The Forever Family

Those words were written on the desk in the boyz room when they arrived around 1130pm on 11.11.11.   We repeated those words regularly to our boyz in the early days and remind them periodically even to this day. In fact, those words FOREVER FAMILY are to this day still on the desk in Josh room.

Nobody deserved a forever family more than Gideon, Caleb and Josh. We drove from our home in Charlotte to Raleigh, NC to pick the boyz up at a predetermined location selected by the other parents. The hotel meeting was awkward and awful!  The boyz were told just 45 minutes before we arrived that they would no longer be living with the other family. They had 2 small bags and wearing old clothes. When the other father introduced us as they new Mother and Father the boyz look like they were in shock. It was soooooooo sad.

Johanna was with us and after the other parents left we enjoyed a meal together at the hotel. The boyz weren't crying or anything and after a few minutes actually started to talk and laugh a bit. By the time we got home they were all sound asleep.  The Davidson family was forever changed...thanking God for these three blessings.

What? Are you kidding me? We are blogging again.

*Many have asked us about the boyz story and how they are doing now. This will be our attempt to give you a synopsis of their story and a REAL glimpse of the journey we are all on together that we call THE GLORY OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

On Nov. 4th, 2008 Chris had a discussion with a friend who had previously adopted a child whom Chris prayed for. During that discussion Chris learned that another family who had adopted 3 boys from Ghana two previous years ago no longer wanted the boys (long story). All three were brothers. Their ages were 5, 7 and 11 and their future together was now uncertain. Nobody seem to be stepping up to adopt them and the parents, especially the Mom, wanted them gone yesterday. The woman Chris was talking to asked Chris directly whether we would consider adopting the boys.  What? Are you kidding me?

Interestingly, we had recently been asking ourselves what God wanted us to do with the extra rooms in our house since three of our four children were now grown. The thought was renting them out reasonably to a couple of singles who were looking for a place NOT ADOPTING 3 kids.

 Our fourth child, Johanna Ruth, wanted us to adopt (she was 17 and had graduated from HS) and  regularly showed us pictures of children that needed to be adopted. Chris and I loved kids and felt like parenting is what we did best together.  But we decided we were too old (51)...UNLESS.... God unequivocally brought us a child to adopt. Unequivocally meaning that we both agreed that God was behind us adopting not Johanna.  Well, what about these three boys from Ghana? Johanna didn't bring us pictures of these boys - were these our new three sons?

What? We are way too old. We passed up adopting in Ethiopia at age 45 because we were too old. Johanna had just graduated and quite honestly I was really looking forward to spending more time with my buddy. We had had Joy Michelle when we were 23 and just 2 years into married. Then Danielle Christine two years later and James Kyle two years after that. We took a break for 7 years before having our fourth and "final" child we call "Pinky." Adopt three boys now? We are poor and have been in faith missions all our lives. Be nice to have some margin with our finances to do some of those things we haven't been able to do much of.  I want to fish and golf more. I want to eat out more. I would like to buy a few new things I've put off. I want to travel more with my buddy. I want.... I want...

Every excuse I listed was selfish...every one!  Two days after the question of adopting these three boys was asked of us...WE AGREED! 5 days later Gideon, Caleb and Joshua were in our home. The date was 11.11.11.

Next Blog: The glory of the impossible includes Bogatonga, Ghana.

the 60 hour Camper Scholarship Campaign.....

is down to the final 25 hours. Can you help send an Asian or Africa young boy or girl to one of our dynamic Christ Centered Sports Friends summer camps? It just takes $50 to send one child to a whole week of camp. I PROMISE this will be a LIFE TIME MEMORY FOR HIM OR HER AND MAYBE LIFE TRANSFORMING!

the goal is 125 camper scholarships by 9pm Monday night. We are about half way there right now and would love for you to jump on board. Maybe you can do more than one scholarship and if you can your FREE to do so. A half a cabin is 5 kids ($250) and a full cabin is 10 ($500).

Love to have you jump on board. Oh and there is a MAJOR CHALLENGE going on too...check out my FB page to see what's happening....just entered the CHICK FILA group into the challenge too.

Trying to make FUNraising lots of FUN!

bd

$50......

Sends a young boy or girl to one of our African or Asian Sports Friends Camps during the summer of 2011 where they will experience the LOVE OF GOD like never before. Our residential camp experiences in Ethiopia have greatly enhanced the relationship between our Sports Ministers and so many Muslim youth. Many have been deeply impacted at camp from a spiritual standpoint thanks to the grace & mercy of our Almighty God. I will share several Amazing God stories from past camp experiences starting tomorrow, Saturday morning, at 9am as I launch a campaign to raise 125 camper scholarships at $50. a piece. It will be a 60 hour campaign ending at 9pm Monday evening. We hope to have 2,000 youth attending one of our camps this year in either Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, or Thailand/Asia. Two questions for you: 1. Would you consider sending one or more young people in Africa or Asia to a Sports Friends camp this year? Think about it tonight. If yes, details will be forthcoming in the morning. If you want to make a matching gift or a challenge that can be done as well. 2. Would you consider helping me reach my camp scholarship goal by promoting this giving opportunity in your sphere of influence? I certainly understand if neither is possible, no worries and no pressure. But if you can, then THANKS SO MUCH. I have a little blurb for you that you can use to send out which you can personalize as well. It all starts tomorrow morning at 9am. Thanks everyone for considering this request.

Children

"Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." American Writer James Baldwin

A couple weeks ago I traveled to Camp Langano to help with the implementation of our new camp programming format. This required an "advance" time with our staff to prepare for the week of camp. We planned on growing from 40 to 80 boys or girls for each weekly session. Double the pleasure! Double the spiritual impact! And double the importance of risk management as well as time management. All in all the week went much better than could be expected according to our Ethiopian leaders.

One of big takeaways for me from the week was the level of importance of the American guest staff learning how to serve the Ethiopian staff, the relationships between the Ethio and American staff and the love demonstrated by all the leaders to each other first & then to each of the kids.

We can talk all we want about unity, serving, love, leadership and trust but it will be the "real living" examples of each during the week that will make the biggest impact on the kids lives. One boy came up to our leader and shared that because of what he saw in our leadership and heard us teach about he was renouncing his bad behavioral ways (stealing) from this day forward. That's a good first step towards knowing the reason behind our leadership's behavior.

Let's be honest about our struggles and let's live in the light with others (this is totally un-american because we are such people pleasures, outward appearance more important that inward transformation but so many blessings waiting for us when we do i.e. freedom from pretending) so that we can run at camp and in life without those things that so easily entangle us. This will allow us to love more freely and abundantly those whom God puts in our sphere of influence. And remember the children are watching!

The Eagles are launched.....

20 years ago this month the Davidson's (minus Johanna at that point) were led by the Spirit of God to move across country to launch the Charlotte Eagles ministry....Where has the time gone?...thank you to all the fanatistic Russia 91 participants (Bill Shubin/alias Fresno #1) and our contact Carl Dambman....Devo and Johnny V for your amazing camp ministry leadership....and of course the incredible full time staff that joined the ministry that first year starting in the fall, the McKinleys (being number uno), Laurel Hilts, Eric Mills, The West's, the Vermilya's and of course Brad McGlaughlin.

It was the beginning of the Glory of the Impossible! I don't have all the exact stats. but conservative estimates would include over 25,000 campers have come through the ministry. Who will ever forget Devo's green golf ball lunch time joke or his dribbling course at a church in Rochester, NY around head stones (what were you thinking). Hundreds have made decisions for Christ since those first camps in 1991.

The first team tour was to the Soviet Union. On that very first trip (9 more followed and Tom Merchant eventually moved to this country and still lives there doing ministry) 100,000 bibles, New Testaments, and Gospels of John were distributed. So many amazing God stories from this trip including preaching to lots of folks in Moscow Square in front of Lenin's tomb on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Other incredible youth tours were led by Johnny V and Eric Mills to numerous countries in Europe that impacted so many lives here and there. Amazing trips smuggling bibles into communist countries and the Middle East took place. I even had to make a prayerful decision on whether to move forward with some clinic and camp initiatives in a closed country after being threatened by a terrorist I had never heard of at that time -Osama bin laden! Literally millions have heard the Gospel from our international traveling tours at the fields, halftimes of staduims, on the radio, TV and on the streets. Thank you to all those ho have been faithful to go, pray and support those who went.

The men's professional team was launched in 1993 and have ministered to thousands and thousands locally & in the US, as well as hundreds & hundreds of thousands internationally. 18 years in the USL with a fantastic reputation on and off the field thanks to Tim Donelli, Tom Engstrom, Lee Horton, Mark Steffens, Steve Shak, Graham West and lots of amazing players like John Pain, Keith Dakin, Scott Cook, Clayton, Desmond, Brad (s), Whitey, Todd, Kelly, Mike, Phillipe, Ben, Josh, Jeff, Joey, Jeremy, Jason, Martin, Neil, OB, and on & on I could go. How many people have been impacted in the name of Jesus through the Eagles players in the last 18 years? We will only know when we get to heaven.....Praise God for each player who has come through this ministry.

Mark Steffens is been such a Godly influence on all his players over the years as the team has racked up fair play award after fair play award.

Johanna was born while I was at a USL mtg, doctor said the baby wasn't going to come for another week and Chris urged me to go. I listened to her birth, play by play thanks to Lori West, while I was on a phone in a restaurant. Interestingly, she received the "littlest missionary" tag from Tim Donelli because miraculously 50 plus Bibles were taken from league and team officials as my baby celebration gift (the whole box was taken and because I left the mtgs immediately I wasn't there to see it. But those who didn't get to the bible box in time called on Monday and asked if we could send them one....absolutely amazing! since most didn't even communicate with us in the first couple years because they new we were Christians).

The better looking team was launched in 1998 and have been just as amazing. Thank you GW, Lee, Tiffany, Becky, Karen (s), Tina, Jess, Christie and lots more. So many of these these girls have gone on to be amazing coaches and influencers of others. No doubt females make outstanding Sports Ministers.

So many more stories and people could be mentioned here, but time doesn't permit. God has done an amazing work through these people, it's without a doubt the Glory of the Impossible!

Much more to be done for the cause of Christ locally and to the ends of the earth. To God and God alone be the GLORY!

Johanna to East Africa....

If you would like to consider partnering with Johanna on her desire to minister in East Africa this summer please send her your address at- ethiopinky@sim.org or request the address of SIM or 410 Bridge, the ministries she will be working with this summer, to give a donation. YOU MUST HAVE HER ACCOUNT NUMBERS TO SEND THE MONEY TO THESE AGENCIES DIRECTLY.

THANK YOU.

HER DAD (who is so proud she chooses to use her God given gifts to serve others in need)

TB.....

We are currently chasing the possibility that I may have a strand of TB that is not normally diagnosed here in the States unless one is really looking for it. A wonderful tropical disease doctor from Ethiopia is betting this is what I have. I sent her a summary of the last two years of my medical issues and she wrote back quite quickly with her "distant" diagnosis. There exists a new medical test for this TB strand and it's "cousins" but it is expensive and complex. It apparently isn't done everywhere either. Researching all the details now and talking with my Charlotte doctors. Maybe we will get to the root of this problem sooner rather than later...OH LET IT BE SO!

JIHAD....

An e-mail message came to me this week from Evangelist Jihad. WHAT? EVANGELIST JIHAD.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. NEVER THOUGHT THOSE TWO WORDS WOULD BE USE TOGETHER LIKE THAT. If you have followed our blog and prayer letters you know that Jihad attended our coaches training in Ethiopia in Feb.. It was great to reconnect with him this week. He is a modern day Paul.

Please pray for him to remain faithful and courageous. Many Muslims are coming to Christ. POWERFUL!

Africans praying for me.....

"yesterday, we were 10 people, we have started around 9pm and finished about 4:30am. Since we were having a next day a work. We felt God's hand on the prayer time. The almighty and the Great God was encouraging us in his Holy Spirit. Brother, you are beloved by God and by us. God is working in your life as you do with all of us. We all are in His school, so far we have not graduated. I do not think we can graduated on this earth. What ever we are facing is not to kill us but to purify us. His hand is upon you. Just walk the faith walk. Be patient... listen to him....love him. There is no any one like him for you."

Powerful. Penetrating.

Then my sister called to share this verse with me and to say the Sisters were praying 4 me:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11

Verses 12 & 13 go on to say, "then you will call upon me, and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

What's Amazing about these prayers is that they reached me at time when my spirit was unsettled, frustrated, and tormented. These words from Africa and the Scriptures calmed my over active mind, my anxious heart and my weary spirit. God has stirred my heart with a message that I have been fighting and fighting. Certainly the enemy of God has seized upon this weakness to attempt to defeat, discourage, and distract me.The enemy is strong. The flesh is weak. The world has a different agenda. Yet His will, His Word and His Work will always end up victorious! Why? Because He is a omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. He simply cannot be defeated. And we are His soldiers. And we have within us the power of God found in the Holy Spirit. We therefore serve with confidence and courage. I've got my marching orders how about you? March on brothers and sisters in Christ.

MY LIFE IS NOT MY OWN.

THE GLORY OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

STAY TUNED.....

PS. *Along with my African brothers in Christ I have a group of Sisters at the Community of Jesus who pray for me with the same depth of commitment. I am SO blessed to have people who love me enough to pray for me and my family with such intensity, urgency and perseverance.

Ghana....

Today I connected with Daniel, one of our SFN staff members. I absolutely love this guy and he has become a dear brother in the Lord to me. We have had some special "ministering" times together and some terrific heart to heart talks. He always at least one strategic ministry question to ask me when we are together. He's always thinking. I love that about him.

Daniel is currently in Ghana and is heading back to Nigeria with an exciting update about the ministry there. Together with John Kato we had a blessed opportunity to first go to this country to lay the foundation for the start of this ministry. To hear about the growth of this ministry is so exciting.

When he writes his report update on the church centered sports ministry in northern Ghana I will post the parts that I'm able to. For now, please continue to pray for Pastor Steven and his SF sports ministers in Ghana.

bd

No Cancer.....

I was informed by Dr Kamerer today that I do not have Lymphoma. The abnormal discolored cells in my neck are not sinister! YES! Cancer is now officially 0-2 with me. What do I have? That's the mystery. Castleman's disease was a suggested possibility but this is highly improbable according to my doctor. Is there an infection someone else in my body that is causing this significant swelling reaction in my neck and throat? Haven't been able to find it if it exists. So what's next? I will be going for further testing including a CT scan at the end of this month as well as a visit to a Cancer blood expert. We do not expect that anything cancerous will be discovered. Then a decision has to be made about pursuing an infectious disease diagnosis. Ugh! I will consult with my surgeon, primary doctor and a couple other experts to to determine if this is a road we will travel. Can I be in this exact same position next year with the need for another surgery? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is yes. It is actually more likely than not that this issue will one day become lymphoma if we do not discover any other reason for its cause. Weird right? That's what I say. Would be really nice to discover what is the root cause of the abnormal lymph nodes so we can deal with them and be done with this. This is our prayer. If no reason is discovered and we have to deal with this again in the next year then so be it. For the time being, I will choose to rejoice in the fact that I will not be going to chemo or radiation treatments next week. YES! And I will be traveling back to Ethiopia in mid May (I have a June trip planned as well but a decision on that is pending furthering doctors decisions) do lead our first 80 participant residential camping experience at Langano with 20 very excited Liberty University students. Can't wait! THANKS FOR PRAYING EVERYONE... it no doubt helped me stay peaceful throughout the process. bd ps my neck is continuing to heal well and I'm even hoping to be able to fish next week in Florida with my brothers!

BD's Surgery....

Thanks 4 Praying everyone, the surgery went very well. I'm currently at home and resting comfortably. Dr. Kamerer removed 2 new clusters of lymph nodes from the right side of my neck. We will know the results sometime next week. Cancer or no cancer! If they are benign again, which we hope for, than I will be headed for more extensive testing to find out what in the world is causing these swollen nodes. Must be something connected to my immune system. Probably would start right away with a visit to the "weird" disease doctor at Duke. Is it something I picked up in Africa ? Who knows! One step at a time. Healing from this surgery is priority along with receiving pathologist report.

BD

PS times like these bring me even closer to my ALMIGHTY HEAVENLY FATHER AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. THE SPIRITS PRESENCE IS ALSO SO PEACEFUL AND ENCOURAGING AT TIMES LIKE THIS. To God and God alone be the glory!

This time 10 years ago today.....

I was leading the first ever trip to Ethiopia. The Charlotte Eagles (which included Nate Watkins who later served short term with Sports Friends) along with Tripp Johnston, Daryl Tutton and Dave Beinetti were on that first team initiative. This trip was followed by the Houghton College Women's team, David Lewis and the famous Jamie Waldron. Thanks to all the Highlanders and Eagles who contributed to the foundation of an incredible and amazing work of God through the ministry of Sports Friends/SIM!

Closed Country Strategy mtg

It was a joy and privilege to meet recently with a couple who are considering using the platform of sports to penetrate an area of the world closed to the Gospel. I absolutely love coming alongside those considering such a significant life course change for the cause of Christ. Helping them to develop a strategy for this endeavor is in my wheelhouse according to how God has gifted me. It's so much fun and so pleasing to use one's gifts for His purposes. Pray for this unnamed couple as they seek His will and direction for moving ahead with engaging with this impossible task to bring the gospel to those without any living witness. Another Glory of the Impossible story in the making!

this Friday, I have Surgery at 8:30am.

That's right, I'm facing a second surgery to remove lymph nodes from my neck this Friday morning at 8:30am at Presbyterian Hospital. Long story but basically all my symptoms in my neck and throat came back again about 2 months ago. The most concerning are the large swollen lymph nodes in the right size of my neck. These are new ones, since the cluster of frieghtenly large ones were removed last year. I had more blood tests, x-rays, tubes down my throat and even tried new meds to reduce the size of the lymph nodes in my neck over the last 2 weeks. I'm in GREAT health, "Spectatular" was used by my primary doctor three times in describing my general health! It's just these lymph nodes. Yesterday the doctor confirmed that the nodes had not been reduced by the medicines which would have proved they were benign and therefore no surgery would have been necessary. The threat of them being cancerous, lymphomia exists and that's why surgery is necessary to remove them, so they can be tested. Ugh! This time if they are benign I will undergo more, what I call "weird disease" testing, to get to the root of what is negatively impacting my immune system! Anyway, one step at a time. Prayers for Friday's surgery would be appreciated from our whole family. And wouldn't be GREAT if someone came to know Christ through all this testing, hospital visits, and changed life plans.

Preaching time: God is good NO MATTER WHAT THE OUTCOME. Cancer or no cancer! He is not a jennie I come to just when I'm in need. He is my Savior, I have a real relationship with him and I trust him in times of trial regardless of the outcome. I'd be bummed if they hurt my voice box or one of the other less likely complications occurred during the surgery. If I have cancer I'd be disappointed. But who wouldn't be. God made us to have emotions. Yet, it's really not about me, it's about Him. I fight the evil one in the power of the Holy Spirit and in prayer, not by my might or positive thinking but according to the Holy Scriptures. The relationship I have with a Holy, Holy, Holy God is such a privilege and His purposes are so much higher than mine. I'm on this earth to serve Him, however, wherever! All these trials just deepen my faith and love for Him. I'm chief sinner in the world of sports ministers. I love growing closer to Him and deeper in my faith. These times push me towards that end. And I couldn't have a better help mate to "do life" with! So here we go again, pray for peace for Chris during my surgery, the right amount of anesthesia and Dr. Kamerer as he cuts open my neck to remove the lymph nodes. Pray for courage & strength for me. Pray for no cancer cells as well as no form of lymphoma to be found. If no cancer exists then pray for clues to what is going on with my lymphatic or immune system. Thanks Everyone for your care, compassion and prayers!

BD, pursuing holiness despite being chief sinner in sports ministry. Glad His mercies are new EVERYDAY,

2 Peter 1:3-9

PRAY...PRAY....PRAY.....4

Nigerian Elections starting April 2nd, especially in the Jos area! Wow, this is such a volatile time in the Plateau area where Jos is located. These elections can spark widespread violent incidents between groups of people. Would you consider praying for The Abts family, all of our SFN staff families, the SIM missionaries there and the whole Christian body in this State? Pray for protection from the evil one and proper God honoring responses to the potential persecution that may fall upon them. Also, pray for our Muslim friends that somehow someway God moves in their hearts and minds, maybe through dreams, to reveal himself to them. Paul like transforming experiences! April 2nd and the days to follow!

LU Retreat...

Chris and I had a BLESSED time with 20 Liberty University students who are going to Ethiopia in May to serve at Camp Langano. What a terrific group of young people! It was a BLAST to lead this short retreat with John and Danielle....how totally cool was that!.....a great blessing. I'm so impressed with John & Danielle's ministry to these LU students, they are AWESOME leaders!

I spoke on "Setting Your Minds On Things Above" and then we engaged the students in a creative team building practical. Lots of fun, lots of team bonding. We all wished it was a day longer!

Pray for the team as they finish their fund raising and prepare to minister to the Ethiopian youth at Langano. They will be piloting the first 80 residential camper experience (double the number of normal campers)! What we learn from this experience will be applied to the summer camps. We don't want to lose the intimacy of the camp experience that we have had in the past but we need to provide this camping opportunity to lots more SF youth participants throughout the country. Eventually, we want to fill up all 144 beds we now have in our new cabins. With increased numbers of campers comes increased risk, so please pray for this May experience with the LU students and the new programming format. Thank You!

Burkina Faso

The phone rang while Chris and I were in the car traveling home from Liberty University last weekend. I didn't recognize the number. Usually that means I will just let it ring and then I'll check the message later. For some reason I answered it this time. "Brian, I don't know if you remember me or not but I'm B**** P***** (need to keep confidential), and I'm calling from the US Embassy in Burkina Faso." Well I did remember him, which was the second unusual thing to happen in the last minute since I have a terrible memory for names. 5 years ago on a plane some 30,000 feet above earth I shared my faith with this man as well as the ministry of Sports Friends with him. He was calling me to tell he his helping a friend launch a Sports Friends type initiaitve in BK. He even had contacted SIM leadership in BK about what he and his friend were going to do through sports in the local community there. While it was great to re-connect with this man I was sad when I got off the phone. The SF sports initiatives are as eternally impacting as the leaders are committed to a Kingdom perspective, having a passion for what matters most to God, leading from the power of the Holy Spirit and having a radiant presence that is from being an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. BP doesn't have that yet. But he must be considering what I've said because he kept my number. His sports projects may curb some bad behavior in some youth for a period of time but ultimately we need God to change his heart so he can be used in the process of God changing these BK young peoples heart. Will you pray towards this end today for BP? Thank You!

Palestine national team

Years ago I traveled to Gaza several times and organized a match between the Palestine National team and the Charlotte Eagles. It was a great experience which allowed us to bring in some interesting *books (66 of them!) to the country for our friends. Boy do I have some really interesting stories from my visits to Gaza. Ask me about them sometime if your interested -not for sharing on the web, if you know what I mean. The link below shows their first "offical" international match in the stadium we actually lived in for one week (very interesting). We were guarded by 12 soldiers with AK 47's around the clock. Moreover, we had military vehicles guarding the stadium at night and had meetings with Y.A. defense minister in his inter sanctum. God bless those books that we gave out. May they not come back void & without penetrating hearts forever.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134394769