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This month, I have been writing a couple features for the chaplains that are support raising through Soccer Chaplains United. Some chaplains are raising expenditures, some raise a small stipend and expenses, and others (like myself) raise their salary along with their expenses.

It feels weird to write about myself — not to toot my own horn, but someone recently asked, “How is your own support raising?” I often lump in my own needs into the overall organization and try not to make it a lot about myself, but since leaving full-time work in the church a number of years ago, my family is quite dependent on my work and my fundraising efforts, as well. With that in mind, I wanted to share a little bit about myself and ministry for one of our October highlights of chaplains. You can also read a bit here in my bio.

So, 2020 marks my 19th year of serving voluntarily as chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. I began serving in this capacity in 2002 and for much of that time (up until 2015) the work was very much within the margins of my time and ministry as both a hospice chaplain and as a pastor at a local church, here in Colorado. Both the hospice and church were gracious in allowing me additional time and space to fulfill my role and duties to serve the Rapids organization through those years and my income during that time meant that I only needed to minimally fundraise for my expenditures.

Today, I am unique in my work with Soccer Chaplains United — I am currently the only employee of Soccer Chaplains United. My time and work is split several different ways and I want to share this with you because you can hopefully see where some of my passions lie and also see how I typically spend my week.

In a non-Covid world, I usually make myself available to serve the Rapids organization around 3 days a week. Between serving the first-team, development academy, front-office staff, and alumni of the organization there is plenty to keep me busy. There is a healthy mix of individual support and group times that goes into coming alongside of the people that make up this professional soccer organization.

The next most significant part of my time (ranging from 2-3 days) is in the program efforts of leading Soccer Chaplains United. Here — it might be coaching a chaplain through a particular situation with his or her team, it might be looking for chaplain candidates in a new city, or building relationships with a club and explaining and educating on what chaplaincy is and isn’t. Of course, there is a percentage of time given over to administrative tasks — sometimes conducting a background check on a chaplain candidate or coming up with educational equivalency plans, as well as laying out the vision for the organization and developing the future vision. And a portion of my time also includes raising funds — for my own support and for the organization itself.

In honor of October being pastoral appreciation month, if you would like to make a financial contribution to help me and my family, I encourage you to hit the PushPay button below and select General from the drop-down selectable funds list.

Soccer Chaplains United is non-profit, 501(c)3 and we depend upon the financial support of our individual donors and church partners to carry out our work of developing chaplaincy, counseling, and community service across all levels of soccer. Please consider making a contribution today to support myself and to help us continue growing our work.

Thanks for your support!