City Reach extreme sports team makes impact on Pasadena youth

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PASADENA—In the midst of the Real Encounter extreme sports team performing skateboard tricks and BMX bike stunts, they told a crowd of 2,000 parents and students at Pasadena Memorial High School about their hope in life—Jesus Christ—during a City Reach Houston youth event.

Joe West, a BMX biker from Springfield, Mo., flies more than 10 feet through the air during the Real Encounter extreme sports evangelism event.

The nine-person Christian team of extreme sports professionals—some with national and world rankings—partnered with Texas Baptists and South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena—to gain access to intermediate schools by performing extreme sports and showing media and music clips to share character lessons about setting goals and encouraging others.

They also invited the students and their families to a free extended show where a gospel presentation took place. More than 215 students and adults responded to the invitation to begin a relationship with Christ that night.

“We do motorcycle stunts, BMX stunts, back flips, front flips, some crazy, crazy stuff,” said Brad Bennett, executive director and founder of Real Encounter, based in Springfield, Mo. “But right in the middle of that, we stop and share how God has changed our lives. What we are doing is coming alongside the church to reach a people group they don’t normally reach.”  

Jason Caillier, youth minister at South Main Baptist Church, said the extreme sports group was key in the church gaining access to public school students.

Joe West, a BMX biker from Springfield, Mo., poses with two boys after the Real Encounter extreme sports outreach at Pasadena Memorial High School Nov. 4.

“The backbone of the community is the public schools,” said Caillier. “If we are going to be a church and impact our community, what better place to do it than where the community gathers and organizes its life. That’s why we chose to do this in the schools.”

Gail Ward, a peer facilitator at South Houston Intermediate where the group performed, was thankful that the athletes came to her school because of the message and inspiration they brought.


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“It helps them to know that there are dreams out there no matter what their home life is,” she said.

Team members adapt their message and extreme sports performance to the needs of each school. But the group’s main focus is getting students to come to what the team calls a “harvest night.”

“We know that when people are coming to what we call the harvest night, it is a show,” Bennett said. “More than anything we want to show people hope, show them why God created them, why they are here and that God wants a relationship with them. That is why we call it a harvest night. We want to see a harvest of souls.”

Joe West, a BMX biker from Springfield, Mo., flies more than 10 feet through the air during the Real Encounter extreme sports evangelism event.

At the beginning of the night, the team is direct about their intentions of sharing how Jesus made an impact on their lives. They want to maintain integrity, Bennett noted, not wanting any person to feel tricked into coming but to feel loved and invited to stay.

“When we get to the gospel part, we take it very seriously,” Bennett said. “We get down to business and allow the Holy Spirit to do what he does best and reveal where they stand with God. I just share my story, lay out the Roman Road and offer an invitation.”

Those who wanted to accept God’s gift of salvation at the harvest night were asked to come forward to meet with an encourager from South Main Baptist Church. The encouragers sat down at the small cafeteria lunch tables with groups of two or three people to talk through their decision, explain ways to grow in Christ and stress the need to become part of a church.

“To me, follow-up is the key,” Caillier said. “Everyone likes to go fishing and catch fish, but no one likes to clean the fish. We have focused with our volunteers and our youth ministry and others on cleaning the fish, on getting them in the boat and then working on that developmental state. This event is the tip of the iceberg and afterward, follow-up will be a big deal.”

Caillier and other church members gathered names of new believers so they can contact and encourage them in the days to come. Leighton Flow-ers, director of youth evangelism with the Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas, sees the results as fruit from the Texas Hope 2010 efforts to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010.

“This church is reaping the benefit of the harvest of this City Reach event and of Hope 2010 as we strive to reach every person in Texas with the gospel of Christ,” Flowers said. “The biggest part of the work will take place in the next weeks and months as the churches contact, baptize and disciple all of these who have made decisions. And that is the exciting part.”

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Because the event went so well and the athletes helped form bonds with school faculty, the church now has a stronger presence and opportunity to serve in the schools again.

“The reputation of our church has now increased with the school district because when we went in, they have been so pleased,” Caillier said. “They have already asked us to bring Real Encounter back next year.”

The youth outreach is one part of City Reach Houston, a series of evangelistic and outreach efforts by Texas Baptists in the days surrounding the BGCT annual meeting in Houston.

“We don’t just come here for a business meeting, but we come here to impact the city,” Flowers said. “And we come beside the local church to see how we can help them reach their city for Christ. That is what City Reach is all about.”

Through City Reach events, at least 700 people have started relations with Christ, and other gospel seeds have been planted through block parties, back-to-school events, revivals and prison ministry.

 

 


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