Women’s gymnasts share love of Christ with refugees near Atlanta

Annabella James and Mali Campbell flip a clinic participant — An older girl puts her faith in Lady Flames gymnasts Annabella James and Mali Campbell as they prepare to teach her a back flip.

All 16 members of Liberty's women's gymnastics team spent the last week of their Winter Break, from Jan. 8-15, running clinics for youth in Clarkston, Ga. The town is a resettlement hub with a population of 15,000, more than half being refugees from foreign countries. Also known as "Ellis Island of the South," it is widely considered the most diverse square mile in America with residents from over 150 ethnic groups speaking more than 60 languages.

"Even though it was a suburb of Atlanta, it felt like walking into another country," Lady Flames Head Coach Jessie Lowe said. "We saw a lot of Afghans, a lot of Burmese, a lot of Ethiopians, a significant population of Africans from Sudan. Most of the restaurants served ethnic foods, and we frequently were meeting people that did not speak English. It was a beautiful and colorful town to be introduced to for a week."

The team hosted four gymnastics clinics on Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings inside Clarkston International Bible Church. On Sunday morning, they attended the English service there before staying for the joyful though less structured Sudanese service, delivered in Swahili, and the Urdu service that followed, primarily for people from Pakistan.

"We just wanted the team to experience what other churches look like … and it opened our eyes to more of the global church," Lowe said.

"That changed a lot of our perspectives," added senior Sarah Baugher, one of the Lady Flames' designated Disciple-Makers. "We all grew up in our American culture churches and seeing other styles of worship … opened us up to what Scripture talks about with all nations, tribes, all peoples, and tongues (Revelation 7:9). Each one of us bear the image of God in a unique way, and seeing and embracing the differences allow us to see the beauty in our Creator."

The team also visited a Hindu temple while they were there, which Lowe said was an eye-opening and impactful experience.

However, the primary focus of the sports outreach trip was running the gymnastics clinics, which drew around 40 kids between the ages of 3-15 the first day and close to 60 for the last three sessions. A majority of the participants were unchurched or of different religious backgrounds.

"Being able to use the sport of gymnastics to open up avenues we wouldn't have had otherwise was really cool," Lady Flames junior co-captain Sarah Dyk said. "The parents we met wouldn't have been as open to us sharing the Gospel with their kids had we not had gymnastics (as the platform)."

While serving with Push the Rock ministries, the team sat in on morning training sessions on how to relate to refugees.

"That put my team in the shoes of a refugee and was very eye-opening," Lowe said. "It changes your perspective on our privilege here and the privilege of access that we have to the Gospel. We were able to see how hard it is for people in these other countries to learn about Jesus without fear of persecution and cultural exclusion."

She said it was surprising to learn about what many of the refugees had given up to leave their homelands — including homes, jobs, and families — as well as the lengthy process of applying for refugee status, and the degree of difficulty in adapting to life in America. Many came to America due to war or turmoil in their country, Lowe said, and even religious persecution.

"It was definitely very different from being in the Liberty bubble, and something I was not used to seeing, growing up around people who look similar to me," Dyk added. "It was cool to see how my life is different from the lives they are building in the United States."

Gymnasts on mats in clinic — Gymnasts and youth stretch on mats at the start of the first day's clinic held in Clarkston International Bible Church.

Gymnastics served as a unique platform to introduce the community to Christ. Though they didn't have a fully equipped studio like the one they practice in at the Liberty Club Sports Complex, Liberty brought floor exercise mats and purchased small recreational equipment on Facebook Marketplace as well as receiving donated items that they transported to the church in the back of the team's vans.

"We had just enough equipment to make it happen, a couple floor beams, a couple mini bars, and a handful of panel mats and wedges," Lowe said. "It wasn't much, but it was enough to run clinics and let the kids have fun."

The Lady Flames stationed themselves around the mats to spot the jumps and stunts the budding gymnasts attempted.

Dyk said the kids picked up the sport naturally and learned to love it, progressing quickly with proper instruction.

"Gymnastics is something I've always done," Dyk said. "They had never done gymnastics before, but they still found so much joy in it, so it was cool to see them having a lot of fun with it. Each day, a lot of the same kids would come back, so we had to keep making the skills harder. It was cool to see them progress from day to day, and to get to develop a little bit more of a relationship with them."

"On Tuesday and Wednesday, we started spotting kids on back flips, and they had a blast," Lowe added. "They got really excited about landing their first cartwheel or handstand or learning a new maneuver on the bars."

When the team went out canvassing the community on the previous Friday, inviting people to the church for the clinics, they found that transportation was an issue for many of the families. So, the team decided to take gymnastics to them instead.

Angie Witt shares Gospel with community — Club Sports Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and Women's Administrator Angie Witt shares a Gospel message with the community.

On Tuesday, with Push the Rock's approval, the gymnasts set up three panel mats on a grassy area in a neighborhood park and conducted an outdoor exhibition before letting the kids roll around and play on them.

"It was amazing to see all these kids pour off the school box and throw their backpacks on the ground and jump on the mats," Lowe said.

"It was more well received because we came to them and were able to connect them with the local missionaries that are there," Baugher added.

Club Sports Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and Senior Women's Administrator Angie Witt used a microphone and speaker system to share a Gospel message based on the Romans Road.

"We told people who we were and what we were there for, and people got to see and hear the Gospel in their neighborhood," Witt said. "It was only about 30 minutes, but it was a powerful experience. Hopefully, there were some seeds planted and at least some eyes and ears opened to the Gospel."

"It was a God moment to be able to pull it off and reach these kids in a unique way," Lowe added. "A lot of different families and adults were opening their doors and hearing the Gospel message spoken in their neighborhood."

She said many parents may not have grasped what they heard due to language barriers, but their children, who often speak more fluent English, may have translated for them later.

"A lot of them come from religious backgrounds that don't allow them to go to church, (but) the Holy Spirit can work in the way it needs to in people's hearts," Lowe said.

Baugher said all of the Lady Flames shared extended testimonies within the team throughout the week, and several gave 3-5 minute Gospel presentations mixed in with testimonies for the kids and parents on hand at the clinics.

Group photo of clinic at Clarkston church — Liberty's gymnasts formed quick friendships with the Clarkston community youth who participated in the clinics at the international church.

"At first, on Day 1 that Friday, a lot of the kids were pretty reluctant to listen, but as we built relationships with them, human to human, friend to friend, they were more open to receive the message," she said. "That showed us how important relationship-building is, instead of just pushing our own agenda. That perspective shift of building a relationship first and then sharing the Good News made a huge difference on the trip."

"We made sure they knew we were there because the common bond on this team is that we like gymnastics, but we love Jesus Christ," Witt added.

Team members gave out bracelets with various symbols that represented different parts of the Gospel story, building a connection with the kids while helping to simplify Bible truths and make them memorable.

"It was cool to see the impact God had on other people, and the ways He used it to work in my heart as well, and to work in our team … before our competition season," Dyk said. "We grew a lot as a team, and testimonies shared of what God has done in our lives helped grow us on a personal and spiritual level."

Lowe said there will hopefully be opportunity for follow-up from the partner ministry.

"It was great to connect these kids with the ministry leaders at Push the Rock who are there year-round," she said, noting there could be opportunity for other Club Sports teams to go back over the summer months when Push the Rock conducts multi-sport camps.

For now, the Lady Flames are focused on kicking off an action-packed spring competition season, Feb. 7 at Penn State University. Liberty finished runner-up to the Nittany Lions at the NAIGC Championships in 2023 in Memphis and last spring in Pittsburgh.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Gymnastics team and mission staff — The Lady Flames and Witt (left), Head Coach Jessie Lowe, Push the Rock leader Esther Campbell, and Assistant Coach AJ Kenniv (right) bonded as a team on the Jan. 8-15 trip.

Clarkston Georgia mural — A mural for the town of Clarkston shows the emphasis placed on art, ethnic food, and sports among the international community.

Liberty University Club Sports Athletics

Women’s gymnasts share love of Christ with refugees near Atlanta

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