It all started with prayer…

10//15 was just an idea after summer 2018. We had trained collegiate soccer players and local young adults 3x a week all summer. Every time we trained it was very competitive and everyone was getting better. We had set some rules out up front, which included no bad language, no fighting, and to be respectful. We had a great summer, and when it was over we started to dream about what this could be. We wanted to provide quality training during the summer for free, and also we wanted to incorporate sharing our faith and discipleship more. Yet, the banner under which we live is “Welcome”, so believer or not, anyone is welcome to be a part of our training programs.

From August 2018 until April 2019 we prayed. We asked God what our summer training could turn into, if anything. In April 2019, during spring break, a college student, Innocent, whom we have known for a long time, asked if we were doing any soccer and ministry things that summer. We asked him if he would be interested in joining our summer training program, and leading a Bible study during that time. He and our roommate, Emmanuel, agreed to write the Bible study and lead it. That was the first official meeting of 10//15.

We named this training program “10//15” based on Romans 10:15 which says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” We thought the theme of beautiful feet went well with playing soccer. Our next step was putting some dates on the calendar. We scheduled a meeting and invited some players and told them to invite their friends who they thought would be interested in free summer training and discipleship. At this point, we were just taking steps in obedience, not really knowing who we were as a ministry or where we were going.

We wrote a schedule for the summer which included 3 trainings per week, prayer after each training session, serving, and weekly discipleship opportunities. We had our meeting, and about 30 people showed up. Everyone seemed excited about it.

We started the 2019 summer training the first week of June. Every training we had between 20-30 young adults come out, and probably around 60 different people participated in our program all summer. Innocent and Emmanuel led the group through the acronym P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E with each letter representing a lesson from the Bible, for example; P=patience. We also had different people share their story of how they became a believer in Jesus, and a few times we had speakers share the gospel. Another part of summer training was serving. Christian or not, we wanted to provide opportunities for our players to serve the community and give back. Once a month we went to the organization “Feed My Starving Children” and packed meals for people in need.

Once July rolled around, we started praying for next steps. 10//15 had really caught on and people kept asking us how they could continue with us, or what the next event was going to be. So, we went to God in prayer, having no clue what was next, but simply wanting to follow God’s lead. We came up with the idea of a yearlong internship. We offered it to those who were asking if they could continue with us, love soccer, and were looking to go deeper with God. The goal of the internship was first to grow deep in their relationship with God and become rooted in a daily walk with the Lord. Another goal of the internship is to equip these young adults to be leaders in their community, and learn how to use soccer to serve others. We have 8 interns.

In August 2019, the summer soccer program ended, and most of our players went back to college. It was a great summer full of soccer, serving, sharing our faith, and building relationships. We even got to celebrate with a few of our players who accepted Christ into their life. We now had 8 interns with three colleges represented, and 3 of us were leaders. We felt like God had more for this ministry, so we started praying and talking about the idea of becoming a nonprofit. After months of prayer, we decided against nonprofit, because the process was too overwhelming. We would just be identified as a young adults soccer ministry.

God had other plans. Our pastor at church approached us, and asked if he could set us up with a ministry that helps ministries and churches become nonprofits. We agreed to the meeting with curiosity more than intention. During the meeting, Andrea, the woman helping us, suggested that we become a nonprofit because of everything that we do, and all that we want to do with soccer for Christ. She told us that her ministry will do all of the processing and paperwork. By the end of the meeting we knew this was the right thing to do. We had been praying for so long and everything was coming together so naturally. We agreed to start the process, and a few weeks later, we got the email confirming that we are now a nonprofit.

The journey of 10//15 has God’s fingerprints all over it, and we are just getting started. We are passionate about soccer, and sharing our faith in Jesus. We will continue to pray for God to illuminate the way, and trust Him to lead us.