what to do when all hope seems lost...

We drove into town late Sunday afternoon.

As we passed building after building of broken windows and shops gone out of business, I knew this was not your average, small (American) town.

All hope seemed lost.

And yet the gorgeous river and beautiful rolling hills told a very different story. One of hope. Of what could be. Of what once was.

We arrived at the tiny little church, surrounded by a sea of run-down trailer homes, filled with endless amounts of junk and people sitting on their porches (in their pajamas) in the middle of the day. No jobs. No self worth. No hope.

Why did God bring us here? How were we going to reach these people?  

The odds just kept stacking up against us as we attended the evening worship service of the church that was housing us (and helping promote our ministry that week), only to find there were just 5 people there besides our crew. All of whom were actually from the sister church in the next town over.

This coupled with the fact that the other church in town told us flat out that they would not help promote our ministry, made for a very bleak outlook.

A dying church. With a dying mission. In a dying community.

We came to run basketball camps and and to lead bible studies. To share the hope of Christ with those who may have never even heard his name before. And yet all hope seemed lost.

How would the kids in this community know about the camps? And even if they did hear, who would get off their porch, feed them and bring them? Did they even own cars? 

We canvased the neighborhoods. We passed out flyers. We offered rides and anything we could think of to get kids to come to our (free) camps and to get their parents to come to our bible studies.

But nothing seemed to work. 

Our fears were confirmed the first day of camp when we only had a handful of kids in each one. And no parents in the bible studies.

It was still worth it, we told ourselves. We poured out the love of Christ onto the ones who were there.

And then we did the only thing we knew to do when all hope seems lost.

We got on our knees.

You should never let adversity get you down 

-- except on your knees.

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray."

James 5:13

We gave it to God. We had done all that we knew to do. We had answered His call to go. We had prepared and we had spread the word.

We did not have the power to get kids there. We did not have the power to change lives. We did not have the power to bring hope. It would have to be God working through us.

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Exodus 14:14

When we step out in faith, God does the work for us. And boy did he come through.

We showed up at camp the next day and the kids started coming in droves...3,4,5 times the amount we had the first day.

The churches wouldn't help us, so God used the schools. The superintendent of the school district actually sent out a district wide message telling all families about our camps AND the bible studies.

Nothing is too big for our God.

We saw about 75 different kids (and their families) that week. The gospel message (of salvation through Christ alone) was presented every day. We know of (at least) 12 who put their faith and trust in Christ.

We witnessed miracles. And God whispered in our ears once again, "do you trust Me?"

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.

Sports Ministry Opportunities {Prayer Requests}

I do not normally blog on the weekends but I have 5 really important things to tell you about and I want to take this opportunity to ask for prayer---so stick with me!

1. As you may or may not know, I am a Compassion Blogger which means about once a month or so, I will tell you about something special going on through Compassion International so that you can help take care of the orphans as God commands us to do! {James 1:27} I am one of many voices for orphans and underprivileged children!

Meet Emilda.

Emilda is an 18 year-old sponsored Compassion child with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old who lives in the Philippines.

And she is FAST!!!

In 2009, Emilda competed in the Philippine Special Olympics and she did SO well that she qualified for the World Special Olympics in Athens, Greece this Summer!!

BUT...she needs your help to get there.

Neither Emilda's parents nor the Philippine government are able to pay her way to Greece.

She needs $19,857 to get there.

Will you help her?

Go HERE to make a donation---any amount, no matter how small will help!

You can also go HERE for more information related to Emilda and her story.

2. I have been asked to be apart of an amazing team going overseas to teach basketball to orphans and underprivileged children! The trip is totally up my alley since WOTP is all about sports and orphans---however, I do have some concerns and am having a hard time discerning God's will concerning my involvement. Please pray that God will quickly and clearly reveal His will to me.

3. It is time for us to start planning our summer schedule as far as volleyball team camps go! If you are apart of (know of) a volleyball team that would like to set up a WOTP Volleyball Team Camp for Summer 2011, please email us at worthyoftheprize@yahoo.com.

4. I am in the final stages of the publishing process of my sports camp manual, Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps! Please pray that everything will come together in God's perfect will and timing.

5. Finally, yesterday I had the privilege of attending a FCA event here in town! I am somewhat connected with a local FCA group---I served as a counselor at the Fields of Faith event (where athletes and coaches from the area gave their testimonies) at a local highschool back in October and yesterday I was invited to attend the basketball game of the #13 ranked NCAA women's team and it was a blast! The UWGB women's team is fantastic and fun to watch---and the best part is that the coach is an outspoken Christian! He was the guest speaker at the Fields of Faith event in the fall and yesterday we got to hear him, his assistant coach and one of his players speak and give testimonies before the game! Please pray for his ministry there at the college and in town. Also, this same FCA group has asked me to come to a breakfast in March where we will be talking with the teenage girls about "worth" while the guys talk about "purity." Pray that God will speak through us and that He alone will be glorified!

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for our weekly mom2mom {linky party} and either link-up or leave comments of things that "work for you" as a mom!! Can't wait to see what MJ has in store for us!

Have a great week!

March Madness Update

Okay, so those of you who follow me on twitter and Facebook know that Big A and I ended up in a tie for our tournament brackets!!

A tie! Stinks!! ;)

If Baylor had beaten Duke, I would have won....but as you know, Duke beat Baylor so we ended up in a tie!

Regardless of what happens from here on out, we will end in a tie.

So...what do we do about our prize??

We were actually going to leave the boys with a sitter and go out on a real date...the winner would get to choose where we ate and what we did and the loser would have to line up a sitter and go along with it!

So, here is what we came up with...

We have been invited by the Toros to come to a game...2 free tickets and a chance to win season tickets. We have decided to let this be our date night.

We are going to choose (together) where to go eat downtown and the best part is....Gigi and Granddaddy just happen to be in town and have agreed to watch the boys...all night!!

Woohoo! Should be fun!

I cannot believe that in all our years of doing competing brackets, the 1st year we decide to go public with our friendly little competition and actually have a prize for the winner...we end up in a tie, for the 1st time ever!

Crazy!!

But who cares cause we still get to go out on a date, yippee! :)

Let the Games Begin!!

The race is on and who do you think will WIN???

Big A or Big E...

I must let you know that as of this very moment (after 8 games finished), Big E is in the lead!!

Surprise. Surprise. ;)

Big A picked Kansas State over West Virginia in the championship and I picked Kansas over Villanova!!

We'll see how it goes from here!

By the way, Big A is pouting because I did not pick Mizzou to win at all, even in the 1st round, and I also picked his nemesis Kansas to win it all! Ha!

I just do these things to get him all worked up!

Oh yeah...we decided that when March Madness ends, we are going to get a babysitter for the boys and go out on a date!! Something we almost never do!

The winner gets to choose where we go to dinner and what we do for our date...and the loser has to find a babysitter and go along with it!

Should be interesting!

One last thing...for moment by moment updates of our friendly little competition, you can follow me on twitter @wotpministries!

I will not be blogging daily about it because I have too many other fun things to let you know about...but I will blog occasionally about it during the next 2 weeks!

March Madness

It's that time again...March Madness!!

The competition is ON in our household!

Big A and I haved filled out competing brackets EVERY year since we have been together and I ALWAYS win!!

Only because every year he picks Mizzou to win it all, regardless of their chances...so I am always a shoe in!

This year, however...unfortunately for me (and the Tigers for that matter), he did not pick them to go very far, so he might have an actual chance at winning!

What do you think???

I doubt it! ;)

The games begin tomorrow and we just might have to raise the stakes this year...since you will be witnessing 1st hand our friendly little competition...I think the winner should actually WIN something this year, don't you??

I better go fill out my bracket (and so should you if you are planning to compete against someone this year) since tonight is my last chance to enter one!

I will let you know what Big A and I decide the winner (between me and him) should get!

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

And Happy Birthday to my little friend Jylian (aka Jilly Bean)...I will have to tell you all about her precious story sometime!

For now, happy pickings!