More Than Fine…

Progress

// June 28th, 2010 // 9662 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/progress/Progress2010-06-29+01%3A22%3A43chrissulli // Uncategorized

Today was a good day for I Love Baseball. It was a chance to see so much what the program can be and that things in the Dominican Republic are capable of functioning normally. Practice ran quickly and efficiently. The typical practice scene of bodies scattered around the dugout doing a whole lot of hanging out was nowhere to be scene. Everyone was in motion on the field, doing something to get better. We got everything done in about 2 1/2 hours, a far cry from our usual 4+ hour baseball practice. Practice was followed by an hour of English lessons during which the kids were eager to learn and surprised us with their English skills. After English class we had a great half hour devotional and talked about the word of God.

Maybe the day wasn’t earth shattering, but in its simple functionality there was huge progress. I’m so thankful for Miles and Candice being down here to make I Love Baseball better. Now we just have to pray for more of the same tomorrow and that the changes last long after we are gone.

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Success

// June 23rd, 2010 // 9659 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/success/Success2010-06-23+19%3A50%3A13chrissulli // Uncategorized

Success can be a difficult thing to define. If none of our players ever sign a pro contract, does that mean we weren’t successful? I don’t think so. There are way more important things we are trying to teach our kids than just how to play baseball, but if our kids don’t change? What if their lives continue on the same trajectory they were on before they came to I Love Baseball and end up in the same positions we worked to keep them out of? What if they never know God? Did we fail? Unsuccessful outcomes are hard to accept. But do we define success as the world does, based on results? Or do we serve God faithfully and acknowledge that only he can control the results of our ministry?

Watching certain kids behavior get worse instead of better is heartbreaking.  But we don’t do what we do to receive the gratitude, love and respect of our kids. We love them because of the love of Christ that we have already received not earthly Affirmation. It is just a tough pill to swallow when kids you have invested so much in don’t get it, when they don’t return the same love and respect they are receiving. It is frustrating. It hurts. But we keep serving and focus on the process and loving well, knowing that the results are not in our hands but God’s. So what is success? For me, it is serving faithfully. What is success for you?

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Hang Tough

// June 7th, 2010 // 9649 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/hang-tough/Hang+Tough2010-06-07+19%3A49%3A35chrissulli // Uncategorized

My first few weeks in the Dominican haven’t exactly gone as planned for a whole bunch of different reasons. But today is a new day, a new opportunity and tomorrow will be also. The challenges down here can often be overwhelming. There is so  much to do that I often don’t know where to start. The process to get anything done can be infusing, inefficient, and discouraging.

Please pray for God’s blessing on the work we are doing, but more importantly that love and relationships aren’t neglected in order to get things done. Things will get done in God’s time and in the mean time we can’t compromise or lose sight of the things that really matter.

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An Engagement Story

// May 17th, 2010 // 96311 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/an-engagement-story/An+Engagement+Story2010-05-17+21%3A29%3A10chrissulli // Uncategorized

I am so thankful for the amazing woman of God that the Lord has brought into my life. Reflecting back on the beginning of our relationship and the fear, worldliness and lack of communication that characterized it during those days, it is clear that it is only by God’s grace that we are where we are today. God has truly used our relationship to grow and sanctify each of us and the individuals we used to be are hardly recognizable in the people we have become. Our time together has completely redefined our perceptions and understandings of relationships, deepened and grown our relationships with Christ and challenged everything we once held to be true, especially the lies of the world that we used to take for granted. The transformation from the fear that characterized our early relationship to the openness and willingness to discuss and challenge any assumption or topic is staggering and I am humbled by what has God done in our lives.

I proposed last Friday, only 36 hours or so before I would embark on a 3 month journey doing ministry with young men in the Dominican Republic. It had been on mind for a long time, as far back as my trip to the Dominican last fall and to be honest, I just didn’t know what I was waiting on anymore. I was waiting I suppose on the unexpected, something I might of missed, but in reality I knew God had blessed me with an amazing woman and that by God’s grace we had built our relationship on a firm foundation that neither of us really could have planned or imagined. Eventually, any doubts or questions that lingered were overwhelmed by my desire to start living life more fully with the love of my life and being able to share everything with her and my faith that, although we know hard times will comes and issues will rise, our foundation rests in Christ and by his grace we will persevere.

One of biggest fears in the whole process was talking to my family. Talking about feelings and things like this is pretty out of the ordinary for us, but on Friday I took my mom to lunch and shared my plan to propose.

The next step was to talk to Annette’s family. I had taken her father and step-father’s numbers out of her phone earlier in the week, but as I dialed her dad’s number and heard an automated reception for a business, I realized I had taken the wrong number. Shaken but determined to go through with proposing despite any obstacles I pressed on. Why allow a days imperfections to put off a decision that alters the rest of your life?

Annette and I had plans that night to meet a group of friends later that night to celebrate my birthday, my going away and her last day at her old job. Little did she know it also served an excellent opportunity to celebrate our engagement with some of those closest to us. Annette and I had been reading through Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, and made a date to finish the last chapter before dinner. It seemed like a perfect opportunity and would set the tone for the type of marriage we want to pursue. However, in the confusion of having the wrong phone number I had completely forgotten the book and with the looming deadline of dinner, I didn’t have to time to return home to retrieve it.

So I drove to Annette’s with little plan but to ask her to marry me and improvise the rest. As I entered her apartment, I confessed my forgetfulness but suggested we still head over to the small beach by her apartment before going to dinner. She said we could start a new book and returned to getting ready for dinner. As she straightened her hair, I snatched her phone from next to her asking something about if she had any scrabble games going on her iphone and seized the opportunity to go outside and call her dad. While I was still on the phone with her dad, she came outside and gave me a quizzical look as to why I was on the phone in the car. I thought I was busted, but she hadn’t realized it was her phone that I was on.

We headed to Davis Island Beach, new book in hand, and found a bench to sit and read. The new book wasn’t ideal but our conversation drifted to our relationship and after stalling… and stalling… and stalling… I finally said, “I meant everything we said. And I want to make it official.” “Wha?” she replied with a confused and startled look. I got down on one knee and asked, “Will you marry me?” She managed a yes before starting to cry uncontrollably.

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Back to the Dominican

// May 6th, 2010 // 9573 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/back-to-the-dominican/Back+to+the+Dominican2010-05-06+17%3A30%3A24chrissulli // I Love Baseball

Last year I spent 5 months in the Dominican Republic serving and ministering to young men in the I Love Baseball program. During my 5 months in the Dominican, I saw our program clothe the naked and feed the hungry. I watched kids quit school and go back because of the work we were doing. I saw our coach love our kids with a father’s love and wisdom and turn a baseball team into a family for kids who may not have one. I saw kids accept Christ and lives changed by the Gospel. For all those reasons and because a group of Dominican teenagers became my family and friends, I am going back, and I feel incredibly blessed that God has provided me with the opportunity to return to Barahona.

I will be leaving May 16th and returning mid to late August. My goal is to raise $7,000 with half of it going towards the cost of my trip, and the other half going towards a vehicle that would provide much needed transportation for not only me this summer but for the future growth of the program. Getting players to and from church, school, games, etc has been one of our greatest obstacles/costs, and for us to be able to provide our staff a way to transport the players would be a huge blessing. I would like to ask you to partner with me through prayer and financial support to reach this goal.

Because of my previous experience, I’m uniquely positioned to not only continue mentoring and serving our young men, but to take steps to develop the program in order to improve our quality and accountability and grow the program in order to reach even more young men. I’ll be leading a team of two other people, a college baseball coach who will focus on developing our baseball program and a young woman who will teach daily English classes. We have a tremendous opportunity this summer to serve and speak into the lives of the young men of I Love Baseball and not only share the Gospel with them but live it with them.

I know supporting others as they have stepped out in faith has been a tremendous blessing to me and I ask you to consider doing the same through either prayer and/or financial support. If you are able to make a commitment to partner with me financially, please reply to this message and either send back a check written to ILB/COTNI Subject Chris Sullivan to 33 S Treasure Dr. Tampa, FL 33609 or online by going to www.cotni.org/opportunities/8 and entering Chris Sullivan (no team code necessary). If you would like to commit to partner with me prayerfully, please reply to this message so I can keep you informed of needs and praises. If you have any questions about my trip or the ILB program please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to share more about the work we are doing.

Thank you for partnering with me.

God bless,

Chris

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