Thank you for your prayers and support this past weekend as we served the Kinston community with our second basketball camp! We were overwhelmed by the Lord's faithfulness and we feel blessed to have been given this opportunity.
85% of the kids who attended the camp on Saturday, March 7, were low-income kids from Southeast Elementary School. They all attended for free and brought A LOT of energy to the day! We recognized many of the kids from our camp in May 2009, as well as when we helped take them around UNC's campus last fall. We loved being able to continue relationships with familiar faces...as well as forming new friendships. While he couldn't be there in person, Jimbo Perry worked so tirelessly and selflessly to help get the kids from Southeast there and we want to say a huge thank you to him!! He and his family also opened up there "Fun Farm" for us to stay at the night before, which was a great place for us to pray, plan, and prepare for camp the next day.
Tom Vermillion, a Kinston resident and former UNC Football Player, gave a brief message before lunch and outlined the Gospel in a clear & engaging way. It's awesome that the kids could hear from someone they'll see regularly and whose name is both familiar and respected. Thanks, Tom, for sharing the Gospel and the hope that we have in Christ with our campers!
We were encouraged throughout the day by the smoothness of the camp and the enthusiasm of the campers. The highlight of the day was definitely when the Kinston High Varsity Basketball Team came to shoot around, answer questions, sign autographs, and hang out with the kids. They are truly celebrities in their community. We are so thankful that Coach Gulledge gave us their time and allowed us to hang out with them before they hit the road that afternoon for their regional championship game...which they WON! Then, this past Saturday, the Vikings played in the 2A State Championship Game this past Saturday, March 14, and are now the 2010 State Champs!! Congratulations, Vikings—we couldn’t be prouder!
The kids were extremely grateful at the end of the day and did not want to leave...in fact, one of the boys we have gotten to know over the past year, named Graham, came up to us and said “You guys should do this every month!” Another girl came up to me with an extremely serious expression on her face and stated, "This is the best day of my life." Thank you, Lord, for giving us a chance to love these kids in a way they can receive and appreciate!
We know that the Lord orchestrated and planned this camp from the beginning...we had our own plan (including a totally different date) but praise God that His plans are so much better than ours! Thank you for being a part of seeing God work in Kinston this past weekend!
If you'd like to support one of the Southeast Elementary kids who attended the camp this past weekend, please email us at: info@sportsthatserve.org. We are still accepting donations and sponsorships.
No comments:
Post a Comment