Baseball FCA Breakfast Impact

Brent Voight and Shelley Pearson • January 28, 2022

John Wilkens has a lifetime of baseball experience. He played ball in high school and college, coached for over 30 years, and served as an ambassador for the game of baseball through USA Baseball and Junior Olympics.

As a coach in the 1970s, Wilkens often attended the annual convention of the National High School Baseball Coaches Association. At the convention, he would attend the FCA breakfast. It quickly became an integral experience for his faith.

When John started organizing the annual clinic for the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association in the 1980’s, he wanted a similar breakfast to impact coaches in Minnesota. He reached out to Randy Jensen, on staff with FCA in Minnesota, who was immediately on board and has remained the FCA face of the MSHSBCA & FCA breakfast for 40 years.

The breakfast has provided a tremendous platform for FCA to reach coaches as they come together for fellowship and encouragement.

Continuing the Tradition

This year’s breakfast is the first that happened without John. He retired from organizing the clinic after 40 years. Randy, however, continued the breakfast with Craig Anderson, who took over for John. “Our Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association has had a long partnership with the FCA. Our advisory board felt that it would be important to continue to offer the fellowship opportunity to our coaches.”

Besides providing a space for coaches to come together for an informal time of fellowship and encouragement, the annual breakfast is an opportunity for FCA to have an impact on the spiritual lives of the coaches who attend. Coaches get a morning full of fellowship and encouragement, a good breakfast, and inspiration from the program that Randy puts together.

Ben Jackels from Stillwater said, “The FCA baseball breakfast was a vivid experience for me. I was anxious about talking in front of everyone, but I experienced an abiding sense of calm from God once I started talking that allowed me to give my testimony." His teammate, Ryan Weisbrod, agreed. “This was my first experience of sharing FCA’s impact in a formal setting. I've talked about it with friends and family, but to really dig into the details of how FCA has changed my walk with Jesus was special.”

Randy Thiele, FCA board member and volunteer, attended the event for the first time. “Hearing from the Stillwater High School athletes was very inspiring as they shared their personal experiences. They are so mature and amazing.”

Be where coaches are

In addition to the breakfast, Randy Jensen spends hours during the clinic standing at an FCA booth in the vendor area. Brent Voight has joined Randy the last few years. An FCA staff member himself, he values the time to be where coaches are. “FCA’s purpose of going to coaches clinics of all sports is to get in front of coaches and plant seeds for future connections between FCA staff and coaches. Some coaches we may only see once a few times a year, one being the clinic and breakfast.”

Bucky Lindow is one such coach. The Cannon Falls High School coach has attended the clinic and breakfast for over 30 years. “When athletes compete, they use their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves. The same thing happens for us coaches. We spend many hours learning about pitching, hitting, etc. It is just as important for us to learn and grow in our spiritual lives.”

A Continuing Impact

FCA engages with several coaches’ associations as a way of staying connected to and relevant for the men and women who will influence dozens of kids each year. It’s one of the many ways staff commit to the FCA vision to see the world transformed through the influence of coaches and athletes.

This year Randy had cards for coaches who’ve been impacted by FCA’s presence at the baseball clinic to write a note for John. “I wanted John to know that he is appreciated and will be remembered for what he’s done to bring FCA here year after year.

With any blessing, FCA will be a part of the MSHSBCA clinic for another 40 years.

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