You Are Here > Popular content / Popular content
Former Dallas Cowboys fullback Ron Springs, who played from 1979 to 1985, had suffered from Type 2 diabetes for 16 years and had spent three on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. To say the least, things were not looking very good until teammate Everson Walls decided to donate one of his kidneys to Springs. After a successful transplant, Springs no longer needed dialysis for the first time in many years.
In all my years of watching sports I’ve seen quite a few game plans. There have been trick plays, last-minutes heroics and the tremendous execution of skills in amazing victories.
One win from a storybook finish to his collegiate career at Cal Poly, Chase Pami lost the 157-pound NCAA title match in 2010. That loss—and his subsequent wrestling with the Lord over it—eventually spurred the Las Vegas native to new depths in his faith. Now training with Team USA to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Pami is teaming with FCA Wrestling to share Christ from his new platform.
Last year I wrote an article about how portion sizes have grown significantly during the past 30 years. I mentioned that common foods like bagels, hamburgers, french fries, pizzas and steaks have doubled and sometimes tripled in size and number of calories. It seems that, like Elisha, we always want more. Yet, while Elisha sought more spiritual power so he could speak courageously to God’s people and lead them in God’s ways, we often seek bigger portions of food to satisfy our physical and even emotional hunger.
These contemporary ads are designed to stir interest in FCA and draw new athletes, coaches and donors to your local ministry.
The “Scoreboard” ads are available in two different headline versions—Winning and Losing. These ads are also available in full page (8.5x11) and ¼ page sizes as well as color and black/white versions to meet the needs of different publications.
Use them in:
Please contact us in marketing if you have questions.
marketing@fca.org
“Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
Playing professional baseball was always a dream of mine. As a kid growing up in Lafayette, Ind., I’d roll my socks up into baseballs and throw them into the couch cushions, imagining I was striking out batters in the bottom of the ninth inning during Game 7 of the World Series.
In this verse, Solomon had been experiencing the greatest time of his life. Untold riches and phenomenal success were part of his everyday life. Yet within that prosperity, Solomon said his heart was tested. He knew that God is delighted by “uprightness,” or integrity of heart, and he pursued those qualities.
To be whole, complete, undivided in our heart’s motives and desires is to have integrity. Does that characterize how we coach? Are our hearts full of integrity on our worst days? How about on our best days? Some of us are tested by bad days and others by good days. Some are tested by losing streaks and others by championships.
The atmosphere was filled with tension. Players from both teams had been encouraged to protest the game. An outside source was trying to convince players that they were being exploited by big-time college sports. Everyone—including the 74,000 fans watching—was anticipating a conflict, but what people didn’t expect was some risky prayer.
Key Verse:
"Then He said to [them] all, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself?" Luke 9:23-25
As the coach of a college fall sport, for me, this time of year is a time of looking forward and planning ahead. We've finished reflecting on the past season, we've completed our exit interviews and we've laid out the plans for spring training. Now our attention turns to filling open positions with future recruits and envisioning what the future team will look like. Veterans return from Christmas break ready to embrace the challenge of becoming smarter, better and stronger. New recruits sign on with the hopes of becoming an important part of the future of the program.
In every new season, we are presented with new opportunities, new challenges, new relationships and new realities.
It has been proven that even identical twins have different DNAs. If that is the case, what is God telling us about our uniqueness? I believe He is telling us to be different, not to conform to the world’s standards, to be in the world but not of the world. I know this is hard and seems to be a paradox, especially in a world where we are told to be a team player—not an individual—or to play, coach, or live for our own agendas.
Jesus chose the disciples as His team—all twelve of them—and all twelve failed! When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested, the disciples ran away into hiding. They started out wanting to defend Jesus, but fear took over. Jesus predicted this would happen, yet still wanted these men on His team.
We all fail. As athletes we will blow an assignment, strike out, or miss a shot. When this happens will the coach still want us on the team? Truthfully, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But if we keep trying and do not give up, we are more likely to keep our spot on the team.
When I was in high school, I ran the 110-meter hurdles. I remember it like it was yesterday—being in the starting blocks, looking down the track through the tunnel of hurdles toward the finish line. Hurdlers and sprinters have a major advantage over longer distance runners in that they can see the finish line from the starting blocks. I see that same dynamic in today’s Scripture.
In the letter to the Hebrews we read, “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”
“Mr. Irrelevant” is an award that started in 1976. It is given to the very last player selected in the NFL Draft. The 2009 “Mr. Irrelevant” award went to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop, who has helped the Chiefs each season since the draft. In 2009 he was pick number 256 in the last round and was given a trophy—the Lowsman Trophy, which is a spoof off of the Heisman Trophy. This trophy actually depicts a player fumbling the ball!
At the draft, he was even given an official NFL jersey with the number 256 and “Mr. Irrelevant” on the back. Can you imagine getting tagged with the title “Mr. Irrelevant”? Basically, people are saying you are not important. I’ve been called many names over the years, but I would struggle with this one.
On Oct. 10, students across the nation will pack their local football stadiums, standing shoulder to shoulder on a cool fall night. The crowds won’t be drawn in for matchups against big rivals, but for a far more powerful and important cause—the salvation of their classmates and the opportunity to share Jesus’ love at a Fields of Faith event.
As much as we can predict and plan for life, we never know how things are going to play out. We see this all the time in sports. That’s probably one of the reasons that sports are so great—they’re completely unpredictable.
What a great metaphor for life, too. It’s the same way. How many times are we taken by surprise in a day? From little things like unexpected phone calls or traffic jams, to big, life-altering bombshells like deaths and natural disasters. We just never know what’s coming.
“Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
Without professional sports in their state, the citizens of Nebraska have elevated their Cornhusker football team to pro status—living for each Saturday in the fall. This fact isn’t lost on senior running back Rex Burkhead, who has used his four years in front of Big Red Nation to spread the saving message of his Savior, Jesus Christ.
Orioles Second-base man Brian Roberts talks about struggling with sin and responding God's way.
God gives second chances. Actually, God gives us more than just second chances; He gives us millions of chances, because despite our endless mistakes and sins God still loves us. I don’t know about you, but I mess up a lot. Whether it is by having pride, judging others, denying God’s will in my life or giving into temptation, I just cannot seem to stop feeling like I am failing God. After seeming to let God down so many times it is hard to understand that God still has a plan to use me to do His will. But, boy, does He have a plan.
I was training for a marathon—the beautiful, romantic, epic Paris Marathon. But, because I am a follower of Jesus, each morning begins with God, reading His Word and seeking His heart for the day. From there, I head off to work, where I run on my lunch breaks and then do my long runs on Saturdays.
After Christ, my family is the second-most important thing in my life. Normally I train with my wife, and we relish the time together. This time around, however, my training was going far better than I’d dreamed!
Depending on your perspective, 95 yards can be a long or a short distance. A car moving at 70 mph would cover that ground in 2.8 seconds. A competitive sprinter would take closer to 10. For a 19-year-old freshman quarterback leading his football team on a potential game-winning drive in one of college football’s most intimidating environments? Well, 95 yards might look more like 95 continents.
For USC quarterback Matt Barkley, those 95 yards were what he’d been waiting for since he was a kid dreaming of wearing the University of Southern California cardinal and gold.
Ministry
Sport
Book of the Bible
FCA Bible Topic