The Most Influential Figure In Our Culture

Who is it?  Is it President Obama?  Is it Donald Trump?  Is it LeBron James or Bono or Billy Graham?  Or maybe we should simplify it and identify a role.  Politicians?  CEO's?  Professional athletes?  Authors? I'll get back to this in a sec...

My day began at 5:00am.  In an attempt to complete my tryout training and gain some more "ground experience" in my last available weekend before graduation, I chose to drive down to Frederick, MD to spend the day observing some FCA events.  As I rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes and drove and hour in the rainy, dark morning, I never would have anticipated what I would experience.  This morning, Dr. Jeff Duke presented a seminar to local coaches on harnessing their athletes' emotion instead of shying away from it.  I then had the privilege of tagging along to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and a meeting in which the FCA Maryland leadership had a chance to pick Dr. Duke's brain.  It was like every time this guy opened his mouth, a gold nugget fell out!  He spoke with such wisdom and truth!

But what he said most that stuck with me circles back to our original question.  Who is the most influential figure in our culture?  Dr. Duke would argue that it is the coach.  Think about it.  Coaches have a chance to have an intimate, hands-on relationship with a lot of student athletes in a 4-5 year period.  Most of those relationships will last after graduation.  If a coach coaches for years and years (as many do), they come into contact with hundreds, maybe even thousands of athletes!  That is just one coach.  Just amp up the equation with thousands of coaches around the country, and you can easily guess what kind of astronomical impact they have.

For FCA, targeting the coaches is key.  We can indirectly impact an enormous amount of kids by investing in coaches.  And it's not just about getting pre-existing Christian coaches on board.  It is about using the medium of athletics to build relationships with coaches who might never set foot in a church and watch God transform their lives.  It is about walking alongside and helping them grow instead of Bible-thumping.  Dr. Duke told us that his son coaches a high school football team in Florida in which four boys live in a home where both parents are there.  Four boys on a high school football team!  What kind of role do you think that the team and the coach are playing in the lives of those boys?  That is their family.  That coach is their father.  They cling to him because they have nothing else.  I can't even remember all the stories I've heard from professional athletes testifying to the influence of Coach ___________, because he didn't give up on them or became the father that they didn't have.

Today has been an incredible experience and it's only 3:15pm.  If nothing else, it has brought to life the critical nature of investing in the lives of coaches.  Regardless of sport, sex, age, or belief, they are life-changing individuals.  When I step back and really think about my responsibilities as the future representative to Central PA, it's actually quite humbling.  I have so little influence.  I am one man.   But if I can equip and resource these men and women and walk alongside them in their journeys, the world will change one life at a time by the transforming power of Jesus Christ. 

Yes, please. I would like to be a part of that.