FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- April 26, 2004
CONTACT: Jason Mucher, Director of Athletic Communications (585) 567-9648

GROUP OF FATHERS AND SONS PARTICIPATE IN UNIQUE BASKETBALL MISSIONS TRIP TO RUSSIA

HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Houghton College’s latest basketball missions trip to Russia not only met a need for the missionaries serving that county, it offered a unique opportunity for a group of fathers and sons to relate to each other in a different context.

Eight father/son pairs and three other local men spent 11 days making new Russian friends, playing basketball, and assisting the local Wesleyan missionaries with their ministry center and churches in the city of Vladimir.

“These types of trips benefit the field you are serving and the individuals taking the trip,” said Houghton Athletic Director Skip Lord, who coordinated the trip through the Houghton athletic department and Global Partners of The Wesleyan Church. “It was a great opportunity for fathers and sons to come together in an intentional group and grow together in their relationship with God and with each other.”

The fathers, with an average age of 49, formed one team that took on other men’s teams from the Vladimir area. Though they struggled to a 0-3 record, Lord said they improved as the trip went on. The high school boys completed their trip with a 4-1 record against all-star teams, sports schools, and university teams.

Basketball may have been the platform for the trip, but the purpose – as with all Houghton sports ministry trips – was to build relationships and share the Gospel. A highlight of the trip was the post-game mealtimes, where the group members were able to share with their opponents about the practical day-to-day implications of what it means to be a Christian man.

The group also broke in four smaller sub-teams that were able to participate in services at the ministry center and three church plants in the area. The final day of the trip was spent sightseeing in Moscow.

Lord has coordinated similar trips to Russia with high school boys and girls teams the past two years and he has taken his college women’s basketball team to the Czech Republic the past six years, but this year he got a new perspective by participating directly with his son Joel, a senior at Houghton Academy.

Participants in this trip included: Kenneth Brubaker and Lance Brubaker of Wellsville; Merlin Button and Bruce Mourhess of Campbell; Jonathan Horton and Kyle Horton of Yorkshire; Gary King of Houghton; Skip Lord and Joel Lord of Houghton; Troy Martin and Aaron Martin of Houghton; Andrew Norton of Houghton; Herbert Sorensen and Daniel Sorensen of Wellsville; Philip Stockin of Houghton; John Woodard and Eric Woodard of Houghton; and James Zoller and Stefan Zoller of Houghton.

Find out more about sports ministry at Houghton.

Houghton, a Christian college of 1,300 students in Western New York, is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the American Mideast Conference. Houghton has been named a Champions of Character Institution for the past three years for its active involvement in the NAIA’s Champions of Character Initiative, a program that aims to teach the character values of respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership, and sportsmanship through athletics. Houghton coaches and student-athletes are working directly with youth organizations, schools, and civic groups to educate, promote and incorporate these values within the sporting or daily activities of youth and adults.

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