FCA Baseball in the inner city of Atlanta

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to share the ministry of FCA Baseball with and then pray for the athletes and coaches of L.E.A.D.(Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct). This organization was founded by Atlanta native and former Chicago Cubs outfielder, C.J. Stewart. Understanding the plight of the inner city player as it relates to playing baseball at the college level, Stewart started L.E.A.D. to make collegiate baseball opportunities accesible and affordable to inner city youth. "The reason why there is a less than 3% representation of blacks at the NCAA level is because inner city players (who are predominately black) can't afford to access the development, exposure and consulting resources necessary to showcase their skills to college programs. At this point in time, it has nothing to do with racism. Danny Hall (Georgia Tech) would sign a green martian if he could demonstrate that he could make meaningful contributions to the program. The barriers are access and affordability- no more, no less." - C.J. Stewart, Founder L.E.A.D., Inc.

The ministry of FCA Baseball has been given a vision to come alongside C.J., his staff and his volunteers to help expand the L.E.A.D. program as well as be an active participant in the growth and development of baseball throughout the inner city of Atlanta.

Dominican Republic Day 5

Hello friends and family! It is the end of a great day five. Today we woke up early again and both teams played games in Santo Domingo. We shared the gospel again today and Coach Wiedemann estimates that over a hundred people have come to know Jesus Christ this week including four players from our group. After the games the teams met together for lunch and then went to the straw market to look around for a few souvenirs. From there we headed to Casa de Luz orphanage for an eye opening experience. It is hard to put into words what this was like for the players and adults alike, but hopefully the pictures will tell the story. We came back to SCORE for dinner and then devotions. After devotions, two of the boys on our team who decided to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior were baptized in the swimming pool. This was truly a unique and overwhelming experience for all who were there. It has been a great day and a great week. God has changed lives,opened eyes and opened hearts. Tomorrow we head out for a day of relaxation on Catalina Island. There we will be snorkeling and hanging out on the beach for our last day in the Dominican Republic. Hope you have enjoyed the blog and pictures and I encourage you to leave any comments!

Dominican Republic Day 4

Hello friends and family! Today we headed out early for games and had a great time playing and meeting some new people. After the games we came back for lunch and then headed out to the grocery store to purchase food for a local village. The money was raised by our kids and the food we purchased is enough to feed 40 families for a week. The village was a great time and a blessing once again and we are back at SCORE about to go to bed. More soon.

Dominican Republic Day 3

Hello friends and family! It is the end of a great day three! We all had a another great day of sharing the gospel and playing baseball. This morning we woke up and went to an all boys orphanage. There we played wiffle-ball, soccer, and basketball with the boys. Everyone had a great time! After we left the orphanage we came back to the SCORE headquarters and grabbed some lunch and then set out to play another round of games. The facilities were very nice. The guys got to play right next to the field where the Washington Nationals were holding tryouts! The boys played hard and one of the teams won and one lost, but the day was great! After the game we came back and got dinner and cleaned up for devotions. The boys are relaxing right now out on the patio watching baseball and we will be heading to bed soon!

Hope you are enjoying the blog and pictures so far! Please keep checking in and leave some comments!