West Texas Fire

"God is bringing FCA, schools, churches and communities together for His glory and Kingdom and lives are being changes as the power of the Holy Spirit moves." - David Thetford, Lubbock FCA Executive Board Chairman

Originally Published: September 2012

On Oct. 10, students across the nation will pack their local football stadiums, standing shoulder to shoulder on a cool fall night. The crowds won’t be drawn in for matchups against big rivals, but for a far more powerful and important cause—the salvation of their classmates and the opportunity to share Jesus’ love at a Fields of Faith event.

“The impact of Fields of Faith has been incredible in just these past few years,” said Les Steckel, FCA president and a former NFL coach. “It’s all about young people in these communities coming together on their school’s athletic field and challenging each other to go back to the fundamentals of reading God’s Word and coming to faith in Jesus Christ.”

In the past two years, the Lubbock/Greater South Plains FCA in Texas has expanded from 18 to 93 Huddles in local schools and has seen about 200 local coaches get involved with FCA, one of whom is fairly recognizable.

When Texas Tech football coach Tommy Tuberville arrived in Lubbock two seasons ago, area director Terry Kinard witnessed him bring FCA “back to the area after a 15-year break.”

“It’s interesting how God brings people together for His purpose,” Kinard said. “FCA has been welcomed back in the community with open arms.”

FCA began to flourish, and Kinard and other leaders noticed how popular Fields of Faith was in nearby Abilene, Texas, so they began to plan their own event for 2011.

“Coach Tuberville and women’s basketball coach Kristy Curry invited area pastors and youth ministers to meet on campus,” Kinard said. “We were able to explain what Fields of Faith is and made many great contacts. Eventually, 34 area churches and close to 400 volunteers got involved.”

Lowrey Field—home to four local high schools—proved to be an ideal location capable of holding a crowd expected to range anywhere from 500 to 5,000. Organizers booked Branch, a nationally known praise and worship band, and invited a speaker and local students to share about their relationships with Christ.

On the night of the event, students spilled out from buses coming from across the region, and the crowd quickly swelled to around 3,500 youth and a few hundred other adult visitors and volunteers.

"It didn’t matter how many students were up there [in the stands],” Kinard said. “What mattered was how many of them would be down on the field at the end.

“Jon Randles brought the Gospel message and made it very clear that he was only talking to those who had never made a personal commitment to Jesus when he asked people to come down and stand in front of him. When that group of more than 350 students came down, I quickly realized that we did not have enough volunteers.”

Like loaves of bread and fish, God made it work.

“Eventually we had more than 1,100 making a decision to follow Christ for the first time, to renew their commitment to Him or to read the Bible daily,” Kinard said. “There were kids all over the field, and tears flowed everywhere as the Holy Spirit moved. Somehow, we had enough volunteers to take care of everyone.”

West Texas A&M freshman tight end Tanner Moore, one of the student speakers, wrote about the experience in his 2012 Texas Scholar Award-winning entry essay.

“God gave me words to say, and after it was over the reaction from the crowd was more than I could have expected,” said Moore, who battled through brain and knee surgeries during his senior year of high school to earn an athletic scholarship and valedictorian honors. “I will never forget any of those bad things that happened to me, but I will also never forget the 14-year-old girl who came up to me in tears [at Fields of Faith].

“She told me that she was ready to commit suicide, but after hearing me speak, she didn't want to anymore.”

For Tanner Thetford, Coronado High School’s FCA Huddle president in 2004-05, who volunteered at the 2011 Lubbock Fields of Faith, the event helped confirm and strengthen FCA’s overall mission to present athletes and coaches with the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ into their lives. Thetford said he was blessed with the opportunity to speak with three young men about Christ and crouch in the end zone with them in prayer.

“Everywhere you looked, there were volunteers and kids talking and praying on the field, and the ones who did not make a decision that night stood in the bleachers and worshiped our Heavenly Father,” said Thetford, whose father, David, is the current chair of the FCA executive board in Lubbock. “I’m not sure God’s ever seemed more real to me than right then, as the kid in my group who already knew the Lord led his two buddies to pray that prayer of salvation.”

Fields of Faith has always been a student-led event, originally inspired by Josiah, the young Israelite king who at age 16 saw his people turning away from God. He gathered them together and challenged them to return to Him. A revolution followed, and the Israelite culture was changed forever through the faith of a single man.

It’s estimated that four out of five kids who attend church today will turn away, leaving the church between seventh and 12th grade.

In 2002, Jeff Martin was frustrated with the temptations and spiritual battles facing today’s youth and looked to God for an answer. Martin, then an Oklahoma FCA area director, now FCA’s National Director of Camp and Campus Ministries, found his answer in Josiah’s actions in 2 Chronicles 34.

It took two years of planning, but more than 6,000 students gathered on Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas football fields for the first Fields of Faith, and more than 100 gave their lives to Christ.

Year after year, the events continue to spread across the nation. In 2010, 3,568 students made first-time faith commitments to follow Jesus Christ, 5,290 recommitted their life to Christ and 12,786 committed to reading the Bible daily at Fields of Faith events.

“Fields of Faith is a great reminder that the athletic battles we engage in with each other on the field are so minor in nature compared to Christ and His victory over sin and death,” said Andy Penney, a Lubbock/Great South Plains executive board member. “In an environment where athletes and coaches are conditioned to win, Fields of Faith provides the perfect environment for them to begin or continue their understanding of the greatest victory ever won.

“It was a truly amazing sight to see the number of lives changed for Christ at our Fields of Faith event last year, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2012.”

More than 6,000 students are expected to pack Lubbock’s Lowrey Field on Oct. 10, along with at least 1,000 volunteers. Church representatives will be on hand from nearby Seminole, Plainview and Muleshoe, as Lubbock-area leaders are exploring the idea of launching concurrent Fields of Faith events in those towns in 2013.

“We are continually amazed at how God goes before us and has coaches and adults in place to get new huddles started,” said Ron Reeves, who helps lead a weekly coaches Bible study at Lubbock Monterey High School. “Texas Tech has a very large number of Christian coaches across a number of sports and has really welcomed us as a viable partner in the building of their teams.”

With a passion for Christ continuing to develop across the Great South Plains, Fields of Faith organizers say they’ve had no problem finding Christian adults willing to participate in this year’s event.

“Getting volunteers as on-field ‘encouragers’ is so simple,” Kinard said. “I just ask, ‘When is the last time a teenager you’d never seen before walked up to you and asked you to help them meet Jesus?’ That melts any committed Christian's heart.”