baseball as outreach – kingdom networking

A couple of years ago a friend in New York told me about a couple who were serving in Sarajevo. I emailed them from Budapest and Laci and I went to visit Dejan and Michelle to meet and see about ministry possibilities together. On the way back from that visit I got to meet Jeremy who serves in Croatia and talked briefly about ministry possibilities. A few months later, Dejan and Michelle met Jeremy and Petra at a CEO gathering in northern Hungary as well as the rest of the gang including Doug and Lea. So Jeremy and Doug talk about baseball as outreach and the layers of connection deepen. Later, Dejan and Michelle hang out with Jeremy and Petra and deepen that connection. Recently, Michelle tells Jeremy about a guy who lives near him in Croatia and a discussion with Garrett about baseball as outreach is set up. I arrive and ride along with Jeremy to this neighboring Croatian city to meet this new contact made who is using baseball as outreach. Well, it turns out, as we talked about baseball fields, we learn that he has heard of Doug and when I asked him where he went to school, he did a degree in computer science at… UVa! no kidding… and he went to the same church while at UVA that Lea did in her undergrad year… wow, God has a pretty cool network… and to think that if Heather had not told me about Dejan and Michelle, today’s meeting would have never happened…