CHERRY HILL, New Jersey (BRN) – The event was successfully held at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Our church, The Church of the Good Shepherd Cherry Hill (TCGSCH), represented six teams composed of different age categories. The organization is called North America Basketball Association intercity (NABA). It was participated by different cities around North America, with the furthest coming from Florida and a special participation by a group from San Francisco, California.
This is a league annually held every Labor Day weekend for all the Filipino communities. The Church of the Good Shepherd Cherry Hill sponsored the groups from ages 10-years-old to 60-years-old. We have gathered at least 80 players to represent Cherry Hill. Throughout the course of preparation, every Monday evening we held practice at our church building, and before we would play we all gathered at center court and I shared the gospel and prayed for the group.During the actual event, we all gathered in the fellowship hall of Hope Community Church in Absecon, New Jersey, to enjoy a meal and, again, share the gospel and connect not only with the players, but also with the invited families who joined to watch the games. Overall, even though we did not make it to the finals, all of the Cherry Hill teams (80 players), along with their friends and families (40), truly enjoyed our church presence. Some of the coaches, players and parents commented about joining again next year, since they did not only enjoy the physical aspect of playing the game, but also the emotional joy of seeing everyone in our community and, most importantly, the spiritual sharing the church conveyed. Pray that this will result into another church plant among basketball fanatics, if they will not be a part of our existing church.
