Community Hero Stories
Community Hero Stories
What is a Community Hero?
An individual who brings their community together with an innovative approach to sports ministry while serving selflessly and inspiring life long change on and off the court. We want to celebrate these difference makers who labor in the Gospel work of making Jesus known through the power of sports.

Connecting The Whole Family
When Bowling Green State University in Ohio had their bye week this season, some of the football players took a trip across town and found themselves at a different kind of game day experience. Less than 5 miles from their 24,000-seat stadium, around 200 kindergartners through sixth graders were playing Upward flag football. The players joined in on the hype, high-fiving players as they ran through a tunnel before the game and cheering from the sidelines alongside encouraging parents and enthusiastic Upward cheerleaders. It wasn’t their typical Saturday football atmosphere, but it was exciting all the same.
Making Memories
For Emmily and Tony Hunter, League Directors for the Upward flag football and cheerleading league at the Bowling Green Church of the Nazarene, the energy and excitement those college players felt during their visit is something they work to bring to every Saturday of their Upward season. There is an intentional effort to make every game day the best experience possible—with everything from music to fog machines to halftime shows to food trucks to visits from college football players.
“We would tell people how awesome Upward is, but then we realized it wasn’t until people experienced it for themselves that they would realize how awesome it is,” says Emmily. “So that’s when we went all in on the game day experience, and we asked ourselves, ‘What’s the one thing that we can provide for families that will just keep them coming back?’ We say it’s the Disney effect. We have to provide a Disney experience. And that is what drags people out there to spend hours of unpaid time to make memories and provide this experience for their kids.”
Creating core memories for the whole family through Upward is something the Hunters are passionate about. Emmily says, “We tell people, ‘We want this to be the best years of your kid’s life.’ We hope that when they look back on their childhood memories, that Upward is a part of it . . . We know when Upward is a part of their core memories, then the Word of God and truth were present in those memories.”

Next-Level Energy
One of the ways this league has been intentional in getting the whole family involved has been by adding cheerleading. “It’s a unique opportunity for a sports league to involve both the brother and the sister. The whole family can come and watch them at the same time,” Emmily says. “It also builds a stronger relationship between the kids because they have something in common that they can share.”
“It just feeds into the whole game day experience,” says Tony. “These kids just love it.” The league started with six cheerleaders the first year they offered it, and in their most recent season, they had 25. In addition to cheering on the sidelines, the girls do halftime routines during the games and a big halftime show for the championship game. The Hunters have been excited to see how much cheerleading adds to the game day atmosphere. “We like to say that cheerleading brings that next-level energy,” says Emmily.
Connecting Families with Churches
Another significant way the league serves the whole family is by connecting them with churches. While Bowling Green Church of the Nazarene hosts games and practices, the volunteers come from at least five different churches throughout the community, including Dayspring Church, where Tony and Emmily attend. They all work together to produce a high-quality experience for kids and families.
A few years ago, recognizing the needs of the people they were serving, the Hunters and their team switched from seeing Upward as primarily a vehicle for discipleship to seeing Upward as primarily a vehicle for evangelism. Over half of their participants indicate that they don’t attend church anywhere when they sign up to play. For this league, the goal is not to get people to attend one specific church but to connect families to a church in general. Through Upward, families are introduced to Jesus, but they are also introduced to Christians in their community who are plugged into local churches—any one of which might be a good fit for them.
Tony says, “We’ve heard a couple of stories where a family just decided to go try out a church. They didn’t have a church home, and when they got there, their kids recognized other Upward players, and then the family recognized some of the coaches. And so they instantly were familiar and felt that kind of awkwardness or weight lifted. So, that’s what we want. That right there is mission accomplished.”
A New Perspective
It was the connection with kids and families that brought Tony and Emmily to Upward around 12 years ago. Tony was playing football at BGSU when his team chaplain, a pastor, invited him to coach in the Upward league at Bowling Green Church of the Nazarene. Tony noticed that the kids on his team were very engaged when he shared the devotions and taught them truth from God’s word. “I realized, ‘These kids pay attention because I’m their coach, and I’m building this relationship with them over the 11-week season.’ Right away, that pulled me in.”
Emmily, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about Upward at first. The Hunters had a 2-year-old son at the time and were still in college. Coaching was an added responsibility for their young family. But then Emmily attended an Upward game and immediately saw what Tony loved about coaching in the league. She recognized the positive impact it had on the kids.
The league director at the time invited the Hunters to shadow him for a year, and then they took the reins. The first few years were far from perfect, and they learned plenty of lessons along the way. Meanwhile, they added three more kids to their family. Emmily recalls that she often thought about quitting Upward in those early years.
“But then,” Emmily says. “The Lord just changed our hearts, and it was really the people who made the difference. The Lord has been so gracious and always finding people to say the right things at the right time and that has encouraged us to stick with it.” The Hunters found encouragement and motivation through the people they served with and the people they were serving.
Now, the Hunters love leading their league and the opportunity it gives them to connect people to God, to churches, and to each other. Both Emmily and Tony have a competitive drive to make the league the best it can be. The ministry they began investing in when their kids were young is something their kids (now ages 7-14) talk about taking over when they grow up. Even at a young age, they see what a great thing Upward is for their whole family and their community.
Meanwhile, their parents are still always looking for new ways to connect with the families in their ministry and help them create eternally valuable memories together.
“We want to plant seeds,” Emmily says. “We want to create an experience that allows people to experience God and connect them with others.”

Written by Laura Coulter, Content Writer at Upward Sports.
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Past Stories
September Community Hero 2024
PARTNER LOG IN FIND A PLACE TO PLAY “It Just Made Sense” About 30 minutes northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana, is the town of Brownsburg, where
November Community Hero 2024
PARTNER LOG IN FIND A PLACE TO PLAY Connecting The Whole Family When Bowling Green State University in Ohio had their bye week this season,

May Community Hero 2024
“With a sports ministry, we’ve got people who are on our campus at least twice a week,” Andy says. “You’ve got kids, you’ve got families, you’ve got parents, you’ve got friends, aunts and uncles, grandparents, you’ve got all these people who are coming. It’s just a great way for our church to get to know people and for people to see our church and for our church to just let our community know, ‘Hey, we see you. We’re right here. We’re right here with you.’”
February Community Hero 2024
Joey Lewis & Brett Nance, Bridges Christian Church & First Baptist Church, Russell KY
November Community Hero 2023
Jerry Fourroux, Lycoming Centre Presbyterian Church, Cogan Station, PA
September Community Hero 2023
Nicole Rullo & Amy Snyder, Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN), Oro Valley, AZ
June Community Hero 2023
Amanda Watson, North Hills Church, Vallejo, CA
April Community Hero 2023
Kyle Oakley, Lebanon Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC
February Community Hero 2023
Brad Habegger, Grace Church, Morton, IL
November Community Hero 2022
Jimmy Moneypenny, Second Baptist Church, Warner Robins, GA
September Community Hero 2022
Jason & Amy Wright, Memphis Baptist Church, Dothan, AL
August Community Hero 2022
Nate Blanchard, Chapel Hill Church, Brighton, CO
May Community Hero 2022
Bill Gallahair + Dave & Kim Hicks, Harvest Fields Community Church, Deatsville, AL
April Community Hero 2022
Matt & Candice Carter and Travis Osborne, Valley Christian Fellowship Church, Redding, CA
February Community Hero 2022
John Lybrand, Summerville Baptist Church, Summerville, SC
December Community Hero 2022
Vinh Nguyen, Cornerstone Church, Grand Island, NY
November Community Hero 2021
Brent Leach, First Baptist Church, Brandon, MS
October Community Hero 2021
Darrin Worthington & Mary Jordan, Trinity Baptist Church, Lake Charles, LA
September Community Hero 2021
Alan Royalty, First Baptist Church, Alpharetta, GA
August Community Hero 2021
Joel & Katie Stevens, Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, Indiana
July Community Hero 2021
Brent Jenson, Angleton Christian School, Texas
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