The spring is the busiest time in soccer ministry: lots of practices, competitions, tournaments, besides the completion of Bible lessons on teams, preparation for summer camps, etc.
Dmytro Sosnovsky, who is the coach of boys aged 9–11, said that in Bible classes, reading the Gospel of Luke, they studied the personality of Jesus Christ, His character, uniqueness, and perfection. After each story, they looked for an answer to one question: “Why is Christ the best of all?” After almost a year of studying, they received a considerable list of beautiful traits of character of Jesus that captivate everyone.
Dmytro prays for a Christian assistant who will be able to help with the training of children, who will help them grow, and lead the younger generation to Christ.
In April, the traditional Christian tournament “Friends’ Cup” was held in the Hero city of Irpin, which always has a special sports atmosphere, as more than ten Christian teams from different parts of the country gathered. Our club was represented by three teams (about 40 children). They spent three days together, played a lot, talked, made new friends, and listened to the Word of God.
Oleksandr Honchar shared his personal experiences during this tournament: “My guys, with whom I have been working since 2019, are usually the favorites of such tournaments, so we hoped to contend for victory. The main competitor was our friends, the team of the Irpin Bible Church. A year ago, the team was led by Roman Tsymbal, a former player of Nadia, who moved to Irpin precisely to serve through soccer there. As I assumed, IBC and our team reached the finals in our age category.
I had a strange feeling: on the opposite coaching bench was my former student and a soccer player, we were rivals… The final was a success! 1:1 And that meant that we would have a penalty shootout. Last year, it was in the penalty shootout that we lost to IBC. I noticed how the guys were worried, so in order to encourage them, I said that I love them, that no matter how the match ends, they are the best for me, and more importantly, that God loves us with unconditional love, and this is the greatest joy, greater than all earthly victories! All our guys did their shots the best they could, and our goalkeeper, Zakhar, saved one penalty kick! The whole team heaped in a small pile, victory!
The victories come and go, but there is an eternal victory, victory over sin, the victory that Christ has done for us on the cross, and we bring the news of His victory to people, using every practice, every game, every situation on the field and off the field. Thank God that we have such an opportunity and such a ministry!!!”
