We all love basketball. I (Caitlin) had been volunteering at IMPACT Ministries in the inner-city of Evansville for over a year and getting to know the children there. I'd begun to feel God calling me to live and serve in an inner-city since my freshman year after a mission trip to the inner-city of St. Louis, but had ignored it until my junior year of college. I began to volunteer at IMPACT, had a few internships there, and began to see God directing me.
Slowly, the rest of the 'coaches' began coming to IMPACT with me. We all learned to love the children in different ways. We began to learn about stereotypes that we had that we didn't even know we had. We began to truly see the beauty of diversity. We will all admit: We have a long way to go.
Every Saturday, IMPACT has a 2-hour window in which the kids in the inner-city can come hang out in a safe place and get a 30-minute Bible/life lesson. It is taking a long time, but the children are beginning to respond. We wanted to try a new way to get the kids' attention. What a better way than to design a Bible teaching session based around a game they love?
We posed the idea to both the director of IMPACT (Greg) and the new volunteer coordinator (Lindsay) and they both loved the idea and have been very supportive since. For every 30 minutes of basketball training the children receive, they will also receive 15 minutes of a Bible-based life 'coaching' session. We have done all we can do for now- it is time to ask you all to pray.
Hence, this blog. This is our way to update you all on ways that you can pray for Blacktop Basketball Camp, us as coaches, and the kiddos. (And if you want to donate money, that's cool, too, but that's NOT the purpose of this blog!) Thank you in advance for your support of this ministry.
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