Each has accepted the challenge of balancing life on and off the football field with the help of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and the Chaplain of the Virginia Tech football team, Johnny Shelton.

All eight were among the special guests Thursday at an event sponsored by the Halifax County Virginia Tech Alumni Chapter and the Hokie Club and held at First Baptist Church in South Boston.

The FCA is a national, non-denominational organization, and participation is totally voluntary, according to Shelton, who is employed by that group.

Each of them shared their individual stories revolving around their efforts at balancing sports and faith while at Virginia Tech.

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Tim Griffin is the Vice President and Director of Spiritual Formation for Motor Racing Outreach as well as the lead NASCAR Chaplain.  He will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 FCA Chaplains Conference.

FCA Chaplains Conference

Learn More About Tim and MRO

Download the Podcast: 

Miss a conference call?  Want to listen again? The FCA Chaplains Podcast is available now.  This podcast will feature the lessons from our training and fellowship calls as well as other Chaplains audio.  Click here to learn more.

One of the responsibilities of a FCA chaplain is to proclaim God’s word.  Many times this is done through speaking.  How is a chaplain to cultivate the gift of teaching to ensure that these chapels are done with excellence?  Join Dr. Ken Whitten as he shares from over 33 years in ministry experience, “How to Cultivate the Gift of Teaching”.

Ken Whitten’s Bio http://www.idlewild.org/staff-directory/staff-directory/ken-whitten.html

Download the Podcast Here: October 28.mp3

Check out the devotional "Swagger" by Randy Chambers at FCAResources.com

Behind the Bench is a part of the FCA Coaches ministry and serves to help connect coaches' wives to Christ and each other. Advances in technology and the tools provided by Campus 101 will help the ministry do more by providing resources, social networking and discipleship tools. Another opportunity FCA is launching this academic year is a conference call designed specifically to bless the coach's wife.

As Baylor’s athletic chaplain, the 44-year-old Yeary stands on the sidelines at games and practices, offering a pat on the back or a sympathetic ear.

In building relationships with the athletes, the former Baylor football player’s job is to help the Bears grow spiritually.

 Click Here to see the rest of this story

As an FCA chaplain at Mississippi State University, Josh Gilreath has become familiar with how isolated a chaplain can feel at times. He knows firsthand that there are points when chaplains need to be encouraged in their ministry and equipped to serve their coaches and athletes better.

So for Gilreath, the new FCA chaplain training conference calls are the perfect addition to the FCA ministry. It's an idea generated by a few people, including Gilreath, Sports Specific Ministry Vice President Sean McNamara and other members on the chaplains' advisory council.

It is rare that college football's season-openers have large national title implications, but that is exactly the case Saturday night at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where No. 5 Alabama and No. 7 Virginia Tech square off in the biggest game of the opening weekend. An early-season win over a Top-10 opponent would be a nice resume-booster once the BCS arguments inevitably surface in the winter.

Players to Watch

FCA's Johnny Shelton and Gary Cramer highlighted several prominent players who are all active in their campus FCA Huddles. A few are listed below: Tyrod Taylor, QB, Virginia Tech • ACC’s leading rusher among QBs last year with 738 yards • 13-2 as a starter, including a 20-7 win over Cincinnati in last year's Orange Bowl • Has four career 100-yard rushing games Cam Martin, LB, Virginia Tech • Shared team lead in 2008 with 3 forced fumbles • Posted 51 tackles, including 2 sacks, last year • Brother, Orion, was a defensive end who graduated last year Demetrius Taylor, DT, Virginia Tech • Expected to start for first time this season • Had key fumble recovery in win over Georgia Tech last year • Won Coaches Award for having an exceptional spring practice season Drew Davis, OL, Alabama • Started all 14 games at right tackle in 2008 • Iron Man Award winner for his dedication to strength and conditioning in the offseason • Winner of FCA’s Christian character award at Alabama Barrett Jones, OL, Alabama • Played in three games as a true freshman last year • Shoulder injury cost him most of the 2008 season • Was the No. 1 high school offensive lineman in the state of Tennessee

In a game this big, there is no shortage of storylines. Perhaps overlooked, though, is a story about FCA’s ministry going on at both universities. In fact, Gary Cramer and Johnny Shelton, the chaplains at the University of Alabama and Virginia Tech University, respectively, recently spent a week rooming together at FCA’s Leaders of Excellence retreat in Cleveland.

Surprisingly enough, the upcoming game wasn’t a topic of choice. There were more important things to discuss.

“The most interesting thing about the trip is we didn’t talk about the game at all,” Shelton said. “I mean, at all. That’s what I love about it, though. We’re talking about ministry, we’re talking about what God is doing in lives of those athletes, we’re praying for each other’s athletes. It’s just powerful.”

Cramer said, “We didn’t want to tilt our hand, didn’t want to let the other one know what was going on, but as far as talking about the Lord and that kind of thing, we were all over that.”

When it comes to campus ministry, Shelton and Cramer certainly have a wealth of knowledge to draw from.

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Cramer arrived in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in December 2005, and even though the University of Alabama has the longest continuous running college Huddle in the country, it had fallen on some hard times. Cramer remembers when they were excited to have 30 kids show up to a Huddle meeting. Now, at their first leadership meeting of the semester, they had 32 Huddle leaders present. FCA has representation from nearly every team on campus, and Cramer’s vision is to keep branching out and reaching more and more people.

“A lot of people think chaplains are just for the players,” he said, “but we minister to everybody from the staff, coaching staff, athletes, custodial staff, receptionists and athletic directors. If I were really to be honest, I probably shepherd a church of about 700. So it’s a great privilege that we have to do that.”

Cramer and fellow staff member Scotty Hollins have set up leadership meetings on Sunday nights, larger, more evangelistic gatherings on Monday nights, and a “Thursday Night Live” bridge-building event where athletes come to watch the ESPN Game of the Week. Throughout the week, FCA emphasizes one-on-one discipleship meetings and Bible studies and have a 10-12 person coaches Bible study.

In short, there’s a lot of campus ministry going on.

“We’ve been given a great privilege from all of the coaches to be a part of their teams,” Cramer said. “We had invitations from all of them. We’re at (football) practice every day. We have the privilege of being there. But more importantly, we’re about the discipleship and the growth of these players and equipping them.”

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At Virginia Tech, Shelton is entering his second season as the full-time chaplain for the football team, and his third at the school overall. His situation is a bit less developed than Cramer’s at Alabama, but he’s glad to have a friend he can look to as an example.