Character Coach / Sports Chaplain Blog

We are most grateful to everyone in our network of sports chaplains around the world. We each learn from the others and it is my aim through this weekly email and other avenues to share information I either create myself or gather from others. Possibly the best expression of this worldwide collaboration is the training now available at www.globalsportschaplaincy.org . There is a growing movement of sports chaplaincy in South Africa. They just held their first conference and training earlier this month. Thanks to Bruce Nadin for his invaluable leadership. There is also a growing movement in East Asia, Hong Kong in particular. They are hosting a training event this week. Thanks to Jung Ho Jung and to Cameron Butler for their leadership in that area of the world. Next week, Sara Hurst a sports chaplain at the University of Illinois, and I will lead a three day training with our colleagues of FCA Ukraine and other sports ministry leaders from that area of the world. We will be...

The first weeks of May bring with them the beginning of the Frontier League Baseball season. The players reported to Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois on April 29 for the 2015 season of the Southern Illinois Miners. The Frontier League is a set of teams in independent professional baseball. Their being independent simply means these teams are not affiliated with a major league organization. The salaries are small, but the hearts are large and passionate. I am thrilled to be serving this particular club because of the culture being nurtured by the manager, Mike Pinto. Mike has been the manager of the Miners since their first season in 2006, having declined opportunities to join other clubs of independent baseball as well as affiliated teams. Mike brings a professionalism and an attention to detail that is uncommon at this level of baseball. Among the factors that make for good ministry with this club and at this level of professional baseball are these : · My relatio...

During a recent preseason workout of the minor league baseball team I serve as team chaplain ( http://www.southernillinoisminers.com/ ), as our manager addressed his team in the dugout, he referenced the book, Legacy - 15 Lessons in Leadership: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life by James Kerr. He talked about their culture of excellence and imported their practice of cleaning up after themselves to our club. Rather than the players regularly drinking from a paper cup and then throwing it onto the floor of the dugout, he said we will no longer do that. Instead of leaving the visitor’s clubhouse (changing room, locker room, shed) in total disarray and covered with the litter of athletic tape, dirt, mud, soiled towels, etc., for the clubhouse manager to clean, we will bring our own cleaning equipment and we will leave the place even cleaner than when we arrived. Noble intentions for sure. We will see how well the players, especially the team leaders, embrace this...