This story appears in FCA Magazine’s September/October 2015 issue. Subscribe today!
Arizona. Desert. The two words are synonymous in the minds of most, with average high temperatures in Tempe—where Arizona State University is located—soaring past 100 degrees between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Yet in the heart—and heat—of the Sonoran Desert, God is using members of the Sun Devils’ cross-country team to fulfill His promise in Isaiah 48:21: “They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them...”
Mike Sanfratello, FCA Rockies Region Vice President of Field Ministry, estimates distance runners make up about a quarter of Arizona State’s 40- to 50-member FCA Huddle. A little more than a year ago, at the end of the 2014 school year, the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of those cross-country athletes, who soon became water for the spiritually thirsty through a surge of service projects both in their own backyard and abroad.
“Our life group has been pretty faithful to God’s calling, but I felt a lot of us weren’t really doing things,” fifth-year senior Shaina Corbin said. “We wanted to, but we were scared to step out of our bubble and reach other people. We had one lesson on that with FCA, and that helped light a fire in everyone’s heart to just go.”
Sanfratello witnessed exactly that when several distance runners actively embraced evangelism.
“There were about a half-dozen cross-country kids coming to FCA, building community, growing in their faith and then really connecting to a local church,” he said. “They kept asking, ‘How do we get out and serve?’ They really had an amazing summer last year of just giving back and serving. They all came back extremely excited and went ‘all in’ with FCA.”
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CJ Albertson took a break from his running and studies last July to volunteer with FCA. One of the strongest runners on the team, he earned All-Pac-12 Academic honors as well as All-NCAA West Region honors in the 10K.
"But seeing God’s power to change people’s lives happen at camp—that is what always reaffirms my faith and helps me realize the true power that God has.”
-CJ Albertson, ASU Redshirt Junior cross country and track
Albertson had been involved with FCA since junior high school, and he was excited to serve as a Huddle Leader at FCA’s sports camp at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The experience deeply impacted him as he witnessed lives being transformed right before his eyes.
“The first couple of nights at worship were quiet,” Albertson said, “but on the last night everyone was worshipping, and there were literally hundreds of kids who gave their lives to Christ.
“You see God break down walls in kids’ hearts and kids’ lives. I’ve always been a person who looked at things very logically. So, naturally with that, I’ve always had doubts and questions concerning my faith. But seeing God’s power to change people’s lives happen at camp—that is what always reaffirms my faith and helps me realize the true power that God has.”
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Miranda Kewley called herself a Christian and attended church “every once in awhile,” but she admits now she didn’t have a deep relationship with God. That started to change when Chelsey Totten, her roommate and teammate, invited her to FCA. If not for Totten and some other teammates, Kewley never would have gone to an FCA Huddle meeting nor joined Albertson at last summer’s camp at NAU.
Eventually, she reached out to a veteran Huddle leader for discipleship.
“At first I was nervous, and then I realized it doesn’t matter where you’re at in your relationship with Christ,” Kewley said. “No matter where you are, you are still able to share the Bible and share God’s Word.”
Again stepping out of her comfort zone, Kewley accepted an invitation to serve young athletes as a Huddle Leader at camp last summer. She went in expecting to teach her Huddle members biblical lessons and pour into them for one week, but she quickly realized the teaching was reciprocal.
“That was one of the best times,” she said. “I came back and realized, yes, you are supposed to be able to help the kids grow in their relationship, but you don’t realize how much you’ll grow in your relationship with God. Camp definitely helped me not worry about what other people thought and just focus on my relationship with God. It let me reach out to other people on the team.”
The NAU experience grew Kewley’s faith and heart for service. Soon, ASU asked her to be one of the first athletes in the school’s new “Tip of the Fork” program, which seeks to train student-athletes in service and leadership by getting them active in the community.
“Whether they excel in individual or team sports, athletes tend to be natural leaders and community builders,” stated an article on the school website. It continued to say that the program "offers ASU’s high-achieving student-athletes with a passion for public service the opportunity to build upon those strengths.”
After some initial studies on leadership, the participants broke into three groups. Kewley joined sophomore Cody Brazeal, a fellow runner and Christ-follower, in a group focused on the issue of hunger.
“Each group is trying to help with a struggle in the community. Obviously, hunger is a big issue,” Kewley said. “The stereotype sometimes given to hungry people on the street is they’re dirty and not hard-working. My group is trying to break that stereotype. A lot of people don’t realize that even college students go hungry.”
Kewley’s group produced videos for hunger awareness that will be shown at different Sun Devil athletic events, and they’re also conducting a food drive during ASU’s marquee games against archrival Arizona. Feeding others’ needs on both a physical and spiritual level is a new passion for Kewley as she continues to step out in her faith through FCA and the “Tip of the Fork” program.
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Remember that roommate who first invited Kewley to an FCA Huddle? That was Chelsey Totten, another runner who also served as an FCA Camp Huddle Leader last summer and joined Corbin on a track-based evangelism mission to Spain, following Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3:18 to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Always firm in her relationship with Christ, Totten had great hopes and expectations for the evangelism mission. But, as it turned out, God had something else in mind. Even mature Christians can learn some difficult lessons through adversity in the mission field.
“Spain was hard,” Totten said, “because I went in with really high expectations. I wanted to see the Holy Spirit move, and I really wanted to see people accept Christ. We really didn’t see that. Spain felt like a dark, spiritual place, with a heaviness.”
Totten’s team did, however, lead one student to Christ.
“I’ve learned to rejoice in the little things,” she said. “I had never learned to the full extent that I did there that God is in control. I can tell someone the gospel and love them with my actions, but ultimately this is up to the Holy Spirit working in their lives. I never understood that until I went there.”
ASU runners (left to right) Miranda Kewley, Chelsey Totten and Shaina Corbin have each embraced evangelism through FCA and other callings on their lives.
Like the parable of the sower, Totten continues to spread the good news. And, while she personally found Spain to be some rocky ground, Tempe is fertile. She frequently invites roommates, teammates and friends to attend FCA Huddles. And her relationship (she’s dating another Christ-following athlete at ASU) is a model to others.
“My roommates accepted Christ when they came to ASU, and they tell me, ‘Chelsey, we’re watching what you’re doing!’ It’s great accountability,” she said. “People always ask me about our relationship and what Christian dating would look like. A lot of people ask me all kinds of questions, and a lot of times I feel so unworthy of the position that I’ve kind of been put into.”
But, as a mature Christian, Totten shepherds teammates as she, by her own admission, has grown in grace. Corbin, her travel companion to Spain, completed her busy summer with a two-week, “life-changing” trip to India where she spent most of her time evangelizing in Bangalore.
“It was amazing,” Corbin said. “I saw God’s love a lot there. You have people who don’t think they are worthy of anything.
“There wasn’t any materialistic thing about their faith, but there was a raw love for God, and they knew who He was exactly. That is what I learned about Him; I learned more characteristics about Him and how amazing He is and how He loves everyone. I think I knew that before I went, but to actually see that was awesome.”
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When asked what initially attracted them to cross country, each runner—independently—gave a similar answer.
“I like how you are able to understand how your hard work pays off,” Kewley said.
The same can be said of Christian service, as 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV) says, “... He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
A desert might not seem like the place for a bountiful harvest, but many on the ASU cross-country team are using diligent service to harvest souls for the Lord.
“It’s honestly been the coolest thing to watch,” said Corbin, who walked into a “cliquish” roster as a freshman and has witnessed the team grow to where it is now. “Having multiple people who are walking the same walk I am and challenging me is just awesome and everything I wanted in college.
“If you asked me how our FCA or even cross country is, I’d say family. We have new believers, and we have people who don’t even remember because they started believing so long ago. Challenging each other in every way is one of the most unique things about our Huddle.”
-FCA-
–This article appears in the September/October 2015 issue of FCA Magazine. To view the issue digitally, click here: September/October 2015 FCA Mag Digital
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Photos courtesy of Mike Sanfratello and Sun Devil Athletics