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Spiritual Training Ground: 3 Big Takeaways From FCA Summer Camp 

I just got back from an electric week at FCA Summer Camp in Spring Arbor, so today we are going to talk about:

3 Big takeaways I had from this week at camp.

Release Your Agendas and Carry On with Faithful Action

I was planning on arriving to camp Sunday evening, but ...

My catalytic converter fell off my car!!!

With this, I had to drive back home and see a mechanic on Monday morning.

I was able to get to camp just in time for it to start, so I missed all my pre-camp training.

Rather than stress, I released my agendas and continued to move forward with faithful action, trusting I would be adaptable and GOD would guide my steps to still provide a great camp experience.

Many times we have agendas in life:

• As athletes we have training plans
• As coaches we have strategies
• As people we have to-do lists

Often when we plan ...

GOD LAUGHS ...

And throws us a curveball.

During these times, it can be helpful to release our agendas and move forward as GOD will use our faithful action to navigate a more profound path than we could have paved on our own.

Momentum Grows In Numbers

During our training sessions, one person would bring energy through clapping ...

Then another would join ... then another ... then another ...

Until soon the gym was electric with energy. 

During our worship sessions, one person would move to the front ...

Then another would join ... then another ... then another ...

Until soon almost everyone was at the front.

During our altar calls, one person would commit their life to Christ ...

Then another would join ... then another ... then another ...

Until soon many people devoted their life to Christ.  

See where you can build momentum in your life with others ...

And see how that momentum amplifies the more others join with you.

Sports are a Powerful Metaphor for Your Spiritual Journey

In sports, you realize there is a potential inside you.

You undergo countless unseen hours of practice and training to improve your body and your game.

You contribute your talents to a team that shares a unified vision of winning the game.

You execute with your team in the game and inspire those watching.

In your spiritual walk, you realize there is a potential inside you:

• The Holy Spirit, the LOVE of Christ deep inside you

You undergo countless unseen hours of devotion to improve your faith:

• Prayer
• Meditation
• Reading the Bible

You contribute your talents to a team that shares a unified vision of sharing the message of Jesus:

• Through worship
• Through church
• Through fellowship

You navigate the Game of Life and inspire those watching.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of:

• Releasing your agendas and proceeding with faithful action
• Building momentum with others
• Using sports as a metaphor for life

And I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

Bible Verses:

• Proverbs 16:9
• Matthew 18:20
• 1 Corinthians 9:25

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How Do You Handle Challenges??? How to remain faithful through challenges and setbacks

How do you handle setbacks? 

Do you allow them to beat you down, or do you remain faithful and enable yourself to triumph, only to realize in hindsight that those seemingly insurmountable setbacks were only enabling you to have a larger platform to make a greater impact in service to those around you?

Today, we're going to look at one of the most powerful books of the Bible in my opinion, and how it can help you to remain resilient and persevere as an athlete and as a coach for Christ.

The Book of Job

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I was recently having a conversation with a friend about the book of Job and how it relates to us as athletes and coaches. 

For those of you that need a reminder about the book of Job, it's essentially a book about God allows Satan to do essentially whatever he wants to Job other than kill him, to see whether this man named Job will remain faithful to God or not.

And Job was this very prosperous and successful human being. 

He had a giant family, he had a lot of land, he had a lot of livestock, he had a lot of wealth. And essentially, Satan takes all of that from Job. 

But rather than being down on himself, Job remains faithful to God through all of it. And God ends up repaying Job many, many more times over, and he became much more successful and prosperous.

And we see similar situations play out in our lives as athletes and coaches.

Athletes

You may feel like you're at the height of your game, but then you suffer a season-ending injury. But how do you continue to persevere and remain resilient through this? How do you continue to remain faithful to your team and pour into your teammates in whatever way you can? As you continue to remain resilient, eventually there will be a day when you realize that God was using that setback to refine you and to help give you a larger platform to make a greater impact to those around you.

Coaches 

There have been many stories where coaches are inflicted by either a scandal that is not true, or they have problems with parents. But as you continue to remain resilient, as you continue to persevere through these times, you will realize that God was only using that to refine you and to give you a larger platform to make a greater impact to all of those around you.

Setbacks in Daily Faith

And then athletes and coaches for Christ, in our daily walks of faith, there may be many times that we are inflicted with setbacks. Whether that's loss of loved ones, whether that's ending of relationships, whether that's emotional turmoil, whether that's external events such as natural disasters, which seem to push us down into the depths and into the ground.

As you remain faithful, as you continue to be resilient and continue to persevere, there will be a day when you realize that God was using all of this to continue to refine you, to continue to strengthen your faith, and one day you will have a larger platform to make a greater impact, to serve all of those around you many more times over than you ever could have before.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of remaining faithful even amidst all of life's setbacks, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

Bible Verses:

• Book of Job

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Our Fathers, Who Art on Earth: 3 Ways My Father Impacted Me as a Christian Athlete and Coach

Happy Father's Day to all, whether you're a father, a wife, a son, a daughter, or whatever else you are. Today, we're going to explore three important ways that my father impacted me growing up and how that helped shape me as an athlete and as a coach for Christ.

Ground Zero: The Gift of Life

Before diving into the three ways, I have to acknowledge ground zero - my father is responsible for giving me life. While I won't get into the nuts and bolts of this subject, I'm aware that my father is 50% responsible for why I'm here today. And although I'd like to brag about being some kind of immaculate conception, I think God had someone else in mind for that!

1. Being a Rock

The first way my father impacted me was by being a rock in my life - a model of stability and dependability. Not only did he maintain a solid job that provided for me and my family, but he was always there whenever I needed him. Whether I was in the hospital going through medical challenges, participating in school sports, or dealing with life in general, my dad was consistently present.

This shaped me as an athlete and coach by teaching me to be that same rock and model of stability for my team. Instead of getting caught up in the emotional highs and lows of the game, I learned to stay steady and execute precisely when needed.

2. Teaching Different Thinking

When I needed help with homework problems, my father wouldn't simply give me the answers or show me how to solve them. Instead, he would find similar problems with different numbers and teach me the processes so I could figure things out independently. Even after preschool, when I'd recite Bible verses, he'd ask, "All right, that's what the verse says, but what does it actually mean?"

My father never just hired others to fix things - he would research solutions online and do it himself. This approach helped me shape my own beliefs and values, see what was true for me inside, and learn on the fly - skills that proved invaluable in creating an online business and raising funds for ministry.

3. Freedom to Discover

The third way my father impacted me was by giving me the freedom to discover who I really am. Rather than pushing me toward chemical engineering, he supported my desire to pursue exercise science, psychology, and nutrition. Instead of forcing baseball to be my favorite sport, he let me discover my natural gravitation toward basketball.

As a kid, he encouraged me to try many different activities - from water skiing to hiking, cooking to playing guitar. This freedom helped me discover what truly gave me passion in life and allowed me to find who I was on the basketball court, as a coach, and as a child of God.

Our Heavenly Father

While I'm deeply grateful for how my father impacted me in these ways, I'm even more thankful for my heavenly Father who has done the same for all of us. God gave us life even before our earthly parents existed, even before the world itself. We were a thought in the mind of God, and He is responsible for creating us - there is divinity in our DNA.

God is our ultimate rock - a source of stability, dependable and unchanging, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the alpha and omega, the first and last, always has been and always will be, a refuge whenever we need it.

Just as my earthly father taught me to think differently, God gives us a wonderful mind to solve problems and guides us to think through the spirit. Where the world tells us to think about power or greed, God directs us toward unity, upliftment, and abundance for all. Where the world speaks of fear, God teaches us about love.

Finally, like my father's gift of freedom to discover myself, God gives us the freedom to discover who we truly are, to choose our path, and to enter into a conscious relationship with Him. He gives us the choice to remove ourselves from the external noise of this world and tune into our true identity as lights and children of God.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, have a happy Father’s Day, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

Bible Verses:

• Revelation 22:13
• Hebrews 13:8
• John 8:58
• Ephesians 1:4

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HEARING vs EXPERIENCING: How to experience Christ for yourself

Do you just blindly listen to what other people say???

Or are you a person of action who actually goes out to experience what they say?

Today, we are going to talk about:

How you can experience the truth for yourself.

Recently, I was reading the part of the Bible where Jesus asks His disciples who people say Jesus was.

The disciples said that some people said:

• Elijah
• A prophet
• This, that, and so on

Then, Jesus asks the golden question ...

Who do you say I am?

Then, the Spirit filled Peter and he realized Jesus was the true Son of GOD.

This passage has many carryovers to our lives as athletes and coaches:

Athletes

Many times we are told we need to just be confident, but the words seem to be lip-service and bounce off because we still freeze up in games.

But then, there will be a time when we sink into the Zone and are filled with unshakable confidence. Then we experience the game in another light as the game feels effortless and we play on a whole different level.

Coaches

Many times we go to coaches' clinics and we are told a certain play and strategy will work, but the words and plays don't mean anything yet.

But then, there is that moment in a game or practice, when everything seems to click, and you finally have the realization about why and how that particular play works.

Athletes and Coaches for Christ

Many times we are told about how we should believe in the Bible, GOD, and Jesus, but much of the time the words don't hold much weight ... they are just words.

But then, there is that moment when we finally experience the overwhelming love GOD has for each and every one of us ...

And in that moment ...

We finally realize the Truth ourselves!

May this be an invitation to you ...

To not take other peoples' words as gospel ...

But to go out and experience the Truth for yourself.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of experiencing the Truth for yourself, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

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Bible Verses:

• Matthew 16:13-20

 

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Your Go-To Off Season Training Guide: How to maximize your summer training for your game, body, and spirit

Are you going to maximize your off season training this summer?

Or are you going to let this opportunity slip away?

Today we are going to talk about:

How you can maximize your off season training not only for your game, but also for your spiritual walk of faith.

We are at that time of the year when school is getting out and summer is fast approaching.

This time of the year was always one of my favorite times because I could really focus on honing in on my off season training to become the best athlete and/or coach I could be.

Today, I'm going to provide you with my go-to off season training recommendations to help you not only in your sport, but also in your faith.

Take a Break

For the first 1-2 weeks, take a break.

This is forgotten by so many coaches and athletes, but can be vital to maximizing your training.

Many times, we jump right into our training without being fully refreshed, which can hinder our progress long-term.

So for the first 1-2 weeks, forget about your training and getting better so your body and mind can be fully charged for the rest of the summer.

Commit to a Balanced Plan at 70% Capacity

Commit to a program that will train:

• Your game
• Your body
• Your spirit

Training all three aspects ensures you are training holistically.

Training your game involves working on the sport-specific skills you use in games, such as:

• Running routes
• Shooting jump shots
• Taking batting practice

As a coach, this can involve running your team's off season practices and workouts and finding some way to better your craft like reading books and/or listening to podcasts.

Training your body involves your strength and conditioning work, such as:

• Lifting weights
• Doing sprints
• Longer cardio/aerobic exercises

For athletes, this can often be done with your team and focused on sport-specific energy systems.

As a coach, find time in your day to move your body to maximize your energy to help your players.

Training your spirit involves partaking in activities that help you experience Christ's Presence in your life, such as:

• Reading a devotion
• Going through your Bible
• Spending time in prayer and meditation

Find ways that speak to your heart to continuously tune into GOD.

Committing to 70% of what you think you can handle involves choosing less than what you think you can do in these three phases.

Many times, intense athletes and coaches burn themselves out by taking on too much despite their best intentions to maximize their abilities, which can actually make them perform worse.

By committing to 70% of what you think you can handle, it gives you the freedom to push a little harder on certain days and take it easier (or off) on days when life gets in the way, you feel tired, or a friend invites you to a cottage.

Just like the best players are able to shift speeds from fast to slow instead of always going full speed ...

The best athletes and coaches are able to be adaptable in their training.

If you are planning on training 4 days a week, commit to 3 days.

If you are planning on working out for an hour, commit to 45 minutes.

Recap

First, take a 1-2 week break.

Then, commit to a training plan that covers:

• Your game
• Your body
• Your spirit

And take on 70% of what you think you can handle.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of maximizing your off season training this summer, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

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Bible Verses:

• 1 Corinthians 9:25