That email was great, but then he sent me one with this video attached:

A Christian dribbling 3 basketballs for halftime shows at the age of 21??

As much as I wanted to mention to Sam right then and there the possibility of dribbling on behalf of Ball for Lives, I knew I had to leave things in God’s hands and wait for Him to move in Sam’s heart. So I responded that I was impressed and encouraged him to keep using his abilities for the Lord.

It is always worth it to wait on God’s timing!

Months later I got an email from Sam asking if he could do his upcoming dribbling shows for Ball for Lives under the title of Create the Crossover. Clearly we wouldn’t just let anyone represent Ball for Lives to hundreds of people at a time without checking out his beliefs, character, and love for Jesus Christ. So we flew him to New York City!

All last week I spent time with Sam doing dribbling shows together, going to local basketball courts, serving together with Gian Paul Gonzalez from 4-One, and simply talking about the Kingdom of God. In Sam I see a heart that wants to follow Jesus Christ, a will that puts vision into action to lead others to God, and a talent that he really wants the Holy Spirit to use for the glory of God.
Thanks for an amazing week Sam! You were an incredible blessing to the believers here, and reached out with the gospel to many more than you realize.

I don’t know exactly how God will lead Sam to be involved with Ball for Lives, but I know that we have gained an amazing friend, and a partner in saving the lives of orphans around the world for the sake of the gospel.

Check out one of “Sizzla’s” halftime shows with the Harlem Rockets!!

“So have you ever been to Africa?”

And now we can officially say, YES WE HAVE!!!

Although I write this email from Weehawken, NJ, I can type with a smile on my face that we are currently in South Africa blessing those who are laboring for Christ and the beautiful children they have rescued. The Lord has not led me yet to go personally to Africa, but I had the privilege of dropping off two of the most amazing girls in my life at JFK Airport last week. Who better to send to South Africa on behalf of Ball for Lives than Whitney and Ashley!!

Who else would I ever send to represent Ball for Lives to Africa?

Whitney and Ashley are spending two weeks at Bethesda Outreach in South Africa. Bethesda originally motivated me to do something about the millions of orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa that were losing in their parents to AIDS. In Bethesda I saw followers of Jesus Christ who were

-placing orphans in families, not just buildings. Each orphan is placed in a loving, South African family with Christian parents and siblings.

-offering each of their children a solid education in their own Christian School.

-assisting African local churches in helping to make orphans in their communities disciples of Jesus Christ.

So in 2007, when I dribbled the NYC Marathon, it was to raise funds and awareness for Bethesda! And although Ball for Lives has opened up to help many organizations that are saving lives around the globe, we keep going back to helping Bethesda.We believe in their mission and want to help them save as many orphans as possible for the glory of God!

Pray for Ash and Whit, that God would

-do a great work in both of their hearts, increasing the great love they already share with others.

-use them to encourage the workers of Bethesda Outreach in the Lord and be a huge blessing to the 40+ kids on their campus.

-help them understand how we can better assist Bethesda and help them save more orphans.

-give the workers at Bethesda wisdom as to how they can best help us (Ball for Lives) help them!

Both Ashley and Whitney paid out of pocket for this trip. That’s how much they believe in Bethesda’s work! However, if you would like to join others who have chosen to share in this trip financially, you can make a donation to Ball for Lives on top right corner of our site.

To all of you who have encouraged Ashley and Whitney in their labors for children around the world, THANK YOU! Expect an amazing report from them after they get back next week. pray for these two wonderful girls!

What better way to know than to go yourself!!!

This year Ball for Lives is helping to send people all over the world so that they personally can see first hand how the Church of Jesus Christ can help those who are suffering. We have been blessed by God to help financially seven young women who have (or have had) a chance to serve the Lord around the world-and they are excited about it! It is encouraging to see that they are putting into practice Isaiah 6:8, which says:

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Laurie Plante & Kellyn Lovell- HAITI: As you’ve seen on their post, Philly Conquered-Twice Laurie & Kellyn have been greatly blessed to be able to serve Christ in Haiti after it had been ravaged by the earthquake. These two women decided to do something more with their Spring Break from BBC and spend time with local orphans at Sou La Woch in Ounaminthe, Haiti. Laurie and Kellyn have been dear friends of Ball for Lives and our vision to help children in poverty worldwide. And because of the amount of money they raised from their two races, Ball for Lives will be able to finance their next trip to serve in Haiti in January!

Meijie Plante- MOROCCO and IVORY COAST: Laurie’s older sister, Meijie, is currently in Rabat, Morocco! She is working with the Democratic Association for Women of Morocco, which is an NGO that fights for the rights of the women all around the northern countries of Africa.  Meijie has been in Rabat for almost 2 months and will be leaving shortly for the Ivory Coast! She will stay for 20 days with a family from Abidjan that started a church and could use Meijie’s help as a youth leader! Please pray they would be able to develop a youth group and share the love of Christ with the children.

Kristen Geer- THAILAND AND CAMBODIA: Kristen has been offered a summer internship with Women At Risk International-she left for Thailand on June 21! WAR International ”unites and educates women to create circles of protection and hope around women at risk through culturally sensitive, value-added intervention projects”. With WAR, Kristen will be working as a counselor with sexually exploited women and children in Thailand and putting into practice what she has learned in her time working with Focus on the Family and her counseling classes at BBC. We are praying for an opportunity she has to spend a week in Cambodia, another country plagued by child prostitution.

Ashley Ten Kate & Whitney Rodgers- SOUTH AFRICA: Ash and Whit are leaving for Bethesda Outreach on August 10! They will be staying for two weeks to minister to the children in South Africa at Bethesda’s orphanage and the people who work there. In South Africa, 1 out of 5 people are infected with AIDS/HIV. Millions of young adults are dying from the disease and leaving behind children who have nothing. Please pray for Ash and Whit as they prepare their hearts for their trip!

You might not be able to travel to another country and minister to people there, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be a light to those around you! Matthew 15:15-17 encourages those who know Christ to be a bold witness for Him.

¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. ¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”.

He changes our lives and brings people together as He chooses. He gave Dan the idea of using basketball to help children in poverty around the world, allowed his friends to join him, and now lives in our area (and around the globe!) are being changed. One of the lives that is being transformed is a beautiful little girl named Hawie.

Here are a few facts about Hawie, where she’s from, and how she has become a part of the Ball For Lives family.

HAWIE:

• Hawie is an 11 year old girl from Ethiopia. She lives with her grandmother.
• Her household duties include: running errands and carrying water.
• Hawie loves playing with dolls and running.
• Hawie lives in Dendi Wered a city that has roughly 40,000 residents (70km from Addis Ababa, one of the major cities in Ethiopia.)

FAST FACTS ABOUT ETHIOPIA:

• Religion: Christianity: 60%, Muslim: 32%, Other: 8%.
• Literacy rate for women: 35%.
• Percentage of population using impoverished drinking water sources: Urban households: 96%.
• Percentage of population using adequate sanitation facilities: 27%.
• Life expectancy for women: 58 years old.
• Percentage of population living under $1.25 a day: 39%.

HOW SHE BECAME PART OF BALL FOR LIVES:

Hawie became part of the Ball For Lives family through generous donations from a wonderful family in Ohio and the tennis team that Dan coaches at Memorial. We knew we wanted to do something special with these funds.

We looked into sponsoring a child. We were directed to Compassion International and learned about their work all around the globe. Through donations and sponsorships, lives (just like Hawie’s!) are being changed for the sake of the Gospel.

We ask that you would pray for Hawie and her grandmother. Pray that they would be encouraged by the ministry that Compassion has in Ethiopia and are blessed by the work being done for them. Pray that Hawie would come to realize the great love that Christ has for her.

-ash

VOTE HERE: RefreshEverything.com/CreatetheCrossover

How will we use $25,000?? This money will allow Occh to bring 100 FREE Create the Crossover School Assemblies to New York City. Public Schools all over NYC which might not otherwise have the funding to pay for an inspiring assembly, will get them for free if we win this grant.

God does not need Pepsi’s money to spread His work. At the same time, what if He wants to use this opportunity to spread His work through us throughout New York City? Imagine thousands of kids throughout NYC being inspired to live for something bigger than the drugs, alcohol, gangs, and sex that is destroying so many lives and communities.

Vote EVERYDAY at RefreshEverything.com/CreatetheCrossover and post the link on your Facebook, emails-Everywhere!!

EATING!

Anyone who brings our Dribble the World flyer to Applebee’s Restaurant on April 13-15 will have 10% of his or her order donated to Ball for Lives! Here are the details:

Location: Applebee’s on 88th St. and Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen, NJ

Dates: Tuesday, April 13-Thursday, April 15

Time: All Day!

Restrictions: Not valid on Alcohol purchases. Our Dribble the World Flyer must be presented to receive the donation!

Print our Flyer Here:

APPLEBEE’S DRIBBLE THE WORLD FUNDRAISER

Don’t live in the North Jersey/New York City area? Why not set up a fundraiser to spead the word about Dribble the World at an Applebee’s near you? I believe God is so pleased when we do simple, little things in our every day lives to make a difference for others. Imagine people around the country helping us spread the vision of rescuing African orphans BY EATING! Contact us, and let’s make it happen!

Please spread the word about this event and help us make the greatest difference for the Kingdom of God.

March 13: Arrive in Dusseldorf, Germany, and perform at a professional basketball Half Time show that night! (the Coach of the team has also set up a radio interview!)

March 14: Meet with believers in Dusseldorf as we attend local church gatherings.

March 15-16: Speak to German students at a local school! I will be dribbling in Phys Ed and English classes.

March 17-19: Travel to Berlin. I’ll have opportunities to use basketball to reach out to a local university campus through pick-up basketball and dribbling shows

March 19: Fellowship with believers in Berlin. I’ll be speaking to a group of teenagers for their Bible study!

March 20-23: Fly to Rome, Italy and cheer for Papa Occh on Sunday morning as he runs (not dribbles ) the Maratona di Roma! I’ll spend time with my parents and local believers in Rome.

March 24-28: Travel with my parents to Perugia to see my Christian brothers and sisters at Centro Evangelico Battista, where I have not been for two and a half years. It will be so good to fellowship with them again!

March 28-29: Hopefully meet up with a student group from Memorial High School (where I work) who will be in Rome!

March 30-April 5: Spend the rest of my trip encouraging and helping the church in Perugia, sharing Ball for Lives with them and how they can be involved. Hopefully I’ll be running a basketball camp for the community with my friend Vincenzo! I also want to plan a Ball for Lives basketball camp in Perugia for 2011.

THREE MAIN GOALS FOR BALL FOR LIVES ON THIS TRIP:

1. Pray that my dribbling skills would attract the attention of lost people, and that local believers would have opportunities to share the gospel.

2. Pray that we would make connections with potential runners for DRIBBLE THE WORLD. All it takes is one dribbler in Europe to start an entire movement on that continent!

3. Pray that I would make connections with local believers about the X Fund. Sex trafficking is prevalent in Europe (ever seen the movie Taken?) and the struggle for sexual purity is universal. Pray that partnerships would begin, and for the X Fund to spread throughout Europe!

I’ll do my best to keep you all updated on Twitter. If you’re not following us yet, make sure you become a follower of BallforLives.

Father, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

“It was amazing!!”

Afterwards, we prayed with heavy hearts that God would use us to offer the hope Jesus to a suffering world.

Finally, we visited our brothers and sisters at Nazareth Baptist Church in West New York. We presented not only the 30 Hour Famine, but also the X Fund. Several teens expressed interest in joining this movement of purity that is rescuing child prostitutes around the globe. And I’m pretty confident they’ll be fasting with us for the next famine-right Josh??

If you’d like to join us in saving lives from starvation, we’ll be sending our 30 Hour Famine donations this weekend.  All funds will be split between World Vision and Bethesda Outreach this weekend. Donate Here!

Next National Date for the Famine is April 24-25. You in??

More info coming on our Monday post-if we make it

The first part of accomplishing this mission is raising AWARENESS. As you look through What We Do, you’ll see that we have powerful ways of spreading our message to the masses. As the masses become aware, a core group of people take action to spread the message even further.

The second aspect of our mission flows naturally from the first: as people become aware, many are moved to give MONEY to help fund the effort. Ball for Lives has several projects that have the ability to continually raise funds as they raise awareness.

Finally, we want to PARTNER with other non-profits that are saving lives around the w0rld. We don’t personally work in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, our friends at Bethesda Outreach are personally taking in orphans, placing them in families, and giving them a quality education.  By donating to organizations like Bethesda, we take part in rescuing African orphans.

Ready to get involved? Visit our How to Join Us page.