Bill Adams stood alone on Main Street in Houston on February 1, 2004 during Super Bowl XXXVIII seeking to tell the huge crowds passing by about Jesus.
The crowd, seemingly 100,000 strong, swarmed by Bill like a river flowing over a rock. The Lord seemed to speak to Bill at that time to say, “You need laborers to help you” and in that moment Sport Fan Outreach International was born.
“When you stand in the midst of so many souls passing by you in the midst of all the sights and sounds you seem helpless to be able to reach them with the Gospel. You realize there is no way you can reach them alone.”
“That moment was when I began to actively recruit evangelists to join me at the next Super Bowl in Jacksonville.”
About 70 evangelists of various types spent part of the next Super Bowl weekend in Jacksonville, FL evangelizing. Bill found a church that allowed him and the other evangelists to sleep on the pews and Bill even rented a disaster relief mobile shower facility for everyone to use. A local homeless ministry even provided sandwiches for one meal.
The good new was that the Gospel was heard all weekend by the Super Bowl fans unlike the year before in Houston.
The Super Bowl Outreach further developed in the next several years. In 2006 in Detroit Bill met more evangelists from Michigan. In 2007 Bill recruited even more groups to meet him in Miami. In 2008 Bill took five evangelists from Atlanta to Phoenix where he met many evangelists who would partner with Bill at many Super Bowl Outreaches.
Finally, in 2009 in Tampa, FL the Super Bowl Outreach (SBO) was launched as an official four day outreach event where the distinctives of the SBO were established.
These distinctives are fellowship, which meant everyone stays at the same location. Teaching meaning that Pastors and Professors are brought in to teach the evangelists. And outreach which means long days of ministry for our evangelists.
Since 2009 on average 100 evangelists have participated in the Super Bowl Outreach annually and now Bill conducts organized outreaches at major sporting events throughout the Western World under the name Sports Fan Outreach International.
This year alone sports fans have seen and heard 225 evangelists at major sport events ranging from the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to San Diego, CA for the Major League Baseball All Star Game and Celebration.
Bill and Sports Fan Outreach International’s next venture is returning to London for the fourth time to evangelize at two NFL games in London plus to the citizens and tourists throughout the city.
Bill can’t imagine what has transpired since that moment on Main Street in Houston in 2004. But along the way the Lord taught Bill to be faithful and 12 years later Bill is no longer laboring by himself but with countless other evangelists throughout the Western World.
Sports Fan International participates in the Great Commission by mobilizing, equipping and discipling teams of preachers and evangelists to proclaim Christ (Phil. 1:18) to fans at major sporting events like the Super Bowl, World Cup (soccer), Olympics, Final Four, and Rugby World Cup in the U.S.A. and around the world.
On MissionFinder, we have over 1,000 ministries offering opportunities like this to serve at home and around the world. To learn more about voluntering with Sports Fan Outreach International or to help support their ministry, visit their profile on MissionFinder.org here.
