This years Summit was hosted by Willow Creek Community Church, Chicago.


The Summit began with a symposium on the Wednesday afternoon. As I walked into the room, I thought someone had given me wrong directions. It looked like a “Trekkie” convention. (Star Trek enthusiasts) People dressed in the familiar attire. On closer inspection, I recognized some of the people. All became clear when I was told the theme of the symposium “Going were no Sports Minister had gone before”. As we waited for it to begin, I started chatting to two guys from Indianapolis, Rich and Gary, also Andy from Canton, Ohio.

  As Vickie Byler began her presentation, she told us of perceptions that Non-Christians have about the church and our out-dated ways of doing evangelism. If you wish to view this PowerPoint presentation, please email me at -denzil@[remove this]dennisvine.freeserve.co.uk

  After the symposium we had dinner together, then we went to Willow Creek’s midweek service.

  Early the next morning, Gary and Rich introduced me to the rest of their group, Amber, Penny and Christina. We all headed for the summit together. As I sat at one of the tables, I was joined by Carol and Charles who were in the Salvation Army, in Downtown Chicago. They told me that were they work as Sports Ministers is in an area were the gang culture is rife. People getting shot and killed nearly everday. They can’t get staff to come into their area for fear of their lives, so they struggle to do what they can. But encouraging news, with the gangs playing sport with each other and barriers removed for maybe a short while.

  Also, later in the day we were told by Richard Sskeryu from Uganda that twenty children had lost their lives that day in a fire at the school were he works. Both heart wrenching and encouraging news in the one day.

  The next day we heard from Gary Poole who is the Evangelism Leader in Willow Creek and also the innovator of Seeker Small Groups. Interspersed during the day, were workshops. The one I enjoyed the most was called “Mind the Gap” a holistic approach to movement and assimilation into the church.

 After another long day of information overload, I headed out with my new friends for a pizza, we had a great time.

  On the last day of the summit, we heard from Steve Connor who is an ex American football player and he also worked in England and Scotland for about twenty years, promoting Sports Ministry. He was a very infectious speaker and I really enjoyed what he had to say to us.

   At the summit, there were over 300 delegates from all over the globe. Many friends were made, plenty of networking was going on. It was truly a wonderful experience, but now to sort all the information and put things into practice.

  Dennis