Thomas Fahn, founder and director of Sadaya International (SI), is returning to Liberia this summer. His main tasks will be conducting soccer clinics and spending time with coaches and academy teams for SI. He will also oversee work being done for his family's guest house — all positive signs of Liberia returning to some sense of normalcy from the Covid-19 global pandemic. Sadaya International leverages the power of soccer to educate and motivate Liberian youth to live healthier and more productive lives. They invest in young people with an aim to help them become agents of change in their families and communities. Many talented Liberian youths have been reduced to extreme desperation because of economic and other hardships. Many have

Telling the truth is difficult in our day and age and maybe nowhere more difficult than in the football world. Today, Coach Lasso takes a minute to speak some truth into young Nathan's life as they head off for the team charity benefit gala. In today's "Lessons from Lasso" on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on how difficult it is for truth-telling these days and something that we can see and learn from Coach Lasso as he takes a moment to tell one of his staff members a truth that he needs to hear. The Bible tells us that those who are really worthy of being in God's house are "truth tellers who don't have slander on their

For the past couple of years, in the light of shutdowns and in-person restrictions, one area of Soccer Chaplains United that has grown has been our weekly podcast series. Entitled, From the Touchline, the podcast has been a mix of different types of listening — from interviews with guests to (my favorite) a series based on the hit TV show Ted Lasso. Beginning in 2018, we started to podcast the show with the idea that (as a chaplain) we are standing on the "touchlines" — the sidelines of the game of soccer. The role and work that we have is about cheering and encouraging and even shouting out coaching and instruction — not about the game, but about faith and about life. For

Recently, Jubal McDaniel, volunteer chaplain to Tacoma Defiance shared an email with the rest of the Soccer Chaplains United team about his experience thus far in working out chaplaincy service for his team context. Our conversations with Jubal began in late 2020, with COVID and the pandemic in full-swing, it took time for the introductions and beginnings of ministry. More headway was made in 2021 — Jubal as able to meet and serve the team in many virtual ways and towards the end of the year, in a few, tangible ways. What follows below are some of Jubal's reflections, which I believe give helpful insight into the work of soccer chaplaincy and some of the challenges and ways to take

Perhaps you've heard the adage — a house divided cannot stand. These words, spoken by Jesus a couple thousand years ago, play out in the rift that we see between members of the AFC Richmond team and Coach Lasso and Coach Beard have got to come up with a solution before it all unravels. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on the inability for teams, homes, and kingdoms or nations to continue to exist with sharp division — there has to be reconciliation, there has to be healing and repair. During Jesus' earthly ministry he was accused of being on the same side as Satan — a ridiculous accusation and Jesus' words are a reminder that a