Where did the last month go??

Seems like yesterday we were celebrating Birthday month!

"Hinge Year" has begun - that once-in-a-lifetime space that connects the first 20 years to the next 20 years. This is it! We are officially in Year 20 and in just 11 months we'll host our first annual Night of Wynners as part of our 20th Year celebration — details to come.

Things are happening!

Really, really cool things!!!

The last couple of years, especially thanks to the pandemic, have been tighter than tight. I don't think I would be wrong to suggest that many leaders would have considered it time to shut down, or would have super-spiritualized a justification to call it quits. Not me. Not Ignite. Not ever. We've gutted our way through this very lean season....and while we're nowhere near being out of these weeds yet, the winds are starting to blow again and a new season is about to usher in the next level of Ignite International. Bigger. Broader. Better.

See the updates below - and with our DEEPEST gratitude to those who have given either monthly or at any time, for any reason and in any way. You have helped sustain the vision through a pretty tough season, and we are poised for the next 20 years with multiplied impact.

In the coming months, there will be much to introduce and unpack!

Thank you, All, for your part in the vision.

Chris Toomey was one of a kind. I met Chris when he was a little kid and I was competing as a student-athlete at the NCCAA National Tournament. Between games a teammate and I would play with him, and it was in that week that I got to know Chris' mom, a legendary coach in the NCCAA circles.

Years later, in 2007, I received a message from Chris' mom who had become a great friend. She shared that she had retired and Chris was now the head coach of the King University (then King College) Volleyball program. She asked me to contact him as he desired to take his team on an outreach trip with Ignite International. In my intro email to Chris I said I'm sure he wouldn't remember me, but.....(and mentioned that I had played with him at nationals). Chris' reply was, "I don't just remember that tournament, I remember YOU. And you'll never know how much that meant to me that you took the time to play with me, a little kid."

Our 2008 King VB Trip to NIcaragua ranks among the very best weeks of my entire life, a most special team led by a most special breed of human. Chris Toomey personified the word "pure". He was truly one of the greatest people I knew and a dear, dear, dear friend.

Chris landed in Eternity with his First Love due to what has been called "a cardiovascular event" on Monday, June 6th. A healthy, genuine, absolutely outstanding human being.....I'll never understand the "why" on this earthly loss. But what I do know is - if given the option to return, he would shout a resounding "NO WAY!!"

Chris is in the presence of the One he loved and whom he served with everything in. him. The impact he has left on earth is immeasurable and stretches across the globe. He will be missed here - by many. Including us.

Please pray for his mom (Susie) and his sister (Kelly).

Houghton College Volleyball - 1st collegiate team to ever visit Nicaragua from the USA - 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015

If you have not heard, I was recently asked (and have agreed) to serve for this fall season as Interim Head Volleyball Coach at my alma mater, Houghton College in NY.

This is both an opportunity to "give back" to the program that has shaped my resume and allowed doors to open to impact lives in more than 16 nations, a dozen of those with Ignite International. Houghton College Volleyball is part of the fabric of Ignite International and part of my personal DNA. It is an honor to be asked to step in for this interim season - to mentor the team and lay the groundwork for a national search and a smooth transition for whomever it is who is being prepared to fill the beautiful role of Head Women's Volleyball Coach.

From the very beginning of our Ignite U1 initiative back in 2019, we have had specific geographic targets on our radar.

Back in the winter, I had the pleasure of meeting HC's new college president as he was here in DFW for an alumni gathering. I cannot speak more highly of Dr. Wayne Lewis or the instant synergy we both experienced in our first conversation. After a subsequent breakfast meeting before his return to Western NY, we knew there is deeper collaboration to take place between Ignite International and Houghton College, including Ignite U1 coming alongside HC's ongoing outreach efforts in the underserved communities of east Buffalo.

To be on-site from August to November-ish allows for in-person planning, firsthand meetings and solid strategy to be set in motion for our part in their ongoing impact and their part in our vision to ignite hope for Western NY.

Suffice it to say there is a very mutually strategic benefit to stepping into this role for the fall season. It is GREAT for the college (I hope - I'll leave that for others to determine. HAHA), it is GREAT for Ignite International.

Before any rumors have an opportunity to fly or whispers to begin:

I'd be remiss to not mention, though - Houghton's former coach, Nancy Cole, has served six times with Ignite in Nicaragua. She is a teammate and one of my personal dearest friends. Nancy stepped down from coaching in 2019 as she was in a fierce medical batter.....and I could not be more excited that she will be stepping out of "retirement" to serve as the interim ASSISTANT coach for this fall season. We get to coach together - plain and simple, it's going to be impactful, but it's going to be a BLAST!!!

Ignite U1 is going to be WELL positioned for expansion as we go into 2023, thanks to extraordinarily positive transitions taking place for our leaders in Dallas, collaborative partnerships growing in NE PA and other locations, and as a result of this interim season in Western NY.

Stay tuned for more!

Our friend Clint in CA had originally planned to gather donations of sports gear to send a shipping container which I was to receive and oversee distribution to strategic partners who would be receiving refugees. This plan evolved as our partners determined the best port for our purposes would be Zagreb, Croatia where we then invited athletes and coaches to assist this summer in direct, immediate outreach.

AS LIFE GOES..... Clint has been battling advanced Cancer for some time, and over the last couple of months learned that his blood has become diseased to the point of life-threatening issues. It's not that cancer has spread to his blood, it's that a whole separate disease has been created as an effect and is in his blood. Pray for Clint's wife, family and loved ones, please!!

What does this mean for Ignite's partnership? It means our timing changes but not our mission. The partnership growing in Croatia is important as they prepare to receive refugees. We will NOT be going in July as hoped, but we ARE strategically preparing to train mission-aligned leaders for trauma relief and outreach impact through the universal language of sport over the coming year. As I write this, our eyes/ears arrived in Croatia yesterday. When they return in July we will meet to review the information they have gathered for me, and we will develop our plan for impact virtually over the next year with intent to take a group in person in 2023 to facilitate/execute training for sports ministry.

For those who have donated toward this purpose, know that your gifts are going to be used for this relief.....only the timing for physical presence has changed due to Clint's immediate health crisis.

We are looking forward to FINALLY getting back to the people we love so dearly and have invested in so deeply since 2003! Teams are confirming and we will also soon be announcing our 20th Anniversary Alumni Trip to Nicaragua - inviting ALL who have traveled with or supported Ignite to GO!!

THANKS to the birthday donations we have secured the platform we need to launch and host our "I Am Ignite" digital offering. More to come on this in the next newsletter!!

We will also train our leadership team in Nicaragua - it's been a long time coming, since our last trip for the initial meeting in September 2019. Just when we were set to go train leaders and launch the program, COVID hit and there has obviously been no travel since.

It's TIME......

We will establish this program online and in Nicaragua (first but not exclusively), through our elite team of athletes and coaches, and education influencers, and to honor the legacy of our dear friend Michelle Miranda whom you may recall passed away tragically in a car accident Christmas night of 2021.

Next month we'll dive into this program and give you a closer look.

If you feel led to be a tangible part of the Ignite impact as we have stepped into the final stages of launching Ignite 2.0 and are officially IN our 20th year.....please feel free to donate below. Your gifts are valued, appreciated and used exclusively to further the impact of Ignite International.

For your friendship, encouragement and prayers - we are grateful!!

Thank you!!

Go ignite someone else's world with hope today!!