For Yolanda Whitaker, an unexpected foray into sports ministry started with a prayer. “I want to do more for You, Christ. I want to do more for my church.” One week later, Whitaker was asked to be part of her church soccer team in the Cayman Islands. Some young men from the community came to play, and afterwards she had an opportunity to invite them to church. Yolanda suddenly realized that she had participated in her first sports outreach...

 There’s a new order of ministry in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, that has helped reach more coaches than ever before, despite the COVID-19 quarantine but through the blessing of technology. Back in spring, Area Director Victor Sanchez didn’t want to lose the traction he had with his coaches. Sanchez still spoke with them through WhatsApp in one-on-one conversations, but he thought there must be something more he could be doing in this time. That’s when he discovered Zoom at a church service and it clicked as an answer to his prayer for further resources to reach his sphere of influence...

What began as a wrinkle in plans has changed into ample opportunity for ministry to skyrocket in the West Global Region. “We’ve used the time during COVID-19 to do a lot of work on structure and training and it’s been a great time,” said Divisional Vice President, West Global Jim Roquemore.

The West Global Division is comprised of five regions: Canada, Caribbean, Latin America North, Latin America South and Brazil, and one key revelation for the division was staffing, elevating and empowering leaders for more connections in the sports world... 

Fueled by his passion for teaching athletes the game of soccer, coach Jaír Esmeral desired to bring something more to his team. He wanted a strategy that would spark change and impact the heart of his athletes. 

The transformation that would happen not only with his teams, but in his own heart, all started with the simple question, “What can I do to coach differently?”

A year can feel like a long time. A year in today’s world can feel like an eternity. Yet even with all the now-cliché “unprecedented” events of 2020 behind them, Collin Thomas and Mario Bento can still somehow remember their visit to Curitiba, Brazil, like it was yesterday.

“I was overwhelmed by the experience,” Bento said. “I can’t even describe it.”