Kingdom Work Through Football Camp
Football season has officially kicked off! From Friday Night Lights, College Football, and the start of the NFL season people all around the country are gathering around to watch and participate in football. As someone who grew up in the great state of Nebraska watching the Cornhuskers play, I can understand the excitement of the sport. Having played in both high school and college I always look forward to the start of the football season. But over the past two years football has started to look and mean something completely different to me.
Last year, I had the opportunity to join the coaching staff at Sullivan High School, a local public school just 2 blocks north of the Family Empowerment Centers. Helping to strengthen a partnership that FEC has been cultivating for the past seven plus years. Each year FEC has the opportunity to serve our local High School Football team through hosting both a Football Banquet to celebrate the past year and run a summer Football Leadership Camp at Dickson Valley Camp and Retreat Center.
My first experience at the Football Leadership Camp was in 2021 when I was asked to assist with the camp as the session speaker, giving a message to the team from the Bible. Then, last year as a position coach for the Sullivan Football team I got to experience the camp as a coach. This year I was able to experience the camp as both a session speaker and assisting coaching the O and D Line.
This camp has taught me to look at football in a new light. As a coach, I saw at camp how this sport can be used to develop young men in life changing ways. I got to see the importance of mentorship and brotherhood for these young men. Seeing that taking time away with 25 fellow teammates, 3 coaches and multiple camp staff all together in a new environment causes stories to be shared, outsiders to become welcomed into the team, and for real life conversations to be had.
Football Leadership Camp gives these players an opportunity to have a full summer camp, going from practicing at a dog park, to an open field in the middle of rural Illinois. It also provides moments to increase brotherhood amongst the team. Every year I have gone, I have seen some players come in with animosity and leave as a family. This camp is more than just a space to practice on a field. That could happen anywhere. But here at our Football Leadership Camp students from all walks of life get to experience the gospel in both word and deed.
From getting six full course meals cooked by the Dickson Valley staff, being challenged to grow in their leadership by coaches and camp staff, and being able to have worship experiences with music, prayer, and relevant messages. This camp is a living and tangible way to see Colossians 3:17 lived out; “Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father”. It is with this goal in mind, through partnership with the Holy Spirit, that the ordinary is able to accomplish mighty things for the Kingdom of God and that is what I have seen each year I have participated at our annual Football Leadership Camp.
Daniel Wright (Greenhouse Resident)