However, after that season Thompson resumed a practice started in childhood, taking a mission trip to Kenya and Zimbabwe. The following year he returned to Kenya, and he visited the Dominican Republic last year.
Today, Thompson is contemplating a long-term career in missions, although he says he won’t wait on the opportunities until he retires from his favorite sport.
“A couple years ago I would have been happy to play my career out [first],” says Thompson, now a midfielder for Denver’s Colorado Rapids. “The way I think about it now is, why does it have to be after I’m done playing soccer?”
He witnesses at home, too, through locker room discussions with his nonbelieving teammates and wearing post-game T-shirts emblazoned with John 3:16 and Romans 6:23.
Honeymission
After his upcoming wedding on Dec. 3, Thompson could easily travel to places such as Cancun, Bermuda or St. Thomas, but he hopes to include missions in the itinerary. “We just don’t feel comfortable going on a honeymoon and being selfish,” says Thompson, who proposed to his fiancee last December during a mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
