While professional soccer has already returned in the United States and around the world, there is still a massive impact from the novel Coronavirus which has different parts of the country and the world in different stages of reaction and response. Social distancing in one place but wide-open, no restrictions in another, means that finding common ground is difficult. The global pandemic has affected the stock market and global and local economies for months — and businesses and non-profits have felt the effects to varying degrees. So, too with Soccer Chaplains United. Unfortunately, second quarter for us saw a 25% giving decline from the same time last year. In addition, Soccer Chaplains United lost a key donor to start the

I am excited to announce that with the United Soccer League—Championship kicking off this past weekend, Erick Jiménez, has moved through the candidacy process with Soccer Chaplains United and will now be appointed to serve as volunteer chaplain to El Paso Locomotive FC. Erick is the Pastoral Director of Young Marrieds and Family at Coronado Baptist Church and is currently working on his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can read more about him on his bio page here. Erick Jimenez will become El Paso Locomotive's first volunteer chaplain During the time of COVID-19, chaplaincy placement conversations have been extremely difficult as different teams and organizations bide their time to see how the global pandemic will

Last week, a couple of teenagers from Lutheran High School and Valor Christian High School showed up to help Soccer Chaplains United pack out more items for our current (and only project, thus far) for 2020 — the Musana Community Development. Donated items are sorted, counted, packed, and then weighed With the goal to fill 10 bins each, the four students, each seeking to find some volunteer hours prior to school starting this fall, were able to get items sorted and counted and bins filled in record time. Maybe it was the cooler day in Colorado, or maybe it was jamming out to the tunes, but each one worked quickly to get things sorted, counted, and packed. These four teens

Recently, Major League Soccer (MLS), National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and United Soccer Leagues (USL) have all announced plans for returning to play. MLS has yet to declare or confirm actual dates, but the reported plan is to have a league-wide, 30-day tournament in Orlando, FL to re-start the season. NWSL have already revealed a schedule for the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, a 25-game tournament beginning June 27. The USL Championship has announced July 11 as the provisional "return to play" date, though many more logistics need to be confirmed and factored. This week I have been in contact with Soccer Chaplains United chaplains throughout the U.S., and we are also seeing most of the college and high school teams

Today, I had the privilege of presenting two sessions on sports chaplaincy to about thirty men and women interested in or whom are currently serving as sports chaplains in the country of India. In the first session, I presented an expanded presentation of a Biblical Foundation for Sports Chaplaincy along the lines of last year's presentation at Calvin University in Michigan. It was at the 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity, where I met with delegates from India who invited me to conduct today's training. With about 40 minutes, I was able to expand further into the study of Genesis 3 as the biblical foundation for the work of chaplaincy in sport and provide examples and illustrates along the