We are pleased to announce the addition of a chaplain to serve the Rio Grande Valley Toros FC of McAllen, Texas. Isidro Piña, a local minister in the Edinburg/McAllen, Texas area, has been patiently waiting for the chaplaincy opportunity to develop. We met Isidro, last August, and began a conversation about possibly serving the club. Isidro becomes the 11th chaplain to serve with Soccer Chaplains United and came via a recommendation from Chaplain Cesar Duran. You can read more about Isidro on his bio page here. Isidro will work to develop relationships and trust in this new role. When I asked him to say something about coming onto Soccer Chaplains United, he shared the following: I felt privileged when I

Today, Roger Lipe of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) hosted myself and Jorge Vallejo, also of FCA, on a phone interview to discuss chaplaincy for soccer. I have known Jorge for a number of years and we have had the privilege of serving a number of the same people — players, coaches, and staff. Jorge serves as chaplain for Atlanta United FC (Major League Soccer). Jorge and I offer some perspectives and share our thoughts and experience with chaplaincy in soccer/football during the call. You can listen to the recorded call (approx. 45 min), here at this link: https://fccdl.in/gmWPwtPfWX If you are interested in learning more about becoming involved in soccer chaplaincy, I would encourage you to reach out to us

Today, it's my privilege to announce that Portland Timbers Chaplains Ben Dudley and Troy Ready have officially joined Soccer Chaplains United. Ben and Troy have been working with the Timbers of Major League Soccer (MLS) since 2010 and 2014, respectively. They co-chaplain the MLS side which won its first league title in 2015. Ben is no stranger to Soccer Chaplains United. He was part of CrossTraining back beginning in 2010 when he first moved to Portland and started working with the Timbers. He helped encourage me and the CrossTraining Board, at the time, to seek out becoming it's own non-profit 501(c)3 entity. He recently shared with the board and other team members, I’ve been in community with Brad for the past

A quick update as today, we were able to put forward our top chaplain candidate to Nashville SC. The search for a chaplain which began back in August, culminated in developing a candidate pool. We had those candidates meet with Tennessee Titans (American Football) Chaplain, Casey Cramer for an additional layer of vetting. Casey was helpful in sharing his own personal experience of working in a church setting and offering a chaplain presence to a pro sport team in the Nashville culture. Next steps will include the chaplain candidate meeting with team ownership to get a feel for cultural fit. Once the candidate has been accepted, Soccer Chaplains United will begin doing more coaching and development support as the chaplain

Soccer Chaplains United, last week, announced a new partnership with WaterStone, a 501(c)3 Christian foundation. WaterStone comes alongside many donors and provides trusted counsel and innovative giving strategies designed to multiply giving impact, minimize taxes and heighten one's sense of joy around generosity. One of the recurring questions asked of donors is, Do you know how to power your giving? When most people consider donating to Soccer Chaplains United, or another nonprofit about which they are passionate, they pull out their checkbooks and tap into their cash reserves for that special gift. However, most people hold a greater share of their wealth in non-cash assets; valuable holdings like securities, real estate, commodities (oil, gas, crops, etc.), and business ownership. In these