Andrew Dikas Bio

My name is Andrew Dikas and I'm 25 years young. I was born and raised in a tiny city in south Florida called Miramar. My family is originally from Nigeria, but my parents always referred to us as "Americanized" because we don't know much of our own foreign language or customs. I have three brothers and one older sister. My older sister and brother are soon to be pharmacists while my eldest is studying law. The one thing my parents constantly emphasized growing up in our household was education, education, education! I might have been the odd ball out because I was completely consumed by sports. In high school, I played both basketball and football. It was not until my junior year i made the decision to really devote myself to basketball. I worked on my game relentlessly and became an all star in the county. I also maintained a high grade point average earned a scholarship to small college in South Carolina.
During my first year of college, my mother who was a devout Christian passed away of Colon Cancer. She was known as the "Spiritual Rock" of our family. Quite frankly, she was our everything. While growing up, she'd constantly gather us all as a family for prayer and bible study each night despite the fact that none of us truly believed like she did. Full of the spirit, she was. How could "God" take someone like our mother away, "we thought". We also attended a catholic church which made us grow even further away from anything about "God". We saw a lot of hypocrisy and idol worship in our church. We thought "God" was an imaginary friend that everyone talked about. Anyway, after my mother passed, I was in a dark place for a long time. I was lost. I started drinking, smoking, and did not really want to do anything with my life anymore. My sophomore year I decided to get back on the court and play basketball. We ended up playing against some small division one Christian school called Brewton Parker College. We beat their team but something about their school attracted me. Their players acted different. The environment was different. Something inside of me basically led me to transfer there. That summer, I went and tried out for the team and earned a scholarship. I arrived on campus fall of 2009 as a lost, arrogant, jock, but graduated a whole "new creature". In our practices our coach would always have us recite and memorize bible verses. To me, this was strange and I popped in his office to ask questions. I interrogating him with a plethora of diverse questions about God, death, anything bible related. Slowly but surely, my appetite for God's word grew. When I attended a nearby church, I heard the gospel for the first time and believed. I cried like a baby that day and became a born again Christian! Everything radically changed for me. My senior in college God flooded me with blessings. I met my future wife, had an outstanding year in basketball, and graduated with a B.A. in Exercise Science.
After graduation in 2011, God blessed me with the opportunity to play professional basketball overseas in Europe. I have played in Sweden and Slovenia. I have also taken a few classes in theology while abroad. My ultimate passion for the future is coaching and youth ministry. I strongly feel that this degree will give me a deeper understanding of the Bible and ministry. I am passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ and pray He uses me for His glory in today's fallen world.