Faith, Football, and Fellowship: The Thielens Join Becker FCA

Schools and churches from all over joined Becker High School’s FCA Huddle tonight for a special fall kickoff event featuring Adam and Caitlin Thielen!

Student-athletes and their families packed the Bulldog Fieldhouse for a night of competition, community, and Jesus. The evening kicked off with a Bible/Football relay race, volleyball, and basketball before students broke into small groups for Bible study. Then everyone came back together as Becker Football Coach Dwight Lundeen did a Q&A session with Adam and Caitlin.

Adam shared that he wishes he would have had FCA as a young athlete in high school. But years later, God used sports to reach him while he was playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

He pointed back to Wednesday morning prayer with a small group of Vikings teammates as a significant part of his growth in faith and his personal relationship with Jesus. Kirk Cousins was one of the people who, along with the team chaplain, challenged Adam to fully surrender his life to Christ.

That’s the power of sports ministry. It gives us the opportunity to meet coaches and athletes right where they are, whether that’s on the field, in the locker room, or gathered with a few teammates before the day begins, and point them to Jesus.

The night ended with another special moment as the Thielen Foundation generously presented Becker Football with $5,000 for the program and another $5,000 for student-athlete scholarships. Adam also recognized Coach Lundeen for his incredible dedication to sharing the love of Jesus throughout his 57-year coaching career. (You can read more about Dwight and the impact of his life and ministry in our recent blog post "Success is Temporary, Impact is Forever")

Adam and Caitlin - thank you for taking the time to encourage and inspire so many coaches and athletes tonight in Becker, and for the way you continue to invest in young people and use your platform for the glory of God!