Guatemala - Champions in Action & Passion

One of the first things that I notice about a person is their smile. Are they smiling? Is it genuine? Can you see their teeth? (I know the last one is weird, but I firmly believe in smiles. Haha) When you first meet Jon and Missy Jakubowski you can’t help but notice the genuine smile and the infectious passion that oozes out of them. Its not only a passion for life, it is a contagious passion, a God-given passion.

I'm not sure exactly where the genesis of the passion begins – but its been one that God has orchestrated, even in the littlest of details.

I remember being at National Community Church one day while Jon had his film crew set up in the offices filming promotional videos for Champions in Action. I don’t remember ever knowing exactly what it was about except that it was a soccer camp in Guatemala. I would hear little snippets here and there whether over facebook or twitter about the Guatemalan ambassador endorsing CIA, or some professional futbol player from Guatemala endorsing them as well.

I remember finding myself at the same Easter gathering in 2010 with the Jakubowski’s and making a mental note to get to know them better. A couple months flew by and I missed my chance – they had moved back to Ohio.

It wasn’t until I was trying to research a missions trip to take our Uprising kiddos on, that I saw that NCC was sending a team down to Guatemala to partner with Champions in Action and the Jakubowskis’. The decision was made, and preparations began. From the time we decided to go, to when we got down there, it was evident that God’s hand was on CIA, as well as the Jakubowskis.

The model is this: to provide premiere soccer camps to boys and girls from the most dangerous zones in Guatemala City. What makes this organization so great is that it starts out with leadership from within the country of Guatemala. Then it recruits mentors from local churches. The mentors then pick 5 boys that they know, whether from their church or not, and those 5 boys pick a friend to make a team of 10, which makes one mentor to ten boys at the CIA camp. The camp is centered around the teams. They eat together, play together, sleep together, and train together. Then they go back to their homes, and have a mentor who is now investing in their lives.

The vision that God put in Jon and that is now being played out in Guatemala is in the beginning stages of something great. It was cool to talk to Missy and to hear her process what all was happening the week that we were there. It had been a laborious process from 2008 of when the idea began to take shape and was just a plan to the second Champions in Action camp where 100 at-risk Guatemalan boys were beginning a new chapter in their lives and the action steps were laid out and being implemented.

One of the things that Pastor Mark has always said is this, “We (NCC) want you to be a part of our story, but we (NCC) want to be a part of your story as well.” This has never been played out so well in my mind than that of the Jakubowskis and the Champions in Action organization. A vision that was birthed in the heart of Jon and Missy, NCC was now investing time, money, value and manpower into the God-given passion that is now Champions in Action.

Champions In Action - Promo Video from Champions In Action on Vimeo.