Football in Croatia

Got the first report of the activities of ETBU football's nine-player delegation on a mission trip to Croatia. The group left last weekend for a two-week trip to Pozega, a bustling economic hub in the former war-torn region of the Balkans.

Head coach Mark Sartain, assistant coach David Banks and nine Tiger football players made the trip with the purpose of helping build/renovate/repair a church there in Pozega. Sartain called back to the States Wednesday to give an updated report of the group's progress, which has been nothing short of amazing by all accounts.

The group's main objective was the demolition/remodeling of an underground kitchen at the church. A concrete wall had to be destroyed and cleaned up and then the players helped pour new concrete into the structure.

The amazing part of the group's job was that organizers with Advancing Native Missions expected the job to last most of the two weeks Tiger football was there. Sartain and his bunch got the job done in three hours. That's good for the church of course. But now, after just three days into the trip, with another 1 1/2 weeks to go, the group is looking for new stuff to do that wasn't originally planned.

The ETBU group has been invited to a local graduation ceremony and to attend church this weekend, where the players will have the opportunity to discuss their lives and faith at youth meetings. They have been received by the younger population in Pozega as rock stars almost -- American football is still quite the mystery overseas in some parts. And by and large Croatians don't see many large, rocked-up individuals who spend their time banging heads and crashing into each other.

There is a group of neighborhood kids who have also taken to the Tigers. Every day a football game breaks out in the street, with Tigers and locals mingling together. Sartain said the local kids are also amazed with the brand of "ladder golf" the Tigers have brought with them to Croatia.

The main thing is that it appears the Tigers are getting a chance to share the Gospel, and that is the most important thing on this particular venture. Continue to pray for their safety -- Pozega has a very large, traditionalist Catholic population that is largely unfriendly and downright hostile toward Protestants of all kinds -- and that God can use them further to spread the Good News.

More on the trip will be coming once they return.