God tells the Shaheen family "Follow Me"

Hey all! With all the "busy-ness" in life I have REALLY been a slacker in BLOG posts. Sorry about that. However, I know that you will be blessed as you read about how God continues to expand our baseball ministry by raising up obedient leaders who are committed to follow Christ WHEREVER HE LEADS THEM! Below is the story of the Shaheen family in the words of Mike Shaheen, the current head baseball coach at the Wesleyan School in Norcross, GA.

In 2004, I took my first short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It was an incredible trip that strengthened my relationship with Christ. The people in the DR were extremely hospitable and of course showed me a love for baseball that I never had seen before. The students and teachers from The Wesleyan School and I worked really hard in construction and also loved on the children every moment we could. What I did not know at the time, but now realize, is that God was planting a seed in my heart for something really big in the Dominican Republic.

Four years later in 2008, I felt led to serve again in the DR. This time around God planned something really special for me. During this trip, I befriended a man in a village that happened to be a coach of a high school aged Dominican baseball team. He allowed me and a few other missionaries to participate with his team and give our testimonies. We ended up spending a lot of time with the team and by the end of the week had grown close to the coach. Before we left, the coach, Cesar, told us that he had stopped developing his relationship with Jesus, but now, because of our stories and our intentional love for the Lord, he recommitted his life to Christ. He also decided that he would train his players not only in baseball, but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was in awe of God’s goodness and was just starting to realize what we can do as believers if we allow God to guide our actions.

Now, flash forward to the summer of 2010. God had been working on my heart for about a year. I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit towards something different than what I was currently doing. I was definitely a little scared. I was currently a teacher and a baseball coach at The Wesleyan School in Norcross, GA. We had just won our third baseball state championship in a row and life was pretty good. My wife Jodi and I had just adopted our two children two years earlier and that capped off our dreams of a house, two kids, dog, two cats and a picket fence (not white). We had planned to spend 10 days in July in the Dominican with FCA Baseball who was leading 100 other short-term missionaries on this trip. I knew deep down that the trip was going to be bigger than the other trips I had taken. My family’s presence with me marked a great opportunity for me to ask God questions each day on the trip. While reading His word and praying with other brothers in Christ, I became really open to the idea of spending my future in the Dominican Republic. It was amazing to see my wife also feel a strong pull to the DR. We were falling more and more in love with Christ and with His plan for us.

Although radical, it was very clear by the time we came back to Georgia, that God wanted our presence in the Dominican Republic. After much prayer and conversations, the Shaheen's made the decision to become missionaries in the Dominican Republic. On October 15th of 2010, I announced my decision to to the Wesleyan baseball community that I will be leaving Wesleyan to lead the FCA Baseball ministry in the DR in June of 2011. My friends and mentors at Wesleyan have been major influences in my faith journey and I am forever indebted to them. I am very excited about what God has in store for us this spring at Wesleyan and the next few years in the DR.

To see the Shaheen family's BLOG, click on http://dominicanfcabaseballministry.com/

On the way back to to U.S.

On the way back home. Our first group left here very early this morning (4:15am) and is more than likely already back on the ground in Atlanta by now. The remainder of our group has just finished packing and will head to the airport in an hour or so.

Was this mission succesful? Absolutely! We were led here to serve both the physical and spiritual needs of the Dominican people. However, this trip was SO much about the work that God wanted to do in the hearts of all those who have been obedient to come. The game of baseball was the "hook" that God used to get all of us together over here for His true purpose. Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective. Over the course of these past ten days, we have had 15 members of our group accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord & Savior. Five other people have publically professed their commitment to be fully devoted followers of Christ. Through out our travels as we shared the gospel on baseball fields, softball fields, sugarcane villages and orphanages, we have witnessed well over 200 people receive Christ as their Lord & Savior and given away close to 700 Spanish version Bibles.

On a personal note, God has impressed upon my heart the great need for Christian male leadership here on the island. In my opinion, drastic change here will only come through consistant evangelism and dicipleship of young males. As FCA Baseball & Softball continues to go forward with the mission here in the Dominican republic, this will be the area where we will focus the attention of our resources.

In regard to the "fire" and the perspective change that God has given all of us while we were here, I pray that each of us will be very intentional in keeping the fire stoked as we return to the lives that we have been away from for the past week-ten days. We must all remain intentional in anchoring ourselves in our identity...who we are "in Christ". We must walk in confidence, knowing that our time here on earth is temporary and fleeting. We must remain intentional and consistent in our prayer life, with our time in Gods word and recognize that the people we surround ourselves with will determine the direction and quality of our lives. We must realize that it is not us who is in control of our lives, but God and that He has an incredible plan for us. Remaining "in Him" and walking with Him daily...in all areas of our lives... will enable us to recognize His leading and direction for us and He will be glorified as we "bear fruit" for Him. Again, it's not what we do for God, but what He has already done FOR us that we need to anchor in. God will show us the activity that He wants for us.

To all of you who have followed this blog or have heard about our mission here over the past couple of years and may be thinking "wow..I would love to be a part of that mission", I encourage you to reach out to me. It just may be that God wants you to be a part of His work here. God Bless you!

Internet in the Dominican Republic is FINALLY back up!

Hey everyone…sorry for the delay in updates. Because of the weather, our internet connection has been down since Tuesday afternoon. Although the weather has really changed our plans and has caused us to cancel most of our baseball games, we have all continued to be blessed as we see God move in our hearts.

Our past few days have been amazing as we continue to see God work in and through the lives of our group and the Dominican people. When we ARE able to play ball, in different villages, our coaches and athletes share the gospel after each game as well as visit villages and orphanages. Many within the villages have come to know Jesus over the past few days. Along with the salvations in the village, we have had over 15 of our own coaches and athletes come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord & Savior as they have heard the gospel presented.

Yes…faith comes through hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17).

The pictures above speak loudly.

Sunday in the Domincian Republic

This morning we went to a SCORE church plant in San Pedro. It was a pretty modern facility. The pastor spoke English and we got to sing in Spanish. After we sung a little with the Dominican people, there were a few baptisms. These were the first baptisms at this particular church. It was a waist deep concrete pool outside the church near the back left corner. A Dominican woman who was baptized was so overwhelmed as her sins were washed away. We then went to another building to hear a new American missionary lead us in English Sunday School. After that we all came back together in the main church to sing and complete the service.
The middle school and high school baseball teams left for the brand new Score Highlands Baseball Complex in Boca Chica to practice around 2 pm. This facility consists of two baseball fields and a softball field and is home to the San Francisco Giants Dominican League Affiliate. There are also soccer fields, volleyball court and two pools.
After dinner and before devotion time many of the boys, coaches and parents took the little walk down seven or so blocks to the beach. Devotion time completes the day and we have a visit to an orphanage and games for both high school teams and middle school teams are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Posted by Jodi Shaheen (so Bob can do what he does best!)