Hospital Stay Leads to Central VA Ministry

In the early 1990s Russ (Carr) ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery the day before he was to leave for soccer crusades in Uganda and Kenya. While in the recovery room and coming out of the anesthesia, a tall man appeared at the end of his bed and introduced himself as Mike Anderson. He was African-American and likely a basketball player, and had heard that SOI wanted to start and inner-city program in Central Virginia.

Over time the two met together and a few tournaments featuring some outstanding high school basketball players were planned. The Good News of the Gospel was shared with the inner-city residents and the tournaments became the talk of the basketball community. Outreach to the African-American community continued, and in time the Parks and Recreation Department of Lynchburg offered several of their recreational sites to SOI for program development. It was decided to run a summer-long 3 v 3 basketball league with two age levels and possibly a girls' division. A format was developed, rules printed, sign-up sheets distributed, and a little advertising started. The week-to-week games and tournaments were a success, with dozens of young people responding to the coaches' half-time programs where the Gospel was presented. A number of the youth attended some of the separate discipleship studies that Mike Anderson and his wife, Matrice, began.