We had our first STS Interest Meeting for Fall 2009 last Wednesday. It was a wonderful night of fellowship, food (we provided pizza, chips, and drinks…and some friends chipped in some awesome desserts), and a little presentation by the STS staff. We were greatly encouraged by the number of people who attended and refreshed by the excitement of everyone who listened to what we had to say. We briefly shared about how God laid this idea on Rob Shields’ heart and the vision He has given us for the ministry since then. We thought it’d be appropriate to share some of our main points from the night.
First, through our organization, we want to ensure that the poor are loved. We seek to accomplish this is by reserving spots for low income kids who could not afford to come to our camps otherwise. Also, all of our proceeds are going to support orphans in Ethiopia who need money to meet their basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes and medicine.
Secondly, we want to see that the eyes of the rich are opened. That’s why we involved local teens in the community where we host our camp. They get to see firsthand what it means to serve others. We also have kids from more privileged families interacting with and attending the camps alongside kids from lower income neighborhoods.
Third, we seek to connect the local church with the local community. Every time we host a camp, we want to find a church to partner with us and help build a bridge between the kids we seek out and serve, and a body of believers that continue to invest and pour into their lives. We don’t want to present the gospel and leave. We want to make a connection for them with a local church that develop a discipleship relationship with them.
Finally, we very clearly want to promote servant-leadership. The main question we want to answer through our camps is that of “WHY?” (Why should I serve? Why do you serve? Why is it important?) We believe the very simple answer to this is because of the gospel, because of what Christ did for us on the cross. He served us in the most radical way—by giving up His life. And part of our response to this gift is for us to serve Him by serving those around us. This message is very needed in our society, especially with young people. We want to teach others to deny themselves and put others first, like Christ did for us (Mark 10:45). And for kids who think they can’t serve, that they don’t have anything to give…we show them that even in a simple act (like coming to the camp), they are serving kids in Ethiopia that have so much less than they do.
In our meeting, we also outlined many ways for YOU to get plugged in with Sports That Serve. Here are a few of our needs. Let us know if you are interested in any of these areas and would like more information about possibly using your skills to help out our ministry! We need all levels of experience and interest :)
Fundraising Campaign (helping develop and participate in)
Camp Volunteers (to help out on the day of the sports camps)
Tshirt Design
Arrange food for camps (both concession stand and lunch sponsors)
Photography (taking as well as arranging photos)
Videography (taking as well as editing videos)
Website design
Marketing/Advertising (getting our name and cause out there)
Administrative tasks
Social Media (helping manage our twitter account, facebook page, website, and blog)
Line up key speakers for camps
Public Relations (partnering with local businesses and churches in communities)
Collateral (business cards, decals, etc.)
For more information about any of these opportunities, contact any of our Directors:
Rob Shields (robshields@sportsthatserve.org) Executive Director
Nicole Keegan (nicolekeegan@sportsthatserve.org) Director of Operations
Cody Pate (codypate@sportsthatserve.org) Director of Design & Creative Services
