It Begins with Maddie

Okay, well it all actually begins with God, but this is how the story begins from my human perspective. Maddie came to me as a strong Christian on the Cheer team.  She wanted to be discipled and make a difference for Jesus on her team. 

Three years ago, I helped Maddie to start a Cheer Bible study and Jenna was one of the six girls who came to it.  Jenna asked a lot of questions and started attending our Athletes in Action meetings.  Maddie met with Jenna and carefully explained the gospel to her and how she could know God personally.  Jenna tells me that she actually cried during that appointment.  She felt confused, like she was being told that the way she had believed all her life was wrong.  Jenna told me, “No one had ever told me I could have a personal relationship with Jesus.”  Jenna started attending church with Maddie, attended Maddie’s Bible study (which I had handed the Bible study over to Maddie to lead by this point). Jenna’s next step was to attend AIA’s Extreme Challenge Puerto Rico mission trip in the Summer of 2018. 

Jenna Begins a Personal Relationship with Jesus

I asked her when she actually put her faith in Christ. I know that it was a process, and that a lot of people were used by God to help Jenna to begin her relationship with Christ.  She tells me that ultimately it was when she was on her summer mission trip to Puerto Rico in 2018, “Sitting alone in my room, writing in my journal, I accepted Christ into my life and asked Him to lead my life.”

Jenna Begins to Grow

Jenna came back from Puerto Rico with a different perspective on cheer and has become a leader on her team. She says that learning to read the Bible on her own has had a big impact on her life when it comes to her growth as a Christian. She has learned that her sport and talents are a way to worship and glorify God. Maddie has even been training Jenna and giving her opportunities to lead the Cheer Bible study. She even went back to serve as an intern on the same AIA Puerto Rico Mission trip this summer so she can learn how to lead better.  She says that she saw God work so vividly there, and she is excited to bring what she learned there back to campus this fall.