A Ministry That Makes a Difference
One of the greatest influences in my life has been the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I learned about it and attended a conference in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Professional and college athletes led “huddle groups” and were the major speakers.
I was invited in 1968 to be on a team that went to Miami during the weekend of the Super Bowl. We had the opportunity to go into junior high and senior high schools in the greater Miami area on Friday and speak and conduct chapel services. We met with many sports teams on Saturday. We even had reserved seats at the Super Bowl.
I’ve had an opportunity to speak at several of the national conferences where about 800-900 athletes meet for a week at Black Mountain, North Carolina. Being around those kinds of athletes and having an opportunity to share with them was like Heaven on earth for me. I saw real men and real women who excelled in their individual sports humbly share that it was through Jesus Christ and Him alone that they had discovered happiness and joy in life on this earth and a place in Heaven.
I confess that I even looked at possibly leaving the pastoral ministry and becoming a part of the National FCA staff. It was very appealing to me, but after much prayerful consideration I felt like God had called me to be the pastor of a local church.
A great privilege was when I was invited to serve on the National Board of Fellowship of Christian Athletes for an eight-year term. A few years ago, I was invited to go to Estes Park, Colorado where the first FCA conference was held. FCA honored some of the “FCA Heroes.” I had the opportunity to speak to the group using the podium where Branch Ricky delivered the first message to an FCA gathering.
Wayne Atcheson and a group of great players started a huddle group when Bear Bryant was at Alabama. Their first speaker was Billy Graham! I have had the opportunity to speak to that FCA huddle group. It is a huge ministry on the Alabama campus. It is the longest running FCA huddle group in America.
I am still actively engaged with the FCA. For the last ten years I have spoken at the FCA Coaches Family Conference in June. I have had the opportunity to lead chapel services for a lot of high school and college teams. One of the first times I was invited to speak to a college football team was when Coach Doug Barfield was coaching at Clemson. He and I met at an FCA conference, and he invited me to lead the team chapel for Clemson when they came to play Auburn.
FCA helped to break down the walls of segregation in sports. FCA has been the avenue that God has used to lead thousands of men and women to Jesus Christ through their witness. FCA has been able to reach so many people that the church could never reach. One of the great ministry memories I have of serving at Frazer Methodist Church was our support of FCA. I have been told that one year Frazer gave more financial support to FCA than any church has ever given! Please pray for them. All the prayer and financial support you give will be well used.
The population of Heaven is different today because of FCA! While it started primarily with football, basketball, and baseball players, it now reaches every sport played in high school and college.
What are you doing to make an eternal difference in the lives of people?
