God at Work Story

Since middle school I’ve felt like God was calling me to sports ministry. Going into my sophomore year of high school, I attended Leadership Summit 2011. At Leadership Summit, I believe God spoke to me. What I heard is that he wanted to use me now, while I was still in high school, to start a sports ministry and didn’t want to wait until I graduated and was in college or afterwards. So God birthed something amazing that week, and just a few weeks later my youth leader Preston and I started a soccer ministry for the kids in the neighborhood around my church.

Every Monday, for an hour and a half, we played soccer with kids and shared Jesus’ love through our actions. We eventually started playing a wide variety of sports and games, and as we did that, more and more kids started to come. As more and more kids came, we were able to build more relationships and share Jesus’ love. As of this writing, ten to fifteen kids come every week and the majority now come to church.

As these neighborhood students have come and played games every week and experienced God’s love for them, they’ve realized that they want something more. Because of that realization, God has blessed me with the opportunity to give seven of them a Bible for the first time and lead five of them into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ! These kids have such a desire to learn more about God and his plan for them, which is so inspiring and encouraging.

As you read this, I want to challenge you to obey God and follow his amazing plan for your life. He wants to use you in ways far greater than you can ever imagine, I know he’s already done things in my life far greater than I could have ever imagined, and all I’ve done is to be obedient. If you’re young and reading this, I want to challenge you to get out and love people now! Don’t wait or think you’re inadequate because you’re young; God wants to use you now, as well as later in your life. I think of God speaking through Paul as he writes to young Timothy. He says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity” (1 Tim 4:12 NIV). So I challenge everyone to get out and love people with God’s love and not to be afraid to share the greatest thing you know, the gospel.

Written by Austin Shaner who is a High School Student