Character Coach / Sports Chaplain Blog

During the days of 21 and 22 September, my FCA colleague, Jim Roquemore and I delivered sports ministry and sports chaplaincy training to our friends in Havana, Cuba. Like many in Latin America, they had primarily experienced sports evangelism as the predominant form of ministry in sport. Having visited Cuba in 2009 and 2010, I had some background on their approach and thought they were in a position to see sports ministry from a broader perspective and with an approach beyond evangelism. We began by discussing the McCown Sports in Ministry Map, followed by the 360 Sports Matrix. I was very encouraged by how quickly they grasped the concepts and made immediate application to their service of sportspeople in their nation. It was most helpful that the room of around thirty sports ministry leaders was populated by people from most every category on the map’s horizontal scale – spectators, novices, recreational participants, players, elite players, and one high profile sportsper...

The issue of identity, its misplacement in one’s performance, its loss due to injury, retirement, or firing, and several other dimensions of this matter related to people in sport were recently addressed in an article about a college football (American Footbal) player. This article was written by one of this former teammates and it is rather insightful. It offers no solutions, but accurately reflects the gravity of the issue. I hope you will take a moment to read and to think deeply about those whom you serve. Thanks. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa/2015/09/09/woody-rest-peace-tyler-sash-every-piece-you/71937872/http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa/2015/09/09/woody-rest-peace-tyler-sash-every-piece-you/71937872/

Check out this video from our FCA Sports Chaplaincy School in Kyiv, Ukraine earlier this summer. It will test your language skills, but you’ll catch the drift from the video and the passion communicated by the Ukrainians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qodoN2G1ero

This season marks my twenty-second in serving a college football (American Football) team, here in Southern Illinois. It has been my privilege to be the team chaplain to Saluki Football through some rather lean years, like 1 win and 10 losses, and some very successful seasons, like a national semifinal appearance. In those years I have experienced a great variety of things, some exhilarating, some painful, some laughter, and plenty of tears. I have also observed the ways of some of my colleagues. There are a number of men who serve as sports chaplains to football teams and most of us develop our own particular style and have different guiding principles. I’d like to share some observations of some less than wise approaches to ministry in sport. 1)    Some of us use the scripture in ways that is not worthy of the Lord’s Word. To spiritualize scripture to accommodate your motivational talk is not wise, even if you believe it leads to your team’s winning. To rip scriptur...