From Pasta to Pennsylvania - Intercultural Sports Outreach

By Peter Brock

Peter Brock began working with a baseball team in Avigliana, Italy in 1993 with the goal of creating opportunities to present the gospel both to the young men and their parents. His outreach took an unusual turn in July when 12 team members and three chaperones traveled to the USA. The Italians had been talking about this possibility for more than two years, finally raising their funds and notifying Peter within days of their arrival that they would actually be making the two-week trip.

The Brocks' home church, Heritage Baptist in Clarks Summit, PA, hosted the team in church members' homes. The Italian team played and won three games in Scranton and Abington, PA. They attended a clinic given especially for them by the Red Barons (the Phillies' AAA farm team), saw several Yankee games, spent a day in New York City, and-like teenagers all over the world-spent money. Peter acted as translator and helped to coordinate the Stateside details.

"We had great times of sharing with the chaperones, two of whom were parents of players," Peter said. "This trip will open a lot of doors for us back in Italy. We won't know the full results for a while yet, but the trip was a wonderful opportunity for us and our ministry."

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