Olympian Susan Stewart enjoyed a 22-year playing career, including 12 years on the Canadian Women’s National Team. She represented Canada at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 1994 FIBA World Championships, 1991 Pan American Games (fourth place), and 1991 FISU World Student Games (third place).

Stewart had an incredibly successful intercollegiate basketball career at Laurentian University from 1989-95, winning the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) title five years during her six-year tenure and winning back-to-back Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships in 1989-90 and 1990-91. Stewart had a standout season the following year when she was named OUA All-Star and OUA Player of the Year, and at the national level she was a CIS First-Team All-Canadian and the recipient of the Nan Copp Award for CIS Player of the Year. Stewart was an OUA All-Star four additional years during her playing career at Laurentian.  To top it all off, Laurentian’s 1989-90 and 1990-91 women’s basketball teams were inducted into the Laurentian Voyageur Hall of Fame in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Stewart also received Laurentian’s Hall of Fame Vogayeur Award in 2003.

Stewart then played professional basketball in Germany and later attended the WNBA draft camp, where she was selected by the Detroit Shock.  After her playing career, Stewart began coaching, beginning with Ontario Basketball club, Mississauga Monarchs, and Ontario Basketball high performance programs, including Centre for Performance and Bantam Development Program.  She continued as a graduate assistant for the women’s team at Malone College.  She has since coached various club and high school teams, and helped establish the Ontario Basketball club: Mississauga Wolverines. Stewart is a NCCP Level 3 Certified Coach and has worked as the Assistant Coach at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto.

Stewart has always been heavily involved in the sport community in her hometown, Mississauga where she currently runs a drop-in basketball program at her church, and she has served on the Mississauga Sports Council in various roles since 2009. She is currently President of the organization, and in 2010 she sat on the mayor’s Sports Taskforce and chaired the Annual Mississauga Sports Awards Dinner. She received a Volunteer Service Award in 2014 to recognize her contributions to the Council.

Stewart has received many additional awards and recognitions including being inducted into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and was the first basketball athlete inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame. She earned another citation in 2015 when she received the Mayor Hazel McCallion Spirt of Sport Award and in the same year, she was also recognized by the Malone University Alumni Association when she was awarded Graduate School Alumna of the Year.

In 2015, Stewart published Unbreakable: The Autobiography of the Life of Susan Stewart, which chronicled her recovery from a devastating brain injury that left her in a coma for months.  She claims only the power of God restored her life and has enabled her to bounce back from what was described as a condition she would never recover from. While she still suffers from some of the lingering effects of the brain aneurism and brain stem injury, her positive attitude and work ethic has made her an inspirational hero to all who know her.  Stewart now works as a motivational speaker to deliver a message of encouragement and inspiration based on her life experiences and directs the Sports Ministry of her church where she also works in the children's ministry and Sunday School ministry.

CSRM is pleased to welcome Derek and "Kat" Linhart as Board of Trustee Members.

Derek grew up in an Evangelical Friends Church which he still attends.  Being an active member for 28 years, he participated in the youth group and sports ministry throughout his childhood and remains active as a leader in the Sports Outreach Ministry, serves as a worship service usher, and he and Kat help lead a young married Sunday School group.  Derek has played sports his entire life including: baseball, basketball (high school), football, softball, tennis, and rugby (college).   He also enjoys running, weight lifting, and skiing. Other activities include remodeling, sport shooting and searching for his phone/wallet/keys that he misplaced around the house.  Derek graduated from Ohio Northern University where he received a Mechanical Engineering degree and is currently employed as an Engineer for Fresh Mark.

Kat grew up attending Living Water Ministries in Payne Ohio then joined Derek at First Friends Church after moving to Canton.   Kat is owner of Kat's Bake Shoppe, a home bakery in Canton, Ohio and has won multiple awards at including best in show at various "Taste of the Town" and other baking competitions.  Her lifestyle and career revolve around food!  She enjoys being fit and active, with the goal of burning more calories so she can eat more delicious food. Running, weight lifting, and skiing are some of her favorite calorie burning activities. When not baking or being active, you might find her planning remodeling projects around the house or busy finding her husbands lost phone/wallet/keys.  She studied Marketing and Management at Ohio Northern University.

Helen Zulu-Kawadza is a much beloved, respected and honored leader within the local church sports outreach movement.  A women of great vision, administrative skills and unending energy, Helen  helps her husband Ben direct CSRM's movement in Zimbabwe.  Together, the Kawadza’s oversee not only CSRM's endeavors in their country but are also recognized leaders throughout Zimbabwe, Southern Africa and beyond.  They are currently developing sports ministry within their country in all spheres, the church,  the local government and within community centres in Harare and Cromlet.   A great amount of their ministry work within Zimbabwe is working with under-privileged and marginalised people using sports. Ben has written several Sports manuals currently endorsed by USAID, World Education and the government through the Ministry of Education in Zimbabwe training on HIV/Aids using sports.    Both are taking primary roles in envisioning, planning and expediting the very first African Continental Sports Outreach Summit. 

Helen is not only a ministry leader but also a business-woman.  Helen has a real heart pull for poor and marginalised communities in Zimbabwe.  She started a FMCG distribution business keeping this heart-pull in mind.  They distribute basic groceries into marginalised communities ensuring the poor and under-privileged get the basics but also without having to pay inflated and exorbitant pricing.    She has successfully done so and has made an impact being one of the few invited to speak on this achievement within the Army.  Helen also heads Naniso which is a local non-profit formed to complement CSRM Zimbabwe. 

Helen and her husband Ben, parent six children, Jonah, Matthew, Samuel and Daniel born of them and adopted, Noreen and Tapiwa.   They reside in Harare, Zimbabwe, active members of Northside Community Church (Ben served for 7 years as Youth Pastor).  Helen holds Business & Marketing qualifications, and a Counselling Certification.  She currently is the Chaplain for Zimbabwe’s Woman Soccer National team, The Mighty Warriors.    As REACHgathering's co-emcee Helen’s  infectious personality will be used to inform, inspire and encourage all in attendance

Lyndon Thomas, Director of Operations at CSRM, joined CSRM upon retiring after 34 years with the TimkenSteel Corporation.  At The Timken Company and TimkenSteel Corporation he held several roles in IT including Manager of Information Security and Manager of Global IT Operations which included being responsible for leading and managing the real estate and facility services for TimkenSteel and a $10M project to redesign the previous Timken corporate offices into a TimkenSteel Corporate Campus which featured a new industrial Technology Center, dining space, customer experience center, and outdoor green space.

Lyndon completed Corporate Real Estate Network’s (CoreNet) MCR certification and MCR Workplace Strategy certification. Thomas holds a BA from Malone and an MBA from Kent State University. 

Thomas's resume includes a significant commitment to community and church service as evidenced by his serving the children of the world through Kiwanis for over 30 years as President of the Belden Village Club twice, Lt. Governor for Division 17, and Membership Chair for the Ohio District.  Lyndon and wife Barb attend Canton First Friends Church where Barb is the church Scheduler and Administrative Assistant and Lyndon is chair of the church’s Finance Committee, has served on the church's Administrative Council and Lead usher.

The Thomases have one son, Rick, who, along with his wife Sarah, served as short term missionaries on the World Race with Adventures In Missions - an 11 month mission program working in 11 different countries.  In their last month, they worked with Kingdom Sports Ministry in South Africa which is run by Bradley Barnes who is a CSRM's Director of South Africa.  September is

Lyndon’s favorite month because the first issue of Skiing magazine for the upcoming ski season arrives in the mail and Lyndon starts to day dream about the slopes and sunny cold days of winter which he enjoys as a ski instructor of Boston Mills Resort.  He is also a member of PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America).

Announcing the exciting hiring of Deb Hogsed as CSRM's Executive Assistant
and Office Manager, effective February 1, 2017. Deb and her husband, Rick
are members of First Friends Church in Canton, Ohio... a church with a
long history of an effective Sport, Rec & Fitness Outreach Ministry.
This ministry has impacted the Hogsed's and remains very close to their
hearts because of its successful outreach to our community, helping many
to come to know Jesus.


God has blessed the Hogseds with two grown sons and four very precious
grandsons.


Welcome Deb.
_________________________
Long time CSRM Office Manager Martha Wertz announced her retirement
effective January 31, 2017. The entire CSRM family expresses their
gratitude for Martha's faithful service to CSRM for nearly two decades.

FEATURED CSRM BOARD OF TRUSTEE MEMBER
Jamie Balcom serves as the Sports & Youth Pastor at Spring Valley Church in Allendale, Michigan.  Balcom also serves as Life Coach/Chaplain for the Grand Valley State University XC, Track & Field teams.  Married to the love of his life – Stacy – the Balcom’s will celebrate their 5th anniversary and have a beautiful miracle daughter Atarah (pronounced AT-uh-Rah) who was born in late 2016 in spite of the collective medical community’s belief the Balcom’s could never have children!  Balcom grew up on a dairy farm in the small town of Conklin, Michigan trying to avoid the calling of God which Jamie had felt since early on in his childhood…. 22 years ago.  Starting as a ministry volunteer, Jamie has a heart for all ministry volunteers who may be struggling with God’s call.  He says: “God finally got his hands on me for good when I was 30 years old… I went back to school at Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, Michigan where I earned a degree in Youth Ministry, Bible & Theology, and a Minor in Sports Ministry.”  The Balcom’s have a passion for the youth in this world and feel God has called them to share who He is through our lives. Jamie bleeds Detroit Tigers Blue and Orange, loves to play softball, fish & hunt in that order. He lives by the words of his college professor Brian Telzerow, "Always Share the Gospel; and, If Necessary use Words!!!!  Balcom is currently trying to shorten his time in purgatory by reading Dr. Linville’s Christmanship a second time! 

Preface
 
Over the past few years I have conducted research (and continue to do so) related to managing sports ministry programs. Learning more about sports ministry and the faith communities they serve ...

During my discussions with sports ministers I noticed a theme…a strength…an expertise if you will. That each individual I spoke with had a specific passion that overwhelmed their successes and helped them through some challenges as a sports minister. I could hear these passions through the words they spoke and the tone in their voices about how they managed their programs. It was encouraging. I quickly realized an opportunity for the greater sports ministry community. Developing a handbook that would be an educational resource for current sport ministers and soon-to-be sports ministers....These connections made sense to me. I wanted to couple my sport management expertise with the sports minister’s expertise that each of these chapter authors have there.

What you can expect from this handbook
Learning-to-action
... This handbook was designed for you, the reader, to use it, write in it, refer back to it and maybe even generate discussion from it with your fellow sports ministry managers.  You will find that at the end of each chapter there are Learning-to-Action exercises... These exercises were designed for you to get the most out of this book…

Additional reading resources
...I am an advocate of finding time in your personal and professional life to continue your education... Many of the chapters within this handbook use Additional Reading Resources to highlight topics made in the chapters. All of these resources were collected and listed in the back of this handbook...

Sports ministry?...All of the above!
...As you will see in this handbook, sports ministry takes many forms in many different areas across the country, from a basketball team, to a small church, even at your local YMCA...
 
The Bible
...Many of the authors utilize scripture to highlight their broad message within their chapter. This handbook has several authors from different denominations. While myself and the other authors of this handbook encourage you to utilize the Bible throughout your personal walk with the Lord, managing your sports ministry, and even reflecting on the passages within this handbook, we also wanted to be consistent with the scripture used for this book, therefore all versus cited within this handbook are from the following Bible version:
 
Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
  
Themes
                There are several themes that ring throughout this handbook. Themes such as leadership, building relationships, and the topic of church mission and vision are just a few that are discussed multiple times. Whether your ministry is just beginning or it has been established for a number of years, these themes (among others in this handbook) are very important topics and should be treated as such in your ministry and we hope that you can build discussions with your ministry team members or your colleagues regarding these topics.
____________________________________
These are excerpts from CSRM's Overwhelming Victory Press soon to be released book "Sports Ministry That Wins."  Editor - Dr. Jimmy Smith & Contributing Editor Greg English.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction. copying or other use is permitted unless express written consent is granted by OVP and the Editors.