Hello! Welcome to E3 in Action stories.
We hope that these stories give you insight into what God is doing in our square state. We want to engage, equip, and empower our WY athletes and coaches, along with connecting our amazing FCA community of volunteers and supporters.
That’s why…
We would like to share with you in this post:
- Engage: Post Season FCA
- Equip: Sheridan Huddle
- Empower: FCA Leader Brady Schaefer
Feel free to keep reading!
FCA Post Season Tournament was a blast!
Here is a great way for engaging Athletes on campus. Engaging with the Heart begins with making connections and building relationships. We can't think of a better way than with some intense competition on the court!!
Read what FCA Staff Kevin Cates has to say about this event with nearly 100 high school student/athletes from across Laramie County attended the event and had a great time – good, clean fun on a Friday night:
About the event. The idea for the postseason event came from a similar event put on by the Central huddle in 2011 – FCA overtime. Overtime was held after a basketball game and attracted 125 Central students.
I decided to make the postseason event for all Laramie County student athletes and hold it at the end of the winter sports season.
The event was held Friday March 18 in the Central Commons and Fieldhouse. The event was planned and hosted by the Laramie County FCA ministry team and the Central huddle leadership team. The evening began with a meal by every teen’s favorite, Chick-fil-A, followed by dodgeball, volleyball, and cornhole tournaments.
The evening was capped off by the powerful testimony of former UW wrestler Kyle Pope. Kyle included an outstanding presentation of the gospel in his testimony.
Teamwork. I know this event was for the students, but God acted in a powerful way for me personally. My family and I had a medical emergency the day of the event.
With the preparation that went into the event and the assistance of the ministry team and Central leadership, the event went on as planned, mostly in my absence.
This demonstrated the power of the body of Christ working together to carry out His plan! Watch this video created by State Director Karsten Sween below.
Building Trust...for everyone. As the event approached, there were very few kids registered to participate. There was concern about attendance and the opportunity to reach students with the Gospel. Was a great lesson for student and adult leaders about trusting God and surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit that He would bring students according to his will! As stated earlier, nearly 100 in attendance!
One major success was that the event went on and was well attended. There were many in attendance that may have clearly heard the gospel for the first time. Many of our stronger team leaders who do not participate in FCA, were exposed to FCA and the message of the gospel in a way they may, according to God’s will, respond to.
A volunteer from Burns brought 6 kids to participate. They said that they really enjoyed it when they got to the playing. It was also fun for them to play against kids from other schools.
"The speaker at the end did a great job. His testimony resonates well with kids and adults. I think all of us have struggled with anger and struggled with sin that keeps coming back," the volunteer said. "I really liked his perspective on it and his willingness to share his battle with sin along with the redemption Jesus gives. It was good for me to briefly touch base with other adults who are in FCA ministry. I would welcome more of those chances."
Wrapping it up. Kevin concludes, "We pray that these leaders will learn to lead in a positive, Christ-like manner. Another major success was simply watching kids have a lot of fun and fellowship in positive atmosphere covered by the protection of the Holy Spirit.
Hearing the gospel message from someone they can relate to always has an impact on kids this age.
The potential to raise up strong student leaders will have an impact moving forward. These leaders will be discipled to be strong ambassadors for Christ in their schools and on their teams."
Sharing God's Word in Sheridan.
Equipping Athletes and Coaches means growing in community and in the Word together. Our Volunteers do this with resources like the Four, the Core and Discovery Series - devotions designed to get them closer to God and each other.
But have you ever wondered how that looks exactly with a FCA Huddle? Read about this Sheridan Huddle to find out what makes their Huddle keep going strong.
Darin Gilbertson serves as a football coach Huddle Leader in Sheridan. He was featured in 2019 about his role as our FCA Camp Black Hills Camp Coach. Read more about it HERE. And keep reading below to hear what has been happening with this Sheridan Huddle in his own words:
How it's going. This is my seventh year with our huddle. It was going strong when I got there. Now, we have several coaches who help lead our Huddle consistently.
We split it up in several ways - one will grab doughnuts, one will lead the game/activity, and one will give the message. It all depends on the sports seasons we are in as well - we cover for each other all year.
We meet every other Friday from 7:30-8:05am. We have doughnuts and visit for 5+ mins while we wait for everyone to get there. Kids will hang out and visit during this time. Then we will play some sort of large group game for about ten minutes or so before we get into the message. For the last two years, we have tried to encourage our junior high students to lead messages (with the help of our adults).
We have also invited several Sheridan high school FCA leaders to come down and share with us as well and talk about the impact FCA has made in their lives.
Vision for the Huddle. We want to continue to grow our huddle and help build our leaders so they are equipped to not only help lead our large group huddle, but they can lead their individual team huddles, as well as make an impact in our hallways and classrooms.
*Thank you, Darin and all volunteers for all that you do!
Encouraging Athletes to lead the study or share their testimony remains one of the most pivotal ways to EMPOWER those leaders. We can't wait to hear how Camp also impacts Athletes attending from Sheridan this summer!
Meet FCA Leader Brady Schaefer.
Leading Ministry through FCA means you are making leaders who lead. This is a powerful vision of God's kingdom fulfilled in this call to and through Coaches and Athletes.
Meet FCA Empowered Leader Brady Schaefer. As assistant golf and boys' varsity basketball coach, he also hosts a coach's huddle in his room, helped lead the boys' basketball huddle and starting up a golf huddle this spring:
I was empowered to do this ministry when I saw the benefit it had for our coaches and student athletes. Here in Pinedale, Wyoming, we meet every other week as coaches, and at least once a week with our athletes.
I very quickly saw a mind shift in our athletes and coaches and immediately knew I wanted to get more involved with FCA. I was never a part of FCA throughout high school but had several friends who were.
Looking back, I wish I had gotten involved sooner.
Accepting the Invite. I became a follower of Christ within the last six years. When I met my wife, Laura, six years ago, she invited me to go to her church with her family and I thought “Sure, why not?!”
The message that was delivered that Sunday forever changed my life. I owe her credit for a lot of things, and this is definitely one that tops the list. If it weren’t for God putting her in my life, I am not sure where I would be today.
I eventually became involved with FCA through some coworkers. It started with me sitting in on some FCA meetings
that some other teachers were doing. When
I saw how much of an impact it made on our students, I decided to start hosting an FCA meeting once a week at lunch in my classroom.
Huddling up.
The huddle meetings are always so amazing to be a part of. The one thing that never stops amazing me is how student athletes lean on each other and build each other up. The students that attend our huddles are always our student athletes that become leaders on and off the court.
I would say to get involved earlier rather than later, and do not be scared to “dive right in.”
For Future Volunteers. I was a little hesitant to step into the role of an FCA leader, but I am sure glad I did. Our FCA leader has really opened my eyes to how many people, we as coaches, can bring closer to Christ. It is truly remarkable how much of an impact we can make on the
lives of young students.
*Thank you, Brady and all other volunteers for all that you do!
Blessings,
FCA Wyoming