Tebow Inspired Meyer To Take Mission Trip

My friend Ron Bishop, who founded SCORE International, a sports-related mission organization that provides the means for athletes to go abroad and introduce people to the gospel of Jesus Christ, has touched many with his efforts.

This week, at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, there was more proof that Bishop’s passion for teaching people about Christ was hitting the mark.

Florida football coach Urban Meyer talked about his mission trip to the Dominican Republic with SCORE.

Meyer took his wife and three children along with two other families to visit orphanages and feed the hungry in villages where SCORE is planting churches.

“Probably, the impact of Tim Tebow inspired Meyer to take the trip,” Bishop said.

Meyer told the media gathered at the Wynfrey Hotel Wednesday that Tebow had done a lot of things that opened his eyes.

“It was a life-changing experience,” Meyer said of his trip to the Dominican.

Bishop said that Chris Mayberry, a basketball coach at First Academy in Orlando, gets credit for getting Meyer and his family to take the trip. First Academy is a ministry of the First Baptist Church.

“A year ago, Chris took his boys team on a sports mission trip to the Dominican Republic. One of the players took his dad along,” Bishop said. “That dad happens to be a good friend of Urban Meyer. Thus, the idea of a “family” mission trip was born and three families spent July the 4th week doing mission work.”

Mayberry is a former basketball player at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn. who went with Bishop on a SCORE trip to Jamaica to do missions years ago.

Bishop said SCORE International honored the request of Meyer to keep the trip a quiet, low-key event.

However, Bishop said when the Tampa Tribune and the Associated Press ran the story last week, he and his organization were happy to confirm it.

“It is so neat to have a person like Tim Tebow on the national scene,” Bishop said. “Teenagers (and adults) need positive role models and Tebow is one of the best. He went on three mission trips this year, kept a 3.68 GPA, and won the Heisman Trophy. What a kid!”

Nevertheless, Bishop said the biggest impact Tebow might have had on anybody was the spiritual impact he likely had on his coach, Urban Meyer.