It was a fun day of football, friendship, and hearing the hope of the gospel message for more than 100 kids who attended a Baltimore Ravens sports camp last Saturday – an outreach program sponsored by Prison Fellowship.
The nation’s largest prison ministry partnered with the NFL team and local churches to bring the gospel to children of incarcerated parents during the day-long camp.
“What a life they’ve had with all of the commotion, all the chaos, all the heartbreak,” one camp coordinator said. “You just want to have that turnaround for them. You know God is there and that He can do that. And you know that they can be anything they want to be if they can just get that into their head and their heart.”
Prison Fellowship, started by Chuck Colson, holds the mission “to see all affected by crime reconciled to God, their families, and their communities.”
The most vulnerable are children.
According to the National Institute of Corrections, more than two million children living in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent. These children suffer from higher rates of aggression, depression, and drug use. They also are more susceptible to one day being incarcerated.
Prison Fellowship holds Angel Tree Sports camps two to three times a month at different locations across the country. The initiative, which began in 2005, gives kids an opportunity to participate in basketball, cheer, soccer, ice skating, baseball, and bowling clinics.
“The whole goal is to give the kids hope, right? Hope that you could maybe one day play for the NFL yourselves, hope that God has a purpose and plan for your life,” Prison Fellowship CEO James Ackerman told the Christian Post. “God has gifted you and has hope for you. And so that’s the whole thesis of the entire trip.”
The ministry held its first camp at the Ravens’ practice facility in Owings Mills, Maryland, a venue known by local sports fans as “The Castle.”
Children practiced sports drills throughout the day and during their lunch break heard the message of the gospel.
“We want them to experience the ultimate hope that is stepping into a relationship with the Lord,” Ackerman said. “But also the hope of being able to come out to a place that, to be frank, they would never otherwise have access to. And, you know, they’re getting to train on the same field as their heroes that they watch on Sunday in the Ravens.”
Each child left the camp with a backpack containing a pair of athletic shoes, a football, an age-appropriate Bible, and the perspective that God loves them and they do have hope and a future.
“So our goal with the kids is to steer them in the direction that is Christ-centered, to living out their full potential in the Lord, and avoiding the street culture and gang culture that leads so many people down the path of juvenile facilities and prison,” Ackerman explained.
“I hope next year more kids can come to camp,” one child shared of his experience with Angel Tree. “This place is amazing. The counselors really do care. They want us to have a relationship with God…Thank you, Lord.”
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