Disc Golf and Discipleship

With all the negative news we hear from Mexico these days, here is a positive story involving redemptive entrepreneurship and creative discipleship.  

The disc golf tournament, Abierto de la Baja, is already a highlight of our year. Paul McBeth (World Disc Golf Champion) continues to inspire us with his humble service and his willingness to spend time with kids and new and old players of the sport. It was a blessing to have him here, playing in this tournament, and even arriving early to help with some final details. In his words, he was blown away by how well our staff had done at setting everything up, finalizing the course, and running one of the smoothest tournaments he had experienced. We had 76 players over three days, including Mexicans from other parts of the country and some players from the U.S. who came down to play.

While hosting the tournament was fun, the spiritual and developmental outcomes of it highlight for us why it matters that we have disc golf as another tool here at the Ranch to reach the community with the transformative power of the good news of the gospel. We had numerous opportunities with individuals to share about what we do on the Ranch and many people were intrigued to learn more and figure out how they could participate more. And a more personal example comes from one of our Ranch Youth Services students who played in the amateur division in his first tournament and won by a landslide! He did an absolutely fantastic job, and as Pete and this student were processing his victory, they both started crying at what this victory for him meant. And for those that know where and with whom we work will understand that these tears had nothing to do with disc golf but everything to do with what this youth has had to face in life and what this victory meant for his personal development and growth as a child of God. It is moments like these that make all our work and effort worth it.

It means the world to youth here to have an activity in which they can set goals, practice, and meet their goals. Creating opportunities for youth to have fun outside in God’s creation, chat with our staff, pray together, and grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and others is the goal of all that we do. Disc golf is but one more tool that we can use to share our lives with other people…and it is proving to be a beautiful tool that really lends itself to good conversations as we play the course. Additionally, this youth’s mom, after watching her son receive his trophy, commented to one of our staff that she is grateful to the Ranch because she knows that her boys (she has two boys in the Ranch Youth Service program) are doing well and are staying out of trouble because they are either at the Ranch doing school, playing disc golf, or they are at church with us.

Thank you again for supporting the Ranch and helping make experiences like this possible.

Pete Johnson, Director, Rancho El Camino 

Tenth has been walking alongside Rancho El Camino in La Paz Mexico for the past 5 years.  

Directors of the Ranch, Pete and Emily suggest that not only Disc Golf is not only a discipleship opportunity, but it also a sustainable redemptive enterprise, bringing economic resources and helping bring redemption to an athletic sport.

Interested in being part of a Justice Journey to La Paz Mexico, our next open trip will be February 17, 2024.  Global Pastor Patrick Elaschuk will be also taking a small team in September 2023.  Email patrick@tenth.ca if you are interested.