Over the last three years, Fred Osore has diligently prayed and worked to plant and grow lacrosse on university campuses across Kenya. The first campus to join the movement was Kibabii University in Bungoma, located in the western part of the country. Kibabii also hosted the first campus FCA Huddle, and Fred has been pouring into young leaders.

Today, lacrosse is played on 10 university campuses in Kenya, and Fred is committed to identifying student-leaders who will disciple their teammates and grow campus ministry.

“I feel honored that God chose me to begin lacrosse on these universities, and that through this sport, I am able to share Jesus Christ with many of the young men and ladies,” Fred shared. “I’m at the point where I wanted to disciple them so that they can also start making disciples, because the end product is I want them to grow in the Lord and share Him with those who play sports.”

As lacrosse has grown on campuses around the country, Fred is praying for more people to come alongside those athletes and for the work on campus as he focuses his attention on Kibabii.

“I feel God telling me He wants me to go deep with one university,” he said about the inaugural university that holds a special place in Fred’s heart. “I thank God for the fruitful ministry in Kibabii University, because that was the first university to embrace lacrosse and FCA.”

Fred’s vision has expanded into two areas: soccer ministry and church partnership.

There are 19 teams in the Kibabii University Premier League, a group of club teams that compete against each other throughout the year. Last academic year, Fred put together FCA Warriors, a new team in the league. The team was given a soccer ball with The FOUR, a Gospel explanation, printed on it, and Fred is already envisioning a program for next season called Adopt a Team that involves churches in the area.

Fred, who also pastors a church close to Kibabii's campus, said, “I want to see how we as a church can minister to these students, so we can love them and give them an extra opportunity for growth and development.”

Adopt a Team involves not only Fred’s church, but also other churches close to campus.

“God put it on my heart and told me, ‘If I brought the whole university to your church, do you have a place to keep them all?’ We do not have enough room. It dawned on me that God wants me to encourage other churches so we can partner together so Kibabii University becomes a mission field.”

He has identified five churches to pilot this program with, connecting them with five teams.

The churches will invite the athletes to come once a month for a meal and fellowship, pouring into them with support and encouragement.

“We start with five, see how it works out, and then we will trust God to send us more churches from around the Kibabii area so that every church adopts a team that is playing in Kibabii University Premier League.”

Fred is also involved with One Ball Movement, a partnership with FCA’s Southeast Central Region in the United States, to get each team in the league a Bible and a soccer ball with The FOUR printed on them.

“I would like to get 19 Bibles and 19 soccer balls, and when we present them to the coach and team, which is about 25 people per team, we will have the Gospel presented to them as they receive the ball,” Fred said. “We will pray over them and believe that God will start moving in the life of the coach and the team.”

Fred’s passion for college students stems from his own life experience.

“I got saved my last year at university, and I know what life can be when a student isn’t born again, and when they are. I feel like if they get to know Jesus when they are still on campus, they can become a big resource in the Kingdom of God with their enthusiasm.”

It’s a big vision, but one propelled by love.

“What God has been showing me is that He loves people and He wants the students to know Him,” Fred said. “We'll be trusting God to lead us to other universities and connect us with churches that are around universities that have a similar burden.

"The core of it is we want to reach out to university students and equip them with the Word of God before they leave university and are unleashed in the world.”