Imprint - September 2018

Around the churches
Making connections
through basketball
Bathurst
Written by raymon Paletua
Benten Salazar, of Bathurst Church,
has been playing basketball with a
group of his high school friends for the
past few years. Last year, Benten’s team
needed a basketball coach, and I was
happy to fill that role after my arrival
at Bathurst. In order for the boys to improve
their skills, a bold decision was
made to move the team up from the
Friday afternoon High School Competition,
to the Thursday night Men’s C
Grade Competition.
This move opened up an opportunity
for the “coach” to play alongside the
boys, to give them coaching tips during
games and to provide much needed
exercise for the coach. The impact of
the decision to move up into the Men’s
Grade, has been amazing and God is
certainly opening doors to develop new
relationships.
The original team of 8 players quickly
grew to 16 players and two teams when
a few boys from other teams asked to
join and as two of the dads wanted to
play alongside their sons. The wife of
one of the dads expressed that the common
interest of basketball has helped
strengthen the relationship between her
husband and their son.
It is also great to see the positive development
of the relationships between
the fathers and their younger teammates
in both teams. What is even
more amazing, is the support the boys
have received from the opposing teams.
Many times, the young teams are well
and truly beaten by their bigger, stronger,
and faster opponents.
Pr Raymon left with some of the boys
However, the opposing teams appreciate
the effort, and the “never give up
attitude” of the boys. Opposing teams
have always encouraged the boys to
keep playing hard, and often players
give coaching tips to the boys during
the game. As it stands at the time of
writing this article, both of our teams
have each won a game, and the loosing
deficit has decreased significantly.
Church members from Bathurst
Church who are playing in the teams
are Benten Salazar, Luke Lane, Brendan
Hampton, Brad Bower, and myself
Raymon Paletua the local church
pastor. Bathurst church members have
often braved the cold to show their support
to the teams and it has not gone
unnoticed by others as the two teams
attract the largest support group of any
of the other teams in the competition.
Opposing sides have often asked why,
and how, we attract so many supporters
to the games. Once they learn that
the crowd consists of the family members
of the players, and members of
the Bathurst SDA Church, they often
comment how great it is to see a church
group support its young people.
There was a period of two weeks where
I was away on a Mission Trip to Tonga,
as well as some of the boys were unable
to make some games due to part-time
work commitments. Being down on
numbers, a couple of new players were
recruited.
When I played my first game after my return,
I was introduced to one of the new
recruits as a local pastor. It turned out
that the young man grew up in an Adventist
home, but has not attended the
local church for some time. Making this
connection has been nothing short of
a God given opportunity. God is certainly
using basketball to open up some
amazing opportunities in the community,
and to connect and reconnect with
people that we may never have had an
opportunity to do so outside of basketball.
Moving On
Nowra
Written by Vicki Chalain
farewell evening was held on the
A 30th of June at Christine and Leigh
Johnstone’s home in North Nowra for
Joshua and Ashley Page.
This talented young couple had been
attending Nowra Church for approximately
2 and half years and had made
significant contributions to our worship
and community activities during this
time. Both are accomplished musicians
through their God given talents of singing,
playing various musical instruments
such as the cello and flute. They were
also confident worship leaders, providing
interesting and inspiring sermons,
Children’s Sabbath School Leaders,
involved church board members and
had been preparing to re-commence a
Pathfinder Club prior to their move
away from the coastal Shoalhaven area.
Ashley is a BA Theology graduate
from Avondale College and has an
interest in Chaplaincy and Primary
Teaching. Joshua is a medical student
who has been required to do a 12-month
country GP placement to continue with
his medical studies.
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September 2018 | IMPRINTmagazine