Student finds perfect combo in ministry, basketball

Unsure of what to do after high school, Tyler Heath ’18 took a gap year before college to share the gospel through the sports ministry, Push The Rock.

I became a Christian when I was really young, and I have always loved sports,” said Heath, a business administration major. “I have always felt called to minister, and this was a perfect combination.

With the nonprofit, he spent half the year in Zambia, Costa Rica and Spain and the other half in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He then interned for a summer in Italy. His duties included providing gym classes to homeschooled students; coaching and leading Bible study at basketball camps; offering afterschool ministry; and playing on the prison ministry basketball team in Pennsylvania.

These are human beings,” said Heath of the inmates. “I am just as broken as they are. To really see an inmate as they really are, we have to level up and see the inmate like Jesus.

During basketball season, Heath spends his Saturdays at Pennsylvania state penitentiaries. A crowd of 300+ good-behavior inmates earn the privilege to watch their prison’s all-star team face Push The Rock’s volunteers.

“We know we won’t see Tyler again until the game is over. It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo trying to find Tyler among the sea of inmates,” said Kyle Stramara, the Harrisburg district manager for Push The Rock and the overseer of the prison ministry program. “When we finally spot him in the crowd, he is sharing his heart and listening compassionately.”

At halftime of each game, volunteers share the gospel and a testimony. After the game, they sit down to discuss their lives with the inmates.

 “Heath’s love for the Lord and his passion to see others experience that deeply personal relationship with Christ was both evident and contagious,” said Chico Schlonecker ’99, vice president of international operations for Push The Rock. “Heath will do whatever it takes with what the Lord has blessed him with to share the gospel.”

—Daulton J. Leonard ’18 and Anna Seip