"For What It's Worth": A Special Evening

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Special Evening

Monday evening was a special evening of fun, food and fellowship at Westmoreland Baptist Church as we celebrated the second annual Upward Award Celebration, closing out the 2008-09 Basketball Season.

Sixty-Four Players and Cheerleaders gathered in our sanctuary to celebrate the end of the season, and receive their awards for participating in this ministry. The children were individually introduced in the spotlight in the darkened church, with loud music playing over the PA system. Coaches and other volunteers were recognized by WBC Upward Basketball Commissioner, Jim Bailey. Over 250 people were present, and enjoyed the work and Bible lesson from Christian magician and ventriloquist Keith Metheney. After the Award Ceremony, the kids and adults were treated to pizza, chips and soft drinks in our gymnasium.

Tonight's activities completed 100 days of prayer, in which 106 members of Westmoreland Baptist Church made a covenant to pray for this ministry. We believe the prayers were instrumental in a wonderful season for everyone involved. There were no injuries, no bad incidents, one of our cheerleaders accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and was baptized this past Sunday, and another new family has committed to worship at Westmoreland Baptist.

I can't say enough about the wonderful volunteers who provided and served the meal, coached the teams and cheer squads, set up the gym, officiated, kept the clock, gave half time devotionals, sold concessions, helped with registration and evaluations, prayed, and cleaned up after each game. With 106 people praying for 100 days, one would have expected to see god's blessing.

Upward Basketball and Cheerleading grew wonderfully over the past two seasons. A number of dedicated Christian volunteers are necessary to pull this off. We will soon begin meetings to begin planning for the 2009-10 season. After a 40% growth in the number of participants this year, we expect another great increase this coming year as well. Our hope is that God will use Upward Sports Ministry to lead many children and their families to faith in Jesus Christ.

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Welcome to my blog! This is a space where I will share my thought ("For What It's Worth") on any number of subjects. If you are looking for deep theological thought you may want to navigate to another site. There may be posts on Biblical matters, but this is not an theological site. I may talk about politics, but this is not a political site. Certain denominational issues may come up, but this is not a site for continuous commentary on SBC life. I will share random thoughts on the world in which we live - from a Biblical world view, from the perspective of a pastor, a preacher's kid, a husband, father, grandfather, sports fan, and a hacker on the golf course. I may share personal stories which some of my friends will appreciate and will bore many others. That's the beauty of a blog. It's out there. Take all of it, or part of it, or navigate somewhere else. It's your choice. I do hope you will mark the spot as a "favorite" and join me often. I invite you to follow me on Twitter @pastoradkins, and friend me on Facebook. Your comments are invited and welcome - whether you agree with my view point, or not. So, basically that's it, "For What It's Worth".