AJ Whitehead was a staff member with Athletes in Action from January 2004-August 2007. She currently plays on a women’s league basketball team (Damen Basketball Bundesliga) in Berlin, Germany, and works closely in ministry with AIA staff members in the city. AJ also plans to partner with TriFytt Sports to administer “Live the Vision” (“Lebe Deine Vision”) basketball camps throughout the country in the fall of 2008. These camps come as a result of AJ mentoring Linda Fröhlich in her faith while serving with AIA in the Middle East in 2006.

Tough, closed off, strong and not known.

These are the adjectives that described me before I had a deep relationship with the Lord. Although I knew Jesus as my Savior when I was 7, I didn’t know what it meant to have a real relationship with God until I was 23.

As a freshman basketball player at Western Michigan University, God was a part of my life as I spent time with Him, and, at times, talked to my teammates about Him. But even then I didn’t know what a deep, committed relationship with Him really looked like. I was dependent on God because I had to be, especially since I was away from my family.

The next year I transferred to Bethel College to play basketball, a school close to my hometown of Nappanee, Indiana. Ironically, Bethel is a Christian college, but once I transferred there my faith simply became a checklist. I made bad choices and life was all about me. More than anything, I transferred to Bethel because of that mindset—so that people would recognize me for my play on the court.

Basketball was my life. I was a big fish in a small pond. Everybody knew me but not too many liked me. My basketball coach stripped me of my captain title my senior year (because of the decisions I made)and made me earn it back. My attitude was, “If you’re not going to help me, I don’t care about you.”

After I graduated from Bethel in 2001, I looked to play overseas but nothing opened. I then applied to play with Athletes in Action but never heard from anyone. (As it turns out, my application got lost.) Since AIA was a no-go, I pursued a coaching career at the collegiate level. However, through various connections, I got a call from AIA Basketball and traveled on my first AIA team—a spring tour in 2002 to Greece and Macedonia. Thus, began the radical transformation in my relationship with God.

I began to develop a hunger for God’s Word. During “team times” (scheduled sessions on tour when teams spend time together in prayer, worship and reading the Bible), I saw what “walking with God and seeking Him” really meant through watching other women’s lives.

At the conclusion of this tour, I knew I needed to learn more about how to actively grow in my relationship with Jesus and what it really meant to know Him deeply and become more like Him. So I decided to travel on the 2002 Women’s Fall Tour. Simultaneously, I had the opportunity to play professionally in Finland but chose Fall Tour. I then planned on playing overseas at the conclusion of tour.

But during Fall Tour training camp I witnessed Christ’s love in ways I’d never seen before. AIA staff women began to invest in my life and love me in such ways that I began to grow in my relationship with Jesus. I was challenged to do an internship with AIA and began in January 2003. That summer I attended AIA Ultimate Training Camp in Colorado and saw God dramatically change lives in just one week, mine included. I realized Jesus wanted to be on the throne of my life rather than my sport. It was then that I chose to come on staff with AIA because I wanted to be a part of seeing God change lives.

Since my involvement with AIA began, I have continuously seen God change my life and many lives around me. I have seen that we were made to be in relationship with God and others. To walk alongside people and disciple (mentor) them as they discover a life of freedom in the Lord brings life to me.

Soft, known, teachable and passionate. Those are the words that describe me now as I live in Christ’s freedom.

Photos:

Top: A.J. discipled Linda in her relationship with the Lord while living in the Middle East last year. Linda played on a local women's club team in the city where A.J. served with AIA.

Bottom: While serving with AIA Basketball in Xenia, A.J. mentored athletes at Cedarville University, a nearby Christian school.

Each month you will be introduced to a life changed through Athletes in Action. If your life (or someone you know) has been greatly touched through your involvement with AIA, please send an e-mail to communications@aia.com. 

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