FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -  December 2, 2002
CONTACT: Jason Mucher, Media Relations (585) 567-9559

MISSIONS GROUP TABS LORD TO HEAD SPORTS MINISTRY PROGRAM

HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Recognizing the success of Houghton College’s work in overseas sports outreach, Wesleyan World Missions (WWM) has asked Houghton athletics director Skip Lord to spearhead the organization’s sport ministry efforts.

While continuing his work at the college, Lord will serve in a volunteer position with WWM as director of sports ministry, coordinating overseas short-term sports missions trips. WWM is the missions arm of The Wesleyan Church, partnering local churches in North America with churches and missionaries around the world.

Lord says the essence of sports ministry is twofold: to serve the missionaries on the field by sharing the gospel and to change the lives of the people who go on the trip.

“People don’t understand the concept of sports ministry,” says Lord. “It’s more than going over and playing a few games. We are using sports as a platform to reach others for Christ, and at the same time hoping to spark some change in the lives of our athletes and support personnel.”

Lord says the opportunities for sports ministry are endless. The program will include opportunities in a variety of sports for individuals, all-star teams, or entire teams from other Wesleyan and Christian colleges. It’s also a model that can be used by churches or with high school athletes. In fact, Houghton and WWM took a group of high school boys’ basketball players to Russia last spring and are organizing a similar trip for a girls’ team next year.

Lord has been working with the area directors of WWM to take the model the college has established in the Czech Republic to meet needs in other places around the world. Lord, also head coach of the women’s basketball team, has been taking his squad to Czech for the past five years to assist the Wesleyan missionaries there.

“We believe sports ministry has some amazing potential for evangelistic outreach,” says Scott Olson, WWM director of mobilization. “What’s been unique about this program is the ongoing relationships built with the Czech people. It’s opened doors for us that we would never have had without the team going in there. We want to see what’s happened in the Czech happen in the rest of the world.”

As Lord works with WWM in their program, he continues to develop Houghton’s own sports ministry focus, including a four-phase plan to implement it into the college curriculum. “We would like to work with the Off-Campus Programs Office and established academic departments to provide academic credit for students going on these trips” says Lord. “Secondly, we are looking to offer a semester-long program in Brno, Czech Republic. Next, we want to continue our relationship with WWM by offering internships in sports ministry or in other areas. And finally, we hope to create a sports ministry emphasis in one of our majors or create a standalone sports ministry major.”

In addition to the Czech trips, over the last five years Houghton sports teams have traveled to Australia (women’s soccer), Ethiopia (women’s soccer), Honduras (volleyball), and Ireland (men’s soccer).

Houghton College, founded by The Wesleyan Church in 1883, provides an academically challenging, Christ-centered education in the liberal arts and sciences to students from diverse traditions and economic backgrounds and equips them to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.

The Christian liberal arts college of 1,300 students is located in Western New York, just 65 miles from Rochester and Buffalo.

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