Gentle Giants
Jake Hannon | Fellowship of Christian Athletes- Buffalo (FCA)
In Colossians 3:12, Scripture teaches us to be gentle, kind, compassionate, and humble. But what about when the world teaches us the exact opposite? For many of us coaches and athletes, we are indoctrinated at a young age to win at all costs, never show weakness, and take every advantage we can get. And, of course, such practices may in fact bring an element of worldly success. But much of what we are taught by the greater sports community has no substance for the life modeled after Christ. And, unfortunately, many of the professional athletes we look up to have not “clothed” themselves with Christlikeness.
If you are looking for some world class athletes that you can tell your children to model their lives after, look no further than many of our beloved Buffalo Bills. At our FCA Training Camp Graduation at Highmark Stadium this past June, five Bills players and three coaches went out of their way to spend time and celebrate the accomplishments of our athletes. They signed hundreds of autographs, and none left until every athlete and family had been able to get through the line. Some of these pro athletes also took time out of their Sunday nights throughout the year to join us on Zoom or in person to play games, interact with us, and encourage us to keep following Christ, even when the world is saying not to do so.
During FCA Training Camp, 145 high school and middle school athletes from school districts and churches across Western New York completed our 70-Day FCA Discipleship Challenge. They read Scripture daily as part of a fully customized FCA YouVersion Bible Reading Plan and they got to hear from special guest speakers each week. We gave out 64 Bills tickets, along with other cool prizes like drones and Chick-fil-A gift cards. We are thankful to have been able to host multiple events at the Apex Center at The Chapel this year as part of this program, and to have had Kingdom Come as one of our event sponsors at Highmark Stadium.
With over 90% of families in America involved in sports, there may not be a greater platform in today’s culture for us to model the gospel. At FCA, we train our athletes using our values of integrity, serving, teamwork, and excellence while equipping and empowering them to lead others. We hope to show the sports culture a different way of doing things.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:3-8, NIV)
This year, many players from the NFL and NHL lowered themselves, became humble and entered our world. They spent time with high school and middle school athletes, who are some of their biggest fans. Instead of keeping the fame to themselves, these pros demonstrated the humility of Christ by taking off their “status” becoming real human beings. They shared life with us, as Christ did. And we are forever marked by their compassion.
With nearly 500 athletes involved in FCA this past year, we are excited to see how God will continue to grow us this next year. Please check out our website and social media to learn more about our growing programs and how you might be involved!
FCA is a global ministry on mission to lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.
