March 2010 Clay Meyer

For the past 55 years, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been on a mission to spread the name of Christ in the athletic community. Its vision: “To see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of athletes and coaches.” It’s a quest the ministry has been pursuing with a Godbreathed success that has led to spiritual growth throughout the sports community. Yet, to this point, FCA has largely been focused on the United States. Last summer, those borders got a little bit wider.

Through the work of a specialized ministry task force assembled to achieve and expand the ministry’s mission and vision, FCA is entering new international territory.

With the ability to transcend language barriers and cultural distinctions, sports serve as an international bonding agent—one that, when brought under Christ, can change the world. And with its new international initiative, FCA is praying for a way to capitalize and maximize for the sake of the gospel.

In one of its first official international ministry efforts, FCA and OM broke new ground in the summer of 2009 by hosting their first international sports ministry internship. Designed to train studentathletes to do international ministry, which, according to task force members, is starkly different than ministry in the States, the program gave 15 athletes the opportunity to be instructed, stretched, broken and ultimately connected to God in a powerful way. And because of their work and training, the world will never be the same.

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Set among the scenic hills of Bobbio Pellice, Italy, the internship assembled a diverse team of student-athletes, mostly from the U.S., at the OM facility of Forterocca, which means “solid rock.” Some had planned for months to complete the internship; others had responded to God’s call mere weeks before the registration deadline. Yet, despite the last-minute rush to raise funds, pack and travel, the late-comers were in the same boat as the early planners. Everyone was equally in the dark about the program and much of what they would experience.

Each was given a bare-bones description of the seven-week training. They only knew they would study character and leadership-development skills in a cross-cultural environment, while learning about international sports ministry through classroom and hands-on training.

“We didn’t try to steer them in any direction, but just teach and prepare them for international ministry,” said OM’s David Guehring, who served as the internship’s director. “God chose to use those seven weeks to prepare each of them for their futures. It wasn’t the program that changed them, but God.”

During the first weeks of the program, the athletes were instructed by experienced sports missionaries and teachers regarding the biblical basis for sports ministry and cultural sensitivity. Those lessons were followed by ones on evangelism, the models of sports ministry and the important topic of teambuilding. The classroom sessions were brought to life through a variety of physical challenges that allowed them to work out what had been worked into them.

“When they first arrived, they were all typical athletes, each performing to look and be the best,” Guehring said. “But after some time in the classroom and in team activities, they stopped performing. We focused on the quote, ‘I am because we are.’ Applying that, they grew comfortable in who God made them to be, and they were able to see their potential in the sense of community and the team.”

After completing the classroom portion of the program, the athletes were then commissioned to work in camp settings. The team hosted a one-week sports camp in Bobbio Pellice that allowed them to interact with the local children before being sent out to help facilitate sports camps throughout Central Europe. Their various opportunities included basketball and soccer camps in the Ukrainian cities of Rivne and Odessa as well as a baseball camp in Hungary and a soccer camp in Moldova. Each served as a chance for the interns to apply what they had learned about international sports ministry and put their head-knowledge into action.

“Through God and using sports to connect with the children, the team made a big impact in the valley around Bobbio Pellice and in their various camps,” Guehring said. “Doors were opened in huge ways, and I truly believe sports ministry, now, can have an even greater impact in Europe.”

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This spring, the international task force is developing the second Impact International Internship, scheduled to begin in June. Its itinerary includes more evangelism and biblical training as well as teambuilding activities. Also incorporated will be similar on-the-field experiences in camps and clinics around Italy and Central Eastern Europe.

This time around, however, Guehring and the team have a year of experience to build on. Still, they plan to keep the schedule slightly flexible and remain teachable themselves.

“Last year we were learning along with them,” he said. “It was challenging to schedule around the student-athletes opening themselves up to God and what He wanted to do with their lives. It’s all part of an experience and not just a curriculum.”

Regarding the internship’s future beyond 2010, Guehring does have a dream: that there will eventually be enough interest to begin specializing in specific sports and empowering athletes and coaches to conduct a higher level of international sports ministry. It is only a vision, but it’s one that Guehring anticipates will become a reality—especially in light of a first year that he can only sum up with this statement: “God truly changed lives.”