Through the partnership N.C. Baptists have with the Baptist Union of South Africa, 10 young athletes and four coaches brought the rules of round-ball and the plan of salvation to young people who have never dreamed of owning $100 basketball shoes. Many dream simply of owning a pair of shoes.

Through basketball and volleyball camps and sharing of personal testimonies, Johnny Childers, state coordinator for N.C. Baptist Men's Sports in Missions ministry, estimates the team touched the lives of over 6,000 people.

"We would share our love for the game of basketball, then share about our love for God," he says. .

Childers, a sixth-grade teacher and coach from Hildebran, led the 18-day mission trip which was split between Mabopane, an hour-and-a-half drive from Johannesburg and Pietermartizburg, a 45-minute drive from the coastal town of Durbin, on the Indian Ocean.

The team, recruited from across N. C., worked the first week with Mabopane Central Baptist Church. The church supports a "Jesus for the Schools" ministry for South African schools. Schools in South Africa are open to volunteers teaching about God in assemblies and classes. Childers, who teaches social studies, science and math, also coaches seventh- and eighth-grade basketball.

"It was nice to be invited into the schools," he said. "In America it seems the separation of church and state has become extreme, as there has been an attempt to exclude God from school completely. As a science teacher, there is too much evidence to deny that there is design, which implies there is a designer. I think Christian teachers must display wisdom and courage to teach students about the existence of God without teaching a particular religious viewpoint Many schools in South Africa have religious education courses, although availability varies throughout the country. "It also depends on who will stand in the gap and provide curriculum," said Childers.

"International Islamic leadership has announced South Africa as their next area of conquest and openly admit they will provide the people and the money it takes to fight the battle. Christians need to step up and meet the challenge while that door is wide open.

Adam Jones, 6'3" 15-year-old who played on last year's junior varsity team at R.S. Central High School in Rutherfordton, said he already is looking forward to going back to South Africa. "I was asked in one of the schools which I liked better, the United States or South Africa," he said. "I told them, 'I like it here (in South Africa) because you guys have Jesus and God in your schools and nobody is afraid to talk about it."'

Each day, the boys divided up and visited several schools during morning assemblies. "During this first week we visited 25 schools, two or three times each, and revisited some later in the day in classrooms," said Childers. They would share basketball's Christian heritage from its beginnings at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Training School (now Springfield College in Springfield, Mass.). This would lead into the reason the team had crossed an entire ocean to be there. Then the boys would give their testimonies.

The team held basketball and volleyball clinics after school for teachers in Mabopane. About 75 teachers came throughout the week to learn tactics and hear testimonies. "Basketball is slowly growing in popularity in South Africa," says Childers, "but there are few people with adequate knowledge of the game. In addition, there are very few basketball goals or balls in the country and even fewer courts.

Soccer, rugby and cricket are the most popular.

The team also ministered to street children. Love Action Ministries, a lifeline to about 20 homeless children, is a ministry of Mabopane Central Baptist. Located in a former warehouse, the church is home to abandoned children; the youngest is 18 months old.

"It made me realize how much I have to be thankful for and how much I take for granted," Jones said. "I can better understand what goes on in other parts of the world now. Not everybody has as good of a life as mine. It humbled me.

Childers' 19-year-old son, Travis, a sophomore in college, also was a member of his dad's team. "They think we live in the Promised Land," said Travis. "I realized all the little stuff I complain about -- like getting new clothes and the air conditioner being broken -- is stuff they don't even have. It is hard for them to imagine 16-year-old kids having cars when the adults don't even have cars."

The remaining days of the mission trip were spent in Pietermartizburg reaching into the schools, though opportunities were limited. "We never spoke to the entire student body," said Childers, "but were invited into some classrooms. Our basketball camps were held after school, during extracurricular sports time.

Some evenings the group had fellowship with youth groups from different churches. In Pietermartizburg, there is a large Islamic influence and many of the students the boys shared their testimony with were either Muslim or familiar with its teaching, said Childers.

He hopes to see many more sports-centered mission trips during the remaining three years of the partnership with South African Baptists.

"Next summer, I would like to see at least two teams sent to different parts of the county," he said. "I will be recruiting coaches and athletes to apply. I recommend a South African mission trip to anyone seeking a terrific blessing while participating in a short-term venture.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Griffin is a free-lance writer from Williamston.)