1994

Phillip Prince, right, with member of Hong..Kong team.

Prince's basketball takes him to some interesting places

~MARK BEASON Democrat reporter

But basketball was not what their trip was all about. It was about spreading the gospel. Less than 10 percent of the population in Chin~ is Christian. Eagle Ministries used these games to reach a large au– dience. With the help of the native . Christians, they handed out Bibles during the games. They also held clinics for the children, most of whom had never seen a basketball

before. When not on the court, they were giving testimonials to some of the local churches, which were very similar to the churches in America. P rince met Rhett Wheatly, who organized the event and invited Prince to join the team this summer. The team is scheduled to leave on J uly 14 and return on July 29.

Philip Prince has played basket– ball for most of his 19 years. Being a standout at Leake Academy and currently a member of the East Central Community Collage basket– ball team, he has played in almost every place imaginable. Last sum– mer he not only took his game to a new place, but to a new continent. Barry Upton, a former basketball coach and headmaster at Leake Academy, invited Prince to play on a missionary team that was bound for Asia. Although Prince was a lit– tle apprehensive it was not a hard dects_ion tt make gh· • Hung Kong \\aS a grueling 1-1 hours, especially for a basketball team. And the time diff– ferential was difficult to adjust to. Hong Kong is 11 hours behind our central time zone. The team is supported by Eagle Ministries and was scheduled to play the top team in the area. The Eagle Ministry squad was thrown together and had little time to prepare. Their games were played ~~ ho~t~;moke-~ill~d gym~as!U....t?~ in '1b?

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