JT Keith

Artesia Daily Press

jtkeith@elritomedia.com

Seek 1st Sports held its registration and evaluations on Monday and Tuesday, June 23-24, at Jaycee Park.

The league is run by Ty Houghtaling, the lead pastor of First Baptist Church, Artesia. Ben Cox, the church’s student pastor, serves as the league’s director.

The league started as part of Upward Sports, which partners with churches nationwide to sponsor kids in recreational sports leagues.

Seek 1st Sports transformed into its own version of the church and recreational sports program in 2013.

“This is our homegrown, homespun sports program,” Houghtaling said. “It is designed after Artesia’s desire for competition, equality, age-based learning and foundational fundamentals.”

Houghtaling said that Seek 1st Sports has become First Baptist’s ministry.

Its core verse is Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

“This is teaching these kids, first and foremost, about our relationship with God,” Cox said.

The league holds Bible studies every night at practice, and it shares the gospel message with the kids and anyone who would like to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Houghtaling said the league will wait to see the number of kids that come out before assembling teams.

“We divide teams based on talent level,” Houghtaling said. “And we will wait and see who the coaches are. We try to make them as fair as possible.”

Every team will play six games throughout the season, from July 17 to the last game on August 1.

“We try not to overemphasize sports at this age. We want to stress fundamentals, but most importantly, we want them to seek first the kingdom of God.”

jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1.