When I started Discovery Road Church one of the areas I was committed to was to be involved in my community. I believe we all have the opportunity to serve others in some tangible way and let people know the church and Christians are relevant in their understanding of serving others with no strings attached. One way I decided to do this was by coaching basketball at the YMCA this winter. If I wasn’t a pastor I would be coaching in one form or another. My team was made up of K through 2nd grade girls. Yea I know I must be a glutton for punishment!
Needless to say it was very taxing because all the games and practices were on Sundays after church. So I would be up early to set up for church (We meet in the park forest middle school) not get out of there until 1:00pm and then an hour later head to the Y for Games. My hope was to just give it all I had and believe God would use it as a blessing. Sometimes I’d get home and my head would be spinning in exhaustion. Then on Sunday it was all worth it. It was our last game and afterwards the girls gave me a homemade card they had all signed and the parents chipped in with some money. I decided to take the funds and treat everyone to some Ice Cream at Meyers Dairy. (Great place if you haven’t been there)
As I sat and chatted with the parents while the girls had their ice cream they began to ask me why I was in State College? They were very grateful that I was willing to coach the girls when I didn’t have a personal investment of having a daughter on the team. I was able to share my passion for coaching and love for kids. What was amazing was they didn’t talk to me the whole season other than to just say hi, bye and thank you but that day they were inquisitive about my motives. Out of the seven families I was able to personally share my story of planting a church in State College and wanting to be a people who lived thier lives outside of the walls of building. I was then able to share what I think being a christian is all about and they asked when the services started and were interested in coming to visit Discovery Road.
When we choose to use our passions to serve others God will open doors to share his love. It was precious as those little girls came over one by one and thanked me for coaching them and let me give them a hug. I believe I’ve made an eternal difference in their lives and trust that somewhere down the road maybe they’ll come to church or contact me for some advice.
How would God use you to impact someone for eternity?
I believe Jesus would of coached little girls basketball!
