Character Coach / Sports Chaplain Blog

Over the last few weeks I have walked through some of the darkest days of a friend’s career in sport. She had never failed at anything, but the last two seasons of her coaching career had been a constant nightmare. My friend’s coaching staff had disintegrated, several key players had left the program and still others had been actively seeking her dismissal. All these factors led to great frustration and more than a little discouragement. This coach battled through these factors and tried to right the ship, but its crash seemed inevitable. As we talked over coffee it was apparent that she was considering resigning her position. We talked over her options and I could see the pain on her face and I could hear it in her anguished voice. This felt like total failure and it was terribly hurtful. A few days later, the severance package was negotiated and her resignation was announced. I grieved like someone had died. My friend took some time off to rest, recharge and to gain some focus for th...

Last weekend I was in Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia (USA) for some conversations and a training session with some of my Fellowship of Christian Athletes colleagues who are developing a new strategy for their areas. They are recruiting, training, equipping and mentoring a set of volunteer Character Coaches / Sport Chaplains for area schools, sport clubs and more. Both David Gittings (Brunswick) and Ed Pulkinen (Savannah) have done a fine job of finding people to serve in this way and they have even found volunteers who can be the trainers and ongoing mentors to the others. I spent a couple of hours with each of the trainers/mentors and then on Saturday, in Savannah, we did 6 hours of training in 3 hours. They were marvelously receptive and I believe with the long-term commitment and mentoring, they will do remarkably well in serving the coaches and athletes in their respective communities. If you’d like to have more information about how this works and the processes we’re developing...

Back on January 8 I wrote the first of three updates on my developing relationship with an area coach who is battling cancer. He has made it beyond one of their goal dates, the graduation of his daughter from high school, and continues to battle. He sent me an SMS message last night that he’s making his return to on the road, overnight recruiting this week. Another huge milestone. Below is one of the latest emails I sent to him with scripture to read and a prayer to pray. Please consider this simple, direct, personal method as an effective way to touch a sportsperson’s heart. Coach, You would have been proud of how Nathan E’s team handled their run to a state title over the last couple of weeks. He led with great poise and got the best out of his players. That’s no doubt a reflection of your coaching investment in him over his career at the university. Psalm 139 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a distance,...

Charlotte October 7th…Indianapolis November 10th…Lansing December 1st “Sports Ministry for Our Generation” that’s the theme for the 2009 Chaplains Roundtable Conferences in Charlotte, Indianapolis and Lansing. God continues to provide a wonderful list of speakers. Please visit our webpage to see the complete list of speakers. http://www.geocities.com/chaplainsroundtable/welcome.html Charlotte Roundtable @ the Church at Charlotte-October 7, 09 Keynote Speaker: Victor Lee-Author and Speaker http://www.victorlee.org/ Indianapolis Roundtable @ the Media Center of the Indy Motor Speedway-November 10, 09 Keynote Speaker: Barry Collier-Athletic Director @ Butler University http://coachbarrycollier.com/ Lansing, MI Roundtable @ South Church-December 1, 2009 Keynote Speaker: Jeff Totten-Chaplain-Detroit Tigers Born and raised in the Detroit Area, Jeff began SCORE Ministries in 2000 following 20 years of pastoral staff experience. SCORE stands for Sharing Christ through Outreaches, R...