playbook for life

South Africa Mission Trips

The mission to Mitchell's Plain begins...

In October 1998 I met with 3 pastors from Mitchell’s Plain, South Africa. Mitchell’s Plain is an impoverished community of 1,000,000 people about 20 minutes from Cape Town. After our 2-hour meeting where we talked about how they could use sports ministry to share Christ with people in their community, they asked if I would consider coming to South Africa to help them develop sports ministry through their churches and community schools. They had no idea how the children would respond, but knew the need was great. There was no way to know if we would have 25 or 250 children participating in the basketball clinics that they wanted me to hold.

Mission Trip #1 - April 1999

After much prayer I put together a small sports mission team consisting of Bill Palmer and Mike Burk. Since we did not know what to expect once we got there, we just took 150 basketballs, 200 Bibles, witnessing tracts, and WWJD bracelets. We decided to just go and let God be God! Boy, were we in for a surprise. We were teamed up with Grant Pascoe, the son of John Pascoe, the Pastor of Westridge Baptist Church. God was definitely in control. There were over 3,000 children that participated in the clinics in the churches, parks, and schools during the 10 days that we were there. We were so excited about what God had done, but didn’t know that this was only the beginning. Here are a few pictures of that first trip.

The first Sports Mission Team

L to R: Grant Pascoe, Mike Burk, Keith White, & Bill Palmer

A dribbling drill in an alley behind Westridge Baptist Church

Sunday Morning Worship at Westridge Baptist Church

Mike Burk during devotion time at one of the community schools. The team was able to begin developing relationships with 4 area schools

Children holding up gospel tracts at a school clinic

Keith teaching passing in a school clinic

Keith and Bill leading a leadership training class in fellowship hall at Westridge Baptist Church. Note the basketball goal attached to the wall behind us. This was the first indoor court!