4 replies to this topic

[JackA]

Good Message from Tim Thompson, Minister at Frazer


In the fall of 2008, there was an unusual high school football game played in
Grapevine, Texas . The game was between Grapevine Faith Academy and the
Gainesville State School . Faith is a Christian school and Gainesville State
School is located within a maximum security correction facility.

Gainesville State School has 14 players. They play every game on their road.
Their record was 0-8. They only scored twice. Their 14 players are
teenagers who have been convicted of crimes ranging from drugs to assault to
robbery. Most had families who had disowned them. They wore outdated, used shoulder pads and
helmets. Faith Academy was 7-2. They had 70 players, 11 coaches, and the latest
equipment.

Chris Hogan, the head coach at Faith Academy , knew the Gainesville team would
have no fans and it would be no contest, so he thought, “What if half of our
fans and half of our cheerleaders, for one night only, cheered for the other
team?” He sent out an email to the faithful asking them to do just
that. “Here’s the message I want you to send,” Hogan wrote. “You’re just as valuable as any
other person on the planet.”

Some folks were confused and thought he was nuts. One player said, “Coach, why
are we doing this?” Hogan said, “Imagine you don’t have a home life, no one to
love you, no one pulling for you. Imagine that everyone pretty much
had given up on you. Now, imagine what it would feel like and mean to you for hundreds of
people to suddenly believe in you.”

The idea took root. On the night of the game, imagine the surprise of those 14
players when they took the field and there was a banner the cheerleaders had
made for them to crash through. The visitors’ stands were full. The
cheerleaders were leading cheers for them. The fans were calling them by their
names. Isaiah, the quarterback-middle linebacker said, “I never in my life thought I
would hear parents cheering to tackle and hit their kid. Most of the time, when we come
out, people are afraid of us. You can see it in their eyes, but these
people are yelling for us. They knew our names.”

Faith won the game, and after the game the teams gathered at the 50- yard line
to pray. That’s when Isaiah, the teenage convict-quarterback surprised
everybody and asked if he could pray and he prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what
just happened so I don’t know how or who to say thank you to, but I never knew there were so
many people in the world who cared about us.” On the way back to the bus, under
guard, each one of the players was handed a burger, fries, a coke, candy, a
Bible, and an encouraging letter from the players from Faith Academy .

What an incredible act of Christian witness and kindness and goodness that was.
Proverbs 11:17 says, “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind.” Proverbs
3:27 says, “Do not withhold good when it is in your power to act.” Be kind to
someone this week. Be kind to every person you meet. You might be
amazed at what God will do with a simple act of kindness.

-Dr. Tim Thompson

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One Heart Bowl™ is an annual football game between Grapevine Faith Christian School and Gainesville State School, a maximum-security facility of the Texas Youth Commission for juveniles. Coach Kris Hogan committed to this game in 2008, and with it, taught his players about the consequences of bad decisions while showing the players at Gainesville State that they were "just as valuable as anyone else on planet Earth." Students, family and faculty all attended the football game and cheered on the Gainesville Tornadoes. Because the game was such a positive success for the Gainesville youth and Grapevine Faith Christian’s students, it is now a permanent game held annually.

[Buddy Kidd]

Amen

[kiwi_too]

Awesome!

[Grey Mountain]

Great story!

[Jack of 32]

Don't know how I missed this one, but maybe while down with the flu, but thank you JackA for such a wonderful story....