"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice."

1 Chronicles 16:8-10

As we spend time preparing for the summer, we pray for God to reveal Himself to us in new ways knowing that He is at work in our lives and the lives of those around us. We had the privilege of working alongside many different people that came down here to fulfill the command found in Matthew, to go and make disciples of all nations. This year was a little different as we had more groups come to partner with our sports outreach. Through basketball (boys and girls), baseball, volleyball, flag football and whiffle ball, we were able to spend time with hundreds of kids. Our sports staff is learning how to evangelize through building relationships and that's exactly what took place this summer. So we wanted to take this opportunity to praise Him and tell of His wonderful acts while giving Him glory and rejoicing along with those who seek Him. We hope you enjoy the pictures below of the ministry that took place over the past 3 months.

Basketball Camp with Eastview Family Group

Flag Football with CPC

Girl's Basketball with Banta

G.O. Basketball Week

Volleyball with Pathways

Baseball and Basketball with Shepherd of the Hills

We also finished our 4th annual G.O. Sports Outreach Summer Basketball League. This was a huge success as kids learned how to play as a team, grow as a team and realize their importance in the body of Christ. After six weeks of Bible studies, practice and games, the boys experienced what it means to cared for by their coaches......men who have become role models and faces of Christ in the community of Hoya del Caimito. Below are some pictures and a video of this year's league.
Click on the link below to watch 2009 G.O. Sports Outreach Basketball League:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs8V6XSmqu4

We hope you enjoyed sharing a piece of this summer with us. We are blessed to be here!

With love,

<><

Will and Audrey

"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

John 15:8

The last two months have been filled with fruit. There have been countless reminders of what God is doing on the island of Hispaniola so it's only fair that I share them with you all.....the people that so faithfully support and encourage our ministry.

For the third straight year, our home church in Louisville, Ky, came down for a week long mission trip at the end of March through the beginning of April. Throughout the week, we talked a lot about the large steps the church has taken in over seas missions. When we decided to move to the Dominican Republic 4 years ago, everyone was asking what our needs were. Of course we had many prayer concerns and monetary needs, but the one thing that we remember asking of everyone was to come down to the D.R. and experience it. No matter how many pictures we show or stories we tell, it's just not the same as someone physically walking the streets, hugging the Dominicans/Haitians, sitting in the homes, smelling the coffee, riding in the cars in crazy traffic, feeding a kid in a feeding center, eating ice cream at Bon or working alongside our Dominican and Haitian staff in the hot sun. So after almost 4 years of living on the island, we are praising God for the fruit He has provided in answering our prayers and our requests.......people are coming down to serve and experience the Dominican Republic. Thank you to all that have come, will come and for those of you that cannot, thanks for praying for the people that can. We are encouraged every time we see a familiar face and so is our Dominican Family.

St. John United Methodist Church, Louisville, KY

Sports Ministry is making huge strides in the training of our work crew both spritually and in leadership. We have continued to study R. Kent Hughes' book The Disciplines of a Godly Man and the response has been....fruitful. Pedro, Romano, Jose Luis, Simon, Alan, Alexander, Kerlyn, Wilson, Eric, Mike and Will are learning what it means to be Godly men in our homes, work, relationships, mind, devotion time, worship, church, leadership, giving, witness and ministry. Please continue to pray for this journey we are on.

At the end of April, we tested a new area of sports ministry and it was a success. A group of 11 men from Illinois came down to help us with a football camp.....American football! We knew we were in for a ride when the kids looked funny at the ball, then picked it up and tried to throw it like a baseball. We started from scratch and by the end of the camp, we were ready to call the NFL about a couple of new Dominican prospects. The kids loved it and caught on very quickly. Two kids that particpated in the football camp are now new Believers and are attending the church. God's fruit.

These same men from Illinois held a men's conference in a city called La Vega. There were close to 150 Dominican, Haitian and American men that attended and it was incredible. The topic for the week was "Breaking the cycle of Sin". In the Bible, it gives many examples of sin being passed on from generation to generation and gaining power on the way down. Many people today struggle with the sins of their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers, but it doesn't have to be passed on to our children. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" We celebrated that promise all weekend long.

Group from Illinois

The final fruit we want to share covers the entire G.O. Ministries organization. Every four yearsour ministry takes a few days to look back and see what God has done. We call it the Celebrationof Partnerships. All 61 of our Dominican, Haitian, Columbian and Mongolian workers and their spouses (about 100 total) made their way to Puerto Plata (northern coast of D.R.) to meet up with our North American Partners that support the ministry. We worshipped in 3 languages, participated in Beach Olympics, ate together, swam together and celebrated together what God is doing through His unworthy servants. It was an incredibly refreshing time as we took this opportunity to get to know one another on a deeper level and sing praises to our King. Thank you to all of you who play such a huge role in expanding the Kingdom.

group photo from the celebration of partnerships

G.O. Staff

egg toss competition

human pyramid competition


Please pray for us as we head into the summer months and host many short term mission teams. Pray for safe travels and that we will not get in the way of what God has laid out for us. We'd love to hear from you, so don't be afraid to toss an email our way!!

With love,
<><
Will and Audrey Partin

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Often times when people ask us what kind of ministry we do in the Dominican, they don't understand exactly what we mean when we say "sports ministry". We want to share just one of the wings of ministry that we are involved with via Simon, one of the members of the G.O. Ministries Dominican/Haitian Sports Outreach Crew.

After an 8 year career in the professional basketball league in Santiago, Simon came to us and said he was interested in starting a little business that would be a great opportunity for outreach. Simon wasn't the best player in the pro league, but he was arguably the strongest and most physically fit. So after taking classes and receiving his certificate to become a licensed Personal Trainer, he wanted to open his own gym. He found a guy that was selling some old equipment and his plans were to build the gym behind his parents' house in a rural community called Don Pedro. In this drug infested area, there is a large number of teens and young adults that hang out in the streets without much to do. Simon's dream is to provide for them a place where they can take care of their bodies, as The Bible tells us to in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, as well as present an alternative activity where they can spend their time and energy. He began to build and the response has been wonderful.

Inside this gymnasium you can find a couple of stations for bench press, incline press, decline, dumbells, shoulder press, squat wrack, stationary bicycle, abdominal workouts, two dogs for security, a rooster that runs around and a gecco that arrives in the morning and leaves for lunch in the afternoon. On the mirrors, Simon has written bible verses and motivational quotes such as, "Dios es tu fuerza"..."God is your strength". He has made his gym affordable as it only costs 20 pesos per visit (57 cents). Will, Mike and Eric (other American sports missionaries) visit Simon 3 mornings a week to encourage him and receive a personal workout from the master himself.

As we've said before, the purpose of our ministry is to get behind the Nationals (Dominicans and Haitians) and encourage them to do ministry amongst their own people. Simon came to us with a vision and a passion, so we are standing behind him in his fitness ministry and so are you. Because of your generosty, we were able to provide Simon with some financial aid to get this gym up and running. We thank you and he thanks you!

Simon is just one of eight guys we are working with in the area of Sports Ministry. His passion is to teach the message from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Every Saturday we study a book called The Disciplines of a Godly Man with these young men in order to keep each other accountable in our journey to become men of God. As the year goes on, we will continue to introduce you to these men so you can see who they are and what they are doing. This is sports ministry and we are here to love, encourage, disciple and provide the needs of the Dominican and Haitian men that have a passion for their people. Please enjoy as we take you on a tour of Simon's gym through the pictures below.

Love,
<><

Will and Audrey