By Shaun Ho

Since 2020, our church has directed families to participate in Kare Youth League, a Christian sports league for children PreK - 6th grade. Hear from one of our parents share testimony of his family's experience being in Kare Youth League.

Just before the pandemic, our kids were starting to get involved in sports, even taking semi-private lessons for basketball.  Like with everything else, this venture was cut short by the closures.  As things opened up again in 2021, we wanted to find an inexpensive avenue (like some city community centers have) to have them re-engage in team sports, but still receive a decent level of coaching.  We weren’t looking for anything as advanced as club/travel teams (we were not that intense about it) and we wanted something that we could reasonably juggle our schedule around.  Pastor Victor invited us to check out KARE Youth League (KYL) in Irwindale (they have other branches in Covina and Upland), so we signed our son up for soccer in the summer of 2021.

Our son really loved playing at KARE and we were really impressed by the quality of the facilities as well as the warmth of the community.  As the summer closed out, we were thankful that the next sport offered for the girls was volleyball.  Our daughter was willing to try it because of some spontaneous volleyball play at church and because she has always known that I have played and coached the sport.  It was during this fall season that we really got to know more of the parents as well as the staff, and this set off a new era in our family’s lives.

Our entire family has found a great community at KYL and I became a participant in an unofficial “Dad’s Club” while watching our kids practice and play games.  Our daughter and our son really enjoy playing with their teammates and I love how the environment fosters a general level of respect and warmth even in the parent community.  Having coached and known many coaches, I have felt and heard from most of them how difficult the parents can be sometimes, but I have not witnessed much of that at KYL.  In fact, it is not unusual for a parent to say encouraging things to kids from the other team, win or lose.  I believe much of the reason for this is set by the tone of the coaches.  They will call out, give directives, and even gently discipline the kids, but never in anger.  Even during a game when they feel a referee made an error, they will point it out without anger and do not continue to make an issue of it.  They do not merely preach good sportsmanship. They exemplify it.

But the coaches do not just focus on the sport with our kids; they have weekly devotionals with them and work on character building.  I have witnessed on several occasions a coach gently pull a kid aside, if the child was not exhibiting care and/or respect, and compassionately speak to them about the issue without making the child feel bad.  Even the assistant coaches are great.  They are youth that have gone through leadership training in the Rio Hondo Prep program and they all are great leaders and role models for our kids.  Essentially, I believe that all the staff demonstrate a great meld of healthy competition in sports combined with the heart of Jesus.  Even in Paul’s exhortations, he doesn’t call us to shy away from competition, only to compete in what matters.

“24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”  -  I Cor. 9:24, 25

Although the kids aren’t exactly competing for the crown that will last forever at KYL, they are shown the heart of healthy competition so they know what it looks like.  Additionally, the kids are given good exposure to a variety of sports so they have the chance to discover what they are most passionate about.

In the midst of this family atmosphere that we have come to love, we discovered that the Rio Hondo Prep School (RHP), which this program is connected with, could also be a viable option for our own kids.  With my wife and I both being public school teachers, we never seriously thought that we would want to or could afford to send our kids to private school.  Well, the Lord has opened up the doors in a variety of ways and we discovered that, compared to most private schools, RHP is actually quite affordable.  We are truly excited that we have found not only a sports program that will also guide the characters of our kids towards Jesus, but a school environment that will continue to partner with us in such character-building until they become young adults.  We are so thankful for the doors the Lord has opened up in our lives and are excited as we venture into this new chapter in our lives.

For more information about KYL or RHP, feel free to contact Pastor Victor or visit www.kyl.org and www.rhprep.org

By Arman

As a follow up to our introduction to guest Arman from Kazakhstan, Arman here shares about his initial impressions about one month into his stay.

What are your initial impressions of Southern California?

I've been here several times before, and can say that colder seasons are a little bit easier for life. I am more cold than heat-resistant :-) Probably because I grew up in a very cold part of Kazakhstan. 

But I love the church and my coaches and the team at Rio Hondo Prep –hot days fade in comparison to all the blessings here.

What are your initial impressions of high school football in Southern California? 

Coming to Rio Hondo Prep feels like being thrown into high school straight out of kindergarten. Everything is so structured and well organized. I am impressed by the discipline and speed of our team. Even though we have much bigger and stronger players in Kazakhstan, we’d be wiped out if we played the Kares team just like our first 2 opponents at the beginning of the season :-)

What are your initial impressions of our church, Evergreen?

By God's grace I feel like I've been a part of the church for a long time. I am very thankful for the warm welcome. You've provided me with your friendship, a place to stay, a car and a ton of great food :-)

I am also very encouraged by the faithful preaching of the word and by God's work in bringing new people to church. May we see dozens of people come to know the Lord this year through the ministry of Evergreen!

What are you most looking forward to for the remainder of your stay?

One of the members is taking me to a college football game – this will be my first big game to watch at the stadium! 

I also started exploring the sport of surfing. It's very challenging but I hope I will be able to try it a few more times while I am here since I won't be able to do it in Kazakhstan.

I'd like to learn about football as much as I can but I feel like I'll be able to only scratch a tip of the iceberg. 

I look forward to making shabu-shabu with Pastor Mako.

I look forward to an undefeated season for the Kares team so that I could claim a little part of their success. lol :-D

I look forward to getting to know the church better and being able to encourage the saints.

How can the church family be praying for you?

We have one Muslim student at Rio Hondo Prep, he and I became good buddies. He says that he wants to understand the Bible but his family doesn't allow him to read it. He is interested in studying it together with me at school. Please pray that we do and that he comes to know the Lord!

Dear Church Family,

My name is Arman. I was born and raised in Kazakhstan in a nominally Muslim home. The first Christian I met was an American missionary, Jon. I met him at a gym during my sophomore year of university in 2006. Through my friendship with Jon, studying the Bible and history of early Christianity and observing the life of a small local house church that I began to attend, I was becoming more and more convinced that the claims of Christ as presented in the New Testament were true. By God’s grace in November 2007, I turned away from my sin and trusted my life to God in Christ. I was baptized at my house church in May 2008.

Most of my background has been in business and project management. Currently I run a Christian publishing company that is located in Russia. Our goal is to equip thousands of Christians (and especially pastors) with solid theological resources.

I’ve served as a lay pastor or preacher for most of my Christian life. In God’s providence, sports has always been one of the primary platforms for my personal evangelism and discipleship. Maybe it’s because I myself got to know the first Christian at a gym.😊

In March 2020, I started playing for a local American football team in Almaty, Kazakhstan [Almaty Horde]. Their coach came to our church service because he heard that the preacher (me) was a good athlete, and he wanted to recruit me. At first, I hated that sport, but I loved the team and wanted to serve the guys who desperately needed Jesus. At my first practice, I got nicknamed “Padre” and that nickname has stuck.

By God’s grace, all of my teammates have heard the gospel and about half of them have visited our church. To make this ministry long lasting, I wanted to learn how to coach and along with my church, started praying for an opportunity to intern in the US. 

In March 2021, I came to California for the Shepherds’ Conference at Grace Bible Church. There in God’s providence, I met Pastor Rocky. He immediately offered his help! Later he helped set up a coaching internship with Rio Hondo Prep School. After overcoming several logistical hiccups related to COVID-19, I came to LA on August 8 and will be here for a couple of months.

I am so thankful to our Lord for the hospitality of Evergreen SGV’s members! Brother Baldwin took me to the church service straight from the airport and I immediately felt loved by you! Quite a few people came to say hi and told me that they’ve been praying for me after watching a video I recorded a couple months ago. Thank you for providing me with housing and a car. My church in Kazakhstan also praises the Lord for your generosity! 

My coaching internship started well. The staff and the team showed me a very warm welcome. I need to learn a ton of things as I feel like I went from kindergarten to high school, but I am very excited about this invaluable experience. Please pray that I learn well and that I can serve the team well in any capacity I can.

I look forward to getting to know you better while I am here.

Much love in Christ,

Arman