It all began with an idea.

In late June of 2022, Grant First Baptist Church (Grant, AL) took its first mission trip to Sitka, Alaska partnering with First Baptist Church of Sitka. As part of their mission, they held a 4-day free basketball camp for children in Sitka. The first camp was held outdoors (see image below) and averaged 53 kids each night with 64 as the highest attendance!

With that success, the team was already planning a return trip in 2023 before they left! In the summer of 2023, the camp was moved to the local middle school in Sitka in favor of an indoor gym. The team from Grant took 28 people and held another 4-day free basketball camp. This time we averaged 85 kids per night with over 105 different kids coming to camp! With that success an idea was born—what if we take this to other towns in Alaska?

And that is our mission—partner churches in Alabama with churches in Alaska and Montana to provide basketball camps as a means to spread the Good News!

How the Ministry Works

How the Ministry Works

  • Skill Development Classes

    For 10 weeks each year, we hold a skills development class. The class meets once a week for 10 weeks. Kids are taught the fundamentals of basketball while they also learn the Bible through discipleship. All of the proceeds from the skills classes go to support the summer mission trips in Alaska and Montana.

  • Alabama Basketball Camps

    As part of the fundraising for our ultimate goal (hosting camps in Alaska/Montana), we also host day camps in Alabama. The day camps are led in the town of the Alabama church that plans to go to Alaska or Montana. 100% of the funds from the day camp are used to help get the church in Alabama to Alaska or Montana.

  • Alaska/Montana Basketball Camps

    The end game is to host basketball camps in Alaska and Montana. All of the funds from the skills camp and the day camps are used to fund the mission trips to Alaska and Montana. The camps are legitimate basketball camps to help the local church in Alaska or Montana meet and serve people in their community. This is not a “bait and switch” where we get them there for basketball and then turn it into a VBS. We are there to meet people, serve the community, and help the local church meet people. Essentially—prospect discovery not Bible class.

What about funding?

We have three main sources of income to support the ministry:

  1. Donations—this is the lifeline for our ministry. You can give to Elite Sports Ministry and it is 100% tax deductible and ALL of your funds go to support sports ministry. At this time, all of our workers are volunteers and nobody is drawing a salary. You can rest assured your money is going directly to missions.

  2. Skills Classes—each of our skills classes has a tuition fee that covers some of the basic needs such as basketball, gym rent, drinks/snacks, and curriculum. All of the profit from the skills classes goes right into supporting camps in Alaska and Montana.

  3. Day Camps in Alabama—we also provide day camps in Alabama for the mission team to help raise money for their trip. We charge the campers a small fee and all proceeds help get the Alabama mission team to their mission destination.