June/July 2010

Eternal Investments

It’s official. Summer is here! School is out for most students, and, for others, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Every summer, FCA looks forward to the opportunity to impact the lives of thousands of athletes and coaches through our camp ministry. This summer alone we’ll have more than 300 camps on school campuses and historic sites like the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina, home of the famous Black Mountain FCA Camps.

When I think about FCA Camp, I think back to 1972 when a coach came to me in my first few months as a member of the coaching staff at the University of Colorado and encouraged me to go with him and his family to Estes Park for the evening FCA Camp assembly. What I heard and saw that night made a lasting impression on my life.

The evening’s program featured a young pole vaulter who had recently been paralyzed. His testimony of faith through difficult challenges was truly moving. He gave a clear message that he wanted everyone in the room to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. He even went so far as to say that he hoped the Lord would do whatever it took to get everyone’s attention, even if it meant they had to endure life-altering accidents like his. No, he didn’t wish hardship on anyone, but he knew that a personal relationship with Christ was worth anything and everything, including his ability to walk.

A couple of weeks later, I found myself at another FCA Camp assembly seated in the third row listening to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, a former Heisman Trophy winner and future Hall of Famer. As Roger shared his faith with the audience, I glanced behind me and saw what might as well have been a crowd of 700 mannequins. They were motionless, absorbing every word he said. Why? Because God had given him a huge platform as a star football player. That night, I saw firsthand how an athlete who could perform well on the field had the automatic ability to speak into the lives of young athletes.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is an amazing ministry. And this summer, all across the country, more stories just like these will be generated as athletes and coaches share their faith with FCA campers. Thousands of lives will be changed for eternity.

Because statistics are so important to us in sports, consider these: From 2005 to 2009, the number of FCA Camps grew from 145 to 302 and camp attendance leaped from 28,000 to 47,000. Inside those large numbers are the testimonies of individuals—single lives that have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes numbers get a bad rap in ministry, but there’s something to be said about praising God for the increase. We know that it’s not us; we just set the stage and let Him work.

In this economy, people often ask me why we spend so much money on FCA Camps. To be honest, I don’t think we spend a dime on camps; we invest it. We invest in the lives of athletes and coaches. We invest in their futures. We invest in their eternity.

I want to challenge you to visit an FCA Camp for yourself and witness this life-change. If you are, like I was, totally blown away by what you see, would you consider how you can invest your time or money into the lives of athletes and coaches through FCA? Get in touch with one of our staff in your area and ask how you can volunteer at a camp or contribute financially to a scholarship fund.

This summer, let’s choose to invest in God’s Kingdom. He’s already at work; it is simply our privilege to join Him.