West Texas pastor and wife open home to invest in Howard College athletes; see salvation and seeds planted around the world

Sixteen years ago, Mark Lindsey, lead pastor at First Baptist Church Big Spring, and his wife Sherry, were new residents in Big Spring, home to a “bible college ministry and a two-year college,” but no established church. Their neighbor, whose late husband happened to be a basketball coach at Howard College in the 1950s and 1960s, encouraged them to get “involved with basketball and things at the college,” as she was ministering to the athletes at the time. 

Sherry Lindsey said building relationships with Howard College students can be challenging because of the transitional nature of a two-year college. 

“At a two-year college, I think [you have] more [challenges] connecting the college kids because it's such a short amount of time, and especially athletes because they may only be here a year. So, you just have a short amount of time to build a relationship and then make any headway in that relationship,” explained Sherry Lindsey. 

So, the Lindseys decided they would try to connect with coaches to invest in these athletes. 

In 2014, a Howard College basketball player, Travis Charles, visited FBC Big Spring with a member who was a history professor at the college. The Lindseys saw this as an opportunity to get connected.

“I kept saying, ‘Travis, will you please connect us to the coaches? We'd love to have the basketball team to dinner one night,’” explained Sherry Lindsey. “He just wouldn't, and finally, I begged him enough [that] he did. So, spring break that year, we had the team over to eat for the first time. And then in the fall, we have a pool, so we said, ‘Y'all come over and swim, and we'll cook hamburgers.’ So, we just started to develop a relationship like that.”

The Lindseys continued hosting gatherings for the athletes at their home throughout the semester, and at Christmastime, they “casually made the statement” that they would be willing to host someone over the holidays if anybody needed a place to stay. 

Two international athletes took them up on their offer. 

“One of the boys from Kosovo texted me and said, ‘I need a place to stay,’ so he and [another athlete] from Brazil stayed with us, and now those two are kind of like our sons,” said Sherry Lindsey. 

“Concentric circles” represent investment in athletes  

After some relationships were established with these athletes in the fall semester, Mark and Sherry Lindsey decided to evolve their personal ministry into a Sunday School class at FBC Big Spring in addition to feeding the basketball team every week.

Mark Lindsey said members of the church are jumping in to serve the athletes as well. 

“Part of what we're seeing with members of our church is they are joining us and helping to feed them periodically, but many of them have connected with some of these athletes,” said Mark Lindsey. “We have one couple who connected with two athletes … and they kind of adopted them into their family like we have adopted Lis.” 

Sherry Lindsey said there is another class in the church that has gotten involved in routinely providing a meal for the women’s basketball team after every home game. The church has also joined alongside them to minister to international athletes’ communities. 

Eight years ago, inspired by their “adopted son,” Lis, from Kosovo, The Lindseys pioneered an annual mission trip to Kosovo. Mark Lindsey said they have taken around 20 members with them to Kosovo since the trip began. 

They worked with a missions sending agency to reach what is a predominantly Muslim country. Each time they visit, they meet new people and pass out free books in English and Albanian. They have also partnered with a school in the community and provided books to each teacher. 

Mark Lindsey said he is encouraged by the community’s eagerness to have literature in their own language. 

Sherry Lindsey said, “it's just not an accident” that God connected Lis with their family, and so they “had to connect the dots that God was moving in [his] country.”

Lis’ family was from an unreached people group.

“The Lord put an unreached people group with a suitcase on our front doorstep,” said Sherry Lindsey. “I always tell [the athletes] it's like [Lis] is the pebble that's thrown in the water, and then there's concentric circles that the pebble naturally makes.”

Sherry Lindsey said their connection to Kosovo is a testament to their investment in the athlete’s lives. 

“Now that we've been [to Kosovo], these circles represent every year that we've been. And it shows the different areas that we've been involved in each year and how those relationships are going deeper because of that initial investment in Lis,” said Sherry Lindsey. 

Seeing salvation 

Last year, The Lindseys ministry expanded to the Howard College baseball team. Travis White, a Howard College baseball player from 2022-2024, would “invite guys to come to [their] house to watch The Chosen.”

Sherry Lindsey said they would host nine to 13 baseball players every week and has seen salvation come through the watch parties. 

“By the end of the year, he'd led three to Christ and baptized two in our pool. And then this year, he developed leaders,” said Sherry Lindsey. “Now, we've got between 18 and 22 boys that come to the house every week to watch The Chosen.”

Sherry Lindsey said she would advise churches who are looking to invest in and minister to athletes in their area to start by connecting with coaches and attending the games to begin “building a relationship with [the players] at the games,” as many of them “don’t have a support system that’s able to come.”  

“Build a relationship with the coaches. [Ask] ‘How can we pray for you?’ ‘How can we support your team?’” said Sherry Lindsey. 

The Lindseys said that they have seen “a lot of wonderful things happen,” in the coaches' lives as a result of their efforts. 

Planting seeds across the nation

Sherry Lindsey said she receives reports “more often than not” about how their ministry has multiplied and how these athletes have been “planting seeds where they live now.” 

She shared an example of how they’ve seen seeds planted and “come to fruition.”

“Caleb, [a leader] that first year that baseball got involved [is] now in Queens, New York. Last Monday, he texted me and he said, ‘Can you send me some FCA Bibles? I need six.’ And I said, ‘Are you leading a Bible study, Caleb?’ He said, ‘Yes, I am.’ So, I mailed them,” said Sherry Lindsey. “Then last night he sends me a picture of 10 or 12 guys sitting around a table having Bible study [with] their Bibles that they received.” 

Both Mark and Sherry Lindsey said that their ultimate goal and prayer for these athletes is that they would have “enough exposure to the gospel that they get some solid, good seeds that can take root” in their lives. 

“What we're experiencing is praying for the gospel to come into their hearts and into their lives,” said Mark Lindsey. “The seeds are planted here, then we're watching them grow and come to fruition.” 

For more information about how your church can serve college students or connect them to campus ministries, visit txb.org/collegiate.