Says Daniel Lee of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, ‘This Ministry Is to All Coaches and Athletes’
July 26, 2021
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Tokyo Olympics now underway, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA, www.fca.org) understands that this global sports event is the perfect time to wish for God’s blessing on coaches and athletes from all over the world—as well as to encourage all individuals to reach their biggest, boldest goals, both athletically and spiritually, no matter their specific levels of physical ability.
FCA offers its All Ability Sports Ministry, which permits the greater inclusion and participation of all categories of the abled and disabled. The ministry emphasizes the biblical message, “In God we are all able.”
Says Daniel Lee, who serves at FCA Malaysia as area representative for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, “This ministry is to all coaches and athletes. We believe in being intentional in our prayers, training, and programming in determining how God would have us be inclusive. God is leading us in this effort.”
Shortly after Lee participated in FCA’s All Ability Ministry Forum in 2019, he joined the FCA team. “I believe God has a plan to use what I do in the world of sports to impact the world for Jesus,” Lee says.
Lee has a particularly keen understanding of why FCA’s All Ability Sports Ministry is so essential. He has Type 1 Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also known as brittle-bones disease). As a youth, he dreamed of playing sports, but with all the broken bones he suffered, it was too risky. After college, fellow church members gifted him with a sports wheelchair—and Lee saw grand, new possibilities for his life open from that moment on. With the abilities and tools to push beyond his limits, he signed up for a men’s marathon and experienced the joy of competition. Today, Daniel Lee is an athlete who is pursuing big goals—goals that include competing in the Paralympic Games in wheelchair racing and sharing his faith in God through FCA ministry work.
Adds Daniel Lee about his ministry work, “My journey in FCA is one of the steps in my pursuit of Christ. He is using me as a vessel to bring His transformation to the lives of people who so desperately need Him.”
Today, more than five million athletes take part in various Special Olympics events across more than 170 countries. Hundreds of thousands of adaptive sports athletes also participate both recreationally and competitively in activities such as wheelchair rugby, wheelchair racing, sled hockey, swimming, hand cycling, and blind soccer. These athletes might be found in a local community gym—or on national TV in major international events such as the increasingly popular Paralympic Games. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games begin Aug. 24, 2021 and run until Sept. 5, 2021—and will include some 4,400 athletes from 160 countries.
FCA’s theme for 2021 is Pursue, based on verse 1 of Timothy 6:11: “Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.” FCA encourages its members to pursue God’s use of His Word as an anchor, grounding Christians as they look to His Kingdom.
Since 1956, the impact on coaches and athletes has been the main focus of FCA Camps, with each Camp offering fun, outstanding sports training, inspiring speakers, strong friendships, and lasting change. View the 2019 FCA Camps video here and browse camps by location, sport or date at www.fcacamps.org.
Read more about Fellowship of Christian Athletes here, visit FCA’s website at www.fca.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheFCATeam or its Twitter feed https://twitter.com/TheFCATeam.
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To interview Daniel Lee or another Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative, contact Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, Jeff Tolson, 610.584.1096, ext. 108, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102.