Fellowship of Christian Athletes Offers Coaches and Athletes Countless Resources to Take Strengthened Faith from Camps to Campus

Devotionals, Bible Studies, Training Resources, Prayer Tips and More Equip Those With an FCA Presence in Their School or on Their Teams

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—At the start of the school year or sports season, a teacher wouldn’t expect a student to excel without a textbook, and a coach wouldn’t put players on the field without first consulting the playbook.

It’s the same concept at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA, www.fca.org), which is ready, willing and able to provide student-requested resources for efforts that will allow Christ to change the lives of their peers.

With upwards of 100,000 coaches and athletes fresh off exciting, exhilarating and faith-strengthening experiences at hundreds of FCA Camps worldwide, the international sports ministry is aware that participants will be taking the skills they learned at Camp back to campus.

“As coaches and athletes start a new school year, we want to ensure that everything they took away from FCA Camps across the nation and around the world this summer can be applied to their life on campus as well,” said FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson. “It’s for this reason that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes offers countless resources to help them in their journey to build upon their relationship with Christ and glorify Him in everything they do—including sports.”

FCA organizes its many resources into three categories:

1. Personal Growth: From devotionals to Bible studies to free and printed materials, FCA has a variety of resources to help grow the heart of the competitor. Here, visitors can also subscribe to the Daily Impact Play Devotional, and the page also lists the Competitor’s Creed and Coach’s Mandate.

2. Training: Want to learn how to do FCA? Get step-by-step training and resources online. These include Coaches Ministry resources that minister to coaches through Huddles, events, training and resources; the Community Ministry, which lists off-campus opportunities to reach coaches and athletes; and Campus 101, containing helpful training and videos on campus ministry.

3. Ministry: Already doing FCA? Browse or search a vast catalog of resources, including hundreds of devotionals, Bible studies, videos, ministry tools, reading plans, computer wallpapers, games, icebreakers, skits, teambuilding exercises, outreach ideas, audio files and articles.

Just one example of many is a devotional titled “The Athlete’s Secret,” where Dan Britton, FCA’s Executive Director of Field Ministry, International, shares Matthew 6:6: “When you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

“What’s the secret of an athlete?” Britton writes. “Speed? Strength? Size? Training? Any of those will provide an edge, but none are the real secret. The most powerful secret of an athlete is actually a spiritual discipline—prayer. When was the last time we really pressed into prayer? Not the prayers that say, ‘God, help me with the big game today’ or ‘Help me to play well.’ I’m talking about intense prayer—a time of truly seeking God’s face and asking for His will. Many athletes may want to pray but simply don’t know how.”

Britton then gives eight simple tips for praying:

1. Reveal, don’t tell. Don’t report to God what He already knows. Let Him reveal what we don’t know.
2. Shut the door. Find a place of solitude to meet God daily.
3. Open our mouths. Do not think our prayers but say them out loud. A spoken prayer slows down thoughts.
4. Prepare our hearts. Listen to worship music to prepare for prayer.
5. Pray Scripture. Pick a Psalm and pray it out loud.
6. Petition. Devotion. Intercession. Ask God for our wants. Seek Him. Pray for others’ needs.
7. Journal it. Write our prayers in a journal.
8. Find a prayer partner. Find someone, perhaps a teammate, to pray with each week.

FCA devotionals are also structured in an appealing way for coaches and athletes, with sections titled “READY” (Bible verse), “SET” (devotional content), “GO” (action items and self-questions), “WORKOUT” (further Bible reading) and “OVERTIME” (prayer).

For those who want to start a Huddle at their school, FCA also offers resources to get started. Huddles are small gatherings that can include early morning Bible studies for individuals, teams or coaches; discussions before or after practices; and even larger campus-wide events all help coaches and athletes experience the eternal, saving grace of Jesus and deepen their walk with Him.

On the “Get Involved” section of the FCA website, students can learn about more opportunities to bring an FCA presence to their campus. Students can also begin planning ahead for the student-led Fields of Faith gatherings, happening Oct. 9 on athletic fields nationwide.

FCA is wrapping up the 2019 Camps season, where upwards of 100,000 campers were reached through nearly 800 events in the U.S. and internationally. This summer’s Camps theme, “Let’s Go,” based on Matthew 28:18-20, focused on the fact that believers serve a strong God, and how His followers are called to be like Him in every area of their lives.

View the media page for FCA here. For more information about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, visit FCA’s web site at www.fca.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fcafans or its Twitter feed @fcanews.

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