Want to get a feel for the impact of FCA Camps? Try these 2012 numbers on for size:
• 363 camps in 37 states and 21 countries
• More than 52,000 coaches and athletes in attendance
• 5,060 first-time commitments to Christ
• 7,310 recommitments to Christ
And countless hearts set ablaze, ready to carry God’s message of hope and salvation back to cam-puses and communities across the globe.
While those numbers impress, the true impact of FCA Camp comes in the individual stories of lives being forever changed. Each of the numbers represents a story worth sharing. Here are three from the 2012 camp season which serve as great reminders of the work God does on the hearts of coaches and athletes and all those who take part each FCA Camp season.
Loving Golf, Loving God
When Harold Lei was invited to FCA Golf Camp at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga., he was excited for the opportunity to work on his game, receive valuable instruction, and get to know some fellow high school golfers. But, on the first night, he realized what the week was really going to be all about.
“I thought it was just golf camp,” Lei says. “So I was pretty surprised that first night when we got together for our Huddle. The environment was pretty different, but it was good. When we started to introduce ourselves and bond a little bit, that’s when everyone opened up and I got to hear everyone’s stories. That really opened my eyes.”
Lei was invited to camp by Dr. Matthew Mitchell, a former college golfer who assists with the Dacula High School boys and girls teams. Mitchell could see that something extraordinary was taking place.
Harold Lei with fellow FCA Golf Campers
While Lei and the other golfers played three or four hours in the morning and then another 18 holes after lunch, Mitchell says it was the share time that took the student-athlete off guard.
“He was just going there to play golf, and then he experienced the Huddle,” he says. “That blew him away. It was neat to see how Huddle time, his Huddle leader and these other kids and the talks we had at night impacted him. I don’t think he saw that coming.
“He was just going to a golf camp, and then Jesus showed up and changed his world.”
By the end of the week, Lei had not only received elite training from the coaching staff, but, more importantly, he had come away with a burning desire to know more about the Christian faith and deepen his relationship with Jesus.
“I love to play golf, but, by the end of the week, I found something else I learned to love,” Lei says. “And that was God.”
When Lei returned to Dacula for his sophomore year, he got involved in the school’s FCA and began attending Dacula United Methodist Church, where Mitchell is the senior pastor. The church hosts between 100 and 150 young people at a weekly FCA meeting.
Lei’s limited familiarity with the Bible quickly expanded thanks to FCA and the church, and he says the camp “set things in motion” for his future. He made his first public profession of faith this spring at a baptismal service directed by Mitchell.
“Harold came away from that camp fired up in a big way,” Mitchell says. “He was ready to commit his life and take that next step. He’s really been changed. You can see a difference in his walk.”
As Lei prepares for his junior year, it’s hard for him to imagine what his life would be like had he not attended FCA Golf Camp, which he was able to attend only because of a scholarship provided by generous donors in his home state.
“I can’t put into words how thankful I am for that scholarship,” Lei says. “Camp changes lives. It builds relationships with the Lord. It changed me; it really did. And if it can change my life, it can change a lot of lives.”
Giving It A Rest
One of Jesus’ most overlooked and underutilized leadership concepts is rest. On several occasions, the Son of God took time to get away from the crowds for quiet prayer and reflection during complete solitude.
For coaches, those moments are usually few and far between. Jarrod Smith can certainly re-late. In January 2012, Smith took a job as head football coach and athletic director at Trinity High School in Trinity, Texas, and had to spend the next four months away from his wife, Katy, and their two young children, who still lived two hours away in Cameron.
Huntsville (TX) FCA Area Representative Beau Bevers recognized the challenges facing Smith and decided to send the coach and his wife to an FCA coach’s enrichment camp at Horseshoe Bay Resort.
Jarrod and Katy Smith (front, center) with fellow coaches and spouses.
“It’s a pretty awesome time for coaches to reconnect with their spouses,” Bevers says.
Although he didn’t know what to expect, Smith and his wife were immediately put at ease by the other couples. While there was plenty of time for rest and relaxation, they also enjoyed games, fellowship, spiritual challenge and uplifting worship.
“It was a good time for my wife and me to get away, reconnect and spend some time together,” Smith says. “It was great to get to know some coaches from around the state who had been through similar circumstances. We could forget about everything and didn’t have to worry about stuff at the office.”
Since the camp, Smith has stayed in touch with some of the coaches, and his wife has started a Bible study and book club with other wives. The brief but meaningful camp served as a reminder of Jesus’ heed to rest.
“Typically, we think about pouring our time, efforts and talent into the students,” Smith says. “But it’s really important sometimes to be on the flipside of that and be on the receiving end of someone pouring into you.”
At the start of the 2012 football season, Smith not only had renewed energy and inspiration as a coach, but also a rekindled heart for ministry. Trinity has hosted FCA huddle groups in the past, but Smith was able to reorganize those efforts and serve as a leader for the young people. Not coincidentally, he also led his football team to its first playoff appearance in several years.
“His impact is being felt by the community there,” Bevers says. “You don’t realize how im-portant these camps are and the far-reaching effect they have. Camp is for coaches, too.”
For that very reason, Smith is adamantly supportive of any efforts to get coaches into a camp setting.
“I would recommend that coaches invest time in their families and particularly their marriag-es,” Smith says. “We get so involved investing time in the students that very seldom do we take a step back and invest energy in our marriages. This camp did that for me.”
Making Eternal Waves
Morgan Helman loved people, surfing and being around the water. More than anything, though, she loved Jesus.
That’s probably why she loved FCA Camp. During her two years at the surfing portion of the UCLA-hosted event, Helman enjoyed all of her passions in one setting.
“Every year, Morgan would come back revitalized and enthused, more motivated to spread the Word and God’s love with her classmates and friends,” Morgan’s mother, Christina Hel-man-Bertran, says. “Morgan was very social and liked to make new friends and talk to new people. But her favorite part was the swim out, when they would worship on the water.”
California's Central Coast FCA Area Director Luke Llamas led those surfboard Bible studies and saw firsthand Helman’s spiritual growth.
“She was a very outgoing and encouraging young lady, full of life,” Llamas says. “She was always friendly and every year invited her friends to be a part of the camp. She had a very sincere and deep faith. I saw a significant change in her the first year. The first couple of days it’s usually about the social aspects of camp. But as the week progressed, the faith side of the experience became more significant, and I saw that carry over into the school year. She would call and talk to me about how she wanted to get FCA started at her high school.”
This summer figured to be like all the others for Helman, who planned to travel south from Carmichael, Calif., on her annual trek to the UCLA campus.
But in February, disaster struck.
Morgan Helman at 2012 FCA Camp
On Super Bowl Sunday, Helman rode along with six friends on what should've been a quick trip to the store. Tragically, though, she and another young female passenger were killed when the car they were in wrecked. Their deaths may have been prevented had they both been wearing their seatbelts.
Even as the family grieved, it was instantly clear what needed to be done to appropriately honor the 17-year-old’s heartbreakingly shortened—but still monumentally influential—life.
“It was within days that we decided to start a foundation to help others get to surf camp,” Helman-Bertran says. “It just made sense. Her sister Megan and I talked about it, and it was an automatic thing that we wanted to do.”
Helman-Bertran’s employer, Century 21 M&M and Associates, set up a memorial fund that would go in part toward the scholarship. Helman-Bertran has also committed to donate to the effort every year, and she hopes others will join in.
For the 2013 camp, two scholarships will go to Helman’s best friend, Kelsey Campbell, and her sister, Lexi Campbell. After that, Helman-Bertran will work with Western Region Camp Di-rector Brian Schroeder to ensure that at least one deserving teenager attends the camp in Helman’s name.
“There’s so much effort that goes into these camps, and it’s always amazing to hear the one story of a kid whose life was changed and touched and how that has rippled through their community,” Schroeder says. “It’s so easy to get lost in the execution of camp—the program, speaker, coaches and facilities. All important things. But it’s amazing to know that even through this mother’s loss, one camp is going to keep touching the lives of a countless number of people. It’s a humbling and encouraging thought that reminds us why we do what we do.”
Helman’s legacy won’t just influence the surf camp but also Del Oro High School in Loomis, Calif., where vice principal Paul Lundberg has committed to sponsor and help launch the campus’ first FCA chapter, something Helman had “bugged him to start” during the previous academic year.
And while Llamas is excited to see what happens this coming fall at Helman’s school, he’s also intrigued to watch the fruits of the scholarship fund unfold.
“We have witnessed that many kids’ lives are dramatically transformed at camp,” he says. “So many of the athletes are given the opportunity to attend camp through a scholarship. It’s hard to even express in words the level of impact those scholarships have. It can outlast that person’s life for years to come.”
Helman’s mother is also hoping for that outcome—for other kids to be touched at surf camp the way her daughter was and to be spiritually transformed for the rest of their lives.
“That’s what Morgan would want.”
Originally Published: July 2013
Photos courtesy of Scott Adams, Jarrod and Katy Smith, and Christina Helman-Bertran