(Special thanks to Brittany Conner for writing this article! Hopefully this story will touch many people. I am still in awe of how it all happened.)
God recently used two edgy mediums for communication – dreams and the Internet – to reveal Himself to a professional soccer player in Italy.
Jason Greenwich, an International Mission Board missionary in Milan, Italy, is connected with an Italian group of Christian athletes called the “Atleti di Cristo.” Through this group, Jason has met professional athletes who come from various backgrounds, cultures and religious experiences – but all share a passion for God. One such athlete, Dino, is a soccer player who has recently been involved with the Atleti di Cristo.
Both Dino and his younger brother, Daniele, belong to the Inter Milan soccer team. Dino invited Daniele to attend a Thanksgiving day gathering that was being hosted by the Atleti di Cristo in the city of Piacenza. Daniele declined Dino’s offer.
“Daniele told Dino he wasn’t into that kind of stuff,” Jason says.
Before leaving, Daniele asked Dino if he knew of an evangelist named Jason. At the time, Dino had not met Jason, but he asked Daniele the reason for his question.
“Daniele said that he had just had a dream during the previous night where an evangelist named Jason kept calling him and inviting him to the party,” Jason says.
Later that evening, Dino logged onto an online chat room where several members of Atleti di Cristo meet to have electronic conversations through Instant Messaging. Jason also was in the chat room, and he noticed Dino’s name appear when Dino signed on.
“I knew of Dino, but he didn’t know me,” Jason says. “So I wrote him a quick message introducing myself.”
Dino replied to Jason’s message, but he seemed reticent in his replies. Unbeknownst to Jason, Dino realized that the man who had sent him a message was an evangelist named Jason – just as his brother had dreamed.
“Dino immediately contacted Daniele and said, ‘You’ll never guess who I’m talking to!’ Daniele then said maybe he should attend the Thanksgiving meeting after all,” Jason says.
At the meeting, Daniele says he immediately noticed the peace and joy emanating from the other athletes.
Later, Jason met Dino again in the chat room, and heard Dino’s story about Daniele’s dream. Dino also shared Daniele’s impression of the athletes who attended the Thanksgiving meeting. Jason asked Dino for Daniele’s contact information so he could talk directly with Daniele.
“I met Daniele online and we talked through Instant Messaging for more than two hours,” Jason says. “It was obvious to me that God was at work in his heart. I had him get his Bible, and I walked him through the entire Gospel presentation. Daniele said he wanted the same peace that he had seen in the other athletes. At the end of our time, Daniele prayed to receive Christ into his heart.”
When Jason saw Daniele log onto the Instant Messaging service the next day he noticed that his username had changed. It now reads “I belong to Jesus…forever”.
Jason served in Milan with his wife, Allyson, for more than three years, but he had never experienced an Italian so eager to accept the Gospel.
“Dino and Daniele are young, professional, Italian athletes,” Jason says. “It’s extremely rare for people in that age group to make that kind of decision.”
“As this story has unfolded, I’m just in awe of what God did and how.”
Visit www.atletidicristo.org for more information about Atleti di Cristo.
Earlier today in Paris, Kaka’ was awarded the “Ballon d’Or”….the “Golden Ball”. It is the most prestigious soccer award that can be received by a soccer player playing in Europe. Why does this excite me? Well, I am glad you asked…
star forwards in the 2006 World Cup. All that changed, however, on December 22, 2005, when he was involved in a serious car accident that resulted in him losing his left arm. Everyone assumed that his soccer career had ended, being that it was a miracle that he had even survived.
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