FCA at the WBCA Breakfast

Shelley Pearson • June 3, 2022

The mission of The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is “to lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church.” When we say, “every coach and athlete,” we mean EVERY. Whether youth, middle or high school, college, or professional sports, wherever there is an opportunity to bring the Gospel, we do.

This includes exposure at some of the largest tournaments around the country, like the Women’s NCAA Final Four championship recently held in the Twin Cities. As part of the weekend each year, FCA partners with the Kay Yow Foundation to hold a breakfast at the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association convention that runs in conjunction with the tournament. Kay Yow was a dynamic and well-loved Christian college basketball coach who died of cancer in 2009.

Ohio FCA staff member, Tim Brown, organizes the event each year alongside local FCA staff. This year, he worked closely with Michelle Backes, FCA chaplain to the Minnesota Lynx. The WBCA includes a digital invite to all coaches as part of the registration process, and FCA also has a booth at the convention where they personally invite coaches. The booth also gives staff an opportunity to connect with coaches. Michelle said, “We give them coaches ministry books and Bibles and hugs and love and encouragement.” It is an incredible opportunity to brush shoulders with hundreds of college coaches.

The Breakfast

The pandemic canceled the breakfast for the past two years, and similar to many recent events, organizers of the breakfast thought it might be a rebuilding year with 75-90 participants. They were wrong. 151 coaches came to the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis at 7 am for a free breakfast and to hear inspiring speakers and a Gospel presentation.

The event opened with worship, followed by speaker Ruthie Bolton, a two-time Olympian and member of the women’s basketball hall of fame, who closed her time with a coach’s prayer (that she passed out to participants as a bookmark). Next up was Coach Cori Close, current head coach of the UCLA Bruins and recipient of the FCA 2020 Kay Yow Heart of a Coach Award. She shared a heartfelt, deep message with the crowd before introducing Charlotte Smith, head coach at Elon University, former Olympian, and former college player for UNC. Charlotte was the recipient of this year's FCA Kay Yow Heart of a Coach Award. She also shared a dynamic message of faith. Each of these speakers set such a tone in the room that Michelle knew hearts were being stirred.

The Gospel Presentation

As Michelle prepared to close out the breakfast, she realized time would be tight, and she needed to choose her words wisely. She stepped to the microphone and opened with this: “As chaplains around the league, we’ve been talking a lot about mental health, transparency, vulnerability, and extreme ownership with the WNBA athletes, and it is in that manner that I feel I need to model that same leadership with all of you this morning. I’m aware that sharing this after you just got done eating probably isn’t the wisest timing, but I do want to be authentic and true to myself and all of you.” She paused before continuing, “You’ll probably notice Ruthie, Cori, Scott, and everyone who I came in contact with this morning, that I didn’t shake your hand and kept a little distance because, well . . .” Another pause and deep breath. “This morning I tested 100% positive for . . .” Now she had people’s attention: “Wait for it [pause] . . . sin.”

She shared that each one there also tested 100% positive for sin. She continued, “And this was BAD NEWS because that sin separates us from a holy perfect God and leaves a gap that is more than a vaccine or a basketball strategy. Jesus came to deal with our sin and give us a way to have a relationship with a holy, perfect, amazing God because we know that all have sinned [Romans 3:23], but the GOOD NEWS is that ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8].’”

Michelle also shared the D1 basketball recruiting story of her daughter, Carmen’s, junior year in high school. The family went around the country to different schools that had offered her scholarships to play, and Carmen had to narrow down her choice to only one. They were weighing positives and negatives and going back and forth on different factors. Finally, Carmen made a commitment and had a signing day. Michelle told that morning’s breakfast audience, “Some of you coaches might be still on ‘visits’ where you’re checking it out and narrowing it down and have not made an ‘official decision’ to make Christ the Lord of your life…or in your terms…your Head Coach that you trust to make all the calls. We want to give you an opportunity today to make it a commitment.”

Signing Day for the Gospel

She asked everyone to bow their heads and told those who were ready to make a commitment that they could have their signing day right then, surrender their lives to Christ, and acknowledge that they:

Were also 100% positive for sin
Needed forgiveness for that sin that is only offered by what Jesus did on the cross
Believe that Jesus rose from the dead
Would know that the Holy Spirit would live with them now on earth and forever in paradise/heaven/eternity

While everyone’s heads were still bowed, she asked anyone who had prayed to look up at that moment and make eye contact with her. Three coaches looked her in the eye at that moment. As Michelle says, “Three coaches forever changed their eternal address.”

What a blessing to be at the coaches convention at the Final Four! What a blessing to be able to share Christ’s love with 151 coaches! What an incredible blessing to know there is rejoicing in Heaven over three coaches who were lost but now are found!

Please pray for these three, that God would grab hold of their hearts more deeply and that they would find a discipling environment where they can grow in their faith and influence for the future athletes that God will recruit to play for them. Please also pray for all our FCA staff and sports chaplains as they impact coaches/athletes’ lives for Him.

Jessica Brewster (FCA Tennesee), Diane Vampatella (AIA at UConn), Felicia Comeaux (FCA Houston TX), Freda Doxey (WNBA chaplains Executive Board), Karmin Brown-FCA Ohio, Charlotte Smith – Kay Yow Coach of the Year – Elon University, Dr. Angela Smith – WNBA Chaplain Atlanta Dream,

Michelle Backes - FCA Minnesota, Tim Brown – FCA Ohio

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