While goal posts, baseball diamonds, hockey
sticks and soccer balls may be the main “tools” for athletes around the world, FCA is
devoted to ensuring that one resource remains above all others — the Bible.
FCA is one of the most
committed Bible distributors in the world, printing about 200,000 Bibles every
year and distributing nearly 3 million Bibles around the world in the past 15
years. In fact, FCA has engaged in Bible ministry since its
first Camp in 1956. FCA’s partners at Biblica have even said,
“When you think about FCA, you think about a sports ministry,
but what’s incredible is their commitment to utilizing Scripture.”
“I believe one of the reasons God continues to bless the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes is our focus on growing our Bible ministry,”
said FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson. “We are committed to God’s Word
and biblical truth, and we continue to be amazed at what God is doing to get
His Word into the hands of coaches and athletes around the world.”
FCA distributed 219,444
Bibles in 2024 alone, as it marked 70 years of staying true to the mission of
leading every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ
and His church.
Below is a brief overview of FCA’s
Bible distribution history:
1956
The Athlete’s Bible
The first FCA Bibles were printed
for Camp in 1956 with the FCA logo on the cover. As FCA
Camps grew, new Bible covers were designed with each year’s theme, camp
curriculum was added. The Bible became a key resource for those leading Huddles
and other ministry events. Today, this resource is referred to as the FCA Athlete’s Bible and it continues to be the cornerstone of the
Bible ministry and FCA’s most requested Bible resource.
2003
More Bible Resources
FCA’s Bible
distribution exploded when FCA introduced a Sports New
Testament that included testimonies from pro athletes and coaches. Today, FCA
has printed more than 1 million of these resources. Staff in Mississippi
dreamed up the concept of a Coach’s Bible that included 365 devotions written
by and for coaches. The resource was a hit! Due to the Coach’s Bible
popularity, other devotional Bibles were released. Today FCA
prints, distributes and engages coaches and athletes with more than 10
varieties of Bible resources.
2006
Language Translations
FCA printed its first
Spanish New Testament in 2006. Since then, multiple resources have been
translated and printed, such as FCA’s Heart of an Athlete
devotional in Chinese and Spanish, Japanese Baseball New Testament, Chinese
Sports Devotional Bible and Russian Coach’s Bible. In 2017, FCA
began distributing 50,000 Thai Sports New Testaments and 10,000 Vietnamese
Sports New Testaments. In 2018, FCA Sports Bible Handbooks were
printed in Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Ukrainian, Russian
and Urdu. Today, FCA prints New Testaments, Sports Bibles,
Sports Bible Handbooks and more in Arabic, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese,
Mandarin, Korean, Urdu, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Japanese and
Portuguese.
2013
Going Digital
A 2013 partnership with YouVersion offered FCA reading plans to engage coaches and athletes
in God’s Word. FCA began releasing e-Bible versions of all Camp
Bibles in 2015. Today, FCA has more than 100 Bible reading
plans in numerous languages on YouVersion, including Spanish, Ukrainian,
Russian, Chinese and Korean. More than 2 million users have subscribed to FCA’s
digital Bible reading plans, with over 1 million completions.
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