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Check here
often for news and updates on SIGNS and our other ministries!
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SIGNS
(Serving In God's Name
through Sports)
 Growing
up, sports was an integral part of our lives. Jonathan played baseball,
football and wrestled. While in Michigan, Deb was an avid runner, swimmer
and played volleyball, amongst a variety of other sports. Not only was
sports an outlet for us (we were pretty hyper kids!) but it was also a
way for us to connect with others and build a sense of family with our
respective teams.
Jonathan, being the only deaf person in
his family and in his schools, used sports as a way to show others that
just because he was deaf didn't mean that he was limited. Any chance he
gets now, he's playing a sport of some kind. He went to Judson College
(now University) and got a degree in Sport Management and with that
continued to develop his passion to work with deaf kids and show them
their greatest potential.
Deb, who grew up in Michigan, had a neighbor
who was deaf, but was friends with her brothers so she was very limited
in her signing ability. Deb used sports as an avenue to connect with
kids at camps, and at church where she was a youth leader for several
years. She went to Judson College as well and obtained a degree in
Psychology. She has a desire to help the kids that are quite often
forgotten. She is in the process of getting her Master's Degree right
now in Physical therapy.
Together we have decided after much prayer
and careful consideration to step into ministry with the Chicago Eagles (part time for now with
the intention of going full time) focusing on the deaf community and
coming alongside through the avenue of sports. We are excited about the
possibilities and nervous about the challenges that lie ahead, however
we know that there is comfort in Christ as he has gone before us. It is
our heart to show deaf kids throughout the area and country that there
is so much that they can do and even more with Christ. We want to show
them their greatest potential and love the unlovable. It is our prayer
that we would be able to connect with deaf kids throughout the local
area and into Wisconsin, and build relationships with them as we have
fun and even a bit of friendly competition.
We covet your prayers as we embark on this
new journey. Pray for hearts to be opened and relationships to be
formed.
We do hope that you will continue to check
back for updates as to what God is doing in our lives as well as the
lives of the people we are interacting with.
We also have a
weblog...
http://deafsportsmin.blogspot.com/ It also talks about
Momentum sports ministry, which is another ministry of ours, run at
Naperville Presbyterian Church.
To contact me,
you can email me at
Jonathan@chicagoeagles.com
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