When you combine baseball and evangelistic outreach in the Dominican Republic, it’s okay to dream big. Really big.
On the first day of Baptist Mid-Missions’ ¡Playball! baseball clinic outreach, planners brought bats, helmets, shirts, and other equipment for 40 boys per day. To their amazement, 160 boys came daily. It’s easy to see how. The event was backed by a simple principal: Boys have a special place in their heart for men who will play baseball with them.
Ten men from the U.S. did just that, combining forces with Dominican Baptist pastors on June 29–July 9, 2007. The team included college and high school students, a pastor, and a businessman—all came with a love for baseball and a heart for souls. Each day the ¡Playball! team rotated Dominican boys through four stations: infield, outfield, hitting, and the gospel. When the gospel station came around, the boys gave their full attention. In all, around 600 heard the gospel, and 57 prayed with the Dominican counselors to receive Christ as Savior.
While many South American countries live, breathe, and bleed soccer, baseball reigns supreme in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. ¡Playball! organizer Rev. David Ferguson realized this on his first visit to the country, when he found ball games going on in streets, parks, and every bit of land they could be squeezed onto. Rev. Ferguson had no trouble persuading Dominican Baptist pastors to collaborate with BMM in a baseball outreach. Both sides saw the potential.
This partnership is an exciting example of teamwork between Baptist Mid-Missions and Dominican leaders of churches started by BMM missionaries. Our contacts were pastor Joel Puello, whose church is Iglesia Bautista Cristiana in Bani and pastor Amos Caceres of Iglesia Bautista Dominicana in Hato Mayor—the first church planted after BMM missionaries arrived in 1949. Several decades of missionary church planting took place, and the national churches now thrive. Baptist Mid-Missions has not had a missionary presence in the country since the early 1990s. But that changed this year with the appointment of Heidi VanDyke, who arrived in April to serve in Hato Mayor.
Together, we are already dreaming big for next year, expanding the clinics to five days instead of three. By God’s grace, more Dominicans can come for the love of baseball and leave knowing the love of God through Jesus Christ.