Ready or not, here we come! In 4 more days our AIA Bulgaria-Czech team will finally form, meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital and then promptly scooting off to the hills of Sliven where our team will officially form, hopefully both fast and well.
Our team comes from all parts: from Iowa, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Delaware and folding in Switzerland, Czech and Bulgaria. What a blend! In fact, a third of our team will be comprised of Bulgarian nationals!
From the looks of it, our schedule is going to be full every day! We are expecting 14+ hour days between training camp, games, clinics for youth as well as coaches, press conferences, meals galore with our opponents and basketball federation officials, interaction with fans daily, orphanage stops, and numerous ‘team times’ (Bible studies, spiritual growth sessions and team sharing) each day to get us ‘filled up’ for all that our very public ministry will take.
After a rendezvous for many of us in Washington, DC’s Dulles Airport, we will route ourselves to our first destination of Sliven, Bulgaria by way of flights to Munich, Germany then on to Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. From there a 3.5 hour bus ride will transport us to the hamlet of Sliven where we will form our team and its mission during our training camp.
After 4 full days in Sliven (with two early games and one youth clinic), we head back to Sofia for 3-4 more games against pro teams there along with a national coaches clinic.
City life will be a nice change of pace also.
On June 1st we transition to Prague and the Czech Republic. We immediately scoot off to Nymburk, 2 hours into the country, to engage the senior and junior national teams of Czech at their Olympic training center there over the next 3 days. We tuck in an orphanage visit in their also.
June 5th takes us back to one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe, Prague. There we will blend some amazing sightseeing and two more pro games.
Do pray……
- Do pray for our team to form well and form fast, that the whole would become greater by far than the sum of the parts, that our team would manifest commanding play and an enviable spirit.
- Pray that we will negotiate language, food and customs well quickly.
- Pray that the darkness of two lands filled to the brim with avowed atheists (Czech) and practical atheists (Bulgaria) will be relit with spiritual truth and passion, seen evidently and passionately in each of us, on and off the court.
- Pray that the top athletic influencers of these two nations will see and meet Jesus in new, unmistakable and compelling ways. Pray that new commitments to the true and living God would be made.
- Pray that further spiritual movement would be seen in these two lands. AIA is certainly growing in command and influence. We want more!
- Pray that many of our players would play so well that Bulgarian and Czech pro teams covet them for their teams, that contract offers would be made, and that our guys would accept the call to become spiritual multipliers there in and amongst these dear, godless people groups.
- Pray that our AIA team would be authentic and attractive for Jesus’ sake, that we would be safe all along the way, and that we would generate 100,000 smiles a day making great memories for our King.