TREK TO EQUADOR COMPLETED; LOCAL SPORTS EVANGELISTS RETURN FROM SOUTH AMERICA

Tommy Larner, left, a missionary in Ecuador with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention preaches with Daniel Hale at a service in Bahia de Caraquez.

Matthew Hale, left, gives his Christian testimony as missionary Tommy Larner looks on. The testimonials preceded every clinic.

Rev. Daniel Hale made his seventh trek to Ecuador in South America. The trip in June was the second sports evangelism expedition to the country by Hale.

Hale, pastor at First Baptist Church of Millersville, traveled to the country with the Missouri Baptist Convention All-Star basketball team.

His son Matthew Hale also made the trip as a player. Gerald Walton of Jackson was team trainer and spiritual coordinator for the team.

Chris Sisk and Nick Centanni of Scott City were the only other players from the Cape-Jackson area that made the trip. The rest of the roster was filled by players from throughout the state.

The group put on basketball, coaching and referee clinics in the coastal town of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador.

They played national teams from different areas of the country. The Missouri team consisted of players 18 and under, while the Ecuador national teams were between 24 and 32.

The Missouri All-Stars won each game. Before the games there were gift presentations. The All-Stars presented pens and Bibles to the Ecuador players. A local girls game preceded each boys game.

The trip lasted from June 13 to June 22. There were four games played and each day two clinics were held. In addition to the basketball there were two church services performed by the group.

Before each clinic, testimonials and gospel presentations were given to the crowds that numbered on average 70 in the morning and 120 in the afternoon, according to Hale.

Hale is no stranger to mission trips. He has been on seven to Ecuador and one to Venezuela. Two of his sports evangelism missions were to Ecuador while the other one was in Wyoming.

The mission trips are to help work on churches and to gain new church members.

"The reception from the nationals is wonderful. We've developed a lot of real close friendships with them," Hale said.

Tommy Larner, a missionary in Ecuador, has worked with the community to build a Baptist Church in the town which now has 65 members.

"In a small part due to the evangelistic outreach and the clinics the church has grown to the size it is," Hale said.

"We help to make the contacts and they (Ecuador missionaries) do all the work after that. There is a real hunger for the gospel there," Hale added.

"We leave the local church with at least 70 new prospects as a result of the clinics."

Hale is good friends with the missionaries there. He met them in February 1989. The idea for sports evangelism in Ecuador came from a visit to a Wyoming sports evangelism clinic that Hale participated in and Larner attended.

The Missouri Baptist Convention has a covenant to perform missions in Belarus and in Wyoming. the chance meeting in Wyoming that sparked the Ecuador trips occurred when Hale and a past All-Star team couldn't afford to go to Belarus and instead went to Wyoming.

The players for the MBC All-Star team are selected every March. The MBC has a four-on-four basketball tournament.

Each church nominates two of its players based on their spiritual maturity and an independent panel of coaches selects a team based on their athletic ability.

This year 38 players were nominated and 10 were selected to go. Only eight made the trip, since each member must raise their own money for the trip.

"The main thing that makes the whole trip go is the spiritual maturity of the boys and their willingness to adapt to any situations."