I was born Diane Lynn Woodward in Montrose, California (county of Los Angeles), to a Jewish mother and a father with American Indian heritage.

In 1952, I met a boy named James Gordon and immediately fell in love with his 1949 smoothed over Ford with twin pipes. Little did I know that he was interested in me because he knew I didn’t know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. On March 29, 1953, God took the scales off my eyes and I invited Jesus Christ to come into my heart and soul. From that time forward, we studied God’s word together and fell deeply in love with each other.

In 1956, Jim and I were married. Both of us always had a desire to share the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever the Lord would open the door, even if it was in a foreign country. Jim's love and ability for sports made it very comfortable to get to know people who were sports minded. And so it all began.
It was in 1960 the Lord opened the door for us to incorporate a mission called Youth Enterprises, which now is named Sports & Cultural Exchange, Int’l (SCEI). It was evident that without the Spanish language, we were really handicapped, so we went to language school in Costa Rica. Returning from Costa Rica, we started 2 youth camps and had a unique ministry with gang members in areas police wouldn't go. Jim taught these tough guys to play a little softball and sign his team up in the local softball league. To watch these mean bullies fall to their knees and ask Christ into their lives is a memory never to be forgotten. We then trained Mexican leaders to take over the camps in the Sierra Juarez mountains and the youth ministry in Tijuana. In 1966, we started a Sports Evangelism ministry which to this date has ministered in over 60 countries.

Jim and I were privileged to have 4 great children. Daniel, Joleen, Darlene and David (pictured above, left to right). In turn, they have given us 11 grandchildren and now 7 great grand-children.

On November 5, 1999, God took Jim home. I praise the Lord for the 43 years we were married. I feel so very blessed that God gave us an opportunity to share His word in many countries around the world.

Now, I am living on the SCEI Headquarters campus in Monteagle, Tennessee. In Jeremiah 29:11, God has given me a promise that “He has a plan for me”. He has never failed nor forsaken me and my goal is to focus on His will for my life, which is to follow Him. Here I help with the daily maintenance, cleaning and a lot of praying.

Right now, I travel to Latin America with about 3 to 4 ministry trips a year. My job description is to translate, share God’s word with children in orphanages, handicap facilities, Sunday Schools, at athletic competitions and wherever God opens the door. I also help with airline and hotel reservations and other ministry challenges. In the SCEI office, I help prepare the teams that are about to travel abroad.

To God be the glory, as He opens doors and blesses my heart with many rewards. One in particular comes to mind was in the Yucatan Peninsula during a basketball ministry. The team had gone down a mountain to see a ‘cenote’ (a natural underground water storage for the ancient Mayan Indians). I stayed at the bus to watch the team’s belongings, when a little Mayan girl came to talk with me. I showed her my bracelet made up of 5 beads and asked if she would like me to tell her the story of what the beads represented. Well, she was all ears!

“The gold bead”, I explained, “represents heaven”, and then told her how wonderful heaven is going to be. “But”, I said, “the black bead represents sin (Romans 3:23) which means we can’t get to heaven. However, the red bead represents the blood Jesus Christ shed for us to pay for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3-4) and now because of what Jesus has done for you, you can have your sins forgiven. The white bead reminds us of a clean heart”. I asked her if she wanted a clean heart, and of course she did and right then and there she bowed her head and asked Jesus to come and live in her heart and to forgive her sins.

“There is one other color on the bracelet… a green bead,” I said “This stands for things that grow. God wants you to grow by praying, reading and obeying the Bible (God’s word) and then going out to tell others about Jesus.”

I gave her my bracelet and she immediately ran off with a big smile showing her friends her new bracelet. She invited 9 other children over to where I was sitting and sat them all in a row. Then I watched with tears of joy as she explained the ‘plan of salvation’ with her new bracelet in the Mayan language to her friends. They all bowed their heads and asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.

I gave them all bracelets and watched as they ran off with smiles on their faces and all with new clean hearts.

I thank God daily for what he allows me to humbly do.