Celebrating 20 Years of Impact

Twenty years ago, Kent Susud resigned as a corporate director at a global sports marketing firm to launch a dream… Read more Celebrating 20 Years of Impact

Twenty years ago, Kent Susud resigned as a corporate director at a global sports marketing firm to launch a dream that had been in his heart for over a decade. In 1998, SportQuest Ministries was born (starting under the name “Athletes of Good News”). In the beginning, SportQuest focused primarily on sending high school and college student-athletes on short-term sport mission trips to locations such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Haiti, and Kenya as well as several U.S. cities. A scholarship program was also created to encourage and honor Christian student-athletes who embodied the values of “Playing With Purpose.” This program touched more than 75,000 Christian student-athletes, and thousands of dollars in scholarships were awarded and prestigious recognition was provided on national and local levels through TV, newspaper, and magazine coverage. Hundreds of these student-athletes also traveled on a short-term sport mission trip with SportQuest – including four of our current staff members!

As a result of these mission trips, known as Playing With Purpose Projects , the Gospel has been proclaimed and embodied in more than 20 different countries and numerous cities, local mission teams and sport ministry leaders have been developed and multiplied, and thousands of Christian student-athletes have been impacted by these life-changing experiences. These young leaders are now living with a greater purpose as they lead their families, businesses, churches, non-profits, and ministries. We are so thankful for the faithfulness of God over the last two decades to lead and empower this ministry. It is evident that the hand of God has been upon us, and we give Him all the glory!

Over the past twenty years, there have also been a lot of changes within the ministry. The focus of SportQuest has evolved from primarily sending short-term, cross-cultural teams to catalyzing and sustaining long-term disciple-making movements and developing indigenous leaders, who impact their own culture through sport and play. We have benefited greatly from partnering with the global sport movement and now put a greater emphasis on providing training for sport ministry leaders. Our goal in the next 5-10 years is to launch 1,000 disciple-making teams around the world , who will use the tools of sport and play to engage their local community and demonstrate the Good News in a way that gives people – those who may never step into a church building – access to the peace and purpose of following Jesus.

Another exciting development in SportQuest’s history came in 2013 when The 4 ^th Musketeer USA was established as a ministry division under the covering of SportQuest. 4M Global was founded in 2008 in the Netherlands by Henk Stoorvogel, a long-time friend of Kent Susud. Through their friendship, 4M USA was launched to bring the movement that had spread across Europe to North America. Since then, thousands of men have experienced an Xtreme Character Challenge (XCC) , which is a 72-hour outdoor adventure designed to bring men to the end of themselves so they must depend on God and their brothers in Christ. 4M USA has led XCC’s all over the U.S. and developed new teams in Canada, Guatemala, Egypt, South Africa, and Ukraine. The impact on the lives of the men – and consequently their families and communities – has been tremendous.

Now more than ever before, 4M and SportQuest are working together to inspire movements that lead people from passivity to purpose, from fear to faith, and from serving self to serving others. This year, a new ministry entity has been created to distinguish the “sport” side of our ministry from the “adventure” side. We now refer to everything that SportQuest is doing in the world of sport as “Playing With Purpose” (PWP) , while everything SportQuest does in the world of adventure is identified as “The 4th Musketeer” (4M) . So we hope that from now on when you hear “SportQuest,” you’ll think about all that God is doing in our ministry from both the SPORT and ADVENTURE perspectives. From connecting youth to a greater purpose through ongoing sport strategies to inspiring men through body, mind, and soul adventures to fight for their families and communities, all of this is SportQuest!

So as we celebrate our 20 ^th anniversary, we thank God for how He has led us on this journey and brought us to this point, and we are filled with excitement and anticipation at what God will continue to do in the next 20 years. The journey is just beginning. We know that God has much more planned! Thank you for being a part of this journey with us! Please join us in praying for God to continue to use SportQuest Ministries to be salt and light in this world that is in desperate need of Him. Thank you!

To see more, watch our 20th Anniversary video!