With the conclusion of the decade imminent, CU Athletics will be posting a series of articles on cugoldeneagles.com and posts on social media highlighting the major storylines, successes, and reviews of the past ten years in Cornerstone Athletics. 
December 26 – New Sports
December 27 – Facility Upgrades
December 28 – First Team All-Americans/Professional Athletes
December 29 – Elders earns NAIA Hall of Fame Nomination

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Many teams have had the opportunity to go on international mission trips this decade. There have been more than a dozen Cornerstone-sponsored athletic mission trips since 2010, many of which are addressed in this article. In addition to individual and team growth, mission trips provide student-athletes the opportunity to share their faith and be the hands and feet of Jesus to communities in need across the globe.

A substantial portion of the funds required for teams to go on mission trips like these comes from the annual summer golf fundraiser. 

DECADE IN REVIEW: Mission Trips Photo Album

Men's Soccer 
The Men's Soccer team took the first mission trip of the decade when they traveled to the Dominican Republic in January of 2010. While they were there, the well-known 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the neighboring country of Haiti. While some of the players felt the earthquake, there was no significant damage in the part of the country that the team was in. 

Members of the soccer team took trips to Zambia both in 2012 and 2016. The trips to the Sub-Saharan country in Africa were extra special due to the connection with the Night of Nets movement. For the past eight years, the Men's Soccer team has hosted a Night of Nets match where the purchase of a shirt also provides a bed net to Zambia to help combat Malaria. 

Most recently, the Men's Soccer team went on a mission trip to Honduras in December of 2019. The team helped with construction projects, served food to members of the community, led soccer camps, and shared the gospel with the people of Honduras.

Women's Soccer
The Women's Soccer team took trips to Zambia, Dominican Republic, and most recently Haiti in the summer of 2018.  Several players from the Women's Soccer team traveled to Zambia in 2016 to see first hand what the Night of Nets movement does. 

The Women's Soccer team also took mission trips to the Dominican Republic, and most recently to Haiti in August of 2018. Anika Huizinga reflected on the trip to Haiti: "My biggest takeaway from the trip was how to find joy in every situation. The kids we spent time with at VBS showed so much joy and love to us and the people who served with us and for us served with such open hearts. We take so much for granted here and focus on ourselves more than others, that being in Haiti opened my view on how to serve people with a grateful heart."

Men's Basketball
The Men's Basketball team served in the countries of Dominican Republic, The Philippines, and Taiwan. In each of the three trips, the team shared the gospel, played basketball with kids, and helped serve in the communities in a variety of ways.

Taiwan blog excerpt:
The team split up into two groups. One of the groups held an on-the-floor clinic with a high school team. The clinic lasted two hours. At the end of the clinic Coach Elders shared the gospel with the team (about 30 players) and coaches. After the presentation the team was divided into four groups with two CU players sharing their personal story and their walk with Christ.  The second group of players put on a clinic at a Jr. high school with about 150 kids (without baskets!). They were able to share the gospel and talk about their faith in Christ. We are pretty tired from the previous day's travel, and the team was able to turn in early for a good night's rest. It was a great day of ministry. 

"We had a great first day in Taiwan. We had an amazing time working with the kids teaching them basketball and sharing Christ's love with them."  Sam Vander Sluis wrote on the team's blog.

MBB Philippines Mission Trip
MBB Philippines Video
MBB Taiwan Mission Trip

Women's Basketball 
Several members of the team traveled to the Dominican Republic in August of 2015. More recently, in May of 2019, a couple players, Emma Johnson and Sydney DeJonge, were part of a small group of Golden Eagles that served in the Dominican Republic.

Johnson reflected on the trip: "God was at work in every little moment of this trip. It was impossible not to see his hand at work. I saw God's creativity in the beautiful mountains and was in awe of how he created such beauty for my pleasure and not because he had to. I saw God in the teachers at the special education school where I worked. They were filled with supernatural patience and kindness, which overflowed onto their students. I saw God in my teammates and leaders and was reminded that there is power in fellowship. I saw God in the kiddos that I worked with through their contagious smiles and uncontrollable joy. I felt God working in my heart through the worship we had every morning, and I was reminded that it is far too easy to forget to listen to God when we are always the ones talking. Finally, I felt God at work in my heart as he taught me that who I am is not defined by what I do. This trip was radically life-changing and was an experience that I will never forget."

Cornerstone athletes reflect on mission trip to Guatemala

Volleyball
The volleyball team had the opportunity to serve in the Central American countries of Costa Rica and Dominican Republic in 2012 and 2015, respectively. In both places, the team was able to share the sport of volleyball with the children of the communities.

2012 Costa Rica blog excerpt:
"Wednesday morning came before we were quite ready for it but we traveled off to a community that is poverty stricken. We sat down and talked with a group of ladies in a single mothers ministry. They shared with us a little about themselves and we were able to bring them gifts and food to help provide for some very basic needs. They were so grateful and some of us were even able to support them further by purchasing some of the bags that the women had sown. Wednesday afternoon we traveled to yet another school to even more eager children and young girls that were so very happy to have us there. Before going back to the villa for a late dinner we played University of Costa Rica and were yet again able to share the gospel. God is so good and this trip is great."

2015 Dominican Republic Photo Album
2015 Dominican Republic video
2012 Costa Rica Photo Album

Baseball
The Baseball team's 2013 mission trip to the communist nation of Cuba served as a significant opportunity for the squad to share the gospel. 
 
According to then-coach Dave Mitroff, there were over 500 commitments to Christ that week, including a high-ranking Cuban official: "One of the higher ranking communist officials–and we'll leave it at that–came to Christ while we were there. He said it about as clearly as you can say it: 'I believe in Christ, and I know that He is real. I've seen all the other religions, and I believe Jesus is the only way.'"
 
Former Cornerstone Athletic Director Dave Grube, who was also on the trip, added: "We literally saw people come to Christ that were coming to these exhibition games to watch. And, they were bystanders. We had conversations, and the next thing you know, they had tears running down their faces and they're asking Christ into their heart."
 
In January of 2019, A group of 26 Cornerstone baseball players had the opportunity to serve in Guatemala. The guys prepped an Opal House overlooking Lake Atitlan, spent time with survivors of the Fuego Volcano eruption, shared their faith and worship with the Guatemalan community and members of the Missiona Church CNX, and ran baseball clinics for a total of 80 Guatemalan kids. 
 
Kyle DeSchryver said of the trip: "Going to Guatemala was an experience I will never forget. I was able to see how Christ is working in people who had little to nothing. The love for Christ is alive in Guatemala." 
 
Mission Network News: Cornerstone Baseball shares Jesus in Cuba
Cornerstone Baseball Guatemala Trip Recap
 
Softball 
The Softball team traveled to the Dominican Republic in December of 2017 for a week-long mission trip. The athletes played with kids, visited nursing homes, and shared the gospel with people of all ages through the sport of softball.
 
Assistant Coach Kim Zainea reflected on the team's experience at a nursing home: "We were surrounded by 20-25 elderly Dominicans in need of our encouragement and care. We massaged their feet, their hands, feed them and sang Christmas songs. I was so moved so see these elderly, by our standards, in a poverty stricken facility. I was also moved to see these softball players willingly kneeling down to massage hands and feet. Turned out, most of the elderly at the nursing home were believers. Reminded me how important it is to not only share the Gospel with the unbelieving, but to encourage our fellow believers as well. It was an amazing day seeing God at work in all of our lives."
 
Rachel Younts reflected on the trip: "We grew as a program and individually as a team through softball games against local teams, visits to local villages and nursing homes, and exploring the country. This trip is definitely one that I will never forget. The experiences that I had are ones that will impact my life forever."
 
Cornerstone's Mission
Cornerstone values both local and international missions experiences for student-athletes. All sports programs, in one way or another, have served others and built relationships in the community over the past decade. 

Jesus says to his disciples in the Great Commission, as written in the gospel of Matthew: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Cornerstone is thankful for the resources and the opportunities to go on mission trips like these and spread the gospel around the world!