"Coach Said..."

I was recently privileged to be a guest on this show with the Coaches Ministry Director in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

We both strongly believe in the influence of coaches with those they coach, with whom they coach, and with all those surrounding teams.

https://dailynewsnetwork.com/2026/shows/making-difference/making-a-difference-with-roger-lipe/?sessionId=37c6fed4-a05b-431d-8391-1dbd5788a01c&trigger_link=kMc2cIMbIdr1LkKPKFUs&fbclid=IwY2xjawQsCQ1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEed8J8NtP_EAqkIAfToAjm5msSGWZHMgQ6zN7yvEEDH0sTw5AJc8WZjtWGAy4_aem_l1IM3dzVWenx5y9q8-kg8w

Reflections from the Front Lines of a Cancer Battle

 My wife’s cancer battle consumed the first six months of 2025. It ultimately ended her life on earth, much too soon, and much too painfully. Throughout those months, I was alternately locked in the battle and trying to maintain an equilibrium to our lifestyle. As the weeks, appointments with doctors, treatments, emergency room visits, surgeries, and sleepless nights mounted, I became reflective and tried to make sense of what I was experiencing.

Writing reflections in the notes app of my mobile phone became a helpful way of processing all my heart and mind were experiencing. Below are those reflections. They are often raw, vulnerable, and gut-level honest. Later in the process, after the urgency of things had subsided, I began sitting with my laptop to write the narrative of our experience. I certainly have a long way to go in my grieving and mourning process.

Below, please find the link to a pdf of these reflections. I hope they are of some value to you, or to others who are experiencing disease, loss, grief, or mourning.  

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2jzmx9t7d4xea03cshcrl/Reflections-from-the-Front-Lines-of-a-Cancer-Battle.pdf?rlkey=hf1a6if0k725d9qh0pzrjxyor&dl=0

Reflections, Issue Discussions, and Bible Studies for People of Sport.

For the last thirty years or so, I have been writing Bible studies, reflections, and topical discussions for people in sport. All along the way, I have made them available at no cost to people on social media. I have been very pleased to provide them for my friends and colleagues. 

Recently, I gathered all that material, 221 pages of it, into one pdf file. It is available and you are free to use it as you will in your ministry. Simply email me at lipe6956@gmail.com to request a copy.

It is titled, Reflections, Issue Discussions, and Bible Studies for People of Sport.

Reflections, Issue Discussions, and Bible Studies 

for People of Sport

Reflections with Questions for Contemplation and Discussion

Page 3 - How Would Jesus Coach? Reflections on Coaching from the Gospel of John

Page 28 - Christian Ministry in Sport - Reflections from the Psalms

Page 44 - Christian Reflections on U2 Songs & Scripture

Topical Discussions with Questions for Contemplation and Discussion

Page 65 - Christian Faith Development Devotional Series - 8 Weeks of Reading, Contemplation, and Exercises

Page 74 - Transformed Lives Sports Discussions

Page 84 - Winners - 12 discussions on characteristics of winners

Page 90 - Pursuing Our Life’s Purpose as Sportspeople

Page 95 - Coaching Wisdom from Solomon - The Proverbs Applied to Coaching

Page 112 - Eight Ways to Worship On the Field of Competition

Page 121 - Powerful Strides in Christian Living - 14 discussions and daily exercises for knowing your position.

Bible Studies with Questions for Contemplation and Discussion

Page 135 - Redemptive Relationships - An inductive study of Jesus’ relationships with individuals and groups from the Gospel of Mark.

Page 150 - A Mentor’s Advice for Team Leaders - 25 Bible Studies for Team Leaders from First and Second Timothy

Page 165 - Wisdom for a Young Head Coach - 25 Bible Studies for Coaches from First and Second Timothy

Page 180 - The Battle for Freedom – 13 Discussions for People of Sport from the book of Galatians

Page 186 - Extraordinary Living - Sport Discussions from James

Page 195 - Coaching Points - 11 Sports discussions from the book of Titus

Page 201 – God’s Team at Ephesus – An inductive study of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians through the lens of sport teams.

Page 211 – Transformed Attitudes – Sport Discussions from Philippians

Appendix:

Page 219 - Leadership of Small Group Discussions with People of Sport​​​

Zoominar - Ministry in the NCAA Transfer Portal Era

The first in a series of Zoominars for sports chaplains and character coaches is now posted on YouTube (link below). 

My guest was Scott Brewer - Nations of Coaches Character Coach for Men's Basketball at Baylor University in Waco, Texas (USA).

The discussion contains vital insight for effective ministry in the NCAA Transfer Portal Era.

https://youtu.be/RE_P1dhAP7M?si=tfoPEUaZmQ8hFYKD

A Reflection on College Football

For twenty-seven years, I lived in the sport for eight months at a time. Sharon and I shared that life for nineteen of our fifty years of marriage. It was a constantly spinning carousel of coaches, players, and support staff. 

Each year we would build relationships, commit deeply, and serve faithfully. Each year we would lose some, graduate more, and send others on to new teams. The steady rhythm of coaches and players moving into and out of the program was both joyful and grievous. 

Hours were invested on practice sidelines, recruiting dinners each winter, long bus rides each fall, exciting victories, and soul crushing defeats on alternating Saturdays. We were in it with the team, all day, every day. Now, thirty-one years after beginning, I am an occasional visitor, more a memory than a real presence. I am well connected with a few coaches, but barely know a handful of players by name. 

The pregame meal and chapel have an air of familiarity, but I am clearly a guest. My presence on the sideline was once deeply engaging and valuable, but now I am more like a relic, mostly invisible when I am not just in the way. I find myself chatting up players from the past, also visitors now, and telling stories from ten years ago. It’s like I’m in a parallel dimension, here in reality but mostly an observer. 

I am forever grateful for my years of service in college football. The relationships built and the lessons learned have been invaluable. My relationships with countless individuals continue, but my relationship with the sport has dramatically changed. The momentary pain of the latter is easily overcome by the enduring joy of the former.

Fourth Global Congress on Sport and Christianity

 From July 31 - August 2 of 2025, Truett Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas USA hosted the Fourth Global Congress on Sport and Christianity. Congress on Sport and Christianity

This was a tremendous gathering of 250+ people from all over the world and from both the sports ministry practitioner community and academia. There were over 170 presentations and panels delivered by the very diverse group of participants.

Dr. Paul Putz and his team were fantastic hosts. The keynote talks and panel discussions were outstanding. The book table featured numerous titles from many of the presenters, even yours truly.

Many of us treasure this event because it's the only time we get to see some of our colleagues and friends from around the globe. 

The event wrapped up on Saturday evening with a banquet hosted by Brian Bolt and Chad Carlson of Faith. Sport. Life. The program included a fun Q and A with a panel and the presentation of the inaugural Faith. Sport. Life. Character Award. Some old guy from the USA was the recipient. 

Mark your calendar for October of 2028, the fifth congress will be hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Below, please find a few photos from the congress.

More Reflections from the Front Lines of a Cancer Battle

 Week Seven as a Widower – August 2025

At my son’s suggestion, more like prodding, I began listening to a podcast by a man whose wife had died of cancer a few years ago. There were dozens of episodes, and I began listening at episode one. I was soon fast forwarding through the introduction and repetitive segments. I found it a little psychobabblish and heavily laden with clichés. I will still listen, but with one eye on the fast forward button.

Jason also suggested I attend the GriefShare Loss of Spouse group at our church. I registered and attended the first session on a Tuesday afternoon. I found the information solid, the facilitators friendly, but the process was very slow and tedious. When the session started late, we were off to a poor start. I was happy to engage in the group discussion that followed the video and a short break, but after the meeting wrapped up and I was asked if I would be joining the group for the thirteen weeks of meetings to follow, I made no commitments.

I’m not sure if it’s due to my normal arrogance, or if it’s true, but it seems I’m doing very well in the grief and mourning process. As I have contemplated this situation, I am inclined to think my decades of walking with people through their grief has prepared my heart and mind for this unique season of my life.

Just in the last fifteen years, I have been with three people as they took their last breaths. First, my mother-in-law in the hospital in the fall of 2015. Two years ago, it was my father. My mother and I stood over Dad in an assisted living center after six days of hospice care. Most recently, it was my bride of fifty years.

In addition to these, I have been in an out of intensive care units, and other hospital rooms with people in their final days or hours. I helped prepare memorial service details for many of their families after they died, speaking at several of the services.

I believe having walked through grief and mourning with so many people, across so many years, has prepared me to handle it well. I may be terribly deceived and standing on the threshold of an emotional crash, but I don’t think so. I told a friend once, I was joining Jesus as He is prophesied about in Isaiah 53, in being, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

This could be a result of my approach to problem solving in general and how I deal with serious illness and crises in particular. I began grieving on January 14, the day we received the preliminary diagnosis of cancer in the emergency room. I began to deal with the worst-case scenario first. As we received more information and a clearer indication of her disease, I began dealing with the prospect of death. Having dealt with that, knowing I could handle it, I began working toward better-case outcomes. That dogged attitude and grieving process continues to the day of this writing.

New Places, New People, New Rhythms – August 2025

I was recently able to establish something of a new rhythm to my daily life, finally. It took a while, a few adjustments, and some experimentation, but I finally landed on a suitable daily agenda. As my body and mind seem unbendingly convinced six and one half hours are enough sleep for an old man, I am up very early. I get a light breakfast, watch some morning news, compose some scriptural text messages, X and Facebook posts, and then prepare for my mile and a quarter walk up the road. It gets my motor running and allows me some time for contemplation and prayer. Watching the sun rise over the city is beautiful. I move on to other things through the morning, go to the clubhouse for lunch and return to my villa. In the early afternoon I work through five sets of forty pushups each, making a weekly total of one thousand. This has me feeling stronger again.

I am taking this transition period purposefully slowly. I want to mourn well, wisely, and healthily. I am contemplating what my next season of life may include. As of today, it’s still murky water, but I expect it to clear significantly as the fall rolls into winter. I intend to have a clear picture and a game plan in January.

Attending a new church, living in a new community, being over an hour away from sixty-nine years of relationships, is a challenge. I feel very alone in my villa, especially at night. One bright spot in this season popped up when I sent a note of my disappointment to the church staff regarding some remarks made by a guest speaker. Amazingly, the senior pastor replied to my email, very diplomatically, but he did reply. We traded more emails and eventually scheduled lunch together. The chat we had was engaging, pastoral, and included potential areas of collaboration in ministry.