Teammates and Friends

               Happy July!  As we move into the heat of the season, I wanted to propose a quick question for you, "Are you disciplined?"  As endurance athletes the answer to this may seem obvious.  Duh!  You could point to weekly workouts that start at 5:00 AM, the mental toughness it takes to finish one more painful interval, or the willpower to turn down ice cream on a hot day in the hopes of reaching your desired racing weight.  Endurance sports seem to draw the disciplined, and to experience success as an athlete, especially among your other life roles and responsibilities, you need to practice consistent discipline in your training, recovery, diet, and schedule. 

               Assuming you can answer the above question with a confident, "yes," I would like to propose a follow-up question, "Does this also hold true to your pursuit of God?"  Think about your answer above and the discipline you exercise as an endurance athlete.  Do you carry this same level of determination, toughness, and willpower into your pursue for personal holiness?  1 Tim 4:7-8 says, "Rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present lifeand also for the life to come."  Are you a disciplined disciple, training yourself in godliness?  Have you begun to receive its promised reward?

                This past spring, we invited our ministry team to complete a short survey.  In this survey, we asked respondents to rank which factors had resulted in the greatest amount of spiritual growth for them as adult endurance athletes.  Do you know what the number one answer was?  Personal Spiritual Disciplines!  As with physical training, disciplined spiritual training will reap rewards, and these rewards are for both the present and the life to come!  God's Word tells us this, and our ministry team has affirmed it through their experiences.

               So, let me ask again, "Are you disciplined?"  More importantly, "Are you disciplined where it really matters?" My hope in sharing this article is simply to encourage you.  Please, train yourself in godliness!  As you schedule early morning swims, push through with runs on exhausted legs, and say no to foods that might sabotage your race goals; pursue God with an even greater level of zeal through regularly scheduled, disciplined, and intentional times of prayer, Scripture reading and reflection, meditation, giving, service, etc. 

                If you're unsure of how to exercise such discipline in your training for godliness, please know that we are here to help!  We have a new EMI curriculum that we're offing beginning this fall to help train up our team.  There are also a number of great books out there that can help.  The first is obviously the Bible.  An additional option that has personally blessed me is "Disciplines of a Godly Man" by Kent Hughes (there are also family and woman versions).  I also encourage connecting with your home church and pastor.  I'm confident they would love to help you train for godliness. 

                Lastly, I leave you with one piece of advice... schedule it!  Few of you will get up to workout at 5:00 AM to swim, run, etc. without intentionally scheduling it.  The training (and results) are important to you, and thus you schedule it, you protect this appointment, and you show up ready to train.  The same principles that work well for increasing your endurance fitness will also reap great benefits as you apply them to something much more important.  "Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away" 1 Cor. 9:25.  Pursue the prize my friends!      

                    As we move into July, many of our Huddles are engaged in training and race ministry.  We'll celebrate a few here, starting with our Jackson, MS Huddle, led by John and Candace Collier.  They've been hosting a weekly Sunday afternoon open water swim, bike and run. This provides some great training and fellowship for Huddle members, but also blesses their entire triathlon community!  It provides a great opportunity to work out together while investing in their relationships with other athletes!  Great job Jackson!

 

 

               The Kansas City Huddle has also been active under the leadership of Dan Mack.  In June, a number of Teammates rode in the "Tour de Lakes," an annual event held just south of FCA's National Support Center in Kansas City.  Reflecting on the event, Huddle Leader Dan Mack shared "As usual, I got plenty of nods from fellow bikers that acknowledge FCA when they see the jersey...tells me FCA had some impact on their life at some time."  Thanks to the KC Huddle for their ministry!

 

   

Participants from IM CDA
               June was also packed with endurance ministry events held across the country!  As we celebrate these, I wanted to celebrate our growing international presence.  Teammate Pat Cooke-Rogers shared a wonderful report from the 2013 UK Ironman 70.3 Iron Prayer.  Not only did the race organizers allow them to use their projectors, sound equipment, and technicians; they actually plugged the Iron Prayer into the main event sound system!  Thus, in addition to all of the Iron Prayer attendees hearing the worship, testimonies, and teaching, everyone at the race venue heard it!  Thanks to Pat for her faithfulness, to her family for leading worship, and to the Lord for His favor and this wonderful opportunity!

 

                 While we're talking about international ministry, I also wanted to pass along one other encouraging report.  A little over a year ago, we lost one of our SW Virginia Huddle Leaders, Ryan Day.  He and his family were called into international ministry, and they left as missionaries to Japan.  I'm happy to report that they are doing great, already being blessed with a fruitful ministry.  Ryan also continues to leverage his passions and interests in endurance sports to create ministry opportunities.  Recently he competed in a 1/2 Ironman in Nagoya.  He competed with some friends from Tokyo and had the opportunity to meet 20+ other triathletes over the course of the weekend. He was able to share his testimony with a few people, and one of them took a Japanese Bible.  Please be praying for the Day family and all those who are impacted through their faithfulness!

 

As we close this newsletter, I wanted to pass on a few quick ministry updates:

 

EMI News!

  • Savannah EMI Retreat:  August 23-25 - Registration is OPENIt's time to get equipped! 
  • EMI TX has been postponed, likely to winter or early spring 2014.  We'll keep you all posted as details come together.
  • Save the Date:  EMI Central Illinois - October 25-27.  Planning continues for this retreat, and we hope to have registration open in the coming month.  This will be a great retreat!

  Highlighted Event Opportunities:

 

  • Hy-Vee Triathlon/5150 US Championships:  We invite everyone to join us for a ministry weekend, Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 in Des Moines, IA.  We'll have a booth at the expo and a number of athletes racing. We'll also be making a special ministry announcement at this race! Registration is open, and we would love to see you there!  If you'll be joining us, RSVP here so we can keep you in the loop. 
  • Chicago Marathon:  Thanks to the faithful diligence of Chicago Huddle Leader Carissa Dahik, as well as a number of Huddle members, we will have a significant presence at this year's event, October 11-13.  We'll be present at the expo, we're hosting a runner's chapel service, and of course we'll have athletes racing.  This will be our largest venue yet (at least in an official capacity), and we're excited about it!  If you'll be attending, or would like to partner in this ministry with us, please contact Carissa

 

Replace Your Bible Program: 

  • We request your help in sharing God's Word with those who don't have a Bible of their own.  In addition to our Bible distribution program (where you can request Bibles to give away), we urge you to give away your own copy if the Lord provides an opportunity.  If you do, we'll replace it with a copy of God's Game Plan (FCA's Bible).  Please visit The Body for details. 

WTC/Ironman Club Points: 

  • You may recall that the WTC created a new Triclub Program in 2013 that allows us an opportunity to bring greater awareness to our ministry and Jesus Christ.  As you register for Ironman/70.3 races in the coming year (as athletes and volunteers), please sign-up as a members of "FCA Endurance."  If you're already signed-up for a 2013 race, you can have this added to your profile by completing the following short survey. By registering together, our ministry will be given some special opportunities to reach out more effectively. Together we are impacting the world for Jesus Christ through endurance sports!  We're currently in second place, and I would love to see us move into the lead.

Ministry Tents and Flags: 

  • We'll be releasing the details for a custom ministry tent and flag order later this week.  This information will be sent to Huddle Leaders, but if you are interested and are not part of a Huddle, please let Chris Anderson know.  Prices will depend on quantities ordered, but I would plan on budgeting $700 for the tent package and $300 for the flag package.  

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FCA Endurance Mission:  To present to athletes and coaches, and all whom they influence, the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving Him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church.

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