The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is a global ministry committed to engaging, providing, and helping coaches and athletes to come together to inspire and change the world through their faith. As of 2024, FCA has expanded with 2,992 staff members, and 489 international leaders serving 21,151 Huddles (small groups where participants study the Bible and have opportunities to share their faith and learn from others) worldwide.
“Being in FCA leadership helped me see the background stuff of everything that we are doing to help. Through speaking, I think the members, and even myself, have learned a lot which has helped build their faith. And for activities, it brings us together and I think a lot more friendships have been created through FCA,” sophomore Activities Director, Abigail Leidel, said.
Conifer High School has a new, but active FCA that provides a platform for student-athletes to explore and grow their faith through the club’s student-led leadership program. Club sponsor and CHS math teacher, Drew Maseberg is the faculty sponsor, and Laurie Eddy, the varsity volleyball coach, is one of the coaches.
“As an athlete, you are given a platform. People can come and see you play and your behavior on and off the court. We have to use our platform to be a good example of faith, it’s a choice we have, but we always have to be thinking about how we can use our platform for Jesus. I think FCA helps lead young Christians to form a good platform which not only can strengthen their faith but also lead others to God,” Eddy said.
The FCA chapter at Conifer held its first meeting on October 8th, 2024. This first meeting included student leaders introducing their mission and a game of kickball. To read more about the club’s beginning, read this article. Since then, with challenges and support along the way, FCA has continued its meetings to help students connect with their peers through faith.
“We had some problems with attendance in the middle of winter when there are not as many fun activities that we could do, but it shows who cares about why people are there, not just for the activities or food, but to strengthen their relationship with the Lord,” Leidel said.
In December, Conifer FCA hosted their Operation Christmas Child. FCA leadership and members packed Christmas toy boxes for children in need as part of Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child Project. This involved packing shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items which are then distributed through the organization to children in over 170 countries and territories. FCA leadership set up a way for members to bring in their gifts, and in total filled boxes to be donated. After filling up all the boxes, the group led a prayer over the boxes for them to truly make a difference and positively affect the kids’ lives through the help of the Lord.
“My favorite part of Operation Christmas Child was writing a note for the boxes that we created. It felt me feel closer to the kids we were helping,” sophomore FCA member, Zoe Proctor said.
On January 24th, the FCA leadership team met with Dustin Wanner, the FCA Area Representative for Central Jefferson Country. They talked about their plans for the rest of the year, leadership for next year, and what their overall goal was for FCA. They also focused on how they can get outside help from Wanner or the Conifer Community Church’s youth pastor. They ended up intending to set a specific schedule for the rest of the year with an interest in doing more volunteering as a club, like Operation Christmas Child, and getting the club together during summer for activities.
“I have a neighborhood baseball field and pickleball court, and I think it would be great if we could get FCA to all meet up a few times there during the summer. I don’t know if we would do a lesson too, but getting the community together would help us a lot and would help next year run smoother,” Leidel said.
Since they met with Wanner, FCA has met twice. On February 4th, Payden Devaney, the leadership teams coordinator, created and presented a slideshow about how to be a Christian athlete. It focused on Devaney giving ways in which he includes the Lord in his athletics and gives ideas for other athletes. Some ideas included writing bible verses on your cleats/shoes, prayer before and after games/practices, and worship music instead of your typical “hype” playlist. They ended the lesson with small groups where members discussed how they planned to take what they learned and apply it to their lives.
“The lessons that leadership plans are super practical for everyone in the room. When Payden talked about how faith affects him and his athletics, I think that’s something a lot of people can relate to or get something out of,” Eddy said.
On February 11th, FCA covered a harder topic but an important one. Eddy spoke about her personal experience with suicide and how she not only overcame it with the Lord but strengthened her faith. She used this as a way to bring up several verses but included a saying that has stuck with her throughout, ‘God gives his greatest battles to his strongest soldiers’.
“I know most people saw the schedule and thought this is a ‘talk about suicide’, but no it’s not. It’s a story about being a survivor and finding Christ through everyday life, which you will have to do no matter your situation,” Eddy said.
On February 19th, FCA’s youth pastor, Tanna Muse, spoke from Revelations 3:15-22 about how to stop being a ‘lukewarm Christian’ —a person who is Christian but not fully committed to God. ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me,’ Revelation 3:20. The club discussed this and viewed this as a way for God to tell Christians that God will always be there even when he feels the farthest away.
“I’ve been here helping leadership since the start and all I can say is they are crushing it. I’m proud of what FCA has become and seeing a lot of my athletes off the court leading this group to what it’s become has been amazing,” Eddy said.
“We are making a difference at Conifer,” Leidel said.
