Wiseman was pleased that Belmont sports evangelism was invited to be a part of the year- long 25th anniversary of partnership missions. Involvement in partership missions has been a huge part of her ministry and has spanned 20 years.
“I saw 13 Belmont students connecting with people of all ages through the language of love,” she remarked about the Venezuelan missions trip.
“There was laughter, smiles, hugs, tears, high fives, handshakes, and touches. I saw God at work bringing together two countries, not through politics or religion, but through a relationship. There are no barriers, no hidden agendas, no egos, no power struggles. There was only the love of Christ being demonstrated and proclaimed through the platform of basketball.*”
Part of that same B&R story included this:
Belmont University’s dean of the school of religion, Darrell Gwaltney, led the 15-member team to Otwock, Poland, to assist IMB missionary Steven Reece in his church planting efforts. Though the team members were predominantly Brentwood Church members, a goal was to bring more Belmont students on a follow-up missions trip for next summer.
According to Gwaltney, Reece has seen unresolved conflicts in Polish society that hinder the gospel including the awareness of the Holocaust and barely 2,000 Jews remaining in the country.
With no one to tend the Jewish cemeteries, the abandoned and vandalized cemeteries serve as a stark reminder of a part of Polish life that has been destroyed. “Restoring the cemeteries is a way to heal old wounds and to show how believers living out the love of Christ, changes communities,” said Gwaltney.
Thanks, Lonnie. That wasn't painful to publish now, was it?
* (Note: this quote from the B&R may look familiar)
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