Shining the Light of the Gospel Through Sports.
Missions Statement: Adapt cultural sports through local churches for use as a ministry and evangelism tool to build relationships, win souls to Christ, and plant churches.
What It Is: SONshine Sports will always be gospel centered and focused. SONshine Sports will always be a local church run ministry. SONshine Sports will always be a tool for winning souls, discipleship, and planting churches. SONshine Sports is an approachable platform to reach people through sports who would not be reachable otherwise.
What It Is Not:
SONshine Sports will not become just a sports league.
SONshine Sports will not be used solely for individuals to further their own personal sports careers.
SONshine Sports will not supersede the ministry of the local church it is run through.
SONshine Sports will not become a parachurch organization.
The Plan: SONshine Sports has a 3-phase plan. Sports clubs will be started and run by local pastors to be used as an outreach opportunity into the local community. Two clubs will be started in two locations (Nepal and India) to begin with to discern if this model will be effective in evangelism. The clubs will focus on youth (ages 14-25). The club in Nepal will be a soccer club and the club in India will be a cricket club. The clubs will be used to build relationships with the youth during practices with the goal of sharing the gospel with them. The clubs will function in 4 month “seasons.” They practice multiple times per week for 3 months. The 4th month of the “season” will be used to host a tournament that will be open to the community for anyone to play in. The tournaments will open opportunity for further community outreach, more youth for the club, and direct evangelism opportunities for the local church (passing out tracts and literature, etc.). As more youth want to join the club, more clubs can be started in the same village/community. Eventually other clubs in other communities/villages can be started. When the local clubs have been sufficiently established the tournaments can be opened to other villages in the surrounding areas. This will enable relationships to be developed with other villages for the goal of being able to host sporting events in their village. The club would travel, by invitation, to the other village to hold a sports day where the village can play and participate. Through this open door, relationships can be established and developed for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Once enough connections to the village are established and enough new believers are reached, a local church can be planted in the village. The goal of the sports clubs, tournaments, and sporting events in the villages is to share the gospel and plant churches in previously unreached areas.
Short Term Goals: - Start sports clubs in 2 locations: o Titlagarh-town, Odisha State, India- Pastor Trilochan Barik (Population: 32,000) o Hariwan, Sarlahi, Nepal- Pastor Sagar Waiba (Population: 100,000) - Hold 3 Tournaments in the local village/town where the clubs are located within the 1st year. - Complete a trial period for 1 year to see how the ministry works and if the platform is effective. - Ensure proper follow-up is practiced to see the Great Commission is accomplished.
Long Term Goals: - Hold Sports Days in outlying villages with no local church in them. - Start sports clubs in other countries as opportunities arise. - Partner with local Bible colleges to provide new pastors for follow-up in villages where a new church and perhaps a new sports club can be started. - Open a sports academy where the youth from the clubs can go to get further training and education.