Summer Snapshot: 2007

- 32 churches (14 in ON, 10 in BC and 8 in AB)
- 1395 children
- 300 church volunteers
- 20 summer staff
- 30% of our campers came from non churched backgrounds
- 266 children made first time decisions to follow Christ

Holy smokes it has been a long time since I last wrote in my Blog. The summer as pretty much done (2 weeks of camps left). I am amazed at God's grace and mercy as he continues to use a broken person such as myself to enable others to share the gospel.

To the left is our coaches that are ministering in Ontario. I had the privleage of spend 4 days with them preparing them for their summer. We spent 2 days going over a variety of camp details. The spiritual curriclium, sharing testimonies, camp skills, drills and games were just of few of the topics we covered. Then I was off to Alberta to do the same.

So far AIA Church Partnership Soccer Camps have had over 1200 kids attend 34 church based soccer camps throughout Canada (BC, AB and ON). Here are a few highlights of the summer so far:

Steele Heights Baptist Church:
There was one boy whose parents very recently got divorced, and the pastor was talking to me after the camp, and he had no idea who this man was or that he just got divorced, because he had never met him. But his signed his son up for soccer camp as a way to put his troubles/ worries behind him for a week. The father would sometimes come out to the field just to watch. He witnessed his son being loved, and having so much fun throughout the week. On Friday the man came a bit before camp ended because he was so excited to see how much his son had learned and loved soccer, and he asked the coaches for a group picture with his son. I didn't know what kind of impact we had, because he didn't tell me.. but I was talking with the pastor after the camp ended , and he told me that Ben's Father came up to him after the camp on friday , and said he wanted some help with his marriage, and was willing to meet with the pastor to talk about it.

Bryan Cawthra

Erin Village Alliance Church:
A young girl was here at camp for her fourth time. On Thursday, at lunch, Sally came running up and was really excited. She said that on Wednesday night she had got on her knees and commited her life to Jesus. I pulled out my laptop, and wrote down what she was saying, because I told her I needed to share it. I wanted to encourage her, let her know how much prayer has been given up for her specifically, and how excited the other coaches would be.

Darren Sinke

Hinton Alliance Church:
"Clarke, why did you not tell me about this ministry in the last three years when I was sweating VBS!! Your support, teaching, materials, coaches etc. etc. are such a blessing. AIA truly is first class. Thank you so much."

Trish Palmer

These are just a few things that God has done so far....

CG

The Count Down Begins!

April, May, June and then it's July! Three and half months until the camp season officially begins! And I am almost ready…but not quite!

I am happy to announce, as of today we have been able to successfully secure 33 official church partnership soccer camps for this summer. Eight of these are in Alberta, 11 in BC and 14 in Ontario. The search is not over yet, as we are still in the process of securing 3 more camps. Plus we have 2 weeks to fill in Ontario. Unfortunately, we only have one church in the hoper at this time.

This summer we will be putting together 5 Summer Ministry Teams, one in Alberta and 2 in BC and Ontario. Each team consists of 4 coaches (2 girls and 2 guys). They spend 8 weeks traveling from church to church during the months of July and August. It’s kind of like going on mini-missionary journeys for 8 weeks of the summer.

The coach's mission is two fold: to help churches build the body of Christ and to engage their community through sport. This accomplished by our staff working alongside church volunteers. Together they facilitate the week of camp, leading games, teaching skills, sharing their testimonies and answer questions kids might have during small groups. It has been exciting to see many high school practice leadership skills as they help lead and to see many children and their families be encourage in their faith and come to Christ for the very first time.

Filling these Ministry Teams has been one of our biggest challenges. This year we have too many female applicants and not enough male ones. With that said 11 of 16 positions have been filled. We only have to secure 2 male positions in Ontario and 2 male and 1 female positions here in BC.

Pray....

• that the last 2 weeks in Ontario would be filled (July 2 to 6 and July 30 to Aug. 3)
• that every church camp would reach their 40 camper minimum
• for more guy coaches to apply for BC
• for wisdom in choosing the right people for the job
• that God would begin to prepare the coaches for a full summer of ministry
• pray that seeds plated would fall on fertile soil

Lambrick Park Church Soccer Camp 2007

Last week (March 19 to 23) I was in Victoria working with Lambrick Park Church to reach kids for Christ through a soccer camp. I can't believe it's already done. I wish I knew time went!


This was my 3rd year doing this camp and it was the best one yet! We had 30 kids between the ages of 6 and 12 and it rained entire time (well almost). Soccer in the rain rocks except when you do the fun run and come across really soft grass/mud. It was really cold and we had to spend one morning indoors.


My Friend Sander (to the right) came with me which was awesome. We had some good conversations with each other and were able to encourage many kids in their faith. I am always blown away by God's grace! He continues to use broken vessels (such as my self and Sander) to be ministers of reconciliation.


Three kids came to commit their lives to Christ! You can certainly pray for Sean, Dylan and Annie. Pray that the seed that was planted would have good soil to grow strong routes and to stand the test of time. Life is hard and challenges us in the things we believe in. When we are faced with the greatest difficulties the authenticity of our faith Jesus Christ is revealed.

It is times like these that confirm that I am doing what God has called me to do: to do good works and to share God's love with others. Pray that i would be able to do this continuously!

Clarke

It's Almost February!

I can't believe it's almost February. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was sitting around the Christmas tree with family and hanging out with friends. This year I spent Christmas in my hometown of Red Deer, Alberta.

I had a week of unused holidays and attached it on to Christmas. So I was in Red Deer for 3 weeks. I did absolutely nothing, it was great. I didn't realize how worn out I was from. I guess that's what happens when you don't take time to rest.

One of my highlights was playing settlers with my Mom and Dad. Mom was winning one game so my Dad and I teamed up on her...and I eventually won! Sorry mom! Its always good to see my brother and his family. My nephew Riley is almost two and he is a pretty fun kid.

I flew back to Abbotsford on Jan. 4th and then went directly to Cedar Springs Christian retreat center in Sumas, Wa. We (Athletes in Action) had our annual Staff Conference and meetings known as Summit. I had an awesome time hanging out co-workers/close friends. God used Charlie MacMahan to challenge me on a few issues in my life.

Upon my return the weather was really cold for BC. It was so cold I was able to play some shinny on a frozen pond close to mission. You can see my buddies Tyler, Luke and myself in the picture below (I am the short one!). That was awesome!

Since then, I have been back in the office trying to secure our summer schedule. This includes I updating perspective churches on the available dates, informing them of what we offer and encouraging people to be a coach this summer.

AIA Church Partnership Soccer Camps are growing very fast. We are close to securing partnerships with a total of 32 churches across Canada. This is 12 more than last year! Praise God for his graciousness and pray that He would enable us to secure all of these churches for this summer!

On top of helping churches secure their weeks. I am also responsbile for hiring 16 coaches for this summer. So far 2 people have applied. So you can pray that God would bring a few more people to apply for these positions so that we can reach more kids and their families for Christ this summer.

All in all, things are going well. However, as you can see there is a lot of work to still to come.

All for Jesus!
Clarke Glover

AIA Church Camps Update

Our goal for the summer of 2007 is to work alongside 40 Churches to reach their community through sport. This means we need 16 church partnerships in Ontario, 16 in BC and 8 in Alberta.

We have been pleastanly surprised by the response that we have had so far. As of today we have tentativley booked 6 new church partnership camps. If these churches sign the dotted line, then this will bring us up to a total of 26 church camps so far (13 in Ontario, 8 in BC and 5 in Alberta). As you can see we still have a lot of work to do to reach our goal.

In order for us to adequately serve 40 churches we need to hire 20 coaches. Every summer we hire 4 coaches who travel from church to church, community to community. Their mission is to work alongside church volunteers to faciliate a succesful soccer camp ministry. Not only do they have opportunities to influence kids for Christ but church volunteers too.

In addition to our church based soccer camps, I am very excited to announce that basketball is beginning to initiate partnerships this August. Their goal is to work alongside 4 churches to run basketball camps in BC.

Please pray for the following:

• a total of 40 church partnership soccer camps
• 16 in ON and BC
• 8 in AB
• 20 soccer coaches
• 4 basketball partnerships in BC
• 4 basketball coaches
• that children and their families would come to Christ in new and profound ways.

If you want more information about AIA Church Partnership Camps please go to our NEW Church Partnership Camps website. All you have to do is go to AIA Canada's home page at www.athletesinaction.com and then click on the "Church Partnership Camps" banner (bottom left). Have fun learning about what we offer!

If you know a church or a coach who is interested in useing this great tool to build the body of Christ and engage communities through sport please send them to our CPC webpage to complete the Church Survey or Coach's Interest Form.

For His Kingdom!

Clarke Glover

When it Rains…it Pours, but God is Good!!

It’s true…when it rains…it pours! A month a go I discovered that I need glass and for the last little while I had been giving my laptop CPR in order to get it started in the morning. To make matters worse I got into a car accident a few weeks a go (as many of you know). My car was written off as there was over $13 000 worth of damages.

Sunday Nov. 11th around 11 am I was driving to a soccer game in Langley (as the girl’s soccer team I coach had a game there). On our way a car turned left (across the intersection) and cut right in front of us. I severed into the right line to avoid the collision, but there nothing that I could and the other party hit me on the driver side wheel. The air bags went off, the windshield cracked and the entire driver side of the car was damaged. The rim bent, the axel broke, the front suspension was pushed back and the frame was compromised. Thank God for keeping us safe as no one was seriously injured.

Darcelle, Heidi, Johanna and I were a little shook up and soar. Heidi got the worst of it as she fractured 2 ribs. Today my back is still as I sit and write this Blog. Don’t worry I finally caved and saw a doctor this morning. I start physiotherapy soon. Thank God for keeping us safe! Pray that our bodies (the other party too) would heal well and that details regarding future transportation needs would be ironed out appropriately.

Earlier this week ICBC informed me that the other party was 100% responsible for the accident. This is great news as my insurance premiums will not increase and any damages caused should be covered. On Wednesday I received $13 391 plus a GST voucher if a buy a car from a dealership. So…let the games begin!

One goes through incidents like this and you realize how little control you have in life and how much control God must have. I can’t totally fathom that but it’s true. Through these times is when our faith is proved to be real or fake. So we must press on through the difficulties that come our way and continue to serve Jesus.

Fighting the Good Fight!

Clarke

AIA Church Partnership Camps 2006

It has been an awesome summer. This year we had the privilege of working alongside 22 churches. Twelve in BC, 8 in ON and 2 in AB. Last year we partnered with 20 churches. Even though we had a few drop out of the race, we had several more enter it.

We had over 900 children attend these camps. This is 300 more campers than last year. The most exciting part is hearing tremendous stories of God working in the lives of children and their families.

Here are a few things that people have been saying:

"Soccer camp this past week was amazing...kids that didn't even like soccer at the beginning of the week wouldn't but the balls down by the end! There was such a good response to our team time material - our small groups were most often filled with chatter and lots of searching questions. Friday's commitment message also had a good response.....a number of kids were asking us coaches to pray for them and some even prayed on their own for the first time. It's so incredible to be a part of this!

During the last night we had a wrap-up bbq.....with such an amazing turnout! Over 80 people came....campers and their families. We had dinner and gave awards to all the campers. It was such an great way for the families to meet the people from the church and us coaches - i can't even count the number of incredible conversations and comments i heard. Comments like "I'm going to call the pastor of this church and let him know how amazing this camp was for my children" or "thank you for giving my kids an environment where they were loved, taken care of, and able to have so much fun!"....

Renee Grootenboer
Ontario Soccer Camps instructor

"This has been an EXCELLENT week. Your staff ... Sheena, Drew, Doug, Lana and Leah have been amazing ambassadors for AIA and for Christ - so thank you for sending such a wonderful team to us."

Vicki Bower
Children’s Pastor

Peace Portal Alliance Church in BC

"Our camp was fantastic. It is so great to watch God at work through those He sends - He does so much - not just to our campers, but our leaders, families, and the AIA staff as well."

Thelmae Eisan
Children’s Pastor
Cedar Creek Community Church in Ontario

God has moved and worked in more ways than I can count. I have experienced the power of his love, his grace and his faithfulness beyond measure. It has been a wonderful, incredible journey and has changed my life in more ways than one! I have been so blessed by the people that I meet and the stories and testimonies that I hear. Wow, what an opportunity to grow in and be challenged in your faith in so many ways. I have never experienced such a community of believers before. God has opened many doors and has given me amazing opportunities to share the love of Christ with these kids and to experience the power of his work. It has been such an encouragement in my own life in particular to share in my faith and my experiences and my past with those who God has purposely placed in my life for a reason. I have learned and grown so much from these kids and also from the billets and adults that we have been alongside with in this ministry.

Julie Zantingh
Ontario Soccer Camps instructor

"I want to say thanks, Michael played a soccer game the other night with more confidence and excitement than he ever has." and "I'm going to call the pastor next week, and thank him and tell him how great this week was."

~the mom of Michael, a high energy, super kid

"I am so thankful that my boys got to spend a week with strong, Christian males...their dad isn't a Christian and this past week taught them so much."

~another mother, who goes to a different church in Bolton, came to Matt and I, with tears in her eyes:

"You guys changed our kid's lives."

~a father and mother of three campers, Ally, Julia, and AJ