Sunday Highlight: November 10, 2024

Today in our prayer time let’s talk about sports. We want to pray for Wes Blakely, one of our missionaries in Central Asia. Our church supports him through our Cooperative Program giving.

I think if we call Wes a sports enthusiast, that’s not enough. He’s a jock. In high school, he lettered in three sports. He played sports in college. Later, he coached. He has been our missionary for 20 years in Central Asia, and he has coached for a school and several clubs there. He constantly explains that his Christian faith shapes what he teaches and how he coaches.

Winning is important, but value people above all, he says. Everything — sports included —should glorify God. Here’s what happened: The government wants to win more in the next Olympics. Wes seemed to know what he was talking about. Leaders invited Wes and his friends in the U.S. to create a curriculum that would be used to teach thousands of coaches across the country! Our missionary is playing a key role in reshaping sports across the entire country and society!

Wes says he had asked God to use sports to influence people. He now realizes God gave an answer bigger than he could even dream about. Let’s ask God to guide Wes and to use sports to get many new churches planted.