This story appears in FCA Magazine’s July/August 2016 issue. Subscribe today!
It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since we last watched the Summer Olympics. My, how time flies! It feels like it was just last summer that athletes like Allyson Felix were running, swimming and competing for gold in London.
As spectators, we’re somewhat spoiled by the fact that we get to quench our “Olympic thirst” every two years with the rotation of the Summer and Winter Games. It’s completely different for the athletes who have trained, waited, trained, and waited some more for their time in Rio to come.
Olympic athletes are so inspiring to me. The stories are endless—men and women from around the world who have committed their entire lives to a specific craft, training for their moment of glory that passes in an instant. Their daily dedication and determination adds up to years (or decades!) of fine-tuning to reach the top, all leading up to their moment of competition. It’s something we should all aspire to in our own lives!
Being a former coach and an avid sports fan, watching the athletes compete is obviously the main reason I get so excited about the Olympics. But it’s that sense of unity the Games bring that stirs me in a completely different way. Think about it, for all the divisiveness within our own countries, neighboring countries and the whole world, it all seems to fade away when we watch the Olympics.
It’s most apparent during the opening ceremonies. Four years ago in London, for example, thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries all joined together in one giant stadium during the Parade of Nations. As amazing as it is on TV, can you imagine being there? It has to feel like just a tiny glimpse of the vision of heaven from Revelation 7:9: “After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands.”
I’m also reminded of how that verse applies to FCA’s vision for ministry: to see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.
And, today, I truly believe we are finally fulfilling that vision.
It was God’s perfect timing approximately three years ago to begin emphasizing FCA ministry abroad. In that time, it’s been so exciting to have come alongside other ministries to assist and partner with them, serving with open hearts. We’re going places we’ve never gone before, bringing Christ to the nations like we’ve never imagined. FCA is now in 56 countries around the globe, bringing FCA Camps and Huddles to places that have never heard of the ministry before. That tells me people in other parts of the world are hungry for God’s Word, for the truth of the gospel.
So, as the world turns its attention to Rio this summer, will you join FCA in praying for all of the athletes competing for Olympic gold? But, more specifically, would you pray with us that each of those athletes would one day have the chance to be impacted by a Christ-follower who reveals the amazing opportunity to accept the eternal treasures of Christ into their lives? I pray the opening ceremonies would only be a preview of the celebration that will take place one day in heaven as we gather together—people from every tribe and every nation worshipping our Creator.
Model the Master,
Les Steckel
FCA President/CEO
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