My 2013 Word

Last year my word was JOY! And what an awesome year it was! You can read about my 2012 word and download our free "find joy in the journey" printable here, go here for my 2012 highlights and then stay tuned for the release of our "find joy in the journey: how 12 women could face tomorrow just because He lives" ebook, a direct result of what God showed me on my 2012 journey to find joy, despite my circumstances!

This year God gave me a very different word. REACH. He is calling me to reach the nations for Christ, one sports camp at a time!

As you may or may not know, in addition to being a blog about faith, family and fitness...Worthy of the Prize is first and foremost, a sports ministry. We run volleyball team camps all summer long, partnering with high school teams to get them ready for their upcoming season. And after many years of running evangelistic sports camps for kids, we have written a sports camp manual for churches and mission organizations, giving them everything they need to run their own evangelistic sports camps in their community or on mission. Most recently, we have partnered with J316 Ministries to send evangelistic balls to orphans and kids in poor villages across America and around the world, with the hope that we will one day be able to follow up with evangelistic sports camps in those areas.

Because God blessed us with two baby boys, just two years apart, and because we have moved twice in two years, this mission has been on hold. This is actually why I branched out into other areas of ministry (the products, the mom stuff, the fitness stuff, things I could do from home, etc), causing the blog to grow tremendously. And I am SO thankful for the glory God has brought to His name through those ministries.

BUT...I am thrilled that He is allowing me to return to my first love...sports ministry!!! And that He is giving me the GO ahead to pursue those ministries full force this year!

Does this mean the blog will suffer? Absolutely not. In fact, God is allowing this blog to fund our ministries!

It does, however, mean that you will see some slight changes around here and the phasing out of some products and ministries, in order to streamline God's vision for this ministry of ours.

Mostly, it means that we will strive to reach our summer camp kids with the gospel message of salvation through Christ alone...it means that we will strive to reach the churches with information about how they can partner with us to run evangelistic sports camps of their own and to help us send evangelistic balls to orphans and poor kids across the world...it means we will strive to reach the nations for Christ, through dynamic sports ministry!!!

Will you join us? If you have a one word for 2013, feel free to link up here and tell us about it!

I am currently working with a graphic designer on a branding for this 2013 goal! I can't wait to show you what she comes up with and I will be in touch soon as to how you can partner with us on this mission!

Happy 2013, friends! May God get all the glory!!!

Go here for more information on the One Word movement and how to get involved.

About the Author: Erin Vick Franklin is the founder and director of Worthy of the Prize. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization. Erin is the wife of A, a Worship Pastor, and a work-at-home-momma to 2 crazy little boys, a and e.