Not an April Fool's Joke!!!

April 1 today, but I wanted to document some of the exciting things going on last month with the Commonwealth Games.

In short, the Lord blessed us in many ways…some expected (as far as enhancing and developing relationships with known athletes) and some totally out of the blue (for us at least).

I was able to lead one evangelistic basketball clinic for 6 hours one day with a couple of kids showing real interest in the Good News about Jesus and life! It was also important to model Christian love and service to about 20 other young believers who also love basketball.

I also spoke at one coffee house outreach in Ballarat…and at three church services in Melbourne…Presbyterian, Anglican, and Salvation Army!

Can you see me hiding in the pulpit here at Scot’s…my eye level was about 12 feet off the ground level. I see where the expression “talking down at people” probably came from! Surprisingly it was a very warm service of about 200 people who were extremely encouraging and attentive to me as I spoke on II Corinthians 5..."The Name of the Game: Tent or Mansion".

Nevertheless, what I enjoyed most in Melbourne was the “personal work” one on one. I met with Jason Smith from the Boomers (who subsequently won the Gold medal in basketball) for Bible study (in Galations); caught up with Jessica Blake a couple of times to encourage her (she did five or six clinics); and had a great talk with a businessman on the plane regarding the “two” difference between religion and a relationship with God (religion is spelled “D-O”…and right relationship with God is spelled “D-O-N-E”).

The Lord gave us an extra blessing as we were leaving Melbourne. We “just happened” to run into the Samoan Rugby Seven’s team (about 25 people including players and support staff) at the airport and after introducing ourselves as friends of Timo Tagaloa (former Samoan player and now AIA New Zealand) we were able to present each of them with a personal copy of a sports-oriented portion of the gospel with Jess and Jason’s testimony.

I later saw a couple of big burly players reading the New Testament over a burger at McDonalds!