FSI Michigan Summer 2025 Updates
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Matt Wallace, and I am honored to serve as the Executive Director of Friendship Sports International (FSI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to empowering young Christians to live out the Great Commission. Through the dynamic blend of sports, service, and discipleship, we areimpacting lives and grooming the leaders of tomorrow.
The Heart of Our Mission
At FSI Michigan, we are more than a ministry—we are a movement where faith transforms into action. Our programs offer young believers a platform to grow spiritually, hone leadership skills, and make a significant impact both locally and globally.
Simply put FSI exists to make disciples, equip leaders, and share the hope of the gospel.
Some of our initiatives include:
International Vision Trips: By sharing the gospel and fostering relationships in
communities such as Honduras and Guatemala, these trips challenge teams to deepen
their discipleship journey.
Campus Ministry and Leadership Development: We mentor interns and host leadership retreats in inspiring locations like the Rocky Mountains and Northern Michigan.
Discipleship: We provide teaching opportunities, Bible studies, mentorship and devotionals to deepen faith and commitment.
Service-Learning Engagement: We encourage young leaders to put their faith into action through initiatives such as the Pack the House Event at Cornerstone University, in partnership with IDES.
Church & Missionary Support: We collaborate with churches and organizations like Hands of Grace Guatemala and Inspirata Honduras to bolster discipleship and outreach efforts.
Summer International Vision Trips
We're excited to announce our three upcoming International Vision Trips, providing an opportunity to make a difference and connect with communities abroad:
June 14–24: Join us in Honduras with Arcadia Christian Church from Indiana. Matt is working with the team to plan and Jim will be accompanying this team to support their mission. The team will be working with Inspirata and with Katie and Mario in the village of La Venta.
August 4–10: Student Athletes from he University of Minnesota and Grand Valley State will be going with Matt to Guatemala with Hands of Grace.
August 8–14: Another exciting trip to Guatemala with Cornerstone University's women's basketball team, also under Matts. guidance. The two Guatemala teams will over lap and spend time together.
December 2025 - CU Men’s Soccer to Honduras — This trip is still in the works.
Honduras Update: We are thrilled to announce that Mario and Katie are now in Cody. Mario will be returning to Honduras with Jim and the ACC team, continuing his valuable work there. You can learn more about their update: Click Here
Campus Ministry
Our ministry with college students continues to bear fruit:
We work to provide opportunities for students and student athletes to be mentored, encouraged, discipled, as well as grow in leadership and service opportunities. Alissa and I have lead small groups, hosted teams, individuals, and let pre marital counseling as well as officiating weddings. We are so blessed by this community of young leaders.The Photo gallery is just some of the highlights of this past year.
Summer Student Leader Spotlight: Maya Harrold
This summer, Maya will play a key leadership role with FSI, helping to oversee, guide, and shape all three international vision trips. The daughter of Doug and Holly Harrold, Maya grew up alongside Matt and Alissa in Indiana and later moved with her family to Guatemala, where they founded the ministry Hands of Grace. Now entering her junior year at Cornerstone University as a nursing student, Maya brings both cultural insight and spiritual maturity to the team. Having traveled with FSI over the past few years, she will serve not only as a translator but also as a trusted trip leader. We’re incredibly thankful to have Maya leading alongside us this summer!
Partner with us: How You Can Help
As we grow, so do our needs. Currently, FSI Michigan operates on an approximately $8,000 annual budget (excluding individual fundraising for vision trips). To meet the rising demand for our programs, we are launching a campaign to raise an additional $8,000, increasing our total budget to $16,000. This will enable us to support our leadership team, provide essential resources, and ensure our ministry's sustainability.
Ways to Give
Your support—whether through a one-time gift or ongoing contributions—creates a lasting impact. If FSI has touched your life or if you believe in our mission, we invite you to contribute and share this opportunity with others.
Online: Make a secure online donation at: Click Here
QR code here directly
or Mail: Send checks to:
FSI - Matt Wallace
2310 Rothbury Court NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505
Your generosity empowers us to live out our mission to make disciples, equip leaders, and share the hope of the gospel. If a financial contribution isn’t possible now, please consider supporting us through prayer and sharing our mission with others. Thank you for considering how you can support this mission. Together, we are nurturing the next generation of disciples and leaders. You can learn more about as at friendshipsports.net.
Here is the intro from the devotional “In the Zone”
Introduction: The Beauty of the In-Between.
Most athletes know what it means to be “in the zone.” It's that moment when everything slows down—the crowd fades, distractions disappear, and you're locked in. Maybe it’s a basketball player draining shot after shot, a wrestler flowing from one move to the next like a chess master on the mat, or a sprinter exploding out of the blocks with laser focus, every muscle firing in sync. Being in the zone isn’t about zoning out—it’s about zoning in. It's not just escaping the noise; it’s embracing the tension that sharpens us and choosing to thrive right there.
As a former athlete and now a coach, mentor, and sports ministry leader, I’ve seen this lived out in practices, matches, meets, and games. I’ve seen players dial in—not because life got easy, but because they chose to focus. They’ve tuned out the chatter and zeroed in on their coach’s voice. Whether it's the pitcher deciding between a curveball or fastball, the wrestler making a split-second decision to shoot or sprawl, or the runner deciding whether to kick early in the final lap—there’s a real tension. And yet, in that tension is the sweet spot. It's where grit meets grace. It’s where experience, preparation, and instinct align.
But let me tell you something else I have learned: the Christian life is no different.
Walking with Jesus means living in tension—sometimes wrestling with truth, sometimes running with perseverance. We face external battles: culture, temptation, criticism. But the internal ones? Oof. Those are the real doozies. Doubts, questions, the tug between obedience and comfort, between faith and logic. And yet, that’s exactly where God invites us to meet Him—not in the comfort zone, but in the tension zone.
This devotional is meant to help you live there—not just survive it, but grow strong in it. Like a wrestler who learns to stay calm while twisted in a hold, or a runner who pushes through the burn, we as believers must learn to stay present and trust the process. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to throw off what entangles and “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” That means there’s going to be resistance. There’s going to be weight. But there’s also going to be growth.
See, I believe the zone is found not in escaping tension, but in embracing it—the good kind of tension. Like lifting weights, it’s the strain that builds strength. Like those last wind sprints at practice when your legs feel like Jell-O but your coach is yelling, “One more rep!” Scripture is full of this kind of tension too—grace and truth, faith and works, accountability and compassion just to name a few. And if we’re not careful, we’ll swing too far to one side and miss the tension God calls us to walk in.
I love how Greg Wetterlin puts it: biblical tension is “two truths that are both equally true, but on the surface, they seem at times opposite.” Nailed it. That’s the kind of tension we wrestle with in this book. We won’t always find a clean answer, but we will learn to live well in the stretch. And hey, if you’ve ever pulled a hamstring, you know the stretch matters.
So whether you're a seasoned believer or just stepping onto the mat, the track, field or the court for the first time, my hope is that this book helps you discover how to live “in the zone”—not by escaping tension, but by leaning into it with the Holy Spirit as your guide. There’s actually a secret to thriving in that tension, and Paul gives it to us in Philippians 4. It’s called contentment. Now, I know—contentment isn’t a word most athletes get excited about. In sports, we often equate contentment with settling, getting soft, or losing your edge. But biblically speaking, contentment isn’t about coasting. It’s about being locked in—so rooted in Christ that no matter what’s happening around you, you stay focused, steady, strong and at peace.
Contentment is actually one of the best spiritual indicators of someone who’s “in the zone.” It’s not passive—it’s powerful. Paul wasn’t saying, “I’m good with whatever happens” like some kind of spiritual shrug. He was saying, “I’ve trained for this. I’ve learned to be at peace in plenty or in lack because my source is Christ.” That’s true grit. That’s spiritual muscle. That’s next-level faith.
Jesus modeled this beautifully. He lived in the tension every single day—fully God, fully man. He knew when to challenge and when to retreat, when to weep and when to rejoice, when to flip a table and when to wash feet. He embodied truth and grace, strength and humility. And He calls us to follow—not by living in comfort, but through the discipline of showing up daily, staying spiritually sharp, and embracing the stretch.
So let’s train. Let’s sweat a little. Let’s wrestle with the Word. Let’s run the race with holy grit and grace. And yeah, let’s laugh along the way—because sometimes a solid coach/dad joke is exactly the relief you need mid-rep.
Let’s dig into the tension… and find the zone together!
