Why Do You Do It?

At the writing of this post I am only 2 days away from finishing 3 weeks of sports camps. With the help of four different mission teams from three different states, our church conducts five different sports camps. Often people ask me, why all the hard work. Why do you do it?

Why do we do it? Simple. Jesus matters that much to us.

We surely do not do it for the money, since out the seven previous years we have only broken even once. The rest were financial losses.

We do not do it for just the fun. Our camps are incredibly fun, but after three weeks in a row of early morning preparations, running around ball fields and gymnasiums, we get tired. If I wanted just fun, I would do something else easier on the body and that allowed me to get more sleep.

We do not do it simply to add an activity to our summer schedule. Nowadays people barely have enough time to survive. Often when I ask someone how they are doing they simply respond, “Busy.” I think our summer schedules are already full enough to merely add another thing to the list.

We do not do it to simply provide another activity option for our community. The town I live in always has events and community related activities going on. It hard to keep up on all that is going on here.

So why do we do it? We do it because we believe the message of Jesus is the greatest news in the world and sports is one of many avenues that we use to share about God`s amazing love to others. We do it because God is real. His Son Jesus is real. His resurrection is real. Our sin is real. Our need is real. Judgment is real. And the fact that God`s grace only comes by faith in Jesus is most definitely real.

In other words, we care a lot more about God and people, and where they stand with Him, than we do about sports. We care about people hearing about God amazing love. We care about families, and singles, and single parents, and children, and teens, and the elderly. We care about where they will spend eternity.

So we pray and prepare. We advertise and promote. We arrive early to set up tents, tables, inflate balls, fill up water coolers, and hang banners. We stay late to clean up, talk with parents and encourage one another. We do free BBQs and give out prizes. We prepare devotions and share testimonies. We meet parents and care for their children. We give out free coffee and play upbeat music.

And why do we do all this? Simple. So that we can love the Lord God by proclaiming His great name to as many people as possible with the hope that at least one person will meet Jesus and be changed by Him forever. We do it so people may not live their busy lives and miss Jesus.

Is all the hard and tiresome work worth it? You bet!!! Every single bit of it! I would not trade it for a million dollars. Seeing someone’s life changed by Jesus is worth more than any dollar amount anyone could ever give me.