SPORTS CRUSADERS: SPREADING GOSPEL MESSAGE BOTH ON AND OFF THE BASKETBALL COURT

Paul Duncan tried to steal the basketball from Ed Love, an instructor at the Sports Crusader basketball camp at Red Star Baptist Church.

Brandon Twiggs practiced passing the basketball as instructor Julie Clover observed at Red Star Baptist Church. Clover attends Southeast Missouri State University.

Tossing a basketball and telling stories about Jesus Christ aren't typical activities at summer camps -- unless you're talking about the Missouri Sports Crusader camps.

People like to play sports, and the church needs to be involved in sports if it wants to reach everyone possible with the gospel message, Tim Scifres, a Crusader team leader, said during a midweek service at First Baptist Church.

Five Missouri college students led basketball camps at First Baptist and Red Star Baptist churches last week. Nearly 50 children attended the weeklong camp.

The camp teaches sporting skills while introducing the children to Jesus. It is the fifth summer that the Missouri Baptist Convention has sent out teams of Sports Crusaders.

The Crusaders teams are made up of college students who serve nine-week terms as missionaries. There are five teams that lead basketball, soccer and cheerleading camps at Baptist churches around the state.

Scifres, who lives in Sikeston when he isn't leading basketball camp, has been involved with the program since it began. He played basketball in high school and helped coach a team at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield.

Sharing his love for sports and Christ seemed a natural move, he said. Kids love sports, and having the bond of "playing sports helps gain an ear for sharing the gospel."

Sometimes hosting a sports camp is another way that churches can reach the community, Scifres said. "Churches love to see their gyms being used and filled with lots of kids, and they love knowing they'll hear the gospel."

The Crusaders travel to a new church each week to share pointers on passing and shooting in between stories about Jesus. They've been to Sikeston, Perryville, Holt's Summit, Springfield and Richland for camps. And they've got plenty of stories to tell about their experiences.

Ed Love of De Soto remembered a little girl who smiled every time you saw her, but she wasn't great on the basketball court. She had never played the game before attending the camp, but that didn't stop her from trying.

"She was practicing all the time," he said. "And every time you looked at her she'd be smiling."

When she finally made her first basket of the week midway through camp, she ran to each of the coaches to share the news.

Knowing she was that excited about her good news made the Crusader team realize how important their job really was. "To see that she was excited -- that's why we're here," Love said.

In between baskets and passing drills, the Crusaders share devotions and Bible stories.

But finding analogies about sports in the Bible isn't easy. Stories of fishermen and shepherds are much more prevalent. After awhile you get accustomed to thinking in sports terms, so you can find analogies quicker, said Carrie Davis.

She told children at First Baptist Church about one of her favorite Bible stories: David and Goliath.

Being small is hard, she said. As the only member of the Crusader's team under 6 feet, she knows firsthand how hard being smaller is. But that shouldn't stop her from trying hard, she explained.

After sharing the story of little David, who killed the giant Goliath with God's help, she reminded the children that no matter how small you are God can always use you. "Isn't that a cool story?" she asked.

One afternoon when Scifres offered to do all the pushups for the campers if he missed a basket, the other coaches saw it as an example of how God took away the world's sin by sending Jesus to die on the cross.

Basketball isn't the only camp that has been offered in Cape Girardeau. A Sports Crusader soccer team was at Lynwood Baptist Church earlier in the month.

Even in just a week of activities, parents were amazed at what the children learned -- not just about soccer but about things like dedication and devotion, said Dawn Phillips, children's ministry coordinator at Lynwood.

They emphasize sportsmanship and kindness and that good athletes aren't worried about scoring points but doing a good job for the team, she said.

Children can easily get wrapped up in sports activities. "But this is one way to get them hearing God's word" at the same time," Phillips said.