An Interview with Trevell: A Miracle League Basketball Player

Originally uploaded by Sunshine Gospel Ministries

Senior high student, Trevell, who is a junior at Team Englewood High School once again played on our Miracle League basketball team this year. He stopped by the office for a little interview about his experience. In fact, he was part of the original team and claims to have never missed a practice or a game. We can't deny this! :-)

What have you learned from such devotion? What has kept you playing on the Miracle League team year after year? I guess a drive to win. Dave is good coach, too. I’m dedicated to the team. This particular team. Even if that means we haven’t won a game, like last year when the only game that we won was the last game of the season.

What position to do play? Small forward.

What strengths do you think you bring to the team? Shooting ability. And my ability to motivate my teammates to play, even when it gets hard.

Have you experienced Dave outside of the basketball team? Yeah, I’ve attended some of the hip-hop Fridays at Sunshine. I’ve gone to church with Dave and gone camping in Michigan for a week when they took a bunch of guys. He’s a caring, nice man. Funny, too.

How would you describe his coaching style? Laid-back, relaxed.

I know that devotions are a part of the time you and team spend together. Is there any part of the devotion time that particularly stands out to you? The Proverbs. And, I know that they spent time in John. I think John 3:26. What impressed me is that I need to learn to trust – trust anybody, but most especially God. He’s the main person to trust in. And, that I need to examine who I love, who I put my trust in. You know, who my role model is. We shouldn’t have two masters.

What has been your experience of the greater Miracle League? It’s been a good league and we spend time getting to know our other teammates. Nice people. Good competition. Like I said before, Dave is a good coach.

Are there others that have been on team as long as you? Yeah, Baby T, Pierre, Terrell have been on the team for 4 years like me. And, Eric has been on the team for 3 years. We’re all friends off the court as well.

What else do you have going on this summer? I do odd jobs for the Black United Fund, painting, construction work, and things. We go to different sites across Chicagoland all summer doing these odd jobs.

Do you have any long term goals for your life? Like college? Yeah. I’d like to play basketball. I’d like to go to college. A four year college at either Iowa, Wisconsin, or Indiana. Why those schools? Well, they are Big 10 schools. What would you like to study? History. Forensic science. Sports management. I haven’t decided yet.

Do you play basketball during the school year at your high school? Yeah. Do you see a difference between the two teams? Yeah. During the school year, it’s about me and the coach. I listen to him and I worry about my game. But, during the summer, in Miracle League, it’s about Dave and it’s our team. I listen to Dave and I worry about what’s good for the whole team.

Does being on the basketball team affect your academics? Positively? Depends on the time of the year. Sometimes it’s a distraction, but mostly basketball helps is a positive thing and helps to keep me focused. In fact, I’ve raised my GPA since I’ve been on the team. And now I just have to worry about a good ACT score.

One of Bridge Builders' interns, Sarah Murphy, sent this email out to our staff this morning. I thought I'd share it with you...

"This weeks' group is actually two different groups that we've merged into one. We have 13 student participants and four leaders from St Paul, Minnesota and then 13 student participants and two leaders from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Please keep us lifted in prayer, specifically that we can properly exemplify God's heart for all people and that we, as Christians, would please God by following his example in Ps. 113; that is, to look at the poor, and to love the poor, and to lift them up until we meet Him in the kingdom of heaven. Pray for open hearts turned towards God's will and open minds to take on new knowledge.

Sarah Murphy"

Also, our City Team Leader, Dave Clark, has recently written some posts on his own blog that I encourage you to read. In "The Warrior 7" he speaks about Team Sunshine's involvement in the Miracle Basketball League with a personal touch as coach. "Divine Appointments" is a response to God's answer to prayer in one of our partnership with the Chicago Peace Campaign and their Friday Night Lights outreach.

A Summer Blast Update

We’ve finished up our first week of Summer Blast. We we’re averaging right around 30 kids last week, but some have started this week, so our numbers were up a little today. If everybody shows up, we should have our 50. Overall, the program has been running very well. All of our summer staff have stepped up and taken ownership of their stations and responsibilities, and have done a great job with that.

Our theme for the summer is “One Way,” taken from John 14:6. We’ve covered that Jesus is the only way to salvation, and that we need to be bringing others to Christ by telling them about Jesus’ love for them. Over the next few weeks, we’ll cover the one way to live, one way to love, one way to serve, etc. The kids are really enjoying each station, and are excited about Bible time as well.

Please pray that they will continue to grow in their knowledge of the Gospel, especially those who are new to Sunshine. About half of the kids are new to Sunshine, so praise God for that! Pray that we will be able to build relationships with them and their families and be able to plug them in to other programs in the fall.

A Warrior Team Update

We have recruited a group of young men from the greater Woodlawn area to be a part of the Miracle League basketball league. The League is an intense, competitive six-week summer program, promoting teamwork and healthy competition among it's teens.

Dave Clark, our City Team leader, is one of the team's coaches and below he gives us an update on the season so far....

We are just over the mid-season mark for the Miracle League Season. At this point the Sunshine Warriors are 3 and 4. Other than one lop-sided victory that we had, every game this season has been close. We once again started the season with a full roster of 13 players. However, various circumstances have once again trimmed our roster to the “Faithful 8.” This has posed challenges, losing a 6’5” shot blocker and low-post threat, a 5’9” 3 point “gun-slinger”, and some additional bench support. However, our remaining 8 leave us with a scrappy and determined 6-foot and under bunch. For 5 of the guys this is their 4th summer playing with us in the League.

We have 4 regular season games remaining, followed by a post-season tournament on Friday July 17th and Saturday July 18th. I am confident that if we are playing together and playing hard, we can make a run at the championship.

It has been great to have Pastor Brad helping as an assistant coach and driving an additional van to our games. Pastor Brown has also been gracious to us in allowing us to use First Baptist’s vintage gymnasium for all of our practices.

We have had some really good devotional talks with our guys. They are asking really good questions, wrestling with the gospel, thinking on who Christ is. I am encouraged especially by 2-3 of the guys who show evidence of growth and spiritual maturity developing. Please continue to pray with me for the team – that eyes would be opened to the gospel and that fruit would continue to grow.

Dumas Mural Installation

From Brian Wongkamalasai, Bridge Builder coordinator...I am excited to announce that one of the three major mural projects that Bridge Builders' groups will be working this year is 100% complete and in its permanent location. This installation is in partnership with a local elementary school, Dumas Tech. They are located here in the Woodlawn neighborhood on 67th Street. The mural is our first step towards a productive future. Bridge Builder teams painted and then hung the mural with direction from our local muralist Dammon Reed. It depicts African Americans using advanced forms of technology. A cameo appearance of President Obama and his Blackberry is something to look for… The mural is our first step with the school is a productive, mutually-beneficial community engagement. Bridge Builder teams painted and then, hung the mural in the school with direction from our local muralist Dammon Reed.

The mural is a great fit for the recently re-opened, re-organized technology-centric school. This particular mural depicts African-Americans employing various forms of advanced technology, placed in the school to motivate and inspire students. A cameo appearance of President Obama and his Blackberry is something to look for…

WBEZ Special Report: 50/50

WBEZ - Chicago Public Radio recently put forth a special report entitled "Fifty-Fifty: the Odds of Graduating", shining a spotlight on the fact that only half of those who enroll freshman year at Chicago public high school will end up graduating. For the special report, WBEZ reporters took to the halls of Chicago's south side Robeson High, following a handful of students to get an inside glimpse at what causes students to stay the course and what obstacles challenge their completion.

Click Here to go directly to the special report.

While Robeson lies in the Englewood neighbor just south and west of Sunshine, there are astounding statistical parallels between that school and the high schools in too many Chicago neighborhoods, Woodlawn included. You can visit Interactive Illinois Report Card to view the numbers yourself. Robeson currently enrolls 1,270 students and of those 6.9% meet or exceed PSAE standards in reading, 2.8% in math, and 2.4% in science. This is compared to the approximately 50% of students statewide that respectively meet these standards in all three categories. By comparison, at Dyett High School, which many of the students a part of Sunshine's programs attend, 5.7% meet PSAE reading requirements, 2.3% meet math requirements, and finally, 1.1% meet these same science requirements.

There is MUCH that can be said about the current achievement gap and the underlying challenges for teachers, administrators, parents and students. Nonetheless, current state and performance of far too many of our Chicago high schools is alarming and sad. We encourage you to check out WBEZ's special report to learn more about the challenges that are before our schools and those who are working to augment student's schoolwork.

Bridge Builders in High Gear

With Spring Break upon us and summer quickly rounding the corner, our Bridge Builders program is in high gear. Last week alone we had 80 college students join us from 5 different universities. Executive Director, Joel Hamernick, blogged about this week. Click HERE to view his blog. (P.S. The link to his blog can be always be found on the right column of this blog linked as "Executive Note")

Some excellent pictures came out of the week as well. Check them out through the Flickr slideshow below!!!

Top Urban Ministry Speakers, Websites, and Blogs

Last week UrbanMinistry.org presented its list of the most popular Urban Ministry and Social Justice speakers, websites, and blogs of 2008. View the list HERE. Each of the organizations and websites featured were national in scope. The statistics cover UrbanMinistry.org downloads, podcast downloads, and YouTube views for speakers as well as content provided by CCDA, AGRM, Kingdomworks, and Compassionworks. Christian website rankings are based on Alexa ranking, which is the most popular public website ranking tool. Blog statistics were compiled using Technorati authority. Many of the people and organizations featured are ones we at Sunshine follow closest and at times engage with in active dialogue.

Public Murals Speak to God's Grace in Woodlawn

March is Spring Break month! And, the start of a heightened Bridge Builders season at Sunshine. As you may well know, Bridge Builders is our short-term missions program designed to immerse college and adult participants from around the country in the urban context. The program engages participants in a multi-faceted agenda that address matters which affect the urban poor, examining the many passages in Scripture which speak to these matters. While the program emphasizes listening and learning about cross-cultural engagement in our country, participants also engage in service.

Each year we work hard to engage our Bridge Builders partners in effective community ministry. This can be challenging as effective work is genuinely beneficial to both the community as well as team members. This year our teams are working on an inspiring and extremely creative project: public murals!!! These murals are being designed by a local artist and will be actually painted and installed by our Bridge Builders participants. The installations will occur on our building, in a public location outside in our community, and in one of our partnering elementary schools.

Murals in the community can be a powerful way to reflect the image of God in contextualized manner. We expect the murals will be well received in the community, extending the long-term relationships between Sunshine and community residents while also portraying with clarity God’s grace and love. Stay tuned to see what transpires from these beautiful projects.

Young Entrepreneur Earns Competitive Program Placement

Ever since Teandra Armstrong volunteered her Saturdays washing and braiding hair at her cousin’s beauty salon she has dreamed of opening up her own shop. She says, “There’s a vibe. I don’t know. I can’t quite explain it. It’s just fun. Secrets are opened up [at the shop]. People can’t keep the stories to themselves anymore.” You get the sense in talking with Teandra that the beauty shop is her element and, as long as the neighborhood ladies keep coming and telling their stories, it will forever be her element.

Teandra is a part of our technology apprenticeship program for high school students, which meets three days a week after school through our partnerships with After School Matters and the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Teandra is one of approximately 22 students who participate in the apprenticeship program each semester, including summers. The program is a place where she can be encouraged in her dream of opening her own beauty shop and receive the mentoring and skill training she needs to set her on a course to accomplish the dream.

Teandra is a sophomore at Bronzeville Scholastic Institute, located about a mile from our Center. This spring is her third semester in our apprenticeship program, where this past semester she crafted a business plan for her own beauty shop. Throughout the program and into the young entrepreneur’s small business competition, Teandra showed great promise. In looking forward to this summer she was recommended to the Rotary Job1 program by NFTE staff who watched her compete this beauty shop business plan. Job1 provides high school students, like Teandra, with substantive summer internships with local businesses, where students, like Teandra, will receive continued mentoring and advice from a professional business advisory team. She recently learned of her acceptance into the program, already spending one Saturday a month until the summer, in job readiness training. (She tells, with humble satisfaction, of this past Saturday’s group project to redesign the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate candy bar, providing a new slogan, logo and commercial for the company. Her teammates picked her design to expand upon – a design which ended up winning the day’s competition.)

We are proud of and excited for Teandra! “We will miss her [this summer],” says Vincent McCaskill, our technology center director, “but she is an example of what we hope the students will achieve.”

Willow Creek: Thousand Questions Video

For the last several years the Willow Creek Association (spawned through Willow Creek Community Church) has hosted the Leadership Summit. The annual conference has grown each year and is now hosted in 80+ satellite locations and attracting people for around the globe. The premise of the conference is that whether at church, school, business or home, so many of us are leading everyday. Leadership takes perseverance, dedication and a commitment to stretch your mind, expand your heart and use your God-given gifts to impact your world in real and powerful ways. And, it's important for diverse leadership to come together to be encouraged, to share best practices, and to be sharpened. The resources that come out of the Association have been beneficial to thousands of people, their teams, theirs congregations. Sunshine is no exception to that; we have benefited from the print, media, and conference resources.

The artistic genius that has flowed out of the Willow team and been expressed at these conferences has so often impressive and inspiring. One particular video came out of last year's Leadership Summit that particularly caught our attention and it's safe to say, the attention of many others.

You can see for yourself here on YouTube.



The questions that are asked in this video are honest, transparent ones that pull from the gut. They are humble us. We show this video to our Bridge Builders teams. The video is a important place to start for to dismiss the fatigue, the doubt, even the cynicism in our hearts when it comes to our individual role in missions is shortsighted and, in end, unproductive.

What are your thoughts after watching the video? Did it resonate with you?

The next Leadership Summit is scheduled for August6-7, 2009. You can register here.

Instilling Compassion While Shooting Baskets

During the months of November and December we placed special emphasis on character development with our Horizons after-school youth program, for students in grades 6-8, in a series entitled, “Living A Life That Matters.” We looked at Biblical examples of men and women who lived their lives with intentionality toward glorifying glorify God and, in turn, impacting others with their witness. We also looked at present day examples of ordinary people who in big and in small ways had a positive impact on the lives of others.

One of the examples we studied was Austin Gutwein, a 14-year old who founded the organization Hoops of Hope. He became burdened to help AIDS orphans in the African country of Zambia after watching a World Vision video. He then came up with the idea to do a shoot-a-thon. From that event, Hoops for Hope was born. It is the biggest basketball shoot-a-thon in the world, much like a walk-a-thon, but way more fun! Each year thousands of participants from around the world shoot free throws for children in need. This year, every shot taken will help to build a medical facility in Zambia. Every free throw will literally help keep children from becoming orphans.

Our students, and staff alike, felt compelled to get involved! So, we are hosting our very own shoot-a-thon on Saturday, February 28th at the Agape Center (342 W. 111th St). Each student will raise pledges per free throw they shoot on that day. The enthusiasm of of the kids for helping others through the event has been heartening. We look forward to sharing anecdotes and picture with you. And, hey, come join us!

Black Family Technology Awareness Week

Next week Sunshine is collaborating with other community organizations in Black Family Technology Awareness Week (Feb. 15-20). The week is designed to assist African-American communities in obtaining access to and training in web technologies, enabling these communities to leverage key information from virtually anywhere. Since it's inception nine years ago in New York City, collaborative efforts between a large variety of professional and community organizations have sprung up in 200 cities, supporting increased technology awareness. You can read more about the awareness week on this blog. As part of the festivities, Sunshine will be hosting a workshop on Friday, February 20th from noon - 2 p.m. in Social Networking and Community Development. Interested? Feel free to contact our main office for more information.

Register TODAY for the Legacy Conference!

Registration has begun for this year's Legacy Conference! Here at Sunshine we are big fans of this conference (a few of us just might be involved in its planning :wink: ) The 2009 Legacy Disciple Making Conference will be Thurs, July 30 - Sat, August 31st. This year's conference will take place on the campus of Chicago's Moody Bible Institute. Register today at: www.legacy-conference.org !

Young Entrepreneurs Make A Splash

Just before the Christmas holiday break, our high school technology apprentices presented and contested the hard work they have put into creating business plans for impact in our neighborhood. The training they received in how to create small businesses was also coupled with training in web design and PowerPoint presenting. We are very proud of each of them! First, second, and third place cash prizes were awarded. Brittany Fisher was rewarded with a first place prize for her development of a resume training and consulting business. This program was made possible by our partnership with After School Matters and the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Sunshine is grateful to Brian Wongkamalasai for his photography work on this event. Click Here to visit Brian's blog >>>