Coaches Ministry - Getting Creative in the North Metro

Shelley Pearson • November 11, 2020

There’s a meme out on there on social media that says, “100% of the people who were asked in 2015, ‘Where will you be in five years?’ got it wrong.”

A global pandemic will do that to a person. Most would have answered the question wrong even in January for how the rest of our 2020 would be. Nothing is as expected. Nothing is as planned. It is true for individuals and for FCA as an organization.

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow." - James 4:13-14a

Read that again. Isn’t that what 2020 has forced us to do in everything? We may have glossed over these verses in the past, but now we really understand what they mean. No longer do we say things like, “In two weeks, I will meet with coaches at Jefferson High School.” Nor can we say, “I’ll attend next Friday’s huddle in Waseca.” We may plan for it, and it may happen, but we don’t know. Will I be quarantined? Will you be quarantined? Will the huddle be quarantined?

Getting Outside the Box (or the School Building)

If you’ve been following Minnesota FCA since March, you know that ministry has changed dramatically, sometimes day by day. But ministry has certainly not stopped. God is changing lives every day through the ministry of FCA, and for that we are grateful and excited to see how His plan plays out in the coming months and years.

Zach Hansen, FCA North Metro Area Director, says his biggest challenges are “Limited access to schools and not as much contact with coaches because of limited ministry opportunities. There are very few huddles running right now. I’m so used to being able to go to different huddles and connect with different coaches. There has been so much less of that, so it’s been more about having to actively connect with these coaches which has been really nice, but it’s a much slower process.”

The work may be slow, but Zach and other FCA staff recognize the great need to continue the work. “Coaches are pretty overwhelmed across the board. They don’t know which end is up and whether they can even have a huddle. I share with them some ideas and some inspiration and many respond with, ‘That’s all really great if we can get up and going, but we don’t know.’”

And not knowing what’s up or down with huddles is the least of the problem for coaches. Many of them are also teachers who are figuring out how to deliver in-person, hybrid, and distance learning – sometimes all at once. In addition, many of them also have kids at home who are trying to navigate the same. So Zach is focusing on being an encouragement to coaches and meeting them where they’re at.

Getting Creative

Over the last few months, FCA staff has learned to flex with the number of changes and restrictions. For now, Zach approaches ministry in the following ways:

Sends emails of encouragement to coaches
Uses social media to create content coaches can use with their huddles virtually (like The Core and The Four)
Texts and calls individual coaches to check in and see how he can be praying for them
Takes coaches out for coffee
Provides care packages (Bibles and pizza gift cards) for coaches and student leaders who are working within the discipleship model
Meets with a small group of three coaches who went through a discipleship course this summer and expressed interest in bringing the program to their huddles. He will disciple them over the next few months and let them experience it being modeled to them so they can bring it to their student athletes.

“To and Through the Coach”

Ministry is different, but it’s still happening. God is still changing lives. He is still drawing hearts to Himself, and He is still working in and through coaches and athletes to spread the Gospel throughout the earth.

The restrictions imposed by this pandemic are moving FCA staff, coaches, and athletes to do ministry in a model FCA has been working to establish for several years. For decades, the primary emphasis was strictly on the weekly huddle. It was fun, student leaders brought in great speakers, and students were saved. God used that weekly huddle to change many lives.

However, FCA has recognized that there can be an even greater impact, and even more people can be reached with the Gospel. The mission of FCA is to lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Christ and His church. The strategy to make this happen is to and through the coach with an emphasis on discipleship. First, FCA staff disciples the coach who then disciples his/her team. When that is done effectively, the athletes can do the same with other teammates and classmates now and into the future.

One coach, a nominal churchgoer, may have been last person one would expect to grab onto the idea of discipleship and active faith, but he absolutely loves the discipleship model. He recruited six kids to do a discipleship small group this summer. These six have moved into additional small groups and have invited their teammates to join them. Recently, two of his football players led a chapel with their team before the game and prayed with their opponents after the game!

God Knows what He’s Doing

Covid-19 has rocked our worlds and changed everything, but as one staff member has said, “This is not God’s Plan B.” God has known since the beginning of time that 2020 would be filled with monumental challenges, but we serve a great God who is creative and infinitely wise. He knows the best way to reach others with the Gospel in the midst of a pandemic, and He is moving in hearts as He always has.

Zach summarized, “FCA has said it in general, but I keep saying it to our coaches: God’s not going to be done just because of Covid. His message will spread, regardless, so we are going to find ways to do this safely. We are going to continue to proclaim His message.”

Stay tuned to read more encouraging stories from around the state of how God is reaching coaches who will then go out and impact generations with the Gospel.

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