A team of baseball players from Coweta County is preparing to go down to Mexico this summer.
In the past, a team of local high school players would compete against local teams in Cancun and perform mission work each year as a part of Baseball 4 Christ, a sports-based ministry project.
This year will be the first time a B4C team has gone down since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Due to COVID, the 2020 team did not get to make the trip. COVID also affected what would have been the 2021 trip," Mike Winslett said. "In 2022 and 2023, there were still concerns about bringing outsiders into these small rural villages and areas that we typically traveled and played baseball."
Baseball 4 Christ's return isn't the only thing Winslett is celebrating this year. His company, DTH Enterprises, is turning 25 — it's its silver anniversary.
The company — named after Winslett's three children, Drew, Tyler and Hannah — began in 1999 and focuses on deliveries that can be made in 24 hours or less. Winslett said the packages usually belong to the medical, aviation or automotive fields.
"It's anything from X-ray machines to MRI machines. We take parts and surgical kits for trauma surgeries for hips, spines, ankles, cornea lenses and tissue," he said. "We move corneas all over the country and organs when people die and donate. Everything we do is extremely sensitive and time-critical."
Winslett takes great satisfaction in his work. He works through the night to ensure medical technicians can use their machines and airplanes are kept in the air.
"It really does help people," he said.
However, Winslett tries to fly under the radar when it comes to helping others in the community.
Philanthropy in Coweta
Superior Court Judge Emory Palmer calls Winslett "an unsung hero” who cares more about serving the community than receiving any recognition.
“He's not typically seen on the Newnan social fundraiser cocktail party circuit, but he probably has done as much, or more, in the last decade or so for community philanthropic projects than just about anybody,” Palmer said.
According to Winslett, his company has donated more than $2 million to various causes in 25 years.
He's donated to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the 2021 Alan Jackson concert, various churches, local sports teams, high schools and even created a scholarship to help students attend Mercer University, his children's alma mater.
"I promised myself that if we were successful, I would give back and be part of the community,” he said. “That community is not just Newnan and Coweta County. It's the whole United States because that's where our customers are."
Palmer said that when the 2021 tornado came through, Winslett donated a lot of money, provided equipment, and set up meals for people at the high school.
"He donates to just about every philanthropic cause out there,” Palmer said.
"There's so much he does that people don't know that he does," said Newan Fire Chief Stephen Brown. "He does it without anybody knowing. He's just that kind of person."
According to Brown, Winslett purchased a van when the COVID-19 pandemic began that he used to give away ice cream at local events.
During a city employee luncheon at First Avenue Park, Brown said Winslett came by with his van and gave away ice cream to the city workers.
"There was a special needs event at that same park, and he took his truck over there and gave them everything too, which I thought was a very nice gesture," Brown said.
Baseball 4 Christ
Outside of DTH, Baseball 4 Christ is Winslett's biggest project. He started it with Brian Morgan, area director for the Coweta FCA, in 2009. Winslett said that the team is made up of varsity baseball players from the local high schools. Players apply to be on the team or are directed toward it by coaches.
Winslett said some people donate to the team's trip, but DTH covers about 95 percent of the costs.
Once in Mexico, Winslett said the team plays three or four games during the week-long trip and performs missionary work.
"We'll work with churches that need projects done, like painting or need something repaired — anything that we can do as a group to help them while we're there," Winslett said.
Cancun serves as the team's "home base" on each trip, but that doesn't stop them from traveling quite a bit. They've gone as far as five or six hours to play games.
Winslett credits the late Dr. Gene Tyre with sparking his philanthropy around the same time he started his business. Tyre served as pastor at First Baptist Newnan for 23 years before his passing in September 2021.
"He was very big in impressing upon me that you need to give back. With his guidance and some of his advice and mentoring, it opened my eyes," Winslett said. "I would hope that it would have continued as it did without that conversation, but it did have a strong impression on me at the time. His words were very influential."
B4C's returns to Mexico
Baseball 4 Christ's return to Cancun will be June 2-8 this year.
A coach who was once a B4C player is included in the team's return.
Coach Cody Bevil, a seventh grade special education teacher at Madras Middle School and coach for the Newnan High School baseball team, joins the Christian baseball team in a new position this year.
"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for Mike and Brian. They've helped me change as a person and as a man in so many different ways since that first trip that I went on," Bevil said. "I was shocked that I got asked to be one of the coaches. I got asked by Mike and Brian if I would consider being one of the coaches because they wanted to revamp things with us being out for five years due to COVID."
Bevil joined the team during B4C's 2012 trip, his first time out of the country. He said he initially felt uneasy about the trip and wasn't sure what to expect.
"It was very life-changing for me and allowed me to grow spiritually," he said. “That trip made me realize I wanted to be a leader and pour into kids, which led me to be a teacher and (to) coach baseball, leading them toward faith and helping them become better people and baseball players."
After the trip, Bevil said Winslett became someone who could turn to when he needed guidance. When he needed to talk to someone about deepening his faith, Bevil said Winslett was one of the people he turned to. Shortly after being married, Bevil said he sought Winslett's advice on how to step into the role of a husband.
"Mike is somebody I can call whenever I need him, and he'll be there for me," Bevil said. Just for him to put on something like (B4C), just to help kids and impact them in so many different ways, speaks volumes about his character and the kind of person he is."
