Coach Humbert's Impact at Rainy River Community College

Returning to Rainy River

Humbert pursued a career in St. Cloud for a few years before God drew him back to Rainy River 35 years ago to coach several sports. He spent his first three years there as assistant men’s basketball coach before assuming the role of women’s basketball head coach. He then added softball several years later.  During his tenure as head coach, his teams have gone to multiple regional, state, and national championships in both basketball and softball. He has been selected as the MCAC Northern Division Coach of the Year and the NJCAA Division III Region 13B Coach of the Year in both women’s basketball and softball (twice) and the NJCAA Division III National Coach of the Year when his women’s basketball team won the national championship. 

Coach Humbert has been incredibly successful in coaching, but that is not his biggest impact on campus. Instead, it is the impact his faith has made. His teams have prayed before games for most of his career at Rainy River. Team members must initiate it, but they can invite the coach to pray with them which he gratefully accepts. He has seen this simple act draw unbelievers to God as they join in prayer. He remembered one girl in particular: “At the beginning of the season, she was skeptical. One time, we were running late and had our pregame pep talk and were going out on the court when she said, ‘Coach, we can’t go out. We haven’t prayed yet.’”

That prayer time has made a significant impact, and God had even more He wanted to do at Rainy River through Coach Humbert.

The Start of the FCA Huddle

Humbert knew nothing of FCA in high school or college and wasn’t on board with starting a huddle when initially approached about it. Humbert said, “Cal Barr [FCA Area Director] came to one of the Rainy River games I was coaching and saw how I wrestled with the competitiveness of the game. He talked to me after the game about how God could transform that competitiveness to more joy, peace and love. He didn’t pressure me but let it permeate in my soul.” 

Humbert and his wife, Laurie, later attended an FCA coaches’ retreat at Cal’s invitation, and Humbert liked what he saw. He said, “I saw a bunch of people who loved Christ and wanted to share their faith with their teams.” So when Bill Adamson (FCA Area Representative) approached him about starting FCA on campus last year, he was ready! The huddle started with about ten students at the weekly meetings with a strong start this year and the prayerful hope of growing those numbers.

Coach Humbert invited a friend with a strong Christian faith to attend one meeting last year to check it out. Humbert said, “He thought it was amazing that we had people of all different denominations but meet around what unites us and not what divides us. Some of the things that separate us are more of man than of God.” What a great picture of the Kingdom and how necessary for our world today when Christians focus on the Gospel! 

Standing through Opposition

Humbert, of course, faces opposition because he is carrying out God’s work. There have been times when he has been challenged for living out his faith, but he said, “Each time the person who created the problem retired the next year.” Don’t we serve an awesome God? 

Humbert went on to say something that can help anyone who is taking a stand for Christ: “It’s a challenge, but there’s always been the test. Sometimes we fight the world. Sometimes we fight jealousy, accomplishment, or vanity. I know I need to be the best example, yet the devil challenges me all the time. Sometimes I think he’s got it out for me more than other people because I am a threat to him. Every day you need to realize he will try to intervene, divide and conquer, but you can’t let him win.”

Coach Humbert is living out Ephesians 6 where Paul talks about the armor of God. He has learned that “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:12) and to “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (6:10) 

Will you do three things as you think about Coach Humbert’s impact at Rainy River?

1. Pray for Coach Humbert and all the coaches, athletes, and staff members who are taking a stand for Christ throughout Minnesota. Pray that they have the strength to stand against the attacks of the enemy and that more and more people would be reached with the Gospel.

2. Pray that God would raise up more individual coaches around the state to make a difference on their high school and college campuses.

3. Ask God where He wants you to stand for Him. What is He calling you to? Has He already been pressing you to step into a new place of obedience? Is he calling you, as one individual, to help Him accomplish His work? Seek His face today.