Character Coach / Sports Chaplain Blog

Tuesday evening, during our monthly Saluki FCA large group meeting, we included a Skype video talk from two recent SIU Swimming alumni. Justin and Jessica Wolfe were both leading members of their teams and of the Saluki FCA huddle during their days at the university. Both had shoulder surgery while in their collegiate swimming careers and shortly after graduating, I was privileged to marry them to each other. Justin swam well enough to qualify for the Olympic trials and gave a tremendous effort, but did not qualify. They now live and work in Mankato, Minnesota.                      Several times as they were at Saluki FCA meetings over their careers, we talked about the danger of performance based identity and the trap that it can be for competing athletes. They were both well aware of the challenge that it would be to them and walked confidently into their post-competition years. Th...

Earlier this week the Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted its annual Sports Chaplains Conference at the Hope Center in Plano, Texas (USA). http://www.thehopecenter.org/ We were very pleased with every aspect of the event. The venue, The Hope Center, is a wonderful facility which houses forty-one non-profit ministries. It is a short drive from DFW airport and their staff were gracious hosts. The event’s featured speaker was Baltimore Ravens (NFL) team chaplain, Johnny Shelton. Johnny did a solid job of encouraging and inspiring the 90+ sports chaplains and character coaches from across the USA. Our general sessions included 15-20 minutes of musical worship and prayer as well. We were joined by FCA CEO and President, Coach Les Steckel, on Tuesday afternoon as he offered his encouraging remarks about the value of ministry to the men and women of sport through sports chaplaincy. FCA’s national director of training, Dan Bishop, skillfully emceed the meetings and led the entire pro...

Today’s note is a reprise from one I shared in July of 2011. It seems even more appropriate as social media has only increased in its use and its visibility to the culture at large. It certainly is used widely, not necessarily wisely, by the men and women in sport. We must consider ways to use technology wisely and in a Christ-honoring way. I hope these thoughts are of value to you and our service of sportspeople. During the fall of 2009, I made a presentation to the Sport Chaplains Roundtable in Lansing, Michigan (USA) re: the use of technology in Sports Ministry. An outline of that presentation with some comments follows. I hope it is of value to you as you consider what technologies to employ and the values that shape how you use them. Using Technology in Sports Ministry • What to do? Which technologies can enhance our effectiveness in ministry with sportspeople? • What should I NOT do? What is there about such technologies which could actually harm our ministries?...

Today’s note is a reprise of one written on October 28, 2011. My wife and I are in the process of buying a home. That and other factors have squeezed my creative capacity for the week. I hope this note is of value to you and I’m back to 100% soon. Thanks. InSideOut Coaching In December of 2006 a colleague gave me a copy of “Season of Life” by Jeffrey Marx. It told the story of Coach Joe Ehrmann from Baltimore, Maryland and his pilgrimage through an abusive childhood, college and professional football, drug and alcohol abuse, the crushing death of his brother and eventually to recovery, ministry and transformational coaching of a high school football team. I was deeply moved and recommended the book strongly to many of my friends in coaching with remarkable results. In the ensuing years I met Coach Ehrmann, spoke with him a few times and then had him come to my area for a coaching conference and to speak at my FCA banquet, just eighteen months ago. In August of this year, C...

One of the four major initiatives undertaken by the Sports Chaplaincy Table of the International Sports Coalition is to further the relationships between men and women who work in Academia and those who serve as Sports Chaplaincy practitioners. For as long as I can remember, there has been a rather wide gulf between the two. Some of our friends and colleagues in the United Kingdom are conducting a tremendous event in August of 2016 which stands to bridge the divide quite effectively. Details on the Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity are below. Please consider attending and certainly watch for further details and results. Thanks. http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/health--life-sciences/faculty-of-hls/faculty-events/igcsc.aspx Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity 24–28 August 2016 In light of the dramatic increase in academic research activity and practical initiatives on the topic of sports and Christianity over the last decade, the Faculty of ...

This is a tremendous season in the development of Sports Chaplaincy around the globe. We, the Sports Chaplaincy Table of the International Sports Coalition, have been working with our partners throughout the world on a basic, introductory course of training for sports chaplains. We have invested innumerable hours, lots of money, energy, airplane tickets, nights in hotels away from family, and more in the process. We now have something to show you. Please log onto http://www.globalsportschaplaincy.org/ to access the training site. This training site was created with these values in mind: ·         To set a global standard for comprehensive, but introductory sports chaplaincy training. ·         To make this an open source with no one ministry’s name or logo to indicate ownership. ·         We assume second language English speakers and readers. ·    ...

A few weeks ago I received a call from a friend who works with collegiate ministries across the USA. He asked me to write an article about how we have made disciples among college student-athletes across these years. The article as it appears at http://collegiatecollective.com/6-keys-discipling-student-athletes/#.VNqiH_nF-So is below. I hope it is of value to you. 6 KEYS TO DISCIPLING STUDENT-ATHLETES Collegiate ministry leaders are often a little puzzled when they encounter student-athletes. They expect them to be just like other college students, but their lives in sport often present obstacles to their involvement in ministry events that are a great fit for the general population. I have been serving student-athletes at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for over twenty years. In that time, I have learned a lot about effectively engaging, serving, building relationships, and nurturing the faith of those in the sports community. I’d like to share six keys that I’ve found to...