January 20, 2001
Athletes in Action Tour in Russia
HockeyZonePlus' Russian correspondant, Denis Neznanov,
had the change to meet the Athletes in Action team that toured Russia
during the holidays. What follows is a letter from the tour's
organizer:
United Sports Ministry
January 9, 2001
There are three reasons why I like
to be involved with short-term mission trips.
Firstly, the opportunity to see the actual team members lives
challenged to grow spiritually. It’s not every day I get to see
life changing events which will stick with a person
forever. Secondly, the chance to be involved
in world evangelism. Every short term mission trip
should have as it’s goal the end result of propagating the gospel.
Thirdly, the desire I have in a small way to give Russian
churches a model for using sports
evangelism and discipleship. By partnering with Russian churches
we impart a vision for sports ministry. All of the
above occurred on the AIA Russian Hockey Tour
2001. There’s much that I could write but I sense
I need to keep it short.
Athletes in Action Canada brought
to Russia a great group of young men and leaders
to share with the hockey world the real reason for the season.
It’s a step of faith to leave your family at Christmas yet I saw
in these team members lives a Christian commitment to world evangelism
that renewed my own desire to be here. Maybe the biggest set
back in being the in country
leader is not having as much time as you’d like to get
to know everyone on the trip. Let me share
one story for each of the above reasons for
doing a short-term trip. Firstly
changed lives. The following is a letter which was given
to me by one of the players. “John I
wanted this opportunity to say a huge thank you.
You did so much work for us and you made the best of what
you were given, and the challenges you had to overcome. This was
an amazing trip for me. Not only spending Christmas
and New Years in Russia, but I needed the
experience and the example of all the real Christian
livers. It showed me that this is what I want for the rest of
my life. I know it’s going to be tough, and
there’s a lot I need to overcome, but I’m
going to make an effort. You’re an awesome person, and
the love you have is awesome. Your knowledge and information about
Russia was great, that made the touring
part of the trip great. I want to thank you from my heart. I
was praying for your sickness before I came. You
looked and acted great, so I hope all is going
well. I will continue to pray for you. Please
keep in contact.” I could stop writing here and say the trip was
worth it all just to see this young man make a commitment
to a deeper walk with Jesus.
Secondly evangelism. We
passed out in total 19,000 hockey brochures to
fans at each game which our Moscow office designed. The brochure
was a real hit with the kids wanting to get player
autographs beside their photos. The inside
had the four spiritual laws and a testimony of a player.
Another 1000 Christian sport videos were given to players, management,
rink workers and fans. Close to 2300 New Testaments with the
testimonies of sportsmen were passed out in the rinks of the five
cities where we played. Another 500 HMI hockey
booklets were given to players. Testimonies
were given in hockey world to players in organized meetings,
locker rooms, meal times and other one on one opportunities. Mass
media covered the tour from TV to print. Russia’s top sport’s
national newspaper covered the tour stating that we were
a “Christian Sports Organization”. Just
those few words will have a ripple effect through
out the country as people begin to ask themselves “what does that
mean”, plus churches or Christian sports men will for the first
time hear of AIA.
Thirdly encouraging Russian
churches. We had one Russian player start the
tour with us and a second one joined us at the end. Both these
players have local churches that are now using sports
ministry. What an encouragement it was for
the one player Fedor to play in his home city and
tell people of Jesus he said to me “ I never thought it would be
possible to share my faith in the
hockey world”. Every city where we went we
had local church translators plus churches help us with brochure distribution
and setting up of meetings and logistics. All in all the local
church here got a taste of sports ministry that was positive. The
team also sang in a church where two of us shared
testimonies. I think
one way to learn how to do a pro
tour is to do a pro tour. I personally
learned much taking notes each day on how to improve on a future
pro tour. I know AIA Hockey Canada also learned from the experience
and together we are in a better position to do another tour -
God willing.
Our head coach Dr. David Currie
knows the game and is a good communicator we
hope he’ll come back to this side of the pond again. We
also had the help of Yuri Morozov on tour Yuri being the former
head coach of the Russian national team and the only
Russian three-time winner of the World Junior
Championships as a coach. At the end of the
tour Yuri said “hockey is
second place as the most important thing we did
was to tell the hockey world about Jesus”. A
personal struggle/lesson for me on this hockey tour was the question
“how much does our reputation depend upon winning”.
There’s truth in the stronger the team the
bigger the platform for credibility in the unsaved
sports world. But does reputation as a sports organization rise
or fall dependent upon the score? Of course nobody
like to lose, especially Canada in hockey yet
I’ve come to see that the reputation
of a Christian sports organization
is based upon character and ability to build
strong
relationships. A loss or many
losses will not shake that type of reputation and
in Russia men like Carl Dambman, Steve Barrett and others have
laboured faithfully to build this type of reputation. Our
tour went without a win yet we still have a strong
reputation. What it does though is cause us
to match up our talent better which is a learning
experience. We always have
the chance to come back and kick some butt next tour.
I want to thank you for praying for
us on tour. It’s clear to me that thousands
were praying when you consider how well networked the team’s prayer
chain was. At the end of the day I’m a very fortunate man to
have had this opportunity. I thank AIA Canada for
getting behind the tour and partnering with
Russia. I thank all the players for being who
you are what
a great group of men a little crazy but just fine :) I want to
thank the AIA Russia director Carl Dambman for working on
finding new contacts for teams to come to Russia.
Last and first I want to thank our Lord Jesus
Christ for showing us the real reason for the season. Might
his life example be the game plan for our lives.
Blessings,
John Makintosh
Athletes in Action
