First FCA Power Camp held at Dexter
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) program is not new to Dexter but for the first time the Fellowship of Christian Athletes held a three-day Power Camp in Dexter on June 29 and 30 and July 1. It hopes this will be the first of many held in Dexter. Dexter coaches gave their time to instruct the elementary and junior high students.
According to the FCA website, FCA.org, the organization was founded by Don McClanen and chartered in 1954 in Norman, Oklahoma. The mission of the FCA is to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.
“At FCA our mission statement is to lead every coach and every athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and his church,” said Josh Mills, the FCA SEMO South Representative. “We don’t act as a church but we promote our local churches and get involved with them.”
The camps are not open to high school students due to MSHAA regulations that limit the number of days during the summer the athletes may have contact with their coaches. However, the high school athletes can participate by speaking to the the students and delivering a presentation in accordance with the session’s theme. The sports featured in the Dexter camp included basketball, tennis, baseball, softball, volleyball and football.
The camps offer more than instruction in different sports. They offer the students a path to God.
“Each night there is a theme. This year at all the FCA Power Camps across the country, the theme is ‘Pursue’,” said one of the camp directors, Pastor Mitch Grainger of First Baptist Church in Dexter. “Pursue truth, pursue life, pursue team, pursue mission. Each night we introduce a new theme to them. There is a right and wrong way to play the game, there is a right and wrong way to be a teammate, how to surrender to the mission of the team and following your coach and being the best teammate you can be.”
Grainger explained that the camp is mixing character, faith and athletics together so the students are prepared for life – not just a game.
“It’s not about a church or denomination. It’s about you being the best person you can be,” said Grainger. “That you (are) understanding that you are created in God’s image. And if you are not a person of faith, there (are) a lot of character traits in the bible that can help you be a better teammate.”
Grainger explained that students are taught that being a better teammate involves not getting upset when things do not go your way, being the best cheerleader you can be for your teammates and helping make your team better. He also said they are taught that the decisions you make today can affect your entire life.
Grainger explained the students are shown how to use these lessons to prepare for a job. One way this is done is being taught that the coach is the authority of the team and to submit to his game plan to promote the betterment of the team.
“We want them learning character traits so they can be a better person,” said Grainger. “So that one day they can be the mom, dad, the wife they are designed to be. That they can be the person in the society that knows how to give back and understand that it’s not just what I can get out of this but what can I give back.”
“We utilize camps like this to get the word of God into the hands of the kids whether it is on a school facility like this or at a church,” said Mills. “We partner with local churches like Mitch (Grainger) and First Baptist.”
Mills said the goal is that kids will come to the camp, hear the word of God and grow in understanding with their sport, in their relationship with Christ and join a local church.
Mills said the FCA started camps in the 1960s and said he has put on a baseball camp with the FCA in Sikeston the last three years. Mills also said camps have been held in the Cape Girardeau area.
Mills, who covers a 10-county area for FCA that includes 30 schools, explained what the camps and the opportunity to instruct the kids means.
“Sports isn’t going anywhere. Over the last decade or more, you can see where people say God is being removed from the school,” said Mills. “The reality is, he is not. It is just funneling in in a different way. We just partner the gospel with sport and coaches and athletes and we have seen God do amazing things.”
“And so to see them come out here and get instruction from awesome coaches and high school leaders that have stepped up and share their faith,” he continued. “And the kids come to have a better passion not only for their sport but hearing what another kid has had with the word of God, the experience they have had. It is unbelievable, man. You can see where that partnership marries up and that is never going away.”
The Dexter camp was attended by students from around Stoddard County and Sikeston.