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CU football players spend Spring Break ministering By Jordan Cornett News from Campbellsville University CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY - Servant leadership is more than just an idea for 11 Fighting Tiger football team members and their coaches. The group of athletes, led by former Campbellsville University assistant head coach Jim Hardy and quarterbacks coach Hunter Cantwell, spent their Spring Break in Florida ministering in several prisons and homeless shelters through Sports Reach, founded in Campbellsville, KY, by Robbie Speer; it is a Christian outreach program which uses sports to share Christ. "Hopefully this experience gives the players a developed mission mind and heart for reaching outside to other people and sharing the Gospel of Christ," said Hardy. "We have a mission statement here at the university about servant leadership. The best way to learn is to get involved and give back in a higher calling." The group spent a week in various parts of Florida, playing softball at three different correctional facilities and ministering in two different homeless shelters. After arriving to Cabot Lodge in Lake City on Thursday, February 28, 2013, the group traveled the next morning to the Union Correctional facility in Lake Butler where they played softball with 55 prisoners. "Union is a last-step type of prison," said Hardy. "Those men are unlikely to ever get out, so our being there means a lot to those men." On Friday the group went to the Reception Medical Center (RMC) and played ball two times as well as visited the facility's Intensive Care Unit to pray with the patients. It was here that freshman lineman Rick Raley learned an invaluable lesson. "After we played ball, we were ministering to about 40 inmates," said Raley. "Then the canteen opened and every one of them left in the middle of us sharing. All that stayed behind was the security guard. We were really bummed, but we began praying together for the prison. When we were done the guard walked up to us to let us know that even if we didn't change anyone else's life that day, we had changed his. That moment taught me that God is always the one doing the work and not us." Orlando was the next stop for the Fighting Tigers. After worshiping at the First Baptist Church of Kissimmee, the group headed to the Orlando Union Rescue Mission where they spent the next two days working. Some of the athletes used this time to split off from the group and share Christ with the homeless men while the others served meals, cleaned tables, and processed luggage and personal property of the men. The athletes got a break on Tuesday afternoon after serving at the Osceola Christian Ministry Center with a trip to the Orlando Wet and Wild Water Park. The final two days of the trip were spent at the Sumpter Correctional Institution. After playing ball the first day with the inmates, the facility allowed the group to lead a service in the gym for the entire prison, something never before permitted. Joining the CU crew was a soul gospel band within the prison. Senior linebacker and defensive end McKale High shared a personal testimony of faith to the inmates, something he believes God used in a great way. High told about a serious jet skiing accident he was in this past summer. He was riding with a friend when he hit a wave at 60 mph and nosedived. His friend flipped off and broke the side mirror, leaving a sharp piece of fiber glass sticking out that ripped High's right arm from shoulder to wrist. "It ripped my flesh from bone without damaging any arteries, bones, or muscles," said High. The doctor's called it a miracle. By earthly standards I shouldn't be here right now, let alone have an arm with full use. Two months after the accident I was back on the football field, though. That event heightened my faith incredibly, and I think the prisoners really soaked the story in." Six inmates prayed to receive Christ that day according to Hardy. In total, almost 50 different men from the shelters and prisons made a decision for Christ over the course of the team's week. "My favorite part of the trip was meeting some of the inmates," said Raley. "God showed me that some of the most Godly men are behind prison bars. Yes, it is definitely a dark place that needs Christ but some men there shine so brightly for the Lord already. One man told us he wouldn't change a thing he did wrong because it brought him to prison where he ended up being saved. He now shares that with the whole prison." Others attending the trip were Chris Brown of Pelham, AL; Seth McFerrin of Old Hickory, TN; Ricco Dickerson of Memphis, TN; Hunter Smith of Munfordville, KY; Cameron Looper of Lone Oak, KY; Nicholas Jones; Eli Mitchell, Wesley Cain of Alachua, FL; and Anthony Douglas of Chattanooga, TN Sports Reach was founded by Campbellsville, KY citizen, Robby Speer. It's website: www.sportsreach.org. This story was posted on 2013-03-26 17:53:37
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