TOMORROW:
Thousands to gather across the country for Fields of Faith
Fellowship of Christian Athletes Founder Jeff Martin:
‘The Bible is God’s Word and will guide you to a meaningful life if you follow it with all your heart, soul and mind’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Only one week remains until Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA, www.fca.org) launches this year’s Fields of Faithon October 11. Pioneered in 2004 by Jeff Martin, FCA’s Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, the annual event is a student-led outreach where teens pray for, share with, and challenge their peers to read the Bible and follow Jesus Christ.
Martin recalled, “At our first event, more than 6,000 students gathered on school athletic fields throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, and over 100 students made decisions for Christ.”
Twenty years later, large masses of students will attend Fields of Faith at more than 500 athletic fields across the country. This extraordinary success is a testament to Martin’s vision to create a neutral space where students could meet and minister to one another.
Martin shared, “An athletic field provides a rally point where a community can come together. People are comfortable gathering at a stadium. And every town has one.”
In addition to choosing neutral venues, Martin wanted to create an all-win initiative for local churches by building the event on biblical values that cross denominational lines.
Martin noted, “One key strength ofFields of Faith is that it’s a movement available to any church. Our message aligns with most evangelical denominations. And that message is this: The Bible is God’s Word and will guide you to a meaningful life if you follow it with all your heart, soul and mind, and Jesus is the only way to God. If the rally was centered on one denomination, it would be severely limited.”
The result is an outreach that not only unifies students, but churches and communities as well.
Martin stated, “It has been amazing to see howFields of Faith has helped create the opportunity for so many communities across the country — and around the world — to unite together on one night around one message that provides light in a dark world that desperately needs Jesus.”
Ultimately, Fields of Faithprovides a powerful distillation of FCA’s vision and mission: To serve local communities around the globe by engaging, equipping and empowering coaches and athletes to unite, inspire and change the world through the Gospel.
FCA’s theme for 2023 is “Greater,” based on John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” FCA reminds Christian coaches and athletes that their identity and value is in Christ rather than their sport.
Visit Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ website at www.fca.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheFCATeam, its Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/thefcateam/ or its Twitter feed https://twitter.com/TheFCATeam.