Transition

This blog was started as a result of the Maranatha men's and women's soccer team missions trip to Germany. We enjoyed our ministry there and I am thankful that God saw fit to use us in this way. I may continue to share anecdotes and photos from our trip, but in the coming months, this site will start to reflect more of the happenings of the Maranatha soccer program. I hope to communicate with prospective athletes, recruits and current players. I also hope to share my itinerary as I work in several soccer camps this summer and thoughts about the 2006 season. Please pray for my family as we travel to Kansas City, MO tomorrow for a 4 day soccer camp for high school boys in the morning and elementary boys in the afternoon. Hopefully I can post from KC. I'll let you know when we get there! - C

A Few Reasons to Come Home

Two reasons.
Daddy always buys things too big - the women's soccer team would agree.

A little backyard soccer with new Germany kits!

Daddy gets "megged".

The best reason. :) It is good to be home.

Since the US was ousted from the World Cup this week, we have chosen to root for Deutschland. - C

Home Again

Most of us have been home now for almost a week. I am finally sleeping well and night and getting back into the routine of life in Watertown. I may continue to share stories and pictures from the trip to Germany as well as keep all of you who check this blog updated on our soccer teams in the next couple of months. However, I need to thank a number of people who worked hard to make this trip a success.
Adam Steen - We jokingly called him our team "mom", but I appreciate the many times that he took resposibility to get things done. Furthermore, almost all of the pictures on this blog are from his camera and I used his computer for most of the updates while we were in Germany. I won't tease him anymore about bringing too much stuff.
Dave and Linda Adam - Dave and Linda were with the women's team during the entire time. I appreciate their ownership of the project. I never had to think twice about where the women's team was supposed to be and if they would make it on time.They put up with alot of inconveniences, but their service to the Lord was invaluable.
Jeff Brown - His administration of this effort was outstanding. His heart for the Germany people is incredible and I know that he worked very hard in preparation and in carrying out this project.
Charles Ellis - A big thank-you to "Charlie" for all of his interpreting work at soccer camp and all the work he did to make things in Ingolstadt go smoothly. I greatly appreciated his heart for the members of the men's team.
Oliver Meyer - I am excited for the church at Erlangen as Oliver moves closer to being the full-time national pastor of that congregation. I know that the ladies team grew very close to the members of that church and Oliver was one of the reasons.
Christoff Rutgers - Christoff was a pleasure to minister with in Ingolstadt. He was the right man to lead our men's team in it's ministry. I appreciate his heart for his people and I believe God is blessing his ministry in Ingolstadt.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip.

After a nine-hour flight.




Nurnberg.
More pictures are coming. - C

Day 14

Day 14 was our last full day in Germany. The men spend the night before in the homes of many of the families from the church. They alll greatly enjoyed the time of fellowship. Most of us new the kids from soccer camp and we enjoyed the time with the parents.




Sunday afternoon was a relaxing time. Some of the men went swimming at a nearby lake, some began the process of packing and cleaning our room, some started getting the auditorium ready for World Cup viewing. After the second WC match, Lars took all of us out for ice cream. The church is about 50 meters (as Germans would say) from a great Eis Cafe.



The church was very generous to us during our time in Ingolstadt. One of the gifts that they gave us were German soccer shirts that said "Deutschland Needs Jesus" and then "We'll leave the light on for you" on the sleeve. Here is the whole team with Christoff in the background.


The night before we left Tim and George finally found a friend.

Day 13

Today was the final day of soccer camp. We spent most of the time with contests. After camp, we invited all of the children and their parents back to the church for a BBQ. We also celebrated Trevor Stricklin and Nathan's (a boy from the church) birthdays. A clear gospel presentation again made for all of the kids and Stephen Roby gave his salvation testimony.

Three v three champions!

Steenmatt and the younger kids.

Hole contest.

The whole camp.

Camper of the Week.

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

The squad.

Surprise visit from the women's team!

Day 12

The Freie Baptistengemeinde Church of Ingolstadt.

On Friday we held soccer camp in the morning and then I left Ingolstadt to travel to Erlangen to be with the Maranatha women's team for their match against the University of Erlangen and to watch the opening World Cup match with them. (Germany defeated Costa Rica for those of you who care about such things.) It was great to see the ladies, they did not know I was coming. They lost their match 3-1, but that is not important to their mission. They would have like to have played better, but this university has won the European university championship for several years! The ladies have done a fantastic job with Jeff Brown in Erlangen. I heard many good things about how hard they have worked in his ministry there. I want to thank Christoff Ruttgers and Jeff for working out all of the details for my travel on the train. They put me on a train that travels almost 300 km per hour!

Sean O'Morrow's flip-throw has been a great hit everywhere we have gone. Several visitors showed up to camp today in order to see it.

Back in Ingolstadt, the men's team passed out over 1000 Bridge tracts before the Germany match and then quite a few World Cup tracts after the match.

Day 11

Today we held soccer camp as usual. This picture is of a girl named Lilly who is not from the church, but has come to soccer camp every day.

That evening we entered two teams in 6v6 tournament put on by the church. Many unsaved were in attendance and heard a gospel presentation at the end of the evening. Maranatha Blue won the event on a late goal by Stephen Roby against Maranatha Gold.

Day 10

Today we again held camp in the morning. It is neat to see the team members start to pick up a little German and learn the names of the kids. Tim Reinert gave his testimony at the end of the session. It is important for these young people to come in contact with young fussballspieler who love God. Please pray that the seed we plant will flourish and grow.

Our morning Bible study and prayer session.

Even 9:15 am is early for some - Steven claims he was praying. . .


Please pray that we can keep our energy level up. The men are learning to be creative and enthusiastic even under tiring conditions.

That evening, we traveled to TV Riedenburg to play against their U18 team. They also added a couple of players who were older just like our team. The first half ended with TVR up one goal - an own goal scored by Sean O'Morrow - sorry Sean. . .:) However, we pulled it together in the second half and won by a score of 2-1. Andrew Solarek and Stephen Roby scored for us. Steven Van Horn had a great game in the net.


After the match we ate German pizza and spent time with the opposing team members. We were not able to spend as much time on spiritual things with this team as the university team, but all of them received a copy of a book about the Gospel, the Bridge tract, and a Maranatha Soccer shirt. -C

Day 9

Day 9 started with some of the best weather of the trip. Four new kids showed up to soccer camp and we spent time warming ups, doing our dutch circle drill, finishing practice and ending with our camper v counselor scrimmage. The kids got a real kick out of several "bicycles" demonstrated by Stephen Roby.

Sean O'Morrow demonstrated his tree and fence climbing abilities to retrieve a ball.

Andrew Solarek shared his testimony with the kids.

Later that evening we played a match against University of Eichstaedt. They're team had a lot of big players compared to American soccer teams. We lost the match 2-1.

Afterward, we found out that one of their players had played in the American A-League and at the University of New Mexico. New Mexico lost to Maryland in the NCAA I finals last year.

After the game we enjoyed a "grill" with the other team. During this time the gospel was shared, tracts handed out, and relationships were formed.

I am a day behind in my posting - internet was down last night. I hope to catch up today. -C

Day 8 - updated

Here are the pictures that I promised last night.

I was ready to go home. -C

Day 8

I have heard a few things from Erlangen where the ladies are staying - they have had several opportunities to pass out tracts. The church has made several good contacts. They had a match scheduled against a team in the area, last Saturday, but for some reason they did not show up. There were enough people around for a pick-up match and were able to pass out tracts and share the gospel with some of those who they played against. Today they had another match today. I heard that they won 3-2. Congrats, Ladies! I hope to travel up to Erlangen next Friday and see their match against the University.

The men in Ingolstad held our first soccer clinic today. There were a number of children from the church here and almost ten unsaved children showed up. Today was a holiday in Germany and we expect quite a few more kids over the next couple of days.

We hoped to pass out tracts at a local park in the afternoon, but the weather was poor and no one was in the park. Instead, Pastor Ruttgers organized a last-minute trip to the concentration camp at Dachau. The history there was fascinating and sobering. We were able to pass out a few tracts and talk to some folks about spiritual things.

In the evening, we passed out tracts at a Folk Festival in Ingolstadt. There were opportunities to witness and some of the players convinced me to go on a ride called the "Transformer". I will let the pictures do the talking. . .

. . .pictures will come tomorrow. We are having trouble with our connection. -C