Last night, I finished this book from Austin Gutwein about his journey to making a difference in this world.  I was intrigued about this book when I found out that Austin was a young boy who really believed that God could use him to make a difference in the world.  This book was a very quick read for me and easy to follow.  I really liked how it had challenges at the end of each chapter for the reader to put into practice.

This story is amazing and so true as to truly how great our God is.  He took the small efforts of a young boy shooting free throws to change the dynamics of a culture torn apart by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  This book will challenge any reader to search out ways that God may want to use them to make a difference to someone in this world also.

I really liked the layout of the book.  It wasn’t filled with a bunch of facts and reports from what was going on.  It was truly the heart of a child sharing how God had rocked his world, and how that child was being used to impact Africa.  I would highly recommend this book.  I believe that it will get your mind to spinning about what can we really do… one step at a time to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.

Rating: A

Last night, the high school basketball team (church league) that I help coach won the league championship for the second year in a row.  The season was finished at 9-0!  It was great to watch how serious these guys took the games and all.  It was also a great way of getting into the lives of some students that do not come to our church.  We had the team with an outreach mindset.  We were using it as a tool to reach out to some guys that are not involved in church anywhere.  I’m sad to say that none of the guys have started coming to our church on a regular basis, but the season was not a failure.  As the game tipped off, I was talking to one of our players who had gone to the funeral visitation of a friend who died from a drug overdose.  To be able to share and just talk with this guy on the bench was an awesome ministry opportunity.

I want to encourage all of you who are involved in ministry… look for ways to minister outside the walls of the church building.  Many students (and adults) won’t come inside those walls until they know that you genuinely care about them on the outside of those walls.

You may have seen this before, but if not you got to check out this great story.