What a week!

As we pulled into the airport in Lima where our journey together had begun, I don't think anyone could believe it had been a week already. I guess it may be a glimpse of eternity because when you are in the presence of the Lord time passes quickly and there's no other place you'd rather be. So, I (Kelly) would like to close out this trip with some memories from the team and then I'll share the numbers from the week.

I had the same national with me each day. She was from a town called Pilcomayo and her name was Esmerelda. I have never been around a young believer that was so hungry to learn God’s word and he taught to share the Gospel. Each time I used a scripture while sharing the Gospel she would write it down. She was very eager to share the Evangecube and God used her to bring at least 10 people to Christ. My most memorable moment occurred on Wednesday. I was having an off day. while sharing the Gospel there was two occasions that day when I forgot a scripture that I was trying to use. Esmerelda jumped right in and quoted the verses that I had forgotten because she had memorized them. I had much fun sharing the Gospel this week, but my best memory will be the disciple that I was able to make in Esmerelda. We were able to plant a new church in that area and I can’t wait to come again next year and see how Esmerelda and the church have grown. All glory to God.
Jeff Thompson

I think my most memorable time was after a soccer game when I was able to share the Gospel with a group of guys we were playing with. Some other curious onlookers came over to listen too. I shared with them then I challenged them that it was a big commitment, and that Jesus asks us to do difficult things so don’t make decisions unless they truly meant it. I asked them to be bold in front of their friends. Three guys indicated that they had chosen to follow Christ. It gave me great joy because they seemed to be genuinely authentic. We talked some more and got them connected with the new church.
Josh Luse

It was the middle of the week, and I was teamed up with my translator and a national woman, Lina. We were going door to door sharing our testimonies and the Evangecube. We were going past a bar and met a man named Edgar. At first he seemed like he was a little drunk and he was making comments about wanting to marry one of us. We ended up sitting down and talking with him. He wanted to know how to have the hope we had. I shared the Gospel with him and he told us he wanted us to come to his house and share it with his mother. After spending some time with them they shared that he struggled with drinking but wanted to change. They bothe prayed to receive Christ as their Savior and as they prayed both weeping. The national stood over Edgar and continued to pray, her voice raised till she was almost shouting. Each of us was praying over them and they were crying and even thought I had no idea what anyone else was praying, I could just feel the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence.
Mary Kinberg

My favorite memory on this trip was my follow up visit in Huancayo. I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t see many of my prior contacts. Most were kids and people off the streets. So I along with my interpreter hit the streets to do more discipleship. While concluding prayer with a young couple a man named Antonio came yelling down the street, “my friend Londa”, it was then that I knew I had made a connection with the people and what I was doing. Gods work touches everyone. Antonio might have been on the street the first day and my chances of finding him were slim. God was accepted into Antonio’s heart and grace brought us back together for an amazing follow up. Thanks be to God.
Laurie Jackson

On Tuesday evening at the local cell group meeting we encouraged the group to consider that they were the start of a new church. At first they kept saying we need leaders and pastors. Yet after God’s Word was exposed to them and after they did the evangelizing, they began to realize that they could do this. When the light came on in their hearts and they realized they were chosen, what a great joy it was. A new church was born and I was allowed by God to partake of this blessing. May Jesus Christ be praised!
Tim McDowell

Working with Pastor Louis from one of the new church plants in Huancayo was an amazing and memorable experience! On one of our door-to-door evangelism days Pastor Louis knew exactly where he wanted to go. When we asked the Pastor where we were headed, he boldly expressed that he wanted to go to a specific area to speak to some terrorists! As we walked Pastor Louis informed my translator and me that the areas we were in was once very dangerous. Years ago, he had been a part of a team of 9 missionaries evangelizing in this community. 8 of these team members were killed during the campaign. Pastor Louis was the only survivor from the group. I was in awe to see his passion to return to this area to continue to bring the Good News to the very remnant of a group that murdered his friends.
Julie Christensen

Well, those are just a few of the stories and the rest we will all recount together in Heaven. As for the numbers, which please understand it is just part of the job no our focus. This week through door-to-door, on the street, in the markets, in cell group meetings, on the courts and on the fields, we shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with 1675 people. Of those people 806 decided to begin following Christ. Now for some other cool numbers, 391 discipleship/follow-up appointments were completed. Also as a why of continueing the work in Huancayo 83 nationals were trained, 7 churches were started and 2 were strengthened. Please continue to pray for this work.

Nine months of work and prayer has gone into this week and the Lord has blessed our efforts by showing off and bringing fame to his name. So what now? So many more need to hear, is the Lord calling you?

A Church is Born Today

Nothing can prepare you for what God can do through the simple and ordinary until you surrender control to Him and allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. Walking in to a small store on the corner felt, to me, like an intrusion to someone’s privacy this morning, but the owner welcomed us with open arms and encouragement as she assured us that she was a born again Christian. As my translator, national Peruvian partner and I were about to exit the store, we were stopped by a woman curious to know what we were talking about and what that cube was in my hand. I asked her if she wanted to hear a story of how I became a Christian. “Oh yes!” she exclaimed. “My husband is a Christian but I am Catholic. I have wanted to know about Christianity since I was a young girl.” As I proceeded to share my testimony, I was led by the Holy Spirit to share parts of my testimony that I had yet to share with any other Peruvian. The Evangecube was shared, but not in its entirety as she was eager to accept Christ as her Savior and only path of salvation before I had reached the last step in the cube. Hosea, my national partner, was able to pray with her and lead her into a saving relationship with our Heavenly Father. After “Amen” she could not help but ask question after question about temptation, and sin, and how to pray and read the Bible. As we were concluding the visit she looked me in the face, held my hands, and said, “Thank you so much for traveling so far to share your history with me. I relate to you. I now have Jesus in my heart because of you sharing.” I could not hide the goosebumps on my arms. Why God would choose to work through me, a sinner, never ceases to amaze and humble me.

But the story does not end there. Estelle, our new sister in Christ, attended the cell group meeting this evening and brought her young eight year old daughter. She busily took notes, answered questions, and looked up answers in the Bible. Her daughter volunteered to read over 80% of the verses during the study. Praise God for the work that He is doing in the hearts of the Peruvians in Huancayo. His power is so evident as He works through ordinary people to reach a people for Himself.

As we shared during dinner the stories from the day attests to what God is doing in the hearts of the people here.

From another part of town here is a overview:
Our team traveled to a rural area just outside Huancayo, a place near Chupaca. A local cell group really wanted this area reached for Jesus Christ and wanted a church to be planted and started here. The sites were very rural but the homes were very open to guests, such as us. I remember one house I went to with Ricardo my translator and Theo, the local, was quite a ways up a hill. We traversed a long path, scrambled up the rocks, and were greeted by two brothers. We were invited to sit on the grass and we shared our testimonies. I shared the Evangecube and both of the brothers trusted in Christ for salvation. After we left that home, I looked up the hill and saw another of our team sharing with some children, I looked down below and saw two others sharing the gospel, and so on. God was moving mightily. I rejoiced in that many of our young missionaries were bold to share. One of the thoughts I had was, how can our churches back home remain the same? If we do, how sad. Yet, I am confident of this one thing, that He who has began a good work in our homes, will complete it until Christ returns.

During our sports clinic, we had shared the gospel with around 80 people and I would say about 60 accepted Christ. Just as Jeff Thompson got a group hug from the children, the rain began. God held off the rain to accomplish His plan. We then went to one of the local believers homes and held a cell group meeting. There were many new people that attended and God moved in such a big way, that what the local believers prayed for was accomplished. A Church Was Born Today.

Pray for this new church that they would be strengthened with God’s enduring power, and would continue to meet and reach out to their community. Pray that they would realize that even though they don’t feel adequate to do this outreach, that they are just the right ones God has chosen for His work. Praise God that in this area of Huancayo, God established a new church, and many will for generations to come, will see new life in Jesus Christ.

Brokeness Restored

The Lord was truly at work today as our team dispersed throughout Huancayo for door-to-door evangelism, sport clinics and small group (cell group) meetings. The Blue Team spent time on the outskirts of Huancayo for the day. Upon our arrival, we spent time in prayer over the community and then hit the ground running. Each team member was paired with their translator and a national from the community. As we approached our first home, we were very anxious and excited to see what the Lord had in store for us. The national I was paired up with, Zak, knocked on the door a few times with no response. As we were about to leave for the next door, an older woman in her late 40’s peaked her head over the top of the roof and agreed to speak with us for a few minutes. Miriam, my translator, was very warm in greeting the older woman and soon after introduced her to myself. The Holy Spirit was speaking through me as I shared my testimony and shared the Gospel with her. Towards the end of our conversation, she made it known that she wanted to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

After she prayed to accept Christ, she stated that she wanted her father to hear the Good News as well. She then said we would need to walk to where her father was located because he was very old, sick and had a broken back. As we walked down the street and around the corner, we were praying for a breakthrough with this family. As the older woman opened the door to her father’s backyard, you could see older women doing laundry, a few kids playing and two older men on a flat bed, one of which was laying facedown with his legs hanging off the bed. The daughter who had earlier accepted Christ walked us over to her father and gently turned him over and sat him up. The father was visibly in pain after being repositioned. We exchanged introductions as all the other family members gathered to hear our story. I again began with my testimony and shared the Gospel…everyone listening intently, especially the father. Following our discussion, the entire family accepted Christ as their Savior. As the older man prayed to accept Christ, he discretely turned his palms sky-ward in a form of worship. Before departing, we asked the family if we could pray over the prayer requests they mentioned earlier. We then prayed for their family, friends and the older man’s health. As we opened our eyes after prayer, the older man had tears streaming down his face. It was truly one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Praise Christ for His continued restoration of the people of Huancayo!

Huancayo, Peru in the Field: Day 1

From the very moment that the Peru team embarked on this journey, God has taken care of us. Traveling to Peru has just been awesome. God allowed for every flight arrival time to be earlier than what was planned in the flight itinerary. All 3 flight connections the team made their arrival points early! As far as the 8 hour bus ride from Lima to Huancayo, it went very smoothly. We did not have anyone get altitude sickness. One person had some motion sickness from the bus, but other than that God has been extremely gracious in keeping all team members healthy.

After having arrived in Huancayo, our first day objective was to get out to the 7 churches that have been planted here and start helping equip their team leaders for ministry. The morning was started with educating our churches in how to use evangecubes and strategies in going out to their local communities for Jesus. Many of the team members did prayer walks through the local streets. Some of the local Peruvians were outside in the streets playing volleyball and God provided an opportunity through the volleyball for some of the team members to build relationships with those people. I, Chris Brink, my first experience in the Huancayo mission trip was sharing the Gospel with a local store owner just down the block from one of the local churches. We had been waiting at Pastor Agusto’s church in the morning for Pastor Hugo, to go to Pastor Hugo’s church, and God led my translator Alfredo and I to this local store and I shared the Gospel. I shared the Gospel with the grandmother who ran the store, her daughter, and her daughter’s children. The grandmother was thankful to hear the Gospel story of Jesus Christ, which she had heard before, but she has not been to church in awhile. She is coming to a get-together that the team is holding this Thursday to hear more about Jesus Christ. In fact, she is going to close her store down early to do so!

Please keep the Peru team, the nationals, as well as translators that God has put together in your prayers as God teaches us to become fishers of men.

Chris & Nessa Brink

Todd's story from Peru

Check out this story from Todd:

Hello Prayer Team, I was able to visit our church plant in San Jacindro earlier today. In this tiny village live Aymara Indians that have migrated from the harsh climate of the high Andes town of Puno. The people here worship and celebrate the idol, San Jacindro. Monday was San Jacindro Day and the believers were noticably absent from the celebration.

Today, I joined Pastora Rosa as we visited the home of Rosela. Rosela was a sweet spirited young believer that knew the Pastora and the church at the top of the hill above her home. However, she did not attend because her husband oppossed the Gospel. As we visited with and invited Rosela to join us later today for discipleship, her husband, oddly enough named Christian, stormed out of the house began yelling at all of us. "F... You all. Why do you come here and waste our time." To which I responded, "God Bless You!" To which he responded, "F.. You!"

Ahh, it is good to be deemed worthy of persecution, no matter how minor it might be. It tells you that the enemy has noticed you and identified you as a threat. I wish I could say it happened to me more frequently than it does.

Anyway, Rosela was so embarrassed by the conduct of her husband that she broke down in tears. We were not able to comfort her, but Jesus told us to pray for those that oppose you, so we prayed for Christian, that the Lord would open his heart to receive the love of Jesus. We also prayed for Rosela, that she would be the light that would shine into the dark places of Christian´s heart.

Pray for the town of San Jacindro and the stringholds of idolatry that Satan has established there.

For His Glory,

Todd Szalkowski

Peru Day 3

The Home Stretch…

Today was our final full day of ministry. As the groups entered into the mission field for one last time, their focus was on leaving their pastors and nationals with all of the tools that would be needed to carry on the work when we are gone.

As we look back on our week we have to ask ourselves a question…are we leaving behind a legacy? We have two choices when it comes to the spiritual lives of others; we can either be a blessing or a curse. I believe that we can honestly asses our work here in Camana, Peru and say that we gave our all to serve the people of this land. We have invested our time, talents and treasures into things that will continue to pay eternal dividends. Today we passed the torch and at the end of the day, we can say that we fought the good fight, finished the race and claimed the crown that is in Christ Jesus. As we watch our nationals and pastors take the reigns we can humbly proclaim that we choose to be a blessing for life.

One great example of equipping the nationals happened this evening at the daily discipleship training meeting. Two 16 year old boys showed up for the first time. They joined a small circle of teenagers, who were sitting and listening to testimonies from the North American teenagers. They appeared to be skeptical of what they were hearing. They snickered and whispered to each other frequently. When the leader of the circle would ask them direct questions they would usually not answer, but laugh together instead.

Pushing ahead, the leader asked one the North Americans to go ahead and share the cube with the boys. The N. A. teen did so reluctantly due to the disruptiveness being shown by the Peruvian teens. Peer pressure knows no cultural boundaries I guess. After the cube was shared, these two did agree to pray a prayer of acceptance, though even that was done with some snickers. After the prayer, more testimony was being shared, when one of the boys reached out, took the cube, and began playing with it. When the leader asked for it back, the boy acted like he was going to keep it. He was then challenged by the leader. He was asked what he would do with a cube if he had one. He answered that he would share with his friends. He was then told, “If you can share that cube, correctly telling the story of Christ’s resurrection, with us, then you can keep it. Well you can imagine our surprise when he told the story and used the cube like a pro. He did keep it and we truly believe that he will share what he heard with his friends and family.

God continues to who us how He continues to draw people to Himself in unexpected ways. This was just one story from 6 different mission points, so as you can imagine, if we chose to tell them all it would take days to read. We hope these few stories we share, display to you God’s heart for the people here and that your prayers for the area of Camana are being answered.

Please continue to pray as we wrap up with church plants for the final day of ministry. We will be continuing with follow-up discipleship visits in new believer’s homes. This evening at the closing rally, we will completely pass the torch to the church leaders and nationals. Encouraging them to continue the work that has begun, we trust the Lord’s hand as they invest in building Christ into lives of the people.

In Him,

The Peru Team

Peru Day 2

Its Tuesday…

Second day into ministry has been amazing. We’ve seen the transition begin where the nationals are taking ownership of the evangelism here in Camana. It’s such a beautiful thing to see them excited as they share the gospel! So many stories of people hearing about Christ for the first time, divine appointments, and many commitments to Christ.

Speaking of divine appointments, one of our team members met one of those today. At her last house her national began to share the gospel at one of the houses. The lady in the house looked out at our team member and asked “Is she a Mormon???” She was assured that our American team member was not but that we in fact were all Christians. They were welcomed in with open arms at that point. The husband and wife of the house both requested that our American team member share the EvangeCube with them, not our national. They agreed and after the presentation was given, with tears in their eyes they accepted Jesus as Savior! Afterwards, they explained that many people had come to their house but nothing rang true to their hearts. But God had been stirring something in their hearts, and knew for a fact that God had sent our team there just in the right time. This couple shared that everything our e3 team shared rang true in their hearts. They thanked them for hearing God’s voice and coming from America to share this truth with them. Thank God for divine appointments and for hearing His voice to meet them!

Here is another story from another team members. They were sharing their testimony with a elderly lady and telling her how they found God in my life and how they were changed. She ended up telling our team member that she had not ever been approached like this before and started to cry. She said that she wanted Christ in her life. Our team member asked her, if something were to happen to her where do you think she would go? Her response was that she was going to hell. That just blew our team away. They continued to talk some more and by the end of their conversation she gave her life back to Christ.

Thank you so much for all your prayer. Please continue to pray in these areas:

· More divine appointments
· Protection for all those involved, nationals Americans and translators
· More strength to continue our work tomorrow.

God bless!

In Him,

The Peru Team

Peru Day 1

God is moving in Peru!

We arrived as a tired but anxious team this last Saturday, excited to see what God would do in and through us this week. There were a few close calls in getting everyone transported on time to Camana (our mission site) but God showed Himself strong as answered prayers marked the start of our trip.

On Sunday we had the chance to meet our great translators and the people of the churches we were to serve. After some training and time together we felt God uniting us for a great work.

Now today, our first day, we were able to witness God’s power in how He draws people to Himself. We watched Him demonstrate this through relationships built on the street; meeting people in their homes, sharing God’s love for their whole family, some time on the sports field, and through evening meetings of discipleship.

Here is one of the many stories from our first day here:

A team working San Isidro: “We were actually on our way back from our community where we were sharing the gospel and we had crammed into a taxi van to go back to the hotel. We realized that the taxi was the same one we had used the night before- our nationals had set it up so that this particular taxi with the same two men in it would pick us up each day. So one of our nationals who was with us decided to start talking to him. He asked his name and some of the basics of who he was and then asked to share with him about Jesus. He used the Evangecube to share the gospel with the one man who takes the money for the taxi and he was very attentive and wanted to accept Jesus into his heart. We gave him a Bible and showed him how to read it. We will be seeing him everyday, so it looks like we will be able to follow up with him and disciple him daily. “

Tomorrow we will include more stories from the field....

Please continue to pray from the prayer calendar and include these specific ones:

- That the Lord of the harvest will continue to raise up national workers at each site.

- For strength and endurance for the team and continued compassion for the people of Camana.

Your prayers are a major part of the mission here…please faithfully continue to pray!

In Him,

The Peru Team

Catching UP!

It has been awhile since we have posted the updates, so here is our effort to catch up. The next couple posts will all be new, please take a look at the updates from Peru, Varsity camp in Colorado Springs, and the Varsity camp in Minesota. Please be praying for the follow-up of the previous camps and for God's impact in the clinics to come. Thank you for your faithful prayers!

So long to Carbondale...

We had a great week in Carbondale and saw God move in amazing ways. Many kids gave their life to Christ and it is always amazing to be apart of God bringing people to himself. I wanted to share one final story from one of the volunteers:

I was a volunteer coach this year with SportReach. We invited one of my daughter’s friends to come to camp with us. She had started attending church with us over the last year. Her parents have been totally supportive of her attending with us, but haven’t seemed very interested in attending although we have had a couple of conversations about what our faith means to us personally. When we as a group got to the lesson and scripture for the day, it had an example of a prayer that anyone can pray to receive Jesus as their personal savior. A couple of the kids were very vocal that they wanted to say the prayer with us. We didn’t realize it at first, but she prayed to accept the free gift of Jesus quietly without a lot of fanfare. We were so excited to see her really understand that it was a personal decision she had to make and that she is now a sister in Christ! I personally was blessed by attending SportReach and to be apart of her profession of faith because she has meant so much to our family.

Great to see such relationships happening through something as simple as time on the sports field. What a privilege...

Last clinic day in Carbondale

Well this is our last day in Carbondale and we have already seen God do some amazing things...challenged volunteers, growing coaches, and transformed lives for eternity. We praise Him for allowing us and you with your prayers to be a part of His master plan to draw people to Himself. As we jump into the last day, please be praying for the following:

- For the preparation of the hearts of any kids that may show up for the first time tomorrow.
- Strength, endurance and patience for the coaches.
- A transforming of the mind, as in Romans 12, of the kids as they attend camp tomorrow and hear how to follow Christ with their lives and 'Fill the nets.'
- For continued impact in the community after the team leaves.

Thanks for being apart of the team!

JV Highlight 2

The last day of our J.V camp we were talking about how when you accept the gift of Jesus Christ to be your personal savior your sins are paid for and you become white (pure and connected to God). One of the campers who was quite disruptive at times walked up and took the ball of many colors, and asked, "are we still pure if we keep on sinning...won't we become like the dark patch (sin) on the ball again?" He also asked this question in regards to a coach’s testimony describing how he became a follower of Christ at age four, and then rededicated his life later on. We looked up John 10:28 together which describes how God has given us eternal life and no one can snatch us out of His hands. We explained that although we still sin and are not always in the best fellowship with God, we can be comforted that salvation is assured and once we are His children we are always His children. It was exciting to see how God used this young boy to ask such an intuitive question that led to a deeper discussion and discipleship lesson.

JV Highlight 1

During our first few days of camp in Carbondale, there were a couple boys that stood out to us as coaches. In the J.V. camp there were two boys, Carson (right), and Noah (left). Carson was a boy who did not usually show much enthusiasm for sports and extra curricular activities. His mom told us that the night after his first day of camp he laid out all of his clothes for camp the next day, he was up and ready by 7:00a.m and his mom said this was totally out of the ordinary for him. It was very encouraging to see how God could use sports to spark his interest and draw him to such a positive event. The other boy, Noah, had an awesome story for us after we talked about how God is the light of the world. Noah told us that he was in the car with his parents and he was listening to a devotional. It was about John 1:9, which describes how the true light that gives light to every man is coming into the world. We thought it was neat that he remembered what he had heard and had a chance to share such an awesome story with his friends.

Meet the coaches

Chad Tabor, Kristin Tabor












Sarah Adkins, Kelsie Leitner












Andrew Trausch

First week

The team is all trained up and ready to be used by God. After a great week of training the coaches feel ready to help our first church partner reach out into their community. We were welcomed by a great Barbecue and friendly handshakes. A great way to start the week!

Start of the Summer

Thanks for checking out the highlights page for the SportReach summer tour for 2009. We will try to keep you updated on all God is doing in and through the team. Here is the Schedule so you can follow along:

1 June ~ Interns arrive for training
6-13 June ~ Varsity clinic Carbondale, CO
15 June ~ further intern training
26 Jun - 4 July ~ International Sports Church Planting in Peru
8 - 11 July ~ Varsity clinic Colorado Springs, CO
18-25 July ~ Varsity clinic Brooklyn Park, MN

Thanks for all your Prayers!
The SR team