For so many students, playing sports is what gets them through the homework, tests and day-to-day routine of middle school and high school. A 2014 study by the University of Kansas in Lawrence found that athletes had higher percentages of days of school attended, graduation rates and assessment scores as well as lower dropout rates than nonathletes.
Because athletics can have a significant impact on academic retention and success, some organizations such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) have recognized it as a missions field and have come alongside athletic programs to reach students for Christ.
For 60 years FCA has sought to be “the Church in action,” said Ken Burnett, area director for Northeast Alabama FCA.
FCA began in 1954 as an intense volunteer movement, according to Alabama FCA state director John Gibbons. Students would form an interdenominational Christian group, or “huddle,” and an FCA volunteer would help provide leadership and organization for the huddle. Since then FCA has grown from that localized volunteer movement to having more than 12,000 huddles in 47 countries. During the 2014–15 school year, Alabama FCA ministered to more than 50,000 athletes and 3,200 coaches through 70 special events, summer camps, campus huddle groups and 80 coaches’ Bible studies.
Burnett said, “Nine out of 10 Americans watch or participate in athletics every week. It’s a great platform in our country.”
Walking testimony
Wayne Dickens is a walking testimony to the great platform of athletics. A self-proclaimed “sports guy,” Dickens was a defensive tackle for Auburn University from 2001 to 2005 when he attended an FCA college event at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega.
“That’s where I met the Lord,” Dickens said, and after playing for the Tennessee Titans in 2006 he came back to the plains as the area director of East Alabama FCA.
Because of its role in his conversion, Dickens sees FCA as a missionary branch of the Church.
“Coaches and athletes are the most influential people in our society,” he said, emphasizing the importance of pouring into coaches, teachers and athletic directors specifically because they are the ones who have the students’ attention each day.
“We’re really blessed to have some coaches (and teachers and athletic directors) who are really invested in developing men and women and not just trying to win games. And you always want to be investing in the people who are going to be investing in others.”
In the same way church partnership is vital because churches can nurture and encourage students in their walk with Christ past game days and athletic seasons.
Gibbons said, “We’re here to be an arm of the Church so they can reach out and get into the schools. Our desire is to see the local church embrace a local huddle for discipleship.”
Embracing the mission
Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, is one church that has embraced the mission of FCA as it houses the office of Dennis Hayford, area director for South Alabama FCA. Hayford used to be on staff at Cottage Hill Baptist until beginning his role with FCA.
Cottage Hill executive pastor Mike Breland works with Hayford and serves on an advisory board for South Alabama FCA.
Breland said the nondenominational aspect of FCA is important for the success of the program.
“FCA is not neutral — it’s distinctly Christian — but I think that it’s more widely accepted because it’s more well-known across the country,” he said.
Denominational ties aside, the mission of FCA boils down to a foundation of relationships, Breland said.
North Alabama FCA’s Burnett agreed.
“What we’ve found is that there are great church kids in school but they don’t have a clue how to lead and mentor,” Burnett said.
To remedy that, North Alabama FCA developed SALT, a spiritual “boot camp” and summer internship program for high school students that teaches them “to be leaders where they’re at,” Burnett said. “The key is equipping the student to lead and equipping the coaches to lead, creating a circle of accountability.”
In its fifth year, the internship program has impacted more than 130 students.
“We’re trying to teach them that they’re able to be missionaries at home (where they live). It takes being
intentional, but it’s been really rewarding.”
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