Archive for year: 2013

You are here: / 2013

Timothy Project: Back to Guatemala

Students from Valor’s 2011 immersion talk with local Guatemalan boys about soccer and faith in God. The team received 25 “Higher Purpose” soccer balls from CrossTraining – the color scheme on the ball helps tell the story of God’s love.

CrossTraining has announced the second awarded Timothy Project for 2013. This project will be one familiar to CrossTraining supporters and followers as a team from Valor Christian High School returns to Zacapa, Guatemala – this year with a more soccer-oriented focus in mind. In 2011, Valor had an immersion trip with students learning Spanish and living in country – the team requested soccer balls to take on their trip as they had several outreach moments with children in the city of Zacapa and several surrounding villages.

This year, the team from Valor will consist of players and coaches from the boy’s and girl’s soccer teams. And the plan is to run several soccer camps and clinics during their time in the country and then to bless a local church by leaving the donated equipment for the church to continue to use in reaching out to the community.

Fans in Zacapa, Guatemala watch the game from behind barbed wire fences.

Professional soccer in Guatemala has a different look and feel than here in the U.S. This photo, from Valor’s 2011 immersion experience is after a game with the local team in Zacapa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To find out more about the Valor trip click here.

CrossTraining is currently supporting this project by supplying:

  • 50 soccer pinnies
  • 4 dozen training cones
  • Donated hydration equipment
  • Donated used equipment (soccer shoes, goalie gloves, etc.)

If you would like to help, the team still needs about 150 soccer balls to take down and leave in Guatemala. You can make a donation through CrossTraining by using PayPal below and marking your donation Timothy Project: Guatemala. For more information on the Timothy Project check out our information page here.

From the Rev: Make A Wish

I was moved by the recent story of the Portland Timbers and how they worked with the local Make-A-Wish group in order to help an 8 year-old boy’s dream of playing against his heroes true. If you haven’t read the story click here or view some of the photos here. It’s a moving story and memorable for this young boy and for all those who helped make his dream come true.

Of course, this story is an “echo.” It is similar to another story that many of us are familiar with. A story that all of us live. It involves people diagnosed with a fatal disease. They are wishing for something or someone who could save them. They are a people who wanted to be honored and elevated in spite of the difficulty of their condition. They are people who long to have hope and to rejoice in life. “They” are us. We are those who, because of the fatality of sin, have been separated from God. We are a people searching for hope, praying for salvation from our damnable state.

It is interesting to me some of the metaphorical parallels – the cross of Christ and the token wood cut that Atticus received; the exchange of jerseys and the symbolic way that God often gives us a new name, new life in Him; the cheering crowd and the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us; the end of the match and even the time when life for us must end and we go on to life eternal. The story of Atticus and the Green Machine is really our story. As chaplains, we are bearers of the story. We remind people – that we belong to God. That the cancer of sin that separates us can be overcome through Jesus Christ. That we are special to God. That He wants us to win.

Friends, we don’t have to make-a-wish. God has already granted us His great gift of grace.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

From the Rev: Where Are They Now?

Players don’t just need a chaplain during their playing days. Often it is in the years that follow when life has more challenges – from aging parents, to raising a family, to creating a new career – there is often place for chaplains to be an encouragement and support.

Recently, the Colorado Rapids re-introduced members of its gallery of honor. These former players have made major contributions to the Rapids organization and were collectively recognized during the Rapids vs. Seattle Sounders match. The reunion was also marked by a few events leading up to the game. Events such as these often pique the curiosity of fans into wondering where did their favorite players of yester-year actually end up.

For myself, one of the important parts of ministry and work with the team as chaplain is keeping up with the players, coaches, and staff even as they go beyond the doors of the organization into other endeavors in life. It is part of my hope and belief to be available to these people for life – even long after their professional days with the team come to a close. Part of this philosophy of ministry was encouraged in part by a reading of the book Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul. The memoir of Tony Hendra introduces a homely priest who continues to speak into the troubled life of Hendra throughout the years. The priest, Father Joe, consistently and gently points Hendra back to love of God and love of others throughout the various trials and failings of his life.

As I continue to serve as a chaplain to the Rapids, there are many former players and staff who re-enter the door. Sometimes in a role with the club, sometimes as part of another organization or team, sometimes in a moment of honoring an achievement of the past. In truth, not all former members of the club see me as a “Father Joe” type figure, but there are some that do. There are some that come back, years later, and they have questions about God, about life, about family, or about some burden that they carry heavily in their heart and soul. For me, as chaplain, these are some of the most fulfilling moments – to be able to serve, to be able to share, to be able to help in pointing people back toward God.

It takes a lot of work sometimes to stay even loosely connected to the many that have been part of the organization before. But when you can answer the question, “Where are they now?” And you can help some of them get a little closer to God – it is worth it all.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

From the Rev: Coming Back

To be honest, I have been discouraged. This season has not started as I might have hoped – as a chaplain in professional sport sometimes we derive a lot of encouragement and energy from meeting with players and studying the Bible or doing life at some point during the week. It has been difficult to get things going – perhaps its all the new faces, maybe its just a different generation, maybe its me. But Saturday night, I was reminded of something that is much more vital in terms of our chaplaincy work. You might even say it is more vital in the space of our work as Christians. Let me share this with you in the telling of a short story.

He walked with a casual gait. It had been a long, difficult game. Away from the confines of home, it was the team’s first win of the season. A smile. But for him, the game held so much more significance. Two years ago, almost to the day, this young man had left the same stadium but in an ambulance. His leg broken in two different places, he would need emergency surgery to save his leg. His dreams of playing football in jeopardy. April 22. It was Good Friday, but for him perhaps it was too difficult to call anything that day or in the days to follow good. There were many questions about whether there would ever be an Easter-like resurrection for Steve Zakuani.

Zakuani is stretchered off in 2011.

I don’t know if he remembered me – whether jumping in the back of the ambulance to pray before he left the stadium for the hospital, or visiting post-surgery and praying around his bedside, or helping get him to the airport and home to Seattle on a private plane or taking his father to the airport. But as I spoke with him in the hallway after the game, I encouraged him to keep working hard, to keep coming back. Sometimes, this is what our faith needs – we need an encouraging word in our lives to keep us working hard and seeking the Lord. Whether in the midst of discouragement or adversity, we need to keep coming back or as someone once put it “it’s not that saints never fall, but they get back up.” By the grace of God, we fall down, we get up.

As I drove away from the stadium and pondered the seeming full circle that two years had brought, I was moved to consider my own discouragement. Maybe I felt that the “ministry” work was broken or some of my own hopes and dreams shattered. Maybe I have simply fallen into the trap of wanting to influence a lot of people, rather than being content to work in the lives that God has called me to for the moment – chaplain or  pastor, we sometimes want to touch as many lives as possible. But numbers aren’t important. Accolades, or recognition, or “success” (whether from a worldly perspective or Christian subculture perspective) isn’t important. The important thing is being present, being faithful to this call. The important thing is to keep coming back, back to a place where God can use us in whatever way He chooses, or in whatever way He chooses not to – it’s His prerogative. Coming back until He asks us to go or do or be somewhere, something, or someone else.

God help Steve. God help me. God help us in coming back.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

Timothy Project: Haiti

Image 1


A young Haitian boy is about to hit a corner kick with an old MLS ball and donated soccer cleats from a Colorado Rapids player.

The first Timothy Project of the year is already complete. A team from Colorado and Cherry Hills Community Church made their way to Haiti to work with children during a weeklong mission trip, March 26-April 2. The team hosted several soccer tournaments and camps and did several construction projects, including building church and school benches, hosting hundreds of kids in Vacation Bible School, securing tarps on roofs for widows, serving at a large orphanage, delivering rice and beans, fitting hundreds of people with shoes and clothes and helping the sick. This Timothy Project involved providing a mix of used and new equipment (shoes, clothing, and balls) to the team to give away to youths and area churches.

IMG_4881

The team worshipped at Thomassique Christian Church on Easter Sunday and witnessed a Voodoo priest accept Christ as Savior, along with 5 others. Many other Haitian children prayed the prayer of salvation at Vacation Bible School. God is working in powerful ways in Haiti and Cherry Hills and CrossTraining is blessed to partner together in even this small way.

If you have a project idea or proposal for the Timothy Project please visit our page here and fill out the form. Scroll below to see more pictures from the team’s time in Haiti.Image 9Image 6Image 8

From the Rev: Abusers in the Game

If you have ever been around professional sports environments, you know that there are often polarizing figures who not only play the sport, but coach or work at the executive levels of sport as well.  Amongst those involved in the game, there are varying levels of the antagonist  – from recent extremes such as former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice and former White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen to former pro and basketball commentator Charles Barkley or owner Mark Cuban. In the world, these personas have a voice amplified by the high cultural value placed on sport but there is often a lot of controversy surrounding the comments or behaviors of these iconic figures.

ESPN’s Rick Reilly comments on the latest Nike ad campaign which attempts to atone for Tiger’s behavior on and off the course, suggesting winning as a cure-all.

It may go without saying that there are tremendous pressures tied into professional sport – whether for a coach, player, or executive but does this necessarily serve as an excuse for abusive language and behavior sometimes exhibited by those who are in the sports spotlight?

In my years working in professional sport – whether in public relations or as team chaplain – I have seen plenty of chairs kicked across rooms, vocalized and gestured profanities. Some of them coming from persons claiming to be Christ-followers. Some of them coming from persons making no such claim. For those claiming to be Christian, there is a more profound condemnation as this is not to be part of our character (see Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4 which speak to putting off unwholesome talk and attitude).

For the Christian in these environments, the pressure is immense, the off-color locker room language and behavior has mob majority acceptance and tends to dishearten and disquiet those who might speak and act otherwise. There are few who feel strong enough to stand up against it – instead choosing to join in to gain acceptance or withdraw entirely. Here is where I have found from time to time, the presence of a chaplain is often helpful to abate or limit some of the behavior and language that goes on.

I recall one moment, walking into the training room, a player uttered a profanity in casual conversation with a team mate. Seeing me come to greet them, the player apologized, “Sorry, Rev., I shouldn’t have said that.” As chaplains, we have a preservative quality. We are like salt and light in the locker rooms and stadiums where we serve. The Holy Spirit inside of us often works to convict and limit the abusers in the game from getting out of control. It is often hard work – to be present to the sometimes verbal and emotional abuse that surrounds the professional game and to not carry that with us. It is only by the grace of God that we can be a helpful preservative.

In my prayer times for those in professional sport, I am challenged to pray for the abusers – that they would come to an awareness and conviction of their words and behaviors, that they would repentantly change, that God would honor and protect his people. Please join me in praying for them and for the chaplains that serve them.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

From the Rev: Grieving Our Losses

Image

Rapids team members watch balloons float away after the service.

A few months ago, the Colorado Rapids team and organization was shaken terribly. The loss of one of our children at a tender and young age – made all close to the family pause and think – about life, about death, about cherishing what we have been given, and more. It was not the first loss in the history of the organization, but perhaps was the most difficult in my time and experience as the club chaplain.

The service that was held at the stadium was the first of its kind – a section of the stadium transformed so that this group, this family could gather and grieve. In the world of professional sport we are rarely confronted with the ultimate finality of death. Sure, there are careers that come to an end and dreams that are dashed in a moment in arenas of competition, but rarely is a death part of the fabric of an organization as young as the Colorado Rapids.

Image 1

It is in these moments, when chaplains are perhaps needed most – to offer comfort, to offer a peaceful presence, to listen, to mourn and grieve with those suffering. I am thankful for the many years of serving as a hospice chaplain and in pastoral care. It is imperative for chaplains to be trained in being sensitive and skilled in moments of grief and loss. For many that undertake chaplaincy there is lack of the education and development – even in many seminary-level courses. The investment in understanding grief and loss is important as many with whom we work have these critical moments in life.

So, if I could take just a moment and say a word of thanks – some of you have supported CrossTraining or even myself as an individual – whether by helping make a connection, or financially supporting the ministry, or offering another space for growth and development through education or some resource. Some of you have simply prayed for us  chaplains for the moments when we are confronted with grief and loss, that we would be wonderful representatives of God to the people we serve. Thank you for that investment. There may be many who never know and never fully appreciate and understand how you have indirectly helped them but helping us, but we (chaplains) thank you. And we pray that God blesses you in the moments when you, too, may have to grieve a great loss.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

From the Rev: Resurrected

Today is most important day in Christendom. It is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. It is the day when we those who have embraced Christ are reconciled to God the Father. It is the day when we are awakened out of spiritual deadness to new life. It is the day that is above all days – until the next coming of Jesus to call to himself all who belong to him.

On this day, I find it compelling to look at my own life and see the places where I need resurrection. Where are the places that need to die, in order to be raised to life in a new, whole, restored way? Where are the places that need to be healed? What parts of me can only be touched by God himself?

I find it interesting to consider this metaphor of death, dying, resurrection, new life played out in the football world where I serve as chaplain. Of course, there are players whose careers are “resurrected” when they join a new team. There are players who have career threatening injuries and receive dead tissue to replace that which has been injured and it “comes to life” again. There are organizations that go through leadership changes and suddenly spring to life with success again. In all of these examples, there is a microcosm worth studying of the necessity of having certain endings, certain “deaths” so that a person (or an organization/institution) can have new life again.

These were words that Jesus himself powerfully spoke before his death as he illustrated the power of a “good death.”

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)

Jesus was speaking of his own death which was to come and the necessity of dying. We often resist death because of the pain, the suffering, how uncomfortable it is (I am speaking of more than physical death). But sometimes we need to embrace death because of the potential that is held in a life transformed and new being held within it.

A player, traded, must come to terms with the ending of his former team. A player or coach who is fired from his job or at the end of a career must embrace this “death” in order to begin to look for the next opportunity. As Christians, we must put ourselves to “death” in order that Jesus might live through us – his love, his grace, his compassion. And all of us will eventually face physical death. The promise, though, for those who have embraced Jesus, is that we will have a new life. Gloriously restored, we will have been resurrected forever – to never face death again, we will have conquered death, suffering, pain forevermore through the power of Jesus. What a glorious day that will be.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

From the Rev: 200,000 and counting

photoThis past week, as I headed into training to spend time with the team, I watched as the odometer hit a  milestone: 200,000 miles. In that moment, I gave a brief prayer of thanksgiving to God, for safety of travel and His grace over the roads traveled and the paths walked over the years of doing ministry for CrossTraining.

CrossTraining chaplains can travel upwards of 8-10,000 miles a year in serving the needs of the professional sports team. Sometimes a road trip to an away game, the weekly trip to the stadium or bible study, the occasional get together with a couple for counseling, helping a player move from one apartment to another, driving a player who has been cut or has recently signed to the airport – all this adds up to a lot of windshield time and miles on the car.

I have experienced these times as a sweet time. In the times when I find myself alone, I often pray or listen to music to prepare my heart to engage people and be a representative of God. In the times when there are others in the car, I still pray that my life, my words, my witness would be honoring to God and moving and meaningful to those placed under my care (and in my car) for that moment.

Now in my 12th season as a chaplain, I imagine that I have hit some 100,000 miles for driving for the ministry. I pray that God give the same protection and blessing for the next 100,000 – wherever those miles end up taking me. Thank you for your prayers, too.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney

Timothy Project 2013

IMG_5319

Soccer camp in Czech Republic was a 2012 recipient of a Timothy Project award.

CrossTraining announced today that applications are now being accepted for 2013 Timothy Project proposals. The Timothy Project involves CrossTraining allocating resources and connections to those involved in missional endeavors to impact diverse communities around the world using the sport of soccer. Proposals often include requests for equipment, financial sponsorship, and event promotion. Proposals may be submitted from the Timothy Project page where a hyperlink will direct respondents to an online submission form that includes criteria for consideration.

The Timothy Project started in 2010 as part of CrossTraining and START Ministries agreement and partnership in ministry. Founder and Colorado Director, Brad Kenney recalls the beginnings of the Timothy Project,

In dialogue with START, we wanted to join in the amazing vision that they had to support short-term mission work locally and globally. Since God has placed us in the sport of soccer and since soccer (or futbol) is the “global game” we found a natural outlet for supporting START and living out this incredible vision by supporting those utilizing the game to transform communities and really impact the world.

Screen Shot 2012-06-22 at 4.03.01 PM

Young boys in Mongolia are the beneficiaries of a group that has a vision to rescue boys out of a cultural path of alcoholism.

What began as a simple sponsorship has grown over the last few years to include project involvement in places as far away as Mongolia and as close to home as Portland and Colorado.

Projects that merit consideration will meet with CrossTraining’s goals and vision for the program and more details can be found on the Timothy Project page of the website and on the online submission form. Donations can be made directly to the Timothy Project by marking an online gift or check “Timothy Project” and even designating a gift toward a specific project. Project submittals will be considered until a  date to be determined or until project funds have run out for the year. Keep checking the Timothy Project page for updates on approved projects.

We’re excited to see what projects God has in store for us to work with this year. There will be some amazing stories, to be sure.

– Brad Kenney, Colorado Director

Community Projects

Contact Us

Chaplain Login

Privacy Policy

© 2024 Soccer Chaplains United

Donate via PushPay