During the days of April 11-13, 2016 the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes held its seventh annual Chaplain and Character
Coach Conference at the FCA National Support Center in Kanas City, Missouri
(USA). Eighty-nine men and women from across the USA, Ukraine, Trinidad, and
Brazil were in attendance. The conference is an integral part of FCA’s efforts
to develop this form of ministry through three primary strategies – Training,
Networking, and Mentoring.
The conference began with dinner at 6:00 pm on
Monday, followed by a welcoming address from FCA CEO and President, Les
Steckel, worship music by Marvin and Marvin, and an inspiring talk by FCA
National Director of Training, Dan Bishop. Dan spoke of God’s plan for building
and releasing leaders. At the core of his talk were four Ds about what is in
the heart of God. Desire, Design, Development, and Destiny. We wrapped up our
first evening, and then we checked into our hotel for the night.
On Tuesday, we were again gathered for worship
and then I was privileged to address the conference. I spoke from John 15 and
John 13 as I challenged everyone to “love extravagantly and serve selflessly.”
After a break, we had a training session led by FCA staffer, Marcellus Casey, focused
on building relationships with the coaches we serve. He encouraged us to be
seen, to then be known, and finally to be heard. Marcellus gave us a challenge
with four “Be Attitudes:” Be a blessing, be a listener, be a servant, and be
consistent.
We then took the next forty-five minutes to
network during a break. Another training session followed, this one focused on
legal compliance for those serving in public schools. It was quite informative
and most helpful. Our group was separated into two groups, one with a focus on
high school and club team settings, the other focused on colleges,
universities, and professional settings. A delicious catered lunch followed and
lots more networking across the tables. Another training session followed, this
one a discussion among those serving in similar settings. This went very well
as most of us learn best through the open exchange of ideas among our peers. We
followed that session with a break and a review of resources available for
development of our ministries.
At 4:15 in the afternoon I was privileged to
speak to the conferees about www.globalsportschaplaincy.org
and how it can be used in their ministries. Our last training session was a
discussion about building new chaplains, followed by departure from the NSC to
various locations for dinner. We gave everyone $20.00 and sent everyone to
dinner to talk, network, and to learn from each other. This gathering of
ministry leaders is so relational and eager to learn that we believe a totally
unorganized, relaxed, and loose evening is even more productive than hearing
another speaker. At their leisure, people returned to the hotel and turned in
for the evening.
Wednesday, April 13 found us traveling from the
hotel to the conference site with an 8:00 start in musical worship. Our final
session was led by FCA Chaplain and Campus Director at Virginia Tech
University, David Gittings. David spoke of “What Local Ministry Is and Does,”
in an inspirational and encouraging way. He spoke of how: Jesus longed for
people (Luke 19:1-9), how Jesus loved all people (John 4:4-30, 39-42), how
Jesus laughed and cried with people (John 15:4-7, 11:28-36), and how Jesus
lived among people (Mark 2:1-16).
We wrapped up the conference by taking
communion together and were commissioned to our respective areas of service as
led by Dan Bishop. At 10:15 we were released to travel home in waves of vans
shuttling to the airport or in our personal vehicles for the drives home.
Looking back on the conference and having seen
the results of our post-conference evaluation summary, we are very pleased with
the results. We have discovered that we need to do more to nurture those who
are just beginning to serve. We can do more to answer more of their process and
procedure questions. This conference was rich with philosophy of ministry
related to sports chaplaincy, but we could offer more of the nuts and bolts for
what to do in serving well. As is our custom, we will be back in Kansas City in
2018, but next year’s conference will be in another location where we perceive
sports chaplaincy to be underway in a dynamic way, and a location to where it
is easy to travel by air. Louisville, Kentucky would seem to be an early leader
for the 2017 conference location. Please plan to join us. We will announce the
location, date, and other details as they are known, likely in late 2016.
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