our day of ministry off.  There were guys between the ages of 16-24 at this school.  Our guys were intimidated and wondered if these big rugby players would be interested in our message at all.  God used this time to show the guys that you should never assume what someone's response might be to the message.  He is bigger than that and He moves in wonderful ways.

We gave a similar presentation to last nights, but this time Cade shared his testimony.  It was strong, honest, and it included a call to respond at the end that was both Biblical and appropriate.  Timo followed that up and does ministry with these boys often, so it wasn't the first time that they had heard the message.  But something about us being there helped some of the boys along.

After the presentation we did "camp."  First we taught them basketball, then they got the hitting pads out and taught us rugby.  That was awesome and funny all at the same time.  Mark L. got stood up during the drill and it was hysterical.  The interaction made the camp a wonderful time where everyone was engaged.  Afterward we gave every kid the new Gimme the Rock video and a meet my coach John Wooden Four Spiritual Laws.  They loved us so much that they sent us off with a traditional New Zealand dance and our guys loved it.

From there we had lunch and then head to the gym for a different kind of game.  Because of the injuries we chose to have an open gym where we split our guys into three teams with some of the Academy (20 and under) kids on each team.  It was the right decision.  No injuries, and some games that lead to some deeper bonds.  There was a little trash talk, some dunking, and a good competitive spirit.  The street ball element of the open gym made it competitive and some of our guys played some of their best basketball.  The dunking was so impressive that they decided to have a dunk contest for the kids in the stands after the games.  Norris jumped over Jack in a chair, then Devin jumped over Jack and a Breaker and the crowd went crazy.

We followed this up with a Gospel presentation, a kids camp, and an autograph session.  The owner of the Breakers gave a farewell speech in front of our host families, all of the full time AIA staff in New Zealand that we came to support, the Breakers upper management, and the kids that belong to the little Breakers club and their parents.  It was a sweet end to a sweet trip.  Every bit of awkwardness with us being the "Christian" team that they brought in was gone, yet we were as open as ever to share what we stand for.  It didn't have to go this well.  And it didn't have to end like this.

All of our guys love each other.  They have done nothing detrimental to our cause for Christ.  The Breakers are inviting us back and love what we have done for their organization and youth basketball in New Zealand, and our faith is part of our character and reputation.  That feels good.  God was moving in our time here.  They could've closed themselves to us and our cause for Christ, and yet the exact opposite happened.  Now we're like a family playing open gym games and growing in friendship.  It's what we like to call Victory Beyond Competition.

New Zealand - Game against some pros and the academy

We're back in Auckland.  We had a game tonight in at AUT against the Breakers academy again with some pros spliced into the line up.  This game was filled with injuries, dunks, and a win for AIA!  Two Breaker pros got hurt during the game.  One tore a calf muscle while lunging on the floor.  And one had his tooth go through his lip and through his gums after Bryan Davis elbowed him accidentally.  It was discouraging to see the injuries because the pros specifically came out to play in the game to make sure the academy could hang with us.  It turns out we're much better than they thought we'd be, and they wanted to honor us by making sure we had sufficient competition.

We played a shorten game tonight, just four quarters of eight minutes instead of 10.  It was a looser environment during the game, and it lead to some big dunks and deep threes for the AIA guys.  We won by double digits and everyone contributed.

The best part of the night was the half time presentation.  Tonight the crowd was filled with our host families, and sponsors of both AIA New Zealand and the Breakers pro team.  Because of this we took the opportunity to do a longer half time presentation.  Coach John led the half time presentation and shared about AIA and what we do around the world and then tied that into New Zealand and our full time missionaries there.  After that each player and coach shared a sentence about how Christ has changed their life.  John would introduce them, and then they would step out and share.  At the end of the line David Buchberger took the microphone for a five minute testimony that was filled with truth and the love of the Gospel.  Powerful!  It left us all humbled and thankful to be part of this team.

Timo then took the microphone and made an invitation to talk to us after the game.  The host families loved it, and the Breakers players were tuned in to the whole thing, it was marvelous to see the impact that the team is having as we get close to the end.

Before the game tonight we spent the day in a heated pool overlooking the water while eating like crazy at the owner's house.  The Breakers owner (Paul) is a strong Christian man and it was good for our guys to spend the day with his family and see a man with that kind of success in action with his faith.  He truly is trying to impact people for Christ. and our guys loved the day we had at his house.

Team time today was lively and active as we shared, and debated, and grew in our time in Galatians.  These posts have been about the games and ministry mostly, but you should know that we have seen our guys grow spiritually right in front of our eyes, and their love for the Bible is growing.  Some our finding their comfort zone, and some are being stretched, but all of us are walking together as brothers during our team times.  God has been good.

New Zealand - Fourth Game in Wellington

Wellington was a very good town to us off the floor.  It was probably the most spiritually fulfilling portion of the trip.  And for a stretch it was our best game of basketball.  The scoreboard had the same result against the pros - but we outplayed the Breakers for 2 and 1/2 quarters, it just wasn't enough to bring home the victory.

We started the game in the hole again.  After our best walk through, and our most complete pre-game preparation we came out slow which surprised the coaches.  The locker room was as unified and as ready to play as it had ever been, and the stats from our second game against the pro's let us know that we could win.  Five minutes into the game Coach Mo made a five-for-five substitution and Bryan, Devin, Gideon, Cade and BJ went on a terror.  It was the best five minutes of basketball that we played on the tour.  For the first time we finished the first quarter with a lead and everything was clicking.

By half time we were down by a couple, but the momentum of the game was still in our favor.  We had another great testimony at half time, and this time the Breakers were on the floor to hear it.  That lead to some pretty amazing things after the game and we were thankful for the way God moved during half time.

The second half started with Norris, David, Jeremiah, Jack and Bryan playing very good basketball.  We had a number of opportunities to stretch the game to 5 or 6, but well into the third quarter we were still up by 1.  That was the deepest into the game that we had been with both the lead and the momentum.  The Breakers called a time out, made an adjustment on defense, and came out ready to hurt us on the boards, and those three things shifted the game into their favor.  By the fourth quarter we were in a position where we had to pressure the ball and gamble and the Breakers were just too mature and shot the ball too well down the stretch.  

The boys were discouraged in the locker room, but Coach Mo painted the bigger picture of what was going on in them and on the tour well and the boys faithfully went out and shared their testimony cards and their lives with the fans after the game.  Their class, love and faith were evident.

The Breakers haven't given us the stats for these games like they did the first two, but we will have the film and we can get you exact stats at the end of the tour.  Players, parents and coaches should be able to get that with films when the boys get home.

Some spiritual highlights from today was seeing Coach Peace at work with the mentally and physically challenged at our Special Olympic camp.  If that didn't melt your heart nothing would.  We also had a great post dinner where the coaches commented on the tour, and it was good for us to see the Breakers coach compliment us with such meaning and thankfulness.

The other highlight from today was the team time that we had with four of the Breakers.  We invited them to a team time after the game and four came.  Through a series of conversations and invitations we ended up outside a sports bar with four of the guys having a team time with Bibles, prayer and sharing on a pretty deep level with John and Mo leading the way.  Our guys felt so affirmed by the Breakers reaction to them and their faith, and it gave us a picture of what was going on through our time there that we didn't even know about until that night.  We praise the Lord for it.

New Zealand - Third game in Napier