“If you build it, they will come.”

By Dave Harless

    RICHARDSON, Texas – The playground project is a ministry from the Richardson Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. The first playground structure was built the summer of 2002 by the Richardson team for their sister church Vilandes Baptist in Riga, Latvia.

    "Build it and they will come." This is a classic line from a popular movie about a young man who is driven to build a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. As the story develops, baseball players from past generations begin to miraculously appear and play baseball. Finally, the young man's deceased father appears as a baseball catcher, and they enjoy a game of pitch and catch. The young man is completely over-joyed at seeing his father.

    "Build it and they will come" could also be used to describe the calling of the playground ministry team to build children's playgrounds in Latvia. Although the playgrounds were not built in cornfields, they were built at Christian schools like Barbins School, and at Christian churches like Agenskalns Baptist, Gipka Baptist and Salvation Temple. The playgrounds were not built to attract baseball players but rather to attract little children. The children were over-joyed and played tirelessly until they were finally commanded to come back inside for Bible school.

    Some of the children at Barbins were from orphanages that do not have playgrounds. For these orphans, they now had a place to escape from their harsh realities of life in an orphanage, and just be kids as God intended.

    The driving force behind the playgrounds is not only to provide a wonderful, safe place for God's children to have fun, but more importantly it is a place for children to be introduced to their "heavenly" Father through the efforts of school and church ministers. Since all of the children's playgrounds are built on Christian property, they afford the children the opportunity to want to learn about Bible school and all of the programs that are offered. Their parents or other family members accompany the children, and they too are ministered to by the school and church workers.

The playgrounds may be one way that God uses to increase His numbers as the children experience His goodness and His spirit.

    Yes, "build it and they will come" can certainly be said about the playgrounds for Latvia. The children's faces and laughter were such a blessing for the playground team, and we are looking forward to building more playgrounds in Latvia as God provides.