By Adam Young

December 28, 2009, was unseasonably cold. The thermometer outside the athletic building read -30° C (-22° F). We stretched indoors for the football game because sitting still in weather like this is not wise. I noticed when people breathed the cold air, ice formed immediately on any facial hair. Teenagers who had not begun to shave looked like Santa Claus with a sparkly white beard of frost stubbornly clinging to their faces. At the beginning of our "New Year's Bowl," the brown American football could be thrown and caught normally. After thirty minutes the glue that holds the ball together had completely frozen, so that the ball deflated and could only be thrown a short distance underhanded like one would throw a heavy lawn dart. The rubber froze on the ball next and it became little more than a deformed oval rock. All the while men, ages 17 to 26, were running into each other at all the speed that can be created while running in shin-deep snow. At this point I thought to myself, "Welcome to American football in Russia!"

My name is Adam Young and I am a BIMI missionary in Russia. I grew up in California and my sending church is Lancaster Baptist Church, pastored by Dr. Paul Chappell. I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. I also like football. If you would have ever asked me if my love for Jesus and my enjoyment of football would ever come together, I would not have guessed how. If I were a Christian school teacher, I might teach kids some truths from the Bible as I taught them football, but God called me to be a missionary to a country where American football and rugby are thought to be the same thing. I never thought I could use what I know and love about football to reach anybody with the Gospel—at least not in Russia.

While out soul winning in 2008, I met a student who got saved. We started to meet and study the Bible. However, we had only met a couple of times before he cut off contact. About a year later he called me unexpectedly and asked if I could come to a football practice. A group of young people were interested in American football. They needed a coach. I asked him to repeat himself three times just to make sure I was hearing right. When he first said those words, I thought it was one of those moments in the language when I thought I heard something like, "Gray cluey squirrels dansely dimpen your trout hook," but the guy actually said, "Great cloudy swirls densely dampen your outlook." In other words, I thought I didn't hear him right—American football in Russia? I thought "gray cluey squirrels" were more likely.

It was summertime when I went to their practice. As I approached the stadium, the gate was closed and the structure was in obvious disrepair. Kolya, the leader of the team, told me the stadium was abandoned and closed up. To get in I would have to squeeze between two bars in the gate that had been bent to let people in. Honestly, I thought to myself, "If the whole team can fit through those bars, we've got a really small team!" I also had to find another way in because I am not small. Then I experienced something I had rarely come into contact with in Russia. The people there were actually happy to see me! Automatically without even knowing me, they wanted me to be their coach. They had dreams of starting a real team with helmets and everything. Most of them were students and it was obvious many of them did not have a lot of money. I began to think of all the obstacles to forming a team. The first thought I had was about what they were up against. Equipment would not be cheap. Traveling to other cities would be difficult. The place where we were practicing was literally falling apart and although I did not know it then, in a year it would be demolished.

But then I considered the opportunity. First, here is a group of young people who are not predisposed to be alienated from me because I am from another country but who actually consider my foreignness to be something positive. The fact that many missionaries deal with an anti-American sentiment is no secret, but in this case these young adults considered my "Americanness" to be a huge plus. Second, here were young men—a sector of society many churches in America have had a hard time reaching—yet this is the group from which most future pastors come. Third, here was an opportunity to teach something that contains a moral standard expressed in the rules of good sportsmanship while at the same time teaches teamwork. The first is a great illustration of how we come up short of God's holy standard. The next is the key to ministering together as a church. In addition, football was nothing new to me. Although I had never coached before, I did play in high school and at the University of California at Davis before I was saved. The more I prayed about it, the more I was convinced the Lord had sent this opportunity tailor-made for me. I found out later that Samara was one of the last major cities in Russia to form an American football team. If I were in any other city, this opportunity would not have come.

We laid some ground rules right away. No foul language would be tolerated and there would be no fighting. No one is allowed to argue with the referees or show any disagreement with their calls. The team had to be self-supporting. Games, equipment, travel and anything else had to be paid for by the team. I told everyone that I am a Baptist pastor, and what I do is very important, so I could only spare two times a week to coach them. They agreed. That was almost two years ago.

Kolya, the leader of the team, is now saved. He studies the Bible every Sunday with me and has for almost a year. Katya, his girlfriend, studies with us. Before Kolya would trust Christ, he came to my house over 50 times. Now he is faithfully learning what God wants for his future marriage. The relationship of coach and player is a great place from which to witness—it opens people up in a great way. As we are building our house/church, all the guys I hire are from the team. When we have a big job to do that takes a lot of people on the construction site, the whole team voluntarily helps. I am praying the whole team will be saved.

Now our games are on cable television and the internet. Scores are announced on local network television along with pre-game interviews. Many friends in our village and around Samara come to me, having seen the interviews on TV, and make jokes about what a big star I am. Some of the guys on the team took the time to incorporate an American football sports federation (a government recognized legal organization) of which I am on the committee. The team is widely known in the city and we have new people coming all the time—more people to whom I can witness and who will listen a lot more closely because of our relationship as a coach and a player.

God did not send me to Russia to start football teams. He sent me to start churches. However, the former is helping me do the latter. One of the Bible verses I have required the entire team to memorize is Proverbs 24:10: If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. This is a good one to think about when it is -22° F and your football deflates.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Douglas & Becky Sisson -  PHILIPPINES
Mrs Judith Skates -  ASSOCIATE - RUSSIA
Brett & Patricia Skillen -  MILITARY - GERMANY