playbook for life

Playbook for Life began operating on January 1, 1998 under the umbrella of Ring of Truth Ministry.  In September, 1999, it was incorporated as a non-profit ministry under the original name of Playbook for Life Recreation Ministry.  Playbook for Life operates as a ministry of The Urban Restoration, a registered 501c 3 corporation.    The ministry office is located on the first floor of the Baptist Metrolina Ministries Building at 328 W. Carson Blvd., Charlotte, North Carolina.  

Staff

Keith White, Director/Founder, Playbook for Life Ministries:

After 10 years as a YMCA director and 9 years working in outside sales, I was called to full time ministry in April of 1989.  I am very blessed to be married to Janice Nunn White, who not only is my Godly wife and mother of our children but also my best friend and the strongest supporter of the ministry.   Our family continues to grow with four children: Wayne, Crystal, Lauren, and Megan; our daughter-in-law, Rebeca (married to Wayne), our son-in-law, Jim (married to Crystal), our son-in-law, Lavar (married to Lauren), and one that God has not revealed to Megan yet.  We are also doubly blessed to have two granddaughters, Isabella and Maryellie (daughters of Wayne and Rebeca) and one grandson, Reed (son of Jim and Crystal) that we enjoy spoiling every chance we get.  The greatest blessing is that all of our family are bold in their Christian walks as faithful followers of Jesus Christ.  Below is my personal testimony, followed by a brief profile of how God has been preparing me for my faith journey of founding Playbook for Life Ministries.   

Until 1998 I was on staff at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC as Director of Sports Ministry.  Hickory Grove is a very large church of about 14,000 members, and I was very comfortable in the ministry and had plenty of work to do.  God decided I needed to get out of my comfort zone and really depend on Him.  He called me to leave Hickory Grove and start Playbook for Life Ministry.  Playbook for Life is a faith-based ministry whose purpose is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through sports.  To be honest, I was a little unsure why God wanted me to leave a perfectly good ministry at a large paying church to start a ministry when I was not sure from where my next pay check was going to come. 

Boy was I in for a shock.  I’m sure God must have been smiling at me when I wondered how I was going to stay busy.  It’s been eleven years now, and God has never let my family go without the things that we needed. 

Since the ministry’s inception, I have had the opportunity to work with over 70 churches helping them organize youth and adult sports teams and leagues, camps and clinics, recreation leadership training, and youth coaches’ seminars.  The ministry is presently administering a youth church basketball league in Charlotte, NC that has 34 churches participating with 245 teams for both boys and girls from ages 6 to 18.  The ministry also organizes leagues during the year where churches partner together in sports such as youth soccer, youth flag football, adult coed volleyball, coed softball, men’s and women’s basketball, and ladies softball.  The ministry is involved with several urban ministries to use sports and recreation as an evangelistic tool to reach children in the inner city through their love of sports who might not otherwise have the opportunity to hear the gospel. 

I have also been blessed with the opportunity to travel to South Africa 13 times since 1999 to use sports as a vehicle to share the gospel.  Through basketball clinics and sports programs in schools in Cape Town, South Africa, the message of Jesus Christ has been told.  Over 7,000 children have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  A center has been built in an impoverished area of Mitchell’s Plain, South Africa called The F.R.O.G. Center (Fully Relying On God) where from 200 to 300 children come every day to participate in evangelistic programs after school and on Saturdays.  We have helped place 2 short term and 1 long term (2 years) missionaries to work in the F.R.O.G. ministry.  On October 16, 2009 we will be sending our first couple to South Africa to serve in the F.R.O.G. ministry. 

Keith White's Profile

1972 – 1977    - YMCA Program Director 

1977 – 1981    - YMCA Branch Executive Director 

1981 – 1989    - Sales Director, Colonial Insurance Co.
                          (Not sports related but important part of God’s plan for my life) 

1989 – 1998    - Called into full-time ministry as Director of Sports Ministry at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC.  While at Hickory Grove, the church membership grew to over 10,000 members and now has a membership of about 14,000.  The sports ministry at the Family Life Center grew into one of the largest and most successful in the southeast.  While at Hickory Grove, I developed a Christian Coaches Training and Certification program.  In 1991, I assisted in writing a book entitled Coaching Basketball, A Complete Guide for the Christian Recreation Coach.  Convention Press of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention published the book.

 1998 – Present -  Founded Playbook for Life Recreation Ministry. 
The focus of the ministry is to share Jesus through sports. 

• Youth and adult church sports leagues
  • 72 churches
  • 350 teams
• Development of sports ministry in local churches
• Summer sport camps and clinics
• Sports leadership training
• Urban sports ministry
• Summer camps
• Sport teams
• Special evangelism events (Westside Olympics)
• International Missions
  • Led eight sports mission trips to South Africa and helped build a community center called The F.R.O.G. Center (Fully Relying On God).  More than 7,000 children have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior on the trips.