Game On! Fall Outreach
We launched Game On! with a lot of unknowns, but matched by a lot of prayer. God answered in our first week as 16 kids played, 13 parents connected, and 14 people served, including our outreach team, who welcomed 45 neighbors.
A few weeks ago, we launched a new sports outreach program called, Game On! We know that many families migrated from their homeland to this unfamiliar place with dreams to build a better life for their kids. Yet studies show that foreign-born parents often feel 30% to 50% less supported in raising their kids compared to native-born parents. So, we wanted to respond to that need, and not with answers, but with presence by creating a fun space for children to play while parents connect through intentional conversation together.
Yet, we needed the right team to lead this ministry. And God answered that prayer through Ganzorig, who is a gifted leader in our church with a deep passion for sports outreach. Before coming to the U.S., he helped start a children’s sports program in Mongolia that bore real fruit, and he continues to serve in that kind of ministry here as a Site Coach with Jubilee Reach. Still, even with his experience, we didn’t know exactly how Game On! would unfold. We didn’t have every detail figured out, but we prayed, showed up, and trusted that if God was in it, He would make a way, and He did.
Each Sunday afternoon, our church has welcomed about fifteen children into the gym with joy. Some come from within our church, others are neighbors and friends that were invited by our church, and still others come from our promotion online or to the nearby apartments. What I love to see is how quickly they play together, make friends, and feel like they belong! While the children play, an average of twelve parents gather to talk honestly about the challenges they face, such as navigating technology, processing emotions, building strong families. We don’t offer quick advice. We listen. We share. And when invited, we pray and comment from a faith perspective. And in those moments, we see how trust is growing, roots are going deeper, and parents are feeling cared for by each other.
While this is going on, a few of us walk to the nearby apartments to meet our neighbors and let them know a church next door cares for them. So far, we have knocked on over a hundred doors to give invitations, small gifts and words of hope. Not knowing how each visit will go, some doors are closed. Yet, some open their door and share transparently about illness, family burdens, or loneliness. We’ve encouraged them, and prayed for many, even standing in a living room to pray for God’s peace and healing upon them. Yet there are a few who have closed the door and shared how they are uninterested. Whatever the response, we believe that these are sacred moments for us to share the love of Jesus with our neighbors, and for that we are grateful.
Please continue praying that every child would know they are deeply loved, every parent would find friendship, and every neighbor would encounter Christ’s love not only in what we say, but in the way we live among them. This is only the beginning. We are believing God to do immeasurably more than what we ask or imagine as we seek to be faithful by loving our neighbors intentionally and with genuine care.