syracuse connection: megan and abby

Here's a fun story about a local connection that the Charlotte Eagles has to Syracuse, New York.

About a month ago, while in the middle of the recruiting process that I mentioned earlier, we got a call from a woman who played with the Lady Eagles two years ago. She wanted to know if we had room on our roster for one more player she had been getting to know.

My first reaction was that we were too far along in the recruiting process to even consider another player, but the Lord really laid it on my heart to find out more about this player and to see what we could do.

From there, I found out that the former Eagles player was named Abby Crumpton, the assistant womens soccer coach at Syracuse University. I had never talked to Abby or knew much about her during her time with the Eagles, but our head coach Lee Horton remembered her and thought very highly of her.

So I decided to call Abby myself and talk to her to see what she was thinking in regards to this new player she wanted us to consider. Abby told me that within the first couple of weeks of coming to SU, she was introduced to Megan, as she was not only a leader on the team but a very strong player. Megan was coming off of double knee surgery to clean up tendonitis in her knees.

Abby also mentioned that Megan had brought to her a list of six or seven teams for which she was considering playing this summer. One of the teams on the list was Charlotte, only because she knew two people living in the area.

She did not know that Abby was a former player or anything about the Eagles, including the fact that we are a ministry-driven organization. Abby took the opportunity to explain to Megan every detail that she could about the ministry of the Eagles and about what she could expect if she were to play for us.

Abby told me that she had assumed that telling Megan about the ministry of the Eagles would turn her off to the possibility of playing with us. Instead, the opposite happened. Megan became more interested in our team and the possibility of playing in our environment.

One thing that you should know about Megan is that she comes from a Catholic background and was not a believer. Because of the questions that Abby answered about the Lady Eagles, it opened a door to discussing Christianity in more depth with Megan.

A week after talking to Abby, I called Megan to hear from her and make sure that she understood what our ministry was all about. As I talked to her, I quickly realized that she was very excited at the opportunity to play in the unique environment of the Lady Eagles. She was not at all turned off by the ministry or talking about Christ, yet she was honest that she did not have a personal relationship with Him.

Normally, the Lady Eagles do not bring on players who are not professing believers in Christ, but as I started to pray about it and as others began to pray for and with me, we were all drawn to having Megan come down to Charlotte and be a part of the team.

Three days after my call with Megan, I received a call from Abby. She was giddy with joy because Megan had prayed to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior that day!

This just happened to be the day before I was planning on calling Megan to offer her a spot on our team. It served as confirmation to me that I had made the right decision in inviting Megan to serve with the Lady Eagles this season.

What is so awesome about this story is that it demonstrates all that the ministry of the Eagles and Lady Eagles teams (and MAI as a whole) can do in people's lives. Abby came in, was trained in sports ministry, did sports ministry with the Lady Eagles, and then was deployed to her current mission field at Syracuse University, where she impacted the life of Megan. Now Megan gets to come and learn more about Christ and about sports ministry, and our prayer is that she will use her training to impact the life of someone else in the future.

MAI's goal is to "develop culturally relevant soccer ministry programs that become self-replicating." Even on an individual level, each and every woman that comes to Charlotte to be a part of the Lady Eagles is a part of a ministry. This ministry changes her life, but it also trains and empowers to go and impact someone else's life for Christ.

Megan's life is forever changed. This is a glimpse into how all of your prayer, support, and gifts can be used to bring glory to God and change lives. I implore you to continue to pray for the ministry over this upcoming summer. Our dream is to see lives changed and God glorified through soccer.

the Lord will provide

I received an e-mail a few days ago from a Charlotte Eagles staff member's daughter, who is going to be going on tour with the Lady Eagles team to Chile. She was sending the e-mail to encourage her fellow tour members as many of them are struggling to raise support for the trip. In the e-mail, she added lyrics to a hymn called "The Lord will Provide." I thought it would be a great reminder to all of us that the Lord will provide everything that we need, exactly when we need it. I hope that you enjoy it and that it will be an encouragement to you as well.

The Lord will Provide

by John Newton

Though troubles assail,
And dangers affright;
Though friends should all fail,
And foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us,
Whatever betide:
The Scripture assures us,
"The Lord will provide."

The birds, without barn
Or storehouse, are fed;
From them let us learn
To trust for our bread;
His saints what is fitting
Shall ne'er be denied,
So long as 'tis written,
"The Lord will provide."

His call we obey,
Like Abram of old,
Not knowing our way,
But faith makes us bold;
For though we are strangers,
We have a good Guide;
And trust in all dangers:
"The Lord will provide."

When Satan appears
To stop up our path,
And fills us with fears,
We triumph by faith;
He cannot take from us,
Though oft he has tried,
The heart-cheering promise,
"The Lord will provide."

He tells us we're weak,
Our hope is in vain;
The good that we seek
We ne'er shall obtain;
But when such suggestions
Our faith thus have tried,
This answers all questions,
"The Lord will provide."

No strength of our own,
Nor goodness we claim;
Our trust is all thrown
On Jesus' dear name.
In this our strong tower
For safety we hide;
The Lord is our power,
"The Lord will provide."

When life sinks apace,
And death is in view,
The word of His grace
Shall comfort us through;
Not fearing or doubting,
With Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting,
"The Lord will provide."

the reason I am here

Last week I went to a apartment complex in Charlotte to listen to the kids there read to me. Myself and Katie Forbis, a former player and current Women's ministry coordinator, went to the apartments with the Urban Eagles. The Urban Eagles are a part of the Charlotte Office ministry. They go into a couple different apartment complexes where different refuge groups are concentrated. They formed a soccer team in each place and then they minister to the children on the team and their families. This could mean anything from just hanging out to helping the children with their reading. Because many of the kids are in school then need as much practice as they can get. The parents usually do not know any english so we help teach them as well.

I stopped by for the first time with Kaite and we were both blown away about how wonderful the children are and how eager they are to read. It was such an easy thing to serve and love them. The exciting part was that we found out a couple of days after we visited that a dozen kids excepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior!!

Some of the kids that we met were in the video that I posted earlier. I have added another video here about what the urban eagles are all about. Check it out!

devotional

One of the Men's coaches sent this along to everyone in the organization and said that it was a great devotional to take a look at. I read through it and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Take a look.....

David Wilkerson Today

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

What does it all mean when prayers go unanswered? When hurts linger and God seems to be doing nothing in response to our faith? Often God is loving us more supremely at that time than ever before. The Word says, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." A chastening of love takes precedence over every act of faith, over every prayer, over every promise. What I see as hurting me could be his loving me. It could be his gentle hand spanking me out of my stubbornness and pride.

We have faith in our faith. We place more emphasis on the power of our prayers than we do on getting his power into us. We want to figure out God so we can read him like a book. We don't want to be surprised or bewildered and when things happen contrary to our concept of God, we say, "That can't be God; that's not the way he works."

We are so busy working on God, we forget he is trying to work on us. That is what this life is all about: God at work on us, trying to remake us into vessels of glory. We are so busy praying to change things, we have little time to allow prayer to change us. God has not put prayer and faith in our hands as if they were two secret tools by which a select group of "experts" learn to pry something out of him. God said he is more willing to give than we are to receive. Why are we using prayer and faith as "keys" or tools to unlock something that has never been locked up?

Prayer is not for God's benefit, but for ours. Faith is not for his benefit, but for ours. God is not some eternal, divine tease. He has not surrounded himself in riddles for men to unravel, as if to say, "The wise will get the prize."

We are so mixed up on this matter of prayer and faith; we have had the audacity to think of God as our personal "genie" who fulfills every wish. We think of faith as a way to corner God on his promises. We think God is pleased by our efforts to back him against the wall and shout, "Lord, you can't go back on your promise. I want what is coming to me. You are bound by your Word. You must do it or your Word is not true."

This is why we miss the true meaning of prayer and faith. We see God only as the giver and we are the receiver. But prayer and faith are the avenues by which we become the givers to God. They are to be used, not as ways to get things from God, but as a way to give him those things by which we can please him.

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/7979

Pulpit Series Newsletters