Chicago Eagles Update #1

UPDATE
I flew into Chicago yesterday and have experienced my first day of leadership and sports ministry training for our missions oppurtunity in Germany. Our mentor, Rick McKinley has been involved with Missionary Athletes International for 20 years and he is an incredibly humble and passionate man of God. The group of athletes represents several different colleges, mostly throughout the midwestern and eastern states.

HISTORY
If you aren't familiar with MAI, I thought I would provide you with a little bit of information. In 1987, rival coaches of Biola and Azusa Pacific of Southern California envisioned a fusion of soccer with ministry. They started the Orange County Seahorses (a team that my roommate, assistant coach, former coach and several other acquaintances have played for). This team would enable college-aged soccer athletes to travel overseas and impact the world for Christ. Missionary Athletes International was born and it focuses solely on the universally beloved game of soccer.

WHAT I AM LEARNING ABOUT LIFE AND GOD
This morning I reviewed my notes from Francis A. Schaeffer's The Mark of the Christian, after previously reading through it during my break at home in Washington. His thesis: "Love - and the unity it attests to - is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father." His exhaustive explanation of how we are to love our fellow Christians and non-Christians alike was inspired by John 13:34-35, which is essentially a command from Jesus to love one another as He has loved us. Schaeffer wrote, "Jesus prays that all Christians may be one. The universal church body of Christians actually unified through love." We are not commanded to love only those who belong to our group or church or demonination or those who we agree with, but to love ALL Christians alike. "Jesus is giving a right to the world... the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our obsevable love toward all Christians." Schaeffer even goes as far to say that in not loving our fellow Christians we are revealing to unbelievers that the Father really didn't send the Son. How horrifying a thought that we may be aiding their unbelief!

When it comes to conflict between believers we need to exhibit both God's holiness AND God's love. Holiness without love is harshness, and love without holiness is compromise. It's a "delicate balance."

The theme for this summer is "step out of your comfort zone." It's not printed on our training shirts or written in quotations on our binder, but it is definitely underlying all that we do. I was reading through II Timothy this morning and chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 and a few after and before stuck out like it never has before: Paul wrote, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." It goes on to say "do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord."

This week of training is an incredible time to fellowship with this group of college athletes that share the love of soccer and to prepare myself for the Lord so that he can shape me and use me for His glory.