Baseball lesson with CJ Stewart

The Power Cross boys with CJ Stewart and Kevin Whiteside

Jeff was able to take four of the PC Boys down to Marietta, GA on Tuesday to meet CJ Stewart. CJ, and a group of other talented baseball players and coaches, will be coming to Statesville July 16-18 to host a baseball camp for Power Cross. The boys were able to spend the night at a hotel which is always fun, at least for everyone but Jeff. They got to go swimming, meet CJ, get a hitting lesson, and go eat at the ESPN Zone. Hopefully their lesson will come in handy this weekend. The All Star team will begin their Area Tournament on Saturday.

Have a Blessed Day!
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

PC Boys win with All Star team

TJ and Ausar conspire about the next pitch

Ausar's First Home Run Ball!

Tra and TJ pitching lights out!!

If you've been keeping up with our PC Baseball team you'll know that 7 of our players were selected to the league All-Star team. This past weekend the All-Stars had their first tournament. The team swept through the tournament going 4-0 to become the District 5 Babe Ruth Champions! All of the Power Cross boys on the team had important roles. The pitching of TJ and Tra, with Ausar behind the plate, pitched 13 innings and allowed only 4 runs. The team was also stellar behind the plate. Ausar finally hit his first out the park home run on the eve of his 11th birthday. The team will take on the Area tournament this weekend. The first game is Saturday. The boys will have a tough first game against the team that beat us at State last year. The team has to place in the top two to advance to state. We'll keep you posted!

Of course I had my camera during the game so here are a few actions shots!





Thanks,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys.

Rainy Days

The PC Boys had a great time playing kick ball on Monday, that is until the rain set in. We had a large group this week. Boys rode their bikes, walked, and hitched rides with neighbors to get to Power Cross this Monday. We took the crew to the park to play a little kick ball as the sky grew darker we started heading home but not before a hail and rain storm caught us. After the hail subsided the boys had a little fun in the rain since they were already wet. We had a few new boys this week, and it's so great to watch the boys during Bible study. They are all so involved with questions and answers. It's great to see their minds working.

Today Coach Jeff, TJ, Ausar, Tra, and Jalen are heading to Atlanta to meet CJ Stewart. He is the founder of Diamond Directors out of Marietta, GA. CJ will be coming to Statesville in mid July, with a host of other talented volunteers, to put on the first Power Cross baseball camp. I hope to have some pictures from their visit in a few days!

Thanks and God Bless!
Jeff, Nat, and the PC boys

Power Cross Baseball Wins Championship

The Power Cross baseball season came to a close last night with an exciting finish. The boys were 13-1 going into last nights championship game. We were facing the only team who had beat us all year. Both teams started their ace pictures. We were up 1-0 in the top of the third when TJ stepped to the plate with Travis on third. TJ liked the first pitch and sent it into the trees for a homerun that gave us a 3-0 lead. After a couple of walks and close calls the score was 3-1. Jesaye made a great throw from center field to Jalen to get out the lead runner, saving a run. Going into the bottom of the 5th and last inning the score was 4-2. Travis was on the mound with runners on 1st and 2nd, and one out. Their clean up hitter stepped to the plate and hit a shot to right field. QTra had been waiting all day for his chance to make a play. The ball seemed to go in slow motion as Q was running to the warning track. He laid out fully extended, his back completely to the field, reaching as far as he could...He jumped up with the ball in his glove. Threw it in and saved the winning run!!! Travis struck out the last batter to end the game. PC wins 4-3. After the game we ask QTra where he learned to do that. His answer, The Biggs. Yes, that's right the XBOX game The Biggs. Thank you Bill Gates.

Seven Power Cross Players were selected to the ALL Star team. Their first tournament action starts this weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Father's Day

Father's Day at our home has traditionally been the day that Jeff would have chosen to sleep in a bit and just watch tv or maybe go to the lake. This Father's Day was a glimpse of future Father's Days to come. We had 5 boys with us on Saturday night, which is about the usual. By the time we left for church on Sunday we had 11 boys with us. 11 boys who wanted to spend father's day with their "dad". Jeff got more Father's Day cards, hugs, and phone calls than he's ever gotten in the past. Jakobe was especially excited about the Father's Day card he got for Jeff because it had a deer on the front. He knows Coach Jeff likes to hunt, he also gave Coach Jeff $2.00 that he had earned. He said he thought he deserved it more.

Sunday morning we were invited by Wendall Hill, a PC dad and the boys football coach, to attend a special Father's Day service at his church. Third Creek Baptist opened their doors with welcome arms to the boys. Wendall had the entire church moved to tears with his wonderful message. His speech especially touched me and Jeff when he spoke wonderful words about the work that Jeff is doing, and the plan that God has laid on his heart. It was a wonderful thing to be so welcomed. The boys enjoyed the music, and mostly the hotdogs and cupcakes they had prepared for the boys after the service.

4th Grade Awards Day at school

Currently about half of the Power Cross boys are in 4th grade. The 4th graders had their awards day at school on Friday. Power Cross was well represented! We are very proud of all the boys and their accomplishments at school. Here is a listing of the awards and a few pictures!

Most Reading Growth in the past year: Coby C.
Most Math Growth in the past year: Riq K.
Best Attitude in PE: T.J., Caleb H., and Luis H.
Best Effort in Computer Lab: T.J. and Qualin K.

Best all around in classroom: Luis H. and Jalen H.

A-B Honor Roll:
Riq K.
Namon R.
Nekendrick C.
Qualin K.
Ezra T.
QTra M.
Caleb H.

A Team (All A's- No B's at all!)
Gabe E.
Jalen H.
Luis H.
Travis R.
T.J.

We wanted to give Caleb an honorable mention for school attendance. The boys were counted absent when we went to Panther's practice or Caleb would have had this award as well. It was the only day he missed!

Thanks,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Press Event

We had four board members of the Athletes to Champions organization visiting us this weekend. Thank you so much to Cathy, Brad, Ike, and Todd for taking time away from your families to come and be apart of ours. We were able to hold a press conference after our baseball game last night to announce to the community and our Power Cross family our future plans for building a facility. We are blessed to have partnered with Athletes to Champions on our project. God blessed us last week with their visit and a few big steps being taken towards us moving forward with the project. We still need a huge amount of funding for the building project, and also just to get by day to day. Every dollar counts! If you feel compelled to help just contact us!

We had wonderful speakers at the event including our very own Coach Jeff, and Ausar Rankin. Along with the PC guys we had Todd Fordham overseeing the press event and sharing with the boys about his life. Jordan Gross, and his family drove up from Charlotte to share some inspiration to the boys and the community. Charlie Dayton, the Panther's head of media relations, shared with the boys as well. Brad Hill announced that he and his architecture firm (http://www.schenkelshultz.com) would be donating their design services free of charge. That's over $100,000.00 in design fees. Cathy Parker, the president of Athletes to Champions, shared with the group that Athletes to Champions faced many obstacles when doing Project Alaska. Cathy also shared that their is no limit to what God can do. We can't wait to see what God has in store for Power Cross.

We faced more than our share of trials yesterday in pulling off the Panther's Practice and the Press Event. But very fittingly my Bible Study had this verse in it this morning:

"Since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart."
2nd Corinthians 4:1

Thank you Lord, for allowing this all to be possible!!

Thanks,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Carolina Panther's Practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday the Power Cross Boys the opportunity of a lifetime! The boys were able to go to a closed Carolina Panther's practice. They were able to observe the practice and cheer on the players from the sidelines. The Panther players were all so nice to the boys. Steve Smith, gave out the receivers gloves he uses in the games. There were 17 pairs so each of the boys had one glove. We looked like a group of Micheal Jackson impersonators!! Julius Peppers, Jake Delhome, Jordan Gross, John Kasey, and Brad Hoover (to name a few) spent a great deal of time talking to the boys and learning about their football teams. The boys got to tour the locker room, weight room, practice facilities, and the stadium itself. To quote Power Cross member Alex, "This is the best day of my life!!". Many of the boys felt the same way. After we left the stadium we pretty much closed down an entire Bojangles, by taking every piece of chicken and all the tea they had! All of this event was made possible by the hard work of former Carolina Panther Todd Fordham. We want to say a very special thank you to Todd and the Panther's for allowing us to have such a great event. Also with us at the special event were Cathy Parker and Brad Hill of the Athletes to Champions organization. You can read more about the Press Conference that took place after the practice in the next post.