General news and information about Soccer Chaplains United including newly formed partnerships, news on the different teams and communities being served, and upcoming events for donors, partners, and communities.
At just 35 years old, Colin’s death shocked many. He grew up in Fort Collins playing soccer and played for the Rapids, Houston Dynamo, and Los Angeles Galaxy and had one appearance for the US Men’s National Team. He also coached many youth teams in the Colorado area after retiring from professional soccer.
The recorded service is viewable below. I had the privilege of leading and speaking at several different points in the service. The actual service begins at around 17:20 minute mark with a looping slideshow that precedes the service.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Colin-Clark-1-750x375.jpg375750Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-09-25 08:00:392021-05-11 13:00:59Colin Clark Memorial Service
We’re just one month away from the 2nd Global Congress on Christianity and Sport at Calvin University (formerly Calvin College) in Grand Rapids, MI. Soccer Chaplains United will feature in two of the many breakout sessions during the four-day event. A list of the different break out sessions is viewable here.
The first session, A Biblical Foundation for Chaplaincy in Sport will take place on Friday, 10/25 (12:30-2:00 pm, Eastern). In this session, I will propose a different starting point for considering chaplaincy and sports chaplaincy from a biblical framework. Currently, there is not an article being published, but hopefully there will be something to add into the library of sports chaplaincy at some point.
The second session, entitled, Chaplaincy and Counseling in Sport: A Necessary Partnership, will take place on Saturday, 10/26 (9:45-11:45 am, Eastern) as part of a 4-part presentation track entitled “Chaplaincy and Resources.” Myself and Brooke Ewert will present on the challenges of linking chaplaincy and counseling in sports. We will share about our work of serving in football (soccer) and how the chaplain and counselor can serve simultaneously and differently from one another.
Please pray for Soccer Chaplains United, and the other congress attendees — whether academics or practitioners — as we work and interact to process best thinking and best practices in helping bridge the world of Christian faith and sport.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Miroslav_Volf.jpg600400Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-09-24 12:00:062019-09-24 13:37:53Congress Breakouts Announced
This past weekend, the Board of Directors and myself, were in beautiful Fairplay, CO to pray and envision the future of Soccer Chaplains United.
One of the helpful moments for me at the retreat was to understand that the ministry is in a time and period of “stabilizing.” The past two years being marked by a significant change to our organization by virtue of our announced change of name to Soccer Chaplains United, the last two years have seen the organization working through that and beginning a process of growing and operating through transition.
We had our usual business meeting on Friday night and then two sessions on Saturday with lunch and a round of 2 Mile High disc golf in between. It was an excellent time of rest and recovery close to the end of a difficult season of ministry.
Another key moment was one of our breakout sessions led by my friend and mentor, Reverend Dave Meserve. Dave is Founder of Urban Skye and did a wonderful job of facilitating some of our dream and vision time. He helped the board members present to reflect on different life and ministry themes and whisperings that board members had been experiencing during the past year. The exercise was helpful on a number of fronts, especially on the need for Soccer Chaplains United board and myself to grow in our “relational alignment.”
Dave Meserve is Founder of Urban Skye
Of course, Board Member Matthew Adams and I quickly bonded as we shared the experience of freeing a chipmunk from a glue trap. (click or double click the picture below and select view controls in order to see the video below)
While I had encouraged Matthew to let the chipmunk recover and free himself in the bushes, who would have guessed the chipmunk would have flow out of the bucket and landed on me! Needless to say, it was a laughable moment that brought us closer together!
I am especially grateful to the board for their sacrifice of time to come and spend time together and we are praying together for what God has in store for the future.
This coming weekend, the Board of Directors and myself, will gather for our bi-annual retreat. Two years ago, our retreat (held in Castle Rock, CO) was the springboard for our organizational change as we rebranded from CrossTraining to Soccer Chaplains United. This year, we will gather for a few days in beautiful Fairplay, CO to envision some of what the next few years might look like for Soccer Chaplains United.
While this retreat is less likely to feature such a tremendous moment for our organization, I would still like to ask for our supporters and partners to pray. Pray for us as we conduct a little bit of business and also lean into what God might be whispering — there are directions and pathways that an organization and non-profit might go these days and we want to hear clearly and respond rightly to those whisperings.
We are especially grateful for the donation of a mountain retreat home that will allow us to get away from the “normal” buzz and busyness. Pray for each one as they take time from their family and other interests to invest more deeply into the work and ministry of Soccer Chaplains United.
Nicholas Runyan, a counselor with Soccer Chaplains United, has announced his resignation after serving for one year. His service was marked by offering counseling especially for the young athletes and their families in the Developmental Academy and others within the Colorado Rapids organization and several area youth club players.
Runyan wrote,
Thank you for the opportunity to join your team and for including me to serve the Rapids and other local soccer organizations. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to work more closely with and support the Rapids organization.
Nicholas Runyan, Counselor
Runyan leaves with a need to consolidate his extra commitments. The additional time will allow him to offer more availability as he looks to grow his private practice.
Soccer Chaplains United continues to seek to grow and add chaplains and counselors to its group to serve all levels of soccer. If you or someone you know might be an interested and a qualified candidate, please email us at info@soccerchaplainsunited.org.
The Moody Bible Institute recently announced that there will be a sale of particular parts of its urban campus in downtown Chicago. Amongst the buildings and parts of land that have been offered up for sale is the Moody soccer field. A recent article on Crain’s Chicago Business website, details more of the proposed sale and the hiring of a firm to sell “non-critical” parts of the campus. The sale of land will help to fund and fuel Moody’s growth initiatives for 2030.
Jon Forsythe, a graduate of Moody and the current, Moody’s Men’s Soccer Head Coach, recently gave an update to alumni of the soccer program,
Please join us in praying for the future of the school and the soccer program in this time of transition – the facilities may look different in a few years, but the purpose of the school and the program remain the same: training and equipping students to be ministers of the Gospel.
Forsythe also shared that the Men’s Soccer Program will continue and that the remainder of the 2019 season will be unaffected by the field being put up for sale. But future iterations of the soccer program will look different. Coach Forsythe and the school have mentioned that, following the sale of the land, the soccer program will continue, using an off-campus field for training and matches. The location of which is yet to be determined.
Moody’s soccer field, famous for its location and known to slow down ‘L’ drivers curious to watch a game, will soon be sold by the school and developed.
In what may be a forever goodbye for a place special in many student’s hearts and memories, Moody Men’s Soccer will host its annual alumni game on Saturday, October 12. Coach Forsythe hopes to see the field full of generations of Moody Soccer players. But for alumni unable to attend, an open invitation exists for alumni to come by for any remaining home games or training sessions.
Please pray for Soccer Chaplains United chaplain Pete Distler as he works with the men’s soccer program — both for the current students and athletes and the alumni, as well. And pray for Moody as they continue to orient the school and students and education in a difficult time for Christian higher education.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/moody-soccer-field.jpg720960Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-09-05 10:00:352019-09-05 10:13:00Moody Soccer Soon to Move
Former Colorado Rapids Midfielder, Colin Clark, died on Monday morning of a heart attack. At just 35 years old, Colin’s death has come as a shock to many. The left-footed midfielder grew up in Fort Collins playing soccer and played for the Rapids, Houston Dynamo, and Los Angeles Galaxy and had one appearance for the US Men’s National Team.
A date and time has been set for his memorial service.
Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00 PM at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park.
Family, friends, and the soccer community are invited to attend and pay their respects during this time. More details to follow.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Colin-Clark-1-750x375.jpg375750Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-08-30 12:00:152021-05-11 13:01:12Colin Clark Memorial Service
We’re just a couple months away from the 2nd Global Congress on Christianity and Sport. This year’s congress is being held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI October 23 — 27 and it’s not too late to register. Here is a place for dialogue and sharpening between academics, theologians, practitioners like chaplains and counselor, and others connected into the world of sport.
I really enjoyed the last congress in York, England back in 2016. And, as I have mentioned before, it was at the congress that God gave us a new vision to change the name of our ministry to Soccer Chaplains United.
At the York congress, I gave a presentation entitled: Foundations of Pastoral Care- Recovering the Spirit of Chaplaincy in Sport. Additionally, I had my first professional article by the same title published in a special edition of Practical Theology. It was an exciting and challenging time.
Theologian Miroslav Wolf will be a keynote speaker this October
During the upcoming congress, Soccer Chaplains United will feature in two parallel sessions. One session, entitled, Chaplaincy and Counseling in Sport: A Necessary Partnership, will have myself and Brooke Ewert presenting on the challenges of linking chaplaincy and counseling in sports. We will share about our work of serving in football (soccer) and how the chaplain and counselor can serve simultaneously and differently from one another.
I will also present in a separate session, A Biblical Foundation for Chaplaincy in Sport. In this session, I will propose a different starting point for considering chaplaincy and sports chaplaincy from a biblical framework. Currently, there is not an article being published, but hopefully there will be something to add into the library of sports chaplaincy at some point.
Please pray for Brooke and me, and other chaplains and people working and interacting and bridging the world of Christian faith and sport.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/tebowpeoplemag-92-2.jpg600400Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-08-26 10:00:532024-03-04 12:27:36Michigan On the Horizon
For Kimberly Beach, the pathway to becoming chaplain for Trinity International University’s (TIU) Men’s Soccer Program is, to say the least, an unusual one. But, then again, God’s planning and work to bring about something amazing in us and something powerful for His kingdom is usually born out of things that would confound the wise of the world.
Chaplain Beach, known affectionately to players and coaches as Miss Kim, started serving TIU in 2017. At first it began as a female soccer player and friend of her son (a student athlete at TIU with the men’s soccer team) asked if Kimberly could meet with and mentor her. Pretty soon, Kimberly was giving pre-season devotionals at the women’s team workouts. But the ministry didn’t stop there — her home routinely open to the athletes on her son’s team, meeting with the female athletes, and providing what she has come to term as “intentionally unintentional discipleship,” Kimberly’s ministry started to grow and expand beyond the typical “team mom” duties.
The growth of ministry, coupled with Kimberly’s own calling and story beginning back in 2000 led her to look for information on soccer chaplaincy. She landed on the recently rebranded Soccer Chaplains United webpage.
With the role of Team Chaplain at TIU, I was looking for an organization that would provide community. I found that in Soccer Chaplains United.
Chaplain Kim Beach
Chaplaincy wasn’t necessarily a new concept for Kimberly — in the early 2000’s through the medical issues her young daughter had faced, Kimberly had felt an initial call to pediatric chaplaincy. She desired to show love and care to those parent’s going through dark and difficult times as she and her husband, David, had but the time wasn’t right.
Ten years later, she again felt the tug toward chaplaincy. Within the span of a week, from sitting in an emergency room for their own child and then attending a number of sporting events and watching the ambulance pull up and take injured athletes away, Kimberly told her husband,
We need a chaplain here that can help these families…even if it is only sitting with them in dark times.
Kimberly Beach, 2010
David agreed and encouraged his wife to pursue training and licensure for chaplaincy. Her initial start came with Chaplain Fellowship Ministries and she began to visit local emergency rooms, church members and friends in the hospital, to speak with families while they were at the regional children’s hospital, and to facilitate online support groups.
In 2016, God called the Beach family to move — this time to northern Illinois for better treatment options for their daughter. With her son on scholarship with the TIU soccer team, the way forward was being led by God. It wasn’t long after that Miss Kim began serving the soccer teams at TIU.
Miss Kim’s approach, hospitality, and ministry soon came across the radar of then assistant coach men’s coach Josiah Larson. Promoted to head coach in December of 2017, Coach Larson asked if Kimberly would consider being chaplain for the men’s team.
With a full season of experience, Miss Kim has served the full gamut — from the highs and lows of the season, to the weddings, parents of athletes struggling with health issues, and other moments of pastoral care and counseling. Heading into the 2019 season, Soccer Chaplains United will look to bolster Miss Kim’s ministry as she continues to serve the athletes, coaches, and families of TIU’s Men’s Soccer.
I had the privilege of meeting Kimberly and David last summer, as they were leaving Denver, where David works, to return to Illinois. I was able to share about the mission and vision of Soccer Chaplains United — so much of which resonated with Kimberly’s background, calling, passion, and equipping. The pastoral care emphasis that Kimberly had already discovered and begun to cultivate was one of the key values for our work of chaplaincy amongst soccer. And I am really pleased to see the conversation which began last summer, cultivate in Miss Kim joining Soccer Chaplains United as chaplain.
Please join me in welcoming Kimberly Beach and the Trinity International University Trojan’s Men’s Soccer Team to the family here of Soccer Chaplains United!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DSC_3616-e1563817120804.jpg230300Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-07-22 06:00:392019-07-22 11:39:07From Team Mom to Team Chaplain
One of the things that I have come to learn in leading Soccer Chaplains United is that you never know what God might have in store when you say goodbye to one team member and God brings another. Recently, our first bookkeeper, went on and advanced in her bookkeeping and accounting work with joining a local private school’s accounting and bookkeeping team. The change meant that Soccer Chaplains United would soon need to look for a new bookkeeper.
I nearly pulled out my hair trying to find someone. Our bookkeeping needs are quite small and not a whole lot of hours, but is still a critical function of our ministry and for our growth. Several interviews and after quite a bit of searching, finally got an email in response to our advert on the Denver Seminary job board (shout out to the ole’ seminary).
The funny part is that the applicant was someone I know. The convergent worship leader at the church my family worships at, Cherry Creek Presbyterian, and a church partner with Soccer Chaplains United. What’s even more funny is that I had asked the missions director and executive pastor if they knew of anyone in the church that might assist us.
Well, it’s my pleasure to introduce Susie Mendoza, who will serve as our new bookkeeper. I had a wonderful time sitting and sharing the Soccer Chaplains United story with her and hearing much of her own story and journey. I asked her, why even bother with a smaller opportunity like Soccer Chaplains United? She shared,
Working in a “faith-based” organization can be quite rewarding, as both career and faith in Christ can intersect. Sharing my faith is what I love to do…I share the same vision as Soccer Chaplains United in that we are to share the Good News of Jesus!
Susie Mendoza
It is an incredible gift for us to be united with a shared vision to share the Good News and especially to live it out in our chaplaincy and counseling and community service that we provide. And when we live out, with passion, the deep vocation and calling that God gives to us, we get to see the amazing privilege of the work that God is about and where we get to join in and be vessels used by Him. Certainly, I have been able to see that in Susie week after week as she leads in worship and I am excited to see her bring her talents and gifts in accounting and bookkeeping to Soccer Chaplains United.
Susie, welcome to the team!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/susieBW.jpg950950Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2019-06-04 06:00:242019-05-28 11:26:31Mendoza To Keep Books
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