HiS PRINT Update 2 - WOW!

Hello Again Folks,

Looks like I am going to break this down into two more blogs so that I can get the information out and not make it too long where you're snoring before you finish! 

These past two weeks have been busy with picking up equipment from many places around the city and then having others involved in the effort from both sides of the country, from California to Washington D.C. - but more on that later. 

I have also been busy with the opportunity to travel & share at several men's groups:  Lazy Brook Baptist two weeks ago, Livingston United Methodist Men's Group last week, and am planning two trips in May with Fellowship of Montgomery Men's Group.  The Houston and Livingston events were wonderful and I am looking forward to Montgomery! The eating was fabulous and they wanted to hear the story of how sport is being used to share the gospel and helping to change cultures. I am very blessed to have the opportunity to pour into men's lives and they just resonate with being able to bring the love of Christ through sport.                                                      

Speaking at a Men's Fish Fry at Lazybrook Baptist Church

I have been busy as well on the picking up equipment as I mentioned above. Two huge additions to our equipment donors were Academy Sports and Outdoors and Barcelona Sports. Both donated a huge amount of sports gear, from bats to pants and almost everything in between. They reached out to us after someone telling them what we do and their desire to help the game grow! Academy asked if we wanted the 55,000 bats they collected this year during a trade-in promotion. We took 4,000 but couldn't grab the whole amount (we are going to need a new warehouse before taking on that animal!) As for Barcelona, they donated a lot of their old merchandise that had never been sold. They filled up a 24' box truck. I was overwhelmed with all the different gear was in their donation. Still haven't gotten through all of it, but will soon!

Local schools continue to contact us and let us know they have items they would like to donate. This past week I went to Baytown Sterling and Pearland Dawson High Schools and collected nearly 100 shoulder pads. After meeting with both coaches and sharing the story of what HiS PRINT is doing, they were both excited and motivated to help in the future as well. 

Coach Sawyer at Baytown Sterling  

Coach Allison at Pearland Dawson

                                                                     

We are also happy to announce a new addition to our coaching staff, retired Texas Football Coaches Hall of Fame Mark Reeve. He will be traveling with us this summer, but in the meantime he has been busy collecting equipment from south Texas. Just this last week we shipped 40 helmets, shoulder pads, leg pads, pants and jerseys to Iceland to help them start a youth program. We are excited to branch out into a whole new region and watch how God will use this as well!

But that's not all folks, that is just what's happening in Houston and across the state of Texas. "Level the Playing Field", located in Washington D.C., has reached out to us through the Bosnian Football League and asked us if they could help supply football equipment for us to add to our next shipment. And schools in California are starting to donate through Jeff Sutherland, FCA Regional International Coordinator for Eastern Europe. Jeff has blessed by reaching out to several schools in his area for equipment donations, so it looks like we will need a west coast warehouse as well! God is so Good!

Jeff Sutherland with FCA in California 

God has been busy and we are just blessed to see Him work and reap the benefits of His great love! We are getting real close to filling another 40 foot container and will have more than enough come January when we pack it and ship it off. Thanks for your help and support! Please continue to pray for support and that our needs will be met in our upcoming summer MLO (kicking off on June 25th.)

HE DID IT! 

David