One by one, the children came.

They came from ramshackle villages and tarp-covered homes, their gaunt frames running barefoot through unkempt fields of grass to a skinny dirt road on the outskirts of town. Temporarily leaving behind their hardscrabble reality of hunger, disease and death, they lined both sides of the path to marvel at a new sight.

In the tight-knit community of Middleburg, Fla., residents have a history of showing support and commitment to their neighbors. So when Middleburg High School Volleyball Coach Carrie Prewitt got word that one of her players and her two younger sisters were headed for foster care, she knew what God was calling her to do.

When I look back over my journey of faith, I can see how God worked through the powerful influence of my parents. When I was 8 years old, my dad got his first ministry position and became a youth pastor at Peaceful Believers Church in Fort Meade, Fla. Both he and my mother still live and work there today.

After moving around to several different places in the Midwest, my family landed outside of Chicago in Naperville, Ill. I was the oldest of three, and my brother, Marcus, and sister, Candace, and I all grew up loving the sport of basketball. Some of our favorite memories are from basketball trips to gyms all across the U.S.

While our family was close, we didn’t have much of a spiritual life. We went to church for Easter, Christmas and weddings, but that was about it. Looking back, I can see that I definitely had a Christ-shaped void in my heart.