I asked if I could take one of these for a spin, but sadly the answer was “no.”
The second part of my trip included meetings in Charlotte. The International Sports Chaplaincy Federation had a second summit, again hosted by Cede Network at the Joe Gibbs Racing Center. The summit took place over the course of a couple of days and much was accomplished toward creating and defining chaplaincy standards in sport around the world.
I was privileged to be part of last year’s summit and again invited to contribute to this year. Amongst some of the moments, the group adopted the name Global Sports Chaplaincy Association as a way of moving forward and starting to reach out in the development of chaplaincy across different countries and continents.
My own contribution includes helping serve on the training and education team. There is a monumental task ahead of how to teach and train with best practices in mind while some who are serving as chaplains in sport lack many of the necessary resources to help do the work well. Our team has been tasked with continuing to discover and develop resources that might be used by chaplains from many different backgrounds and cultures.
In addition, as a part of Soccer Chaplains United and with our heavy presence in the United States, I will also be helping in the development of the registry hosted by Cede. The registry will allow chaplains to find other chaplains as well as to utilize resources for learning and collaboration. As we identify different chaplains, part for the work will be to understand and affirm their positions and callings and to encourage chaplains to share and grow in their collegiality.
The summit this year produced many landmark moments. There was a deep sense of accomplishment and forward progress. I am excited to see the continuing development of sports chaplaincy and the confluence of several different organizations and people coming together.
