"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

- Matthew 28:19-20

As the Baylor softball coach, Glenn Moore knows that he is judged by wins and losses and making it to the NCAA Tournament and ultimately the World Series.

But he sees the fulfillment of the Great Commission as much bigger than any softball game.

"The greater mission here is to use the platform I've been given for his glory and to provide these athletes who are on the greatest stage an opportunity to do that," said Moore, who is part of a 22-person Baylor group that is leaving Monday for a mission trip to the African nation of Ghana.

"This is life-changing for our student-athletes. And to me, that's what a university should be about. These girls are excited about going, but a lot of them have no idea. You never know when an experience like this is going to change the course of their life to put them in God's will and in the direction where they ultimately find the happiness and success that their life was meant to have. That's when you get excited is when you see one or two touched in a way that changes their lives."

Back in the summer of 2011, Moore and Associate Athletic Director Tom Hill led a mission trip to the Panama island of Aligandi and primarily did backyard Vacation Bible School-type sessions with the Kuna Yala Indian tribe.

But this time, the mission trip will include daily softball clinics for around 300 children in Obuasi, which is about an hour south of the larger metropolitan city of Kumasi in southern Ghana.

"One of the things that I desired, different from going to Panama, was that we were able to use our expertise in softball in spreading the gospel," Moore said. "I desired that, but I didn't make it a prerequisite for this trip. I just said I would like to keep that in mind. And if it materializes to where we're able to do that, then I think our girls would feel more comfortable in sharing and having that as kind of an ice-breaker."

Vincent Asamaoh, president and founder of Shoot 4 Life Ministries in Ghana, is the local missionary helping Baylor with the logistics and sees the clinics as a way to encourage the Obuasi children to begin playing softball.

"But more importantly, it's a way to spread the gospel," Moore said. "We may walk away from there and they'll never pick up another softball. But for at least the week we're in their lives, we're going to be teaching a skill we know while sharing the gospel. We're using a gift God gave us to share the gospel. It's certainly not our priority to get softball started. But if seeds are planted and it happens to grow into some kind of recreational sport, that would be great."

It could even lead to a return trip to help them build a softball field, "but we'll just see how they take it," Moore said.

Joining Moore on the 11-day trip are assistant coach Dani Price; strength coach Candice Walls; Courtney Cox, director of softball operations; team chaplain Katherine Johnson and her husband, Ben, the Heart of Texas FCA Director; student manager Jon Graham; and former LSU player Stephanie Hastings.

Along with 2015 seniors Kaitlyn Thumann and Jordan Strickland, the players making the trip are seniors Robin Landrith, Sarah Smith and Heather Stearns, juniors Riley Browder, Lindsey Cargill, Ari Hawkins and Kelsee Selman and sophomores Caitlin Charlton, Sydney Christensen, Morgan Groppe, Sarah Beth Toben and Jessica Tomchesson.

"We started looking and praying for opportunities," Moore said. "And we had several present themselves in vague ways that just never came to fruition. We looked at going to Brazil and the Philippines and even looked at some domestic things. But this was something that Ben and Katherine were presented with and brought to me. I said, 'Let's pray about it.' And here we are."

Having to raise nearly $70,000 for the trip seemed like a monumental task, Moore said, "and then you hear the confidence in Baylor Student Missions in raising money because of the benevolence of so many of the Baylor alumni and just people that genuinely want to provide resources for these girls to have these experiences and people that want to share the gospel and can't go themselves."

As for any safety concerns in traveling to Africa, Moore said he has "full confidence" in Baylor Missions and the "experts" that have been there.

"There's always the possibility in everyday life of something happening," he said. "But it is minimal with what they know and what they do to provide the safety of our student-athletes and put them in safe environments. . . . They've been there. So, having had feet on the ground in places where we're going to be makes you feel more comfortable as well. What we've told the girls is when you're in the will of God, you couldn't be any safer."

After a bus ride down to Houston, the group will fly to Amsterdam and then on to the Ghana capital of Accra, arriving at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29. They will have a day of prep before opening the camp on New Year's Eve and wrap it up with a coach's clinic on Jan. 4, "where we'll actually prepare the coaches for taking it a step farther, if they desire to do that."

Before returning home, they will also visit a national park and St. George's Castle in Elmina, one of several former slave forts along Ghana's Atlantic Coast that includes slave dungeons and punishment cells and a slave auctioning room that now houses a museum.

"There is guilt, but it puts things in perspective and makes you appreciate your blessings," Moore said. "I remember when we were in Panama, I told one of the missionaries there from the Kuna Yala Indian tribe that we would be praying for them. And he said, 'We'll be praying for you.' And it kind of hit me. He said, 'You guys have more distractions from God than we do. So, we'll pray for you.'

"We think we've got it all figured out here, and they're more dependent on God, which is where He wants all of us to be."

Pray for Moore and the rest of the Baylor team as they travel to Ghana.
And make sure you check out the mission trip blog next week.