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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.

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.