Dear Hockey Ministries teammates,
From my perspective, I love this time of year! Hockey’s regular seasons for various leagues are coming to a close, which means it’s playoff time.. Fans are checking league standings and scoreboard watching, and players are getting ready to make a run for a championship. And…. it’s a great opportunity for team chaplains to bring a steady hand, some wisdom and a message of hope to these young thoroughbred stallions. I also love this: when my Warriors chapel sign is up on the dressing room 9 door, it’s a great day. It’s during these chapels that I am thrilled to hand out players’ New Testaments, each one laser engraved with the team logo on it plus the players name and their sweater number. These New Testaments are a huge hit; I know that the players keep and treasure them.
In the last two months, I have been able to connect with some of the coaches, chaplains and players from across the province. It is such a great feeling to meet up with hockey people that have been in my chapels in years past, and realize that they were positively affected by those chapels. I give thanks to the Lord for those times. One example was when I was able to meet up with former Warriors broadcaster Chase Johnston. Chase is now the broadcaster for the Brandon Wheat Kings, and I had a chance to reconnect and have a wonderful J&J with him. J&J (Java and Jesus) is a staple of my chaplaincy ministry. I have included a picture of J&J times with the Warriors captain Aiden Reeves and another one with defenceman Isaiah Norlin. Being able to hear their stories and share my faith over a coffee is such a thrill.
From time to time I am able to meet with pastors from churches that have offered their support to the ministry. Just a few weeks ago I was able to meet up with Pastor Jeremy Bates. Jeremy is relatively new as the lead pastor at Bethel Church in Penticton. It was wonderful to meet up and share ministry encouragement and (of course) finish off with a prayer. (I regularly refer to prayer as the second J in J&J.) I tell my hockey guys all the time that they’ll never get away without the second J! I am positive that there’s a sermon in there somewhere….
On February 18, I was excited to host the West Kelowna Warriors 13th Annual Faith Night. The arena was sold out with Christian people coming from churches all over the city. I appreciate the support that the Christian community has given to this event. This is a night of celebration; of the Warriors chapel program and of the Christian community. I had a Christian school choir sing the National Anthem and from there it was Faith Night right to the end. We had players interviewed on the big screen, we had pastors playing boot hockey at the intermission, then throwing candy bars to the crowd at the next intermission. Throughout the game, the PA announcer welcomed every church group that was in attendance. It was an absolutely wonderful celebration evening!
Finally, at this time of year we start planning for our summer HMI camps. I ask you to please pray that these camps will be an effective outreach to young players who attend our hockey camps. I believe that there will be over 30 HMI camps this summer. In my experience, around 50% of campers have not accepted Christ as their Saviour, and an average of 15 receive Jesus during the camps. These camps will be all across Canada and the USA, with a few more in Europe.
Thank you for taking time to read my report.
Blessings to you all,
Don Richmond
Hockey Ministries International
Pacific Region
Prayer Points
- -opportunities for chats with players
- -players New Testaments
- -final few chapels for the season
- -summer HMI camp preparations
- -summer HMI campers
- -for continued support of this ministry