A Huddle for Every Sports Team

For the first time ever, there is an FCA Huddle for every sports team on campus!

That’s 13 huddles meeting in homes of volunteers, sharing meals together, and growing in their relationships with Jesus. It’s something only God could have done with people who were willing to answer His call.

God has been preparing the ground at SMSU for 17 years when Kevin and Karla first started doing FCA ministry on the campus of SMSU as volunteers. Through their faithful service, God grew the large group huddle and tapped several in the community to serve as volunteers. Last year when Linda and her husband, Bruce, took over as lead volunteers after three years of working with Kevin and Karla, God brought FCA to another level at SMSU.

An Official Club

While FCA has had a presence on the SMSU campus for many years, it was never an official club. That changed this year when Anneke, a senior golfer, and other student leaders went through the steps to become a club. They succeeded, and while not much changes, they do receive some funding, and it’s easier to secure a meeting room for large group gatherings. The mission, though, remains the same. Linda and her husband will continue to walk alongside the student leaders as they bring the hope of Christ to their college campus. Linda said, “We want to reproduce and disciple. We provide resources for the student leaders - whatever they need, we want to give them, but we want them to take the leadership of it.”  

Small Group Huddles

Anneke has been involved in FCA at SMSU since her freshman year. Like many FCA groups around the nation last year, they had to move from large group gatherings to small groups due to the Covid pandemic. As it turned out, something they were forced to do became something they loved. She said, “We all really enjoyed that close-knit time, sharing testimonies, and going deeper.” 

During this time, Linda led the swimming/golf huddle, and her husband led the football huddle. They held the two huddles the same night which required some creative maneuvering, but they did it. Linda’s huddle would come at 6 pm, eat, and move to their discussion area, while the guys came at 6:30 and did the same. Linda said “They were hungry to gather - physically for the home-cooked meal and also for relationships. As they get a home-cooked meal, they realize the power of community and faith and they keep coming. We’ve heard firsthand that that’s how many started coming.” As a result of the group gathering, four of the swimming girls accepted Christ, and three were baptized!

Some sports-specific huddles have already been meeting for years. Kelly has led a softball huddle for 17 years. The girls come to her home where she serves them a meal while they talk about how they’re doing and finish with a Bible study. The groups have become very close-knit over the years, and Kelly maintains relationships with many former athletes. Kelly said, “I love being around the girls and making them feel like they have someone they can call if they need to. I wish someone would do that for my kids if they needed it – to just love up on them and let them know if they have issues, we are here.” She had 14 girls at her home recently.

Seeing how much the small group time means to the athletes, the student leaders made it a goal to get a huddle for every sports team. The biggest challenge was finding enough volunteers, but as it turns out, that wasn’t a huge challenge after all. Linda said, “Marshall is a unique town in that several churches support FCA. We have five different churches where people are leading. We have come together on the statement of faith. We may do communion differently or baptism differently, but our core is the same. We prayed and people just started coming up. We have some dynamic volunteers.”

And now, for the first time ever, there is an FCA Huddle for every sports team on campus*! 

The entire golf team is part of Anneke’s huddle, and other teams are showing up in large numbers as well. Not only will athletes meet regularly in their small groups, but they will continue with a monthly large group gathering because there is also value in that. It’s especially encouraging for athletes to see greater numbers of people around campus, besides just their own huddles, that share their faith. Linda said, “Last year’s freshman had never seen the large group. They were blown away to see other athletes on the same page. It’s the best of both worlds now with large and small groups.” 

Robin Knudson, FCA Area Rep, has led the volleyball huddle for 14 years and knows firsthand the impact a small group discipleship huddle can have. She is excited for what the future will bring to SMSU, and she is so thankful for every volunteer that has poured into FCA. Her role is to continue to provide support to Bruce and Linda and the student leaders and to assist in leading the student leadership discipleship group.

A huddle for every sports team on campus. Is that more than we could have imagined? Yes. But are we surprised? No. We serve a God who is continually doing big things, and we can’t wait to see what He has planned next for the athletes at SMSU.

*Video gaming falls under sports teams but does not have an FCA huddle.