Judged by Another
One spring evening, a coach was kicking a soccer ball around after practice with a few of the Middle Eastern boys on his youngest team. They were waiting for the girls team to finish up, and monkey-in-the-middle was the game of choice for these seven, nine, and twelve...
Gospel Margin
According to our team working among refugee populations in the USA, the most profound opportunities to share the good news do not come during programs or presentations, but in natural conversations that happen on the drive home from practice, over coffee, and late at...
Is It Worth It?
By Cat Tongkao, Sports Friends International Communications Director // When I was ten, I wrote an autobiography. I must have thought I’d had a pretty exciting life for a ten-year-old. Almost 20 years later, I stumbled across it again while sorting through some...
Arriving as the Stranger
It is a common experience for refugee families to leave everything and everyone they know because the danger of staying home is greater than the danger of fleeing into an uncertain future. They are forced to walk forward in faith that there is something better for...
Showing Up, Part II
You’ve told us how things got started in the sports ministry work among refugee populations in the US, and it’s clear to see that God is moving powerfully! We love that perspective, how He is redefining the boundaries of peoples’ time and space so that they might seek...
Showing Up, Part I
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. -Deuteronomy 10:19 In 2017, Sports Friends...
When Leaders See Love
He was the chief religious leader of the community, and the people were hungry. The COVID pandemic had put the entire country on lockdown. People were sick. The ones who had jobs were losing them. Poverty or the real threat of it was breathing down the people’s necks....
The Sweet in the Suffering
“Thank God for the food initiative. Hearts were broken. They wept. They never knew someone would care for them like this.” - Ben, Sports Friends Ghana Team Leader When scarcity in Ghana was more oppressive than ever, generosity met it head on. Sports Friends Ghana...
For Such a Time as This
“Coach, you and the other coaches are different, and I love you guys so much!” Sumaya's* coach knew that despite her upbeat demeanor she was struggling with what was happening in her homeland of Afghanistan. The coach joyfully responded and said, “We love you,...
Father to the Fatherless
“A father to the fatherless… is God in His holy dwelling.” - Psalm 68:5 Growing up in Ghana, as in any other nation, is difficult. Lack of parental care is a massive problem in Ghana. Adults are really struggling, and many children find themselves without anyone...