All Things Work Together

Shelley Pearson • April 20, 2022

1988 - 1 centimeter short of making the Olympic team


1992 - 1.5 inches short of making it to the finals at the Olympics


And a seemingly meandering path that moved from a degree in marketing education to financial planning to teaching high school to collegiate coaching to ministry. Nothing was wasted, but each experience prepared Ron Backes for God’s ultimate call on his life.



Ron is originally from Cold Spring, a small town in Minnesota. As the youngest of six (four brothers and a sister) who were all athletes participating in football, basketball, wrestling and track and field, were a huge part of his adolescent years. Sports became his identity and idol. When he was 12 years old, he set his sights on the Olympics. He didn’t know how he would get there, but he believed he would get there.

The Decision to Throw

During his senior year in high school, Ron committed to play football at the University of North Dakota but was never settled with the decision. He won a state championship his senior year in discus and was also successful in the shot put. He loved football, but he also loved throwing shot-put and discus. His love of throwing prompted him to start looking at college options for competing in track and field. He ultimately landed at Hamline for one year before transferring to the University of Minnesota where he walked on the track and field team to throw shot and discus.


Path to realizing his dream…. Competing in the Olympic Games

His first attempt was at the US Olympic trials in 1988. After sustaining a pulled muscle in his leg in practice two weeks before the Olympic Trials. After competing in the 1988 Olympic Trials he came up short by one centimeter. One centimeter. He had come so close. He was 25 years old at the time.

Ron said, “After I missed the Olympics in ‘88, I was feeling so worthless and empty. My identity was in my success in sport, and that’s where I found meaning.” And yet, he had failed in the goal he had set many years before. 


Not wanting to give up on his dream, he doubled down and spent the next four years training full-time. He wanted to go to the Olympics above all else and was fighting hard to get there. But then, he said, “God started to work on my heart. My sinfulness started to weigh heavy on my consciousness. I was realizing how selfish I was and how many people I had hurt with my sinful decisions. I was broken and felt so far from God.” That emptiness he had felt in ‘88 was still there even though he had climbed to a top 10 world ranking in the shot put. 


Shortly before the 1992 Olympics, a friend invited him to church where God gripped him with the truth of the Gospel, and he surrendered his life to Christ. Ron recalls the overwhelming sense of peace he felt when asked God to forgive his sins. Ron recalls, “I felt like a new man, God changed my heart and gave me Godly desires.” He went on; “At the point of salvation when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have a whole change of reference, and he directs your life and your desires. That’s what happened to me. I used to swear, but I didn’t want to do that anymore. It wasn’t me anymore. I had never wanted to read the Bible, but now I wanted to. Suddenly, I wanted to tell people about Jesus.”

After two years at Ohio State, he sensed God might be calling him into ministry, and he remembered FCA. Ron and his wife Michelle returned to Minnesota, and Ron contacted Minnesota FCA about a position in his area. It had just been filled. In the meantime, he received a teaching offer that would require a move. After some time, he told Michelle he had to decide. He would call FCA one more time, and if nothing was available, he would take the teaching job.


In God’s perfect timing, at the very moment, Ron was making the call to FCA, Michelle shared with a mentor that she didn’t want to move for the teaching job. She encouraged Michelle to surrender that to the Lord. Ron said, “We didn’t know it, but it was the exact same time that I made the call that Michelle submitted it to God.” 


When Ron called FCA, the state director informed him that the position was now open.

A Changed Response

Ron then competed in the 1992 US Olympic Trials where he realized his dream that he had seventeen years earlier. Even though he made it to the Olympics he didn’t perform as well as he hoped in the prelims and fell one place and 1.5 inches short of advancing to the finals. He had realized the dream but fell short of his ultimate goal of earning a medal in the Olympics. Because his life was dramatically changed, his response was dramatically different from four years earlier. Where he was devastated after falling short in the ’88 Olympic trails, this time he wasn’t devastated. Instead, he said, “My identity was now in Christ. I was disappointed, but I realized it was part of God’s plan for me. I offered my performance to God and asked him to use it and use me to make his son Jesus known to people who were lost like I was.”


He would learn to look for God’s plan over the next few years.


Being an Olympic athlete gave Ron opportunities to rub shoulders with Wheelock Whitney, who was part owner of the Twins and Vikings. He got Ron started in financial planning. After a short time, God called Ron out of financial planning into teaching. He taught high school for three years before God called him out of that and he took a coaching position at The Ohio State University.


Olympic athlete, financial planning, teaching, coaching . . . preparation for God’s call to ministry?


After being discipled by Jim Schmidtke (Athletes In Action staff person) for two years while coaching at The Ohio State, he sensed God might be calling him into ministry. Ron and his wife Michelle started to explore opportunities for ministry back in Minnesota, and Ron contacted Minnesota FCA about a staff position in the North Metro. Ron and Michelle really wanted to live in the North Metro area but were disappointed to find out that the position had just been filled. Without another option for ministry Ron explored teaching opportunities in the North Metro area.  He then received a teaching offer in Anoka. While planning on taking the teaching job, Ron called one more time to see if a position with Minnesota FCA might be available.



In God’s perfect timing, at the very moment Ron was making the call to FCA, Michelle was sharing with a mentor that she was hoping on the FCA position but knew she needed to trust God. Her mentor encouraged Michelle to surrender that to the Lord. Ron said, “We didn’t know it, but it was the exact same time that I was making the call to FCA, that Michelle submitted it to God.”


When Ron called FCA, the state director informed him that the position was now open. We were so humbled knowing that God had our backs all along and when we fully trust Him, He will direct our path. 

A Clear Path and Fruit to Bear

That was 23 years ago, and all those seemingly random things now made sense:

  • He had been an athlete at the high school, college, and Olympic levels which prepared him for so many things with FCA, not the least of which was the perseverance it would take to successfully minister to coaches and athletes for decades.
  • His career in financial planning had made strong connections with people like Dan May and others who have generously supported his ministry.
  • He had been a teacher. He understood schools. He understood the life of coaches who were teachers.
  • He had been a high-level coach and could relate to the stresses and strains of coaching.


Ron clearly recognizes God’s hand in all of this. He said, “It’s not me. It’s God moving in me. He gave me this. He gave me these experiences. It has created a lot of opportunities.” It’s Romans 8:28 lived out: “For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” When Ron was walking the path, he didn’t see how it all connected, but now it’s clear.


Today, Ron remains passionate about discipleship and FCA’s strategy of ministering to and through the coach. It has been a truly amazing journey, and there is much more to come.

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