If you have ever been to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting on any campus before, I bet that you walked away with a new friend, some godly encouragement, and some food to feed your belly. If you’ve never heard of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, then you’re in the right place! Fellowship of Christian Athletes is an on-campus ministry, and our mission is to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes. Our clubs are called “huddles” and we meet at the elementary school, middle school, high school, and college level. In Mesa County, we are currently in middle schools, high schools and at Colorado Mesa University. Our huddles serve as a place where students can go and meet with their peers on a weekly or monthly basis and be encouraged through devotional time and discussion about their faith. Our staff is made up of some amazing people, but I would love to take this article to focus on our women on staff that make this ministry special. Tina Snover is our multi-area director, Lindsay Icenogle is a part-time area representative, Jamie Robertson is a part-time collegiate representative, Michelle Umberger is an ambassador for the Grand Junction area and Alexa Jo Willms is an ambassador for the Fruita area. Together, we serve God and bring the ministry to campuses across Mesa County in hope to make a difference in the lives of our students through the word of God.
Fellowship of Christian Athletes started back in 1954 when Don McClanen formed an organization with 19 athletes that would “endorse” Christianity in a world where athletes were known to endorse shaving cream, razor blades and cigarettes. These athletes would go on to be the first FCA huddle which would snowball into the 19,431 certified huddles nationally and internationally in 114 countries that we have today. Mesa County officially started FCA in 2014 and has been growing ever since. We have nine middle school (Fruita Middle School, Redlands Middle School, West Middle School and Orchard Mesa Middle School) and high school (Fruita Monument High School, Fruita 8/9, Grand Junction High School, Central High School, and Palisade High School) huddles and one big huddle that meets at Colorado Mesa University. Our huddles have anywhere from 10 to 100 students that attend, and each huddle has a group of student leaders that help lead the discussion with their peers. The huddle usually begins by burning off energy by playing games such as dodgeball, knockout, spike ball, volleyball, kickball, etc. Huddles will have people from the community such as pastors, youth group leaders, teachers or school alumni speak at their huddles, while others pick a devotional from our FCA Athlete’s Bible and read scripture and answer questions that go along with the story. Students end their huddle by praying for one another and spending time in fellowship. FCA Soccer and FCA Tennis are two club sports that we have in Mesa County that provide another way for our students to participate in a huddle while also pursuing a competitive sport. These huddles are more structured as a team that have practices like any other club sport but there is an additional devotional time added on to the practice. Students can leave practice feeling encouraged and empowered not only in their sport, but also in their faith.
The most important reason that we do what we do with Fellowship of Christian Athletes is to help make the name of Jesus known. We give God all the glory and bring Him into our sports so that we can use our platform as coaches, officials, players, family members, friends, and fans to spread love the way that Jesus did. The women on our staff at Fellowship of Christian Athletes go above and beyond to be at every single one of these huddles throughout the semester and pour into the students so that they know that somebody cares for them. Not only do we have amazing staff, but we couldn’t do any of the things that we get to do without the support from our volunteers and teachers who offer up their classroom every week to host our club and provide a space for God to move in our schools. Because of them, students on our campuses have a place where they can go and engage with Jesus, be equipped with the knowledge of the Bible, and empowered to share it with others. We want to see disciples making disciples and continuing to spread the Good News about Jesus across Mesa County and beyond! But we can only continue to do that with support from our community and a continued faith in God to grow His kingdom through the work of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
FCA is not an athletic club. It is a Christian ministry that hopes to see transformation in our world through Jesus Christ, starting first with our students who want to use their platform for good. If you want more information about Fellowship of Christian Athletes, visit www.westerncoloradofca.org or fca.org. If you are interested in donating to Mesa County FCA, please visit https://my.fca.org/mesacountydevelopment. You can also contact Alexa Jo Willms at awillms@fca.org or 316-640-8826 if you’d like to learn more about Fellowship of Christian Athletes or get involved! We are always looking to grow our ministry and plant new seeds wherever God leads us, so don’t hesitate to reach out! May God bless you and those around you.