A League Of Our Own: Men's Softball
Metro has been participating in Christian softball leagues for several years, but for the last 4 years, we have been with the 'Play for Missions' league, founded by Metro's Doug Paik.
The primary mission of the league - which has been serving local churches throughout Bergen County, New Jersey, and New York over the last 10 years - is to promote outreach and fellowship among men within the local church and build stronger fellowship between the local churches as brothers in arms for Christ. The league is focused on bringing men back to church, fostering camaraderie, accountability, and faith building for each other, as well as raising Godly men to lead in their church, family, and workplaces.
During the middle of every game, the players from all teams meet together for a few minutes of ministering to each other through worship, scripture reading, testimonials, and prayer. At the end of the season, the teams compete to win donations for their church's missions programs.
Metro's men's ministry has been supporting our softball team as a means to invite and build relationships between new and old members. During the last 4 years of team building, Metro had a rough start, but continually improved its ranking each year - proudly finishing 2nd and 3rd place in several tournaments.
This year, even though we couldn't get as much commitment from players, the smaller roster allowed us to build tighter chemistry with each other and lead the league with a 5-1 record. In the playoffs, Metro finished 3rd overall after losing to the Korean Presbyterian Church of NJ, but came back to defeat our arch-rival New Mercy, who gave us our only loss of the season. Our team won $300 for our youth missions! Next season, the men's ministry is looking to improve their game and hopefully bring home the championship.
For more information on how to participate in Metro's men's softball, contact Doug Paik at masterdougpaik@gmail.com. Even if you are not playing, we would love to have more people come out to games to support and cheer for us next season! Also, be sure to look out for an M3 All-Metro open softball game in September and join in for some fun and fellowship!
Submitted by Doug Paik