FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES

Fellowship of Christian Athletes - Influencing the Influencers…

My daughter recently graduated from high school. I attended her last chapel program and was struck by the words of the speaker. His message was to be careful who you listen to once you leave home. He pointed out most of these kids had been living fairly protected lives with lots of positive messages coming from their home, school and church. Now they would be leaving that protected environment and going into a world that has many negative temptations, many of which run totally opposite of what they had learned growing up. In other words be very careful who you allow to have influence over you. I was reminded of this talk recently as I sat down with Larry Coley the Executive Director of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes to discuss FCA. Larry told me that if there is one buzzword that sums up what FCA is trying to accomplish it would be influence. “We know that the coaches and athletes have so much influence on campus that if we can have a positive influence on them then that positive influence can spread campus wide.” The positive values that FCA lives by and longs to instill in others are integrity, service, teamwork and excellence. They do this by leading ministries that focus on campuses, coaches, camps and the community. Our focus this month will be the campus ministry specifically the Character Coach (CC) program.

The CC program is led by volunteers that “adopt” teams and act as “Character Coaches.” While the program ministers to all sports from all parts of town its main focus is football teams on urban school campuses. There are so many needs these volunteers help meet I can’t begin to list them all but lets start with one of the most fundamental… food. Many young football players in the inner city play on Friday nights with a major problem. They are starving. Lunch was served before noon and they are required to stay after school for pre game meetings. Sure there is time to run and get something to eat but with no car or money eating becomes something they do without. This is where the Character Coaches step in. On high school campuses all over this city every Friday in the fall FCA volunteers are busy serving meals to young athletes that would go hungry otherwise. It doesn’t stop there. After the meal is over a voluntary chapel program is held. Most of the CC’s stay for the game and perform such services as taping ankles, being the team water boy, serving halftime snacks or meeting whatever need the coaching staff just can’t get to. Team needs help with kicking? Well just so happens one of the CC’s kicked in college, all of the sudden the team with no kicking coach has one!  On many high school teams the CC’s actually become part of the staff standing on the sidelines in coaches shirts during games. One of the strongest byproducts of this is young men that have very few positive male role models now have men that show up week after week, year after year silently and selflessly providing that positive role model they so desperately need. As you might expect the coaching staffs are extremely thankful for FCA and the volunteers. There is a problem though, as it stands now there is more need than volunteers to go around. While FCA is currently active at about 40 high school campuses with its CC program there are many others asking for desperately needed help that can’t be immediately given until more volunteers step up. Is your Sunday school class or men’s group or Bible study looking for a way to make a difference? I can tell you from personal experience they are few better ways than to serve others than through an FCA Character Coach program.

My daughter has made pretty wise decisions and seems pretty grounded in her faith but I must admit it does concern me that once she leaves home there will be so many negative influences that can seduce a young persons mind. My prayer for her and all kids heading off to college next year is that they will find mentors that live out integrity, service, teamwork and excellence. Mentors like FCA Character Coaches!

To find out more about FCA visit their website. www.memphisfca.org