Your Stories

Hola
I am forwarding these photos to you that were taken by a group from Chippewa Free Evangelical Church in Pennsylvania at the beginning of July. Apart from the usual work projects (always ongoing), this group of teens and adults did a Vacation Bible School for the local Primary School age children along with Colina kids. We began around 12:30 for three days with registration and photos, then lunch, song/drama/lesson/Bible verse time, and then broke up into groups to do crafts, stories and games. We ended up with a snack and encouragement to bring friends for the next day. About 15 came the first day, about 50 the second day, and over 100 the third day. Then on the fourth day we had time for their families to come, have a barbeque lunch, see what they had learned, hear some songs and see a good wordless drama. One of our local Pastors was there to visit with the people and invite them to a local church. The theme for the VBS was the parable of the prodigal son, which might help you to understand why somebody is dressed up as a pig!! The group had independently decided to do crafts involving the gospel colors so they were thrilled to know we had the soccer balls to give out. They gave out about 10 as prizes for explaining the colors and gospel memory verses etc. So thank you for your contribution!!! All the kids received a school supply gift box from Green Valley Baptist in Nevada, so a good object lesson in the different parts of the body of Christ doing their respective jobs.. We were blessed to see how open both the children and the parents were to the gospel. We still have more balls to give away so I will keep you posted.

Blessing to you and your ministry
In our Lord's Name and service
Peter

Thank you so much for sending us to Mexico. We had a Great, Awesome time!  We got to see the Transformed lives of those first orphans taken in by Bridge of Love—their prior home was 4 posts and a tarp—Transformed by Jesus and the Fletcher Family who took them in and the Supporters who made it possible—We got to see the eyes of hundreds of kids when we showed up at their small villages (we were in a predominantly Rural Area) with our soccer balls—In 5 Minutes we would be playing soccer with our colorful soccer balls provided by J3:16 Ministries.

On the Soccer Field language was no barrier—We had instant Communication—The “Gringas” against the local kids—Then we would bring these colorful soccer balls into the local churches and share the Gospel Message. Each of these Colors had Significance(see pics of the Soccer Balls):

(1)Gold=Creation/Heaven (2)Black=Sin (3)Red=Blood of Jesus (4)White=Makes our sins whiter than “snow”—Funny Footnote-These kids didn’t know what “snow” was, so we started saying “makes our sins whiter than a rabbit” because in that area of the world rabbits are White and (5)Green=Growth-To Grow in things of God thru Bible, Prayer, and Christian Fellowship.

Then at the end of our Mini VBS type service we would give the Local Pastor a Soccer Ball for his Church and then give away two soccer balls to selected kids that had attended. We also had Spanish tracts that explained in detail the Gospel Message based on these 5 colors—We also gave away String and Beads with these 5 colors to make Gospel Bracelets—Again reinforcing the Good News of the Gospel.

World Wide Word of Faith Church, Palm Harbor, FL

A group from Bayside Community Church, Bradenton FL went on a Missions trip to Colombia, South America in March, 2011. We were able to share the message of John 3:16 using the J316 Soccer balls. We ministered in the slums of La Nohra, outside Villavicencio with Rosa Alba a pastor's wife of the Centro Evangelistica Missions Church, as well as to a lot of kids at El Yarico, an indigenous school out past Villavicencio….way out. We gave 2 balls away at these sites. One for the school and one for the church.

It was an awesome trip! Brought the Word to many who have never heard. The ball presentation went over well.
Thanks again

Greetings in the worthy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May you receive photos for my successful kids outreach in my home country which took place over the weekend. About 70 kids aged between 6-14 attended the event and 56 of them gave their lives to the Lord which was a big success and very motivating. So far I have raised two youths to groom the kids through the J316 soccer balls and literature the period I will be away from them physically but together spiritually.

I will be back to SA this coming weekend. Till then and God Bless!

Pastor Salim

"We work with Young Life in Bradenton, Florida and take teams to City Soliel which is the ghetto of Port Au Prince, Haiti. They have taken balls with them the last two trips (December 2008 and December 2009) and have used them at the school there where they minister to the Haitian kids. They also had opportunity to befriend locals on the beach.  The man in Yellow is their guide and interpreter Timothe who has a soccer ministry in Haiti and works with the international sports coalition. They gave most of the balls to him he is amazing at sharing the gospel!"

Kirstin and Daniel Shontere

What an incredible trip. Josh and I talked that we didn't get enough time to try and reach out with the ball and play as we had wanted due to the schedule we had and our location at times. We shared the ball and vision with pastors in Dubai, at the BTh course in Chennai, an orphanage outside Pondicherry, and churches in Kerala and Bangalore.

Josh said that his favorite moment in India was juggling and sharing the ball with the orphans outside Pondicherry. The look on their faces said it all to him.

Our church is sponsoring another orphanage in that area that will be focused on AIDS-affected children. The high school may send a group in July/August to that area, but one of the challenges is around the Indian school schedule and the heat at the time. Josh would consider going back, but only if he has the opportunity to spend more time with kids than just doing building projects.

That got us thinking, and I shared a comment with Josh from Ortberg's "God is Closer than you Think" book: "God, make up there come down here". We're going to pray about what our role can be.

With that said, I know that you have sent groups over there before to do tours and such. Josh would prefer to be a part of something involving kids, and so we will ask the men who know, what would that take? How can we pray? How can we help?

I have some new contacts over there who could get us into a variety of villages to do small 1-day camps and share the gospel, partnering with churches there. Not sure if that fits where you want to go, or if you would prefer to go over and play with teams like you have before, or a combination.

Ed Roden

I took a J316 ball with me not knowing if they even played soccer over in the middle of the jungle. After a 13 hour bus ride into the middle of Borneo, we got to work making windows for a new medical centre in a new village created for forgotten and abused children in the Borneo jungle. There are now about 350 children leaving in the small village and Praise the Lord the boys were crazy about soccer. At 4:00 on the second day I found myself kicking a ball around with the boys on a sand soccer field.

Almost all of the children come from surrounding tribes, many of them are head-hunters which means many of the children at the facility have tasted human flesh before. The culture itself is very tribal and the boys I played soccer with can't ever go far in tournaments, as opposition teams threaten their lives and the removal of their heads.

On the last day before we began the soccer and got as many of the boys together as I could. I new sharing the message of the ball would not be new to them. They all have heard the message of Jesus Christ before and live lives glorifying God, so I took this opportunity to give them the explanation of the colors and hand over the ball to them for their own future evangelism. I explained it in as much details as possible and we all agreed that we would use this ball in future tournaments (if they are safe enough) and share the message with other tribes people throughout the jungle. There are still many more tribes to be reached throughout this planet, especially in Borneo and I wonder if God will use this J316 ball to make the difference?

James Martin

This summer I got a job selling Christian books all over England in conferences. There was a group of us working at a particular conference and we were doing shift work. I had some time off and started kicking a J316 ball around on a patch of grass. It was a large conference and there were all sorts of children around, from all different parts of the country. Soon my juggling caught some attention and we started a game. After only a few minutes the game had grown and there must have been 25 children playing, there may have been more but I didn't count. So before the game grew any larger I knew I had to share the message the ball gives before any of them left to go back to their families.

I was surprised to find that many of the children playing were not Christians and this message seemed relatively new to them, even at a Christian conference. I was able to share the message with all the children. Some listened intently, some gave a hostile reaction, but for a brief few moments God gave us silence for His love to shine. After the message we played and gradually the game faded until I had to stop it. I have no idea what the kids thought or where they are now. But through this ball God moved yet again.

James Martin

Our ministry is called ECM Youth Football, a ministry of Every Child Ministries. We are located in Gayaza, Uganda about 10 miles north of the capital city Kampala.

We have been very blessed to have these balls sent to us. Our goal is to teach children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through soccer this goal is made much easier. Playing soccer is one of the best ways to get the attention of a child. The kids love playing so much, so for us to be able to use this ball to play and tell them about Jesus, it has been great.

One afternoon a headmaster from a school brought some children for us to give instruction about soccer. We used this ball and when we were finished, we presented the Gospel through the ball. The headmaster was very thankful, he had no idea we were going to do that, but was excited that his kids got to hear the Good News.

We have three teams that use this ball for training and it is the only ball we use for our matches as it is not only a great way for spreading the Gospel, but also a quality ball.

We are having a mission trip that will utilize the J316 Ball in December 2009. Anybody interested in ministering through soccer should contact us (link below) . Anybody going on the trip will leave December 26th, 2009 and return January 4th, 2010.

Matt & Brecka Arnett

We used the J316 soccer ball in 2006 on trip to Mexico and this summer (2009) in a camp in Seattle. We went to Mexico with AIA and to Seattle with Living Hope Community Church or Port Orchard, Washington

In both cases the team in Mexico and the church in Washington State used the wordless bracelet as a gift to young kids and then used the ball to present the gospel through the colors.

Ben Belleman
Men's Soccer Coach
Cedarville University

In May 2009, the Amazing Love Healing Ministry took a team of 9 people to Rwanda, Africa. Although the main focus of the mission trip was to provide God’s healing and reconciliation for genocide victims and released prisoners, we also took 50 Salvation Soccer Balls to distribute among the youth near Kibungo. We gave a short presentation to the youth, mostly orphans, in which we explained the colors on the ball … thereby telling them about sin (BLACK) that separates us from God , the blood of Jesus (RED) that was spilled on the cross for all of us, giving us forgiveness and washing us as white as snow (WHITE), the responsibility of growing in love and knowledge of Jesus Christ (GREEN), and then our end destination: spending eternity with God in Heaven (GOLD). The Salvation story, as well as the colorful soccer balls, were extremely well received.

Before we went to Rwanda with the soccer balls, we asked friends, family and colleagues to get involved in our project and “sponsor” a ball. The response was overwhelming and within just a few days, all 50 balls were paid for. Every person that sponsored a ball, signed it with a personal message of love and hope for the children in Rwanda.

The balls come deflated, which makes packaging and flying very easy. The J316 Ministries now also provides small pumps which can be distributed with the balls. The pumps are small, lightweight and very practical !

Lizelle du Toit

In April 2009 I visited the wonderful country of Kenya. I became friends with a guy who, along with his wife runs a school in the Nakuru area of Kenya. Whenever I travel I make sure I have a J316 ball with me, so I pulled out a couple as I felt led to give my new friend a couple for the school. This was such a God given moment, I sat there and explained the meaning of the ball, making sure my friend fully understood. He told me he would take them back to the school and tell the children about the ball as the played football.

Since my trip, I have spoken to him on numerous occasions. Each time we have spoken he has told me how much the kids are loving the new balls and he tells me he has explained to the children the meaning of the ball. He has even asked me for more of the leaflets explaining the J316 ball. I really hope I can get out and see the kids with their J316 balls soon but praise God for the opportunity and the J316 balls in Nakuru, Kenya!!

Ben Ryan

Greetings, I hope you are well. Your balls were a big hit. I have enclosed a couple of pictures, the little boy was so excited to just hold it. Then when our interpreter told him he could have it he gave that big smile. Henry told him the meaning of the colors and he listened very intently. These kids are in a World Vision ADP I think it is called, so they most likely had already heard the gospel. The funny part was as we visited other villages in the region we say the child with the ball come running over a hilltop. He had followed the bus to wave at us one more time. Our whole bus wanted to know why I hadn't brought more balls.

I gave some out to the people who helped us on our trip, one man had a son hospitalized with Malaria. So I prayed for his son and gave him a ball. When I asked how his son was he said he is good he is out playing with his ball. We were taken to a lakeside resort where the chain link fence was not to keep out wild animals but the poor children who live out side of the gate. We saw 2 little boys playing with a stick and a rock so we offered them a ball again explaining the meaning of the colors and before I could take their picture they ran off squealing with joy.

It looks like a team will be returning to Malawi in late October to complete our project, if so I will pass out more balls at that time. Otherwise the Dr. in charge of the Pediatric clinic will distribute them to the patients as time goes by.

No words were needed, we had the international friendship maker, a soccer ball.  Thank you again for such a door opening tool for the gospel. God Bless you and your ministry.
Working to together to make a difference.

Kari Kramer