Church’s Ministry To School Hits High Gear
By Eva Wilson
January 2012
As the Southwest High School football team was leaving its game on Friday night, Oct. 21, someone fired several shots at their bus.
Since the school doesn’t have facilities to host football games, the team plays at Southeast Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The stadium is in a state of disrepair — there are no lights in the parking lot, and the scoreboard and public-address system don’t work.
The unfortunate incident thrust the beleaguered school into the Kansas City media spotlight. But members of Wornall Road Baptist Church were already in place to support the Southwest High team in this troubled time.
Messengers to the 2009 KNCSB annual meeting welcomed Wornall Road Baptist Church into the convention. It is located 2 blocks north of Southwest High School.
The church began serving the school in small ways during the 2010-2011 school year. Fall 2011 marked the first time in 15 years that Southwest High had fielded a football team. And the door opened wide for the church to serve the football team.
Tim Johnson, the Southwest High head football coach, and Mark Clifton, Wornall Road’s lead pastor, knew each other from their days at William Jewell College in nearby Liberty, Mo. Johnson played football, and Clifton helped broadcast the games.
As the football season was beginning, Clifton met with Johnson and the other coaches. Clifton gave each of the coaches a copy of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ book “Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity.”
“Hey, I am now the chaplain for Southwest football, have no idea what I am doing .. .but living the life we preach (grin), embracing the opportunity,” he wrote on Facebook.
Two days later Clifton made an appeal for $85 gift cards at Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy football shoes for players who couldn’t afford to buy them.
In 36 hours, the church raised the money to buy shoes for 11 players.
During the game on Friday night, Sept. 2, Clifton wrote this Facebook post, “The most amazing young man just came to me on the sideline, shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said, ‘Sir, thanks so much for the gift card. It’s been real hard lately, and I really need football shoes.”
Clifton then encountered another football player who shared that he couldn’t play as well since he had been shot.
“He was 12 when he was shot in the leg walking home from school. He showed me the scar from the wound and said it caused him pain sometimes still, but a great kid. These kids need us!”
Throughout football season, Wornall Road Baptist Church provided snacks for the team during practice, pre-game meals and food after the games. The church also played host to the team in viewing the post-game films and provided a meal afterward.
Later in the football season, Wornall Road provided money to buy gift cards at Dick’s Sporting Goods for cold-weather apparel for football players who couldn’t afford to buy it.
On Sunday, Nov. 6, Wornall Road celebrated its 90th birthday and honored Coach Johnson and the football team. After the service, the church held a Thanksgiving dinner complete with peach cobbler, a favorite of the Southwest High students.
Now Wornall Road is busy serving the basketball teams at Southwest High School.
Clifton made an appeal for others to join Wornall Road in ministering to the school: “Wornall people are giving mightily. I am asking my other friends, pastors and churches to consider helping us continue this work.”
To find out how you can get involved, call the church at (816) 444-8900, or send e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Visit the church Web site at http://wornallroad.org/ or look for it on Facebook.
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