Upward 2010 Recap
Our Upward Basketball and Cheerleading season has come to an end for 2010 but it’s not too early to think about how we can enhance our ministry efforts for next season. THANK YOU to all the volunteers who made this a special season. The Celebration Event was a fantastic evening and one that the kids will be talking about for quite awhile. Let’s look at the numbers and be especially thankful for how God has brought people in our community to participate and the church body has responded by placing volunteers in the right positions at the right time.
We had 119 participants this year, up 45% from the year before. Our first year of cheerleading resulted in 29 new participants and proved to be a blessing to our ministry. Many parents have already encouraged us to offer cheerleading again next year. Six coaches from our Highland church body stepped forward to lead these girls from ages 4 to 11. We had over 300 attend the Upward Celebration on March 15. The Remix Entertainment group did an outstanding job of leading the kids in having fun and presenting the gospel message in as clear and engaging manner as anyone could ever witness. Seventy-one families responded at the Celebration Event by completing an information card. At least 6 persons checked the boxes that they either prayed to accept Christ or wanted more information about how to become a Christian. Please continue to be in prayer for them.
We are especially thankful to the prayer team, led by Ms. Laverne, Ms. Martha, Ms. Lou Anne and others, for committing to pray for 100 consecutive days. Thank you to our concession workers, scoreboard operators, devotional leaders, referees, and most of all our coaches. We needed several additional coaches with the increase in participants this year, so several new coaches volunteered to coach Upward for the first time and had weekly interaction with the kids on their team. All the coaches did an outstanding job with their teams and we have received especially encouraging feedback from some of the parents. Coaches, if any of you would be interested in attending a Training Conference outside Nashville in August, please contact Rick.