Archive for I Love Baseball

Back to the Dominican

// May 6th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // 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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A Big Praise

// October 15th, 2009 // 17 Comments » // I Love Baseball

I’ve been marinating for the last couple days on something I heard Friday and I just need to go ahead and give God all the glory for it.

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Julin is one of my favorite players. He is a charismatic kid with big dreams but at 16 years old he is only in the 6th grade. A couple of weeks ago we got a report from Julin’s teacher that he wasn’t going to school. When I talked to Julin, I found he didn’t like going to school because all the younger kids make fun of him and tell him he is too old and no good. He doesn’t like going to school because all the people in his neighborhood tell him he is dumb and should just play baseball. Julin didn’t have anyone speaking life to him. He didn’t have anyone encouraging or telling him he was capable, in fact, everyone was saying the opposite.

When I sat down with Julin I tried to explain to him as best I could why he needed to go to school.

  • If he doesn’t, he is proving all those people right.
  • I told him all those people in his neighborhood that are criticizing him spend most of their days sitting on their porch doing nothing. They were sitting on that same porch 10 years ago and they’ll be on that same porch in 10 more, but that he has the opportunity for a life better than that.
  • Only he loses if he doesn’t go to school.
  • He needs to be an example to his younger brothers.
  • He wants to make something of his life and he needs an education to achieve his goals.
  • He needs to be able to provide for a family one day and give them with a better life and more opportunities than he has had.
  • That he couldn’t change the past but can decide what he wants to make of the future.

It has been a couple weeks so I don’t even remember exactly what I said but those are some examples. I don’t know what stuck. Maybe nothing, I was saying all of this in broken Spanish after all. Probably nothing, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t really matter what I said as much as that I was saying it. I think what made the difference was that I cared enough to say something, that I cared enough to encourage him, that I told him he was capable. I think he was desperate to hear that. But as Julin left that day, I didn’t know if he would go back.

On Monday I visited Julin in Los Robles. I chatted him up a bit before asking how school was. He lit up. He told me school was great and that the school is going to let him go to 7th grade in  the spring. He thanked me and told me if it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t have gone back. I told him that he deserved all the credit, that I could do all the talking I wanted, but only he could make the decision to go back and that I was proud of him. I took it all with a grain of salt until I talked to Julin’s teacher later that day and got the same report. Wow, God is good.

In the end, God just put me in the right place at the right time and he used me as the tool to touch one of his children and that feels awesome. I feel so honored but yet humbled. I know it wasn’t my wisdom that made a difference but God’s love pouring into this young man. Please keep Julin in your prayers. He is back in school and over one large mountain but has a lot of school and a lot of life to go.

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A Few Pesos Of Hope

// October 13th, 2009 // 9 Comments » // I Love Baseball, Life

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On the eve of one of our major league tryouts, God sent a storm that brought me and several of our players into a church and out of the rain. There were lots of striking things about that night (I wrote about some of them here), but the thing that stuck with me was one of players putting the little money he had into the offering plate. I have to confess that I have mixed emotions about this player. I have been sponsoring “Colon” for the past year. He is one of our most talented players, but he is a bit of a rogue and his own poor decisions have prevented him from potentially signing for a lot of money. I want the best for him, but I fear what might happen to him with that kind of money and his questionable decision making. However, that day in the church I saw the good side of Colon. I saw him with his guard down. I saw him when he isn’t trying to be the man and feeling the need to show everyone how cool he is. That little moment in the church gives me hope for him and I pray God shows me how to bring that side out of him more.

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Rooting For ‘Fry

// September 25th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // I Love Baseball

SufryThumb As I watched our players try out this week, it was with mixed emotions. Sufry is the kind of kid you root for. He is the kind of kid you would do anything for. You want the best for him because he deserves it . He isn’t the biggest kid on the field but he is strong and fast.  He works relentlessly and never complains. He is always respectful and never talks back. ‘Fry is probably the best player on our team but he doesn’t expect to be treated differently. He is humble and treats all of his teammates with respect from the best to to the worst. ‘Fry isn’t technically our captain but he is the one that sets the tone for our team. His is the example I want all of our other players to follow on the field and off. When he isn’t at practice or at school, he is working hard on his own, doing extra work, running or lifting weights. His passion has started to rub off on his teammates, particularly some of our younger players who are the in the worst situations.  They are always following him around. When ‘Fry is doing extra work in the evenings, they are right there with him. When ‘Fry is lifting weights at home, they are there with him. Every time I’ve been at Fry’s house since I’ve been in the DR, our most at risk player has been there, watching, learning.

So it is with a little sadness that I cheer for ‘Fry and pray for the best. ‘Fry is our silent leader and I don’t want to lost his hard work and dedication, the example he sets for the rest of his teammates, or the mentoring he is giving to some of our players who need it most. But I couldn’t be more excited for ‘Fry as a player or as a person. As he closes in on his goal, he has begun a relationship with Christ. And as he has started to read his Bible everything that is already good in ‘Fry has been confirmed and started to grow. He reads his Bible with the same passion, dedication and joy that he plays baseball and that has been an inspiration to me and you can see the excitement in his eyes and hear it in his voice as he tells me what he learned in his reading.

I don’t really have a closing point. This post brings several questions out of me that aren’t really related. Are you the kind of person the people that know you best are rooting for or are they hoping you fail a little bit so you will be humbled (because we have a player like that too)? Do you read your Bible with the same passion you do the thing you love most? Do you read it like it is God speaking to you? Like you have been invited to play a role in a story that is so much bigger than you? Does that get you excited or do you read your bible “dutifully”?

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Answered Prayer

// September 24th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // I Love Baseball

On Wednesday I asked you all to pray for two of our players, that God would  draw them closer to him, humble them and bring them into dependence on him as they got closer to signing with a pro team. Since they weren’t planning on eating dinner the night before one of the biggest days of their lives, I took one to dinner and our coach took the other. As I walked to his house, the skies were ominous and appeared ready downpour at any moment. I wondered to myself whether being out at night in a bad neighborhood with a storm brewing could possibly be a good idea, probably not. However, the rain held off and we arrived safely at the sandwich shop. 30 minutes later we emerged with full bellies and still no rain. Then the heavens opened, and we ran. On the way to the sandwich shop, we had passed by my church and seen that there was a service in progress. I shouted to him to run to the church which was a block way.

As we entered the church wet and underdressed, I couldn’t help but my smile to myself. Thank you Father. It just felt like we were supposed to be there. I felt him telling us, there is going to be sun and there is going to be rain and come whatever weather there may be, I am here. When it rains, I’m here to protect you. I’m your safe port in the storm. Draw close to me. Whatever happens tomorrow I’m here. And when the rains stop, don’t forget me. When all your dreams come true, don’t forget me. And if they don’t, I’m still here and I love you.

As ominous as the skies were, I’m pretty sure it only rained long enough to get us running and settled comfortably in the church. Then it stopped. Coincidence, I think not?

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