Trojans earn conference victory at Illiana Christian

Friday night the Trojans traveled to Illiana Christian for the beginning of the 2nd half of conference play. Illiana had a tremendous crowd out to support their team and add to the atmosphere of homecoming. The gym was an electric atmosphere to experience a high school basketball game. The game was a good battle right from the beginning Illiana was a little better and built a 10 point lead near the end of the 2nd quarter. The Trojans battled back and showed their resiliency and cut their lead to 38-35 at the half. During the 2nd half both teams would battle back and forth exchanging leads. The Trojans shot a very good 77% from the free throw line to earn the victory 62-57 and give the Vikings from Illiana their first conference loss of the season.

Timothy had contributions from many on this night. Actually the balance they achieved was exceptional and contributed greatly to the victory. The energy from the fans and the bench provided the boost the guys needed in such a crazy atmosphere. Riley Chapman (17 pts, 9-9 FT) had a very strong game. Rob McGivney was a force on the boards with 12 rebounds to go along with 11 pts and 3 assists. Mitch Evenhouse 5 pts, 2 assists played an outstanding defensive game. Joey Davidson (10 pts and 3 reb) and Ben Lodewyk (12 pts, 3 rebs) also reached double figures in scoring and played key roles. Joe Bishop had a super floor game with 7 pts, 4 assists, and 6 rebounds. Jared Rhiner provided a spark off the bench with solid defense and 3 rebounds.

This was a wonderful TEAM victory. Thank you to all the fans who came out to support. The Trojans are now 9-10 on the season and 5-2 in the Metro Suburban Conference. They are currently in 2nd place in the conference. The next game is Friday Feb. 6 at home vs. Guerin Prep.

Schedule for week of Jan 26

Monday 1/26

Devotions    6:00 pm

Practice 6:30-8:30 pm

Tuesday 1/27

Practice 3:05-4:45 Middle School

Wednesday 1/28

Practice 3:05-4:45

Thursday 1/29

3:05-4:45

Friday 1/29

Away game at Illiana 7:30 pm

Saturday 1/30

JV game at Timothy at 1:00 pm vs Elmwood Park

Trojans recognize middle school teams but drop game to IC

Friday night we recognized our middle school teams at halftime of the varsity game.  Our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teams have had fine seasons and we are very proud of them.  Congratulations to the teams and Coach Ridder, Coach Grit, and Coach VanderWal. 

The game didn't turn out as we hoped on this night.  The Trojans lost to cross town foe Immaculate Conception Friday night 44-37.  The Trojans struggled shooting on the night and fell behind by score of 20-12 at the half.  They fought back once again in the second half and played the rest of the game within two points.  During the 4th quarter the Trojans weren't able to capitalize on opportunities and the knights from IC went home with the victory.  Riley Chapman led the scoring for the Trojans on the night with 12 points. The Trojans have a week of practice and will be in action Friday night at Illiana Christian at 7:30 pm.  Please come out and support the Trojans as they begin the 2nd half of conference play.

Trojans lose in overtime to Glenbard South

The Trojans traveled to Glenbard South for a non-conference battle on Tuesday night. The first quarter was back and forth and ended with the Trojans down 15-16. A poor 2nd quarter led to a 10 point deficit at the half. The Trojans would battle back in the 2nd half to tie the game with a chance to win on the last possession. We missed two opportunities to win in regulation and then lost in overtime 60-52.

Ben Lodewyk (22 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assists,) had a hot shooting night. Robert McGivney (13 pts, 9 rebs) continued his strong play of late. Mitch Evenhouse came off the bench to register 7 pts and 3 assists. The Trojans showed a strong effort coming back to have a chance to win, but left some points on the court at the free throw line and also with some empty possessions at key times.

The Trojans are next in action on Friday night vs Immaculate Conception at Timothy Christian with a Tip-off time of 7:30 pm.

We will also honor our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade boys teams at half-time.

Please come out and support the Trojans!

Schedule for week of 1/19/15

Monday 1/19/15 Practice 10-Noon

Tuesday 1/20/15 Game at Glenbard South at 7:00 pm.

Wednesday 1/21/15 Practice 7:00 am-8:15 am
Lift at 3:15-4:15

Thursday 1/22/15 Practice 6:30 am -- 7:45 am

Pasta dinner at 4:30 at school.
Team outing -- Bulls/Spurs game 7:00 pm

Friday 1/23/15 Home game vs Immaculate Conception 7:30 pm

Saturday 1/24/15 JV game at Glenbard South at 9:00 am
Possible lift at School after the game -- TBA

Trojans win first game back vs Ridgewood

The Trojans were able to finally play a game back in their friendly confines at Timothy Christian. They played conference opponent Ridgewood. The Trojans came out a little slow and found themselves down 12-5 midway through the first period. The momentum changed and the Trojans were able to go on an incredible 31-6 run all the way to halftime and lead by a score of 36-18. During the 3rd quarter Ridgewood would make a strong push to cut the lead to 10 but the Trojans were able to answer with another run of their own and hold on for a 61-43 victory.

The Trojans had a nice bounce to their step and created many opportunities on the defensive end which helped them shoot a very good percentage. Robert McGivney (16 pts, 10 rebs, 3 blocks) continued his strong play. The Trojans had good balance and received many contributions. Ben Lodewyk (10 pts, 8 rebs, 5 blocks, 4 steals), Josh Caver (7 pts, 1 stl), Mitch Evenhouse (8 pts, 3 rebs, 2 assists), Joe Bishop (6 pts, 3 assists, 2 steals), Joey Davidson (6 pts, 3 rebs), Riley Chapman (5 pts, 2 reb), Brett Kwasigroch (4 rebs), Joe Bootsma (1 pt), and Devin May (2 pts, 1 reb) all cracked the stat sheet. The team worked hard together and had positive energy the entire game to achieve the team victory.

The Trojans are next in action on Tuesday at Glenbard South at 7:00 pm and then home on Friday at 7:30 pm vs Immaculate Conception.

Please come out and support the Trojans.

Coming home !

This trip has been amazing.  We spent our last day in California enjoying the weather and experiencing Universal studios.  We finished the day with dinner on the city walk.

Water world show at universal studios.

We will miss the beautiful views for sure.

Once again, the Best part of our day was devotion wrap-up in the evening.  We have truly enjoyed this time together summarizing, learning, sharing, and praying together.  Last night was electric as we really tried to understand all the opportunities that God has had us experience on this trip.  

Yes- we have enjoyed some California sun and leisure activities, but the spiritual side of things on this trip far outweigh those activities.  We shared how last night the impactful events on this trip and it was awesome to hear the guys responses.

We challenged each other to take all that we have learned from this trip and to continue to look for ways to serve our God.  We also had the challenge to continue in prayer. 

We are blessed to have had this opportunity and it will be something that we will remember for our lifetime.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible.

Please keep the team in prayer as we will be flying home today.

Very busy day in San Diego

Yesterday was a day filled with excitement and busyness.  We began the day very early with a bit of a drive from Anaheim to San Diego.  We left our house bright and early around 6:15.  We were very fortunate to get clearance through Commander Cindy Tamminga (Joe Bootsma's aunt and TC alum) and the US Navy to go on base and have a tour of a naval vessel.  We picked up Commander Tamminga and Chief Mancia from her team to jump in the vans and escort us through security checkpoints and on the vessel.

We were able to board and receive a private tour of the naval vessel named Boxer.  The Boxer is an amphibious assault ship.  We're met by an officer from the ship and taken aboard for our tour. Needless to say we were very privileged to recive this opportunity and it was an awesome expierience. The ship was in port for its maintenance phase and we were spent a lot of time going through the various parts of the ship.  

This ship is used to transport our marines to various parts of the world. It is also the largest mobile hospital in the world as it is set up with its own medical personnel and center to treat the sick or wounded.  It was a ship that was set up with the ability to handle mass casualties like a Cold War situation.  

Seeing all the areas of the ship such as the ability to flood the back well deck to land equipment on shore or land was super interesting.  The guys asked questions and were involved and inspired. 

The hospital is set up to treat many.

The bunks for the marines are a bit more crowded than our guys are used to. The boys also saw how the higher ranked officers have slightly better accommodations.

A little time behind the captains wheel.

There is even a weight room to share.

This was a wonderful expierience and we are very thankful for the men and women who serve our country. We are proud of our country and honor our flag.

After our visit at the naval base we headed to lunch and a visit to Point Loma College.  It is a beautiful college on the Pacific Ocean. 

Possibly the most beautiful baseball field in America.

Coach LeGrand overlooking the athletic facilities.  

After our visit, we drove to Escondido and chilled at Mr. DeKoekkoek's sister's house for a couple hours. They were very hospitable and supplied drinks, sandwiches, and snacks for the guys.  This was very much appreciated as the guys were able to unwind for their game in the evening at Calvin Christian.  

We ended the basketball portion of our trip with our game vs Calvin Christian.  The Trojans played a steady game and won by a score of 59-39.  Robert McGivney led the Trojans with 18 pts and 11 rebounds. Ben Lodewyk (10 pts) had 5 steals and Joe Bishop had 5 assists and 4 pts and Joe Davidson (8 pts, 3 Rebs, 3 stls)  all had strong games.  All the guys played and made contributions as we ended the trip on a good note.  

Thank you to all of our fans who showed up to support Timothy Christian.  Thank you also to Calvin Christian School.

Trojans pick up victory in California

The Trojans won 59-39 tonight at Calvin Christian in Escondido, California.  Comments about the game and entire day will be on the blog tomorrow because of the late hour.

Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach

Today we had a final practice in the morning at Ontario Christian.  We are very thankful for our friends at Ontario Christian for letting us use their facilities for a few practices. 

After practice, we dropped off Coach Van Dyke at the airport and went for a drive to spend a little time at Santa Monica Pier and also Venice beach.  Both experiences were very enjoyable.  While at Venice beach a few of the guys played a little outdoor ball on the famous basketball courts.  

Coach LeGrand and Coach DeKoekkoek enjoy some free time on Santa Monica Pier.

We stopped by the Venice beach area.

The guys met a high school team from Australia and played a few games.

A beautiful view of Venice beach with the sun setting.

After arriving home, we had dinner and devotions.  

Tomorrow will be a very busy day traveling to the San Diego area and finishing up in Escondido with a game vs Calvin Christian.

Worship at Emmanuel Reformed

We started the day at home with a nice breakfast cooked by Coach Van Dyke?  

Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and fellowship before church.

We attended Emmanuel Reformed church in Paramount.  This is the same church we worked with through their Compton initative ministry.  The guys were excited to see Jeudy and Tyler who were our leaders at the work sites.  We enjoyed our worship time together.  

Pastor Ken Korver gave a strong message on the Lord's Prayer.  It was a great challenge to rely on God's word and then expecting His will to be done.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. 

It was also exciting to hear Pastor Korver talk about a prayer breakfast he had with the mayor and administrators of neighboring Compton.  Aja Brown is a Christian woman who wanted to do some type of mission work in Compton.  Instead she was talked into running for mayor and won the election by a landslide.  She became the first female mayor elected in Compton.  It is really exciting to see the leadership of Compton spending time with Pastors praying for their community.  There is a real strong sense of change in their community and we appreciated the story which built on our previous experience.  We had a great time worshipping together and were very impressed with the amount of ministries and involvement of their membership.  Thank you very much Emmanuel and Pastor Korver for helping us set up service this week.  Thank you also to Jeudy and Tyler for your leadership.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out together at the house.  We grilled out and watched some of the football games.  We closed the evening with devotions.  Our devotions this week have been very inspirational.  Each of us has taken turns telling us our stories and sharing experiences and favorite bible verses. We have used this time to also follow up and talk about the days experiences.  We closed the evening breaking up into small groups for prayer.  I have truly enjoyed this week together getting to know these young men better and having these shared experiences.  

Day at Staples Center and USC

Today was a fun day in Los Angeles. We had the privilege today to experience the Clippers vs Mavericks game at the Staples center. We watched the players warming up from court side seats. We then were escorted to the court for a team picture.  We also were able to meet up with Ed and Kaila Wondergem and also some of our friends from the Saddleback church service day. They attended the game with us.

The man to the left is our friend Edgar who we worked with us at Saddleback. 

We saw a good game with the Clippers getting the victory.  After the game we stopped by the LA Coliseum. The Coliseum was the sight for the 1984 Olympics as well as the home games for USC football.

After spending some time at USC, we headed home for dinner.

Our picture in front of the USC mascot "Tommy the Trojan"

Coach Van Dyke works on dinner this evening. 

Coach LeGrand and Mr. DeKoekkoek in front of John McKay statue.

Devotions tonight were once again very personal.  We have enjoyed the opportunity to spend time together in a different setting.  

Tomorrow we will worship together in Emmanuel Reformed Church.  We expect it will be a good tIme. We are looking forward to possibly seeing some of our friends in church that we met the other day with the Compton initiative.

Great Service day today in Compton

We had another wonderful day today serving in Compton, California. We were put in touch with Emmanuel Reformed Church in Paramount, California.  The church is located near the Compton area and their pastor is Mr. Ken Korver.  One of their ministries is called the Compton initiative. One of their big events is coming up in a couple weeks and they will have at least 1500 volunteers on that day to paint, clean, and restore homes in the Compton community.  This is a ministry that has really grown over the years.

We were used to do some prep work on a couple homes to prepare for that big event. We met at Emmanuel church with our leaders Jeudy and Tyler and picked up supplies for the day. Their supply warehouse has many ladders, paint, tools, etc for the many volunteers who come to work with their program. 

After we loaded up the equipment, we split up into two groups.  One group started out at the warehouse organizing and setting up some storage shelves. We sent both vans to different houses to begin working. One of the houses was for a lady named Linda. The work there involved mostly using ladders and scraping old paint and prepping it for painting. We also used power washers to clean and prepare the houses.  Linda was a very nice lady and was appreciative of the help. After clean up, our group jumped in the vans to join our other group at the next house. 

The other house belonged to a man named Miles. At his place the job was similar but a bit more work. As our group arrived, the other group was already hard at work.  There was twice as much work here, but we also had twice the manpower.  Because of this, more ladders and equipment were brought to the site.  This area of Compton was pretty unique in the fact that many of the houses also had live animals such as chickens, goats, horses, etc in the back yards. 

Our men were hard at work doing many of the same things. the guys also spent a lot of time clearing overgrown brush from the back yard area. 

We took a short break for lunch and this was also a very powerful time as we had the pleasure of hearing from another Godly man named Pastor Arnoldo. He shared his story about living in Orange County in a gated community.  He and his wife felt a strong calling from God and Arnoldo became the pastor of one of the church plants from Emmanuel right in the middle of Compton and followed the call and moved his wife and two young kids into the Compton area. The area where they started their ministry was well known for gang activity and he shared how the neighborhood is beginning to see a change. He shared many examples of daily ministries where God's love is being shown to the community.  His story was very inspirational and we talked about listening to the voice of God.  

Our other leader Juedy had a very similar story.  As he is one of the main leaders of the Compton initiative, he also followed the call and went from living in a safe and comfortable place to a more difficult one in Watts and now actually in Compton where he serves daily. 

Once again we were the ones who were blessed today. Pastor Arnoldo thanked us for actually giving a part of our lives today. This was true and we may have been serving, but really it was a powerful learning experience for us.

The homeowner Miles was was very appreciative and thanked us for our help.  We went home for dinner and devotions to process the days events.  We are so thankful once again to be able to be used to Serve. This has been an extremely rewarding experience.

Powerful visit to the Dodgers organization.

Today was another great day in California.  We practiced once again at Ontario Christian High School. After practice the guys were excited to swing by the Ontario Airport to pick up Coach VanDyke who will spend a few days with us. 

We headed to the Los Angeles for lunch at Phillipes. Phillipes is well-known for their French dip roast beef sandwiches. 

After Phillipes, we were privileged to visit Dodger stadium. We were able to attend Dodger stadium by invitation of Mr. Ned Colletti. Mr. Colletti is from Chicago and his kids attended Timothy and his wife Gail used to work at Timothy. 

Mr. Colletti gave us a personal guided tour of Dodger Stadium. We were able to see not only the field but also experience the rich history of the Dodgers. We saw such great things as plaques, pictures, uniforms, etc which included such great players like Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, and many others as well as the gold glove room. 

The tour was very informational. We then headed into the clubhouse. Needless to say the guys were very impressed. As we walked around taking pictures, Mr. Colletti had everyone sit down in the clubhouse and he shared his very personal story and testimony with us. This was a surreal moment as we were sitting in the clubhouse by ourselves with a man who has excelled in a professional baseball organization.

I believe what was even more amazing is that while talking in the clubhouse, the story really wasn't about baseball but it was about perseverance and God's love and direction throughout Mr. Colletti's life. The atmosphere in the clubhouse was very moving as he spoke to our young men's hearts. Mr. Colletti also had a young man named Lamar speak to us as well.  Lamar is a friend who is being mentored by Mr. Coletti. He is from south central L.A. Area. He shared his story as well about some struggles and trying to remain focused as he moves in the direction of getting his degree from college.

The experience at Dodgers stadium was a very personal one.  We were so thankful that Mr. Colletti spent over two and a half hours with our guys. We feel very blessed to have had this time to hear from a man of God who took a lot of valuable time out of his day to make an impact on our men.

We had an opportunity also tonight to attend the Men's UCLA game vs. Stanford.  The game turned into a really exciting game which was won in double overtime by UCLA.

We finished our night with devotions together and are processing how this trip continually gives us so much more than we expect such as yesterday at Saddleback and today in a different way at the Dodger Stadium.

We are excited once again for the opportunity to serve tomorrow with the Compton initiative through Emmanuel Reformed Church. 

It will be a long day of service and we can't wait to see what God has in store for us.