For Felipe Olavarría, sports have always been an important part of life. As a young man, he found that basketball was a game where he could compete and a game that he really enjoyed. In addition to playing fútbol in his native Chile, where he was born and raised, basketball was a massive part of his story. In the midst of his semi-pro, traveling time with the team he got invited to church, it changed his life and it changed the place he gave sport in his life. I came to faith in Jesus at a time in my life when I was a part of semi-professional basketball team in Chile. I spent my last two years with the team

In a new series entitled, The Technical Area, Rev Brad shares some specific applications for certain biblical passages that help apply faith to football in simple, practical ways. Today's lesson, is on Luke 13:6-9. Here, Jesus shares a parable with his disciples and thousands of others crowded around. Contextually, he's relating this into repentance and getting relationships right. The parable that Jesus shares has some practical applications as we sometime will have to deal with damaged, diseased, or dying kinds of relationships in our lives — whether on the pitch, in the locker room, or at home. In this episode, Working on Flourishing, Rev Brad shares some insights for the text that he often shares with people in soccer as

It has been nearly a year of vacancy for the El Paso Locomotive FC (USL-Championship) chaplaincy position, but the train is finally starting to pull out of the station. Despite making a chaplain placement during COVID in 2020, the former chaplain moved on to take a different church position, leaving a gap that was difficult to fill. I made about phone call and email inquiries to over 20 pastors in the El Paso area. I mainly head voice mail messages or got no response. It was discouraging, in the very least. From those that I was able to speak with, the answer that usually came back was, "I am too busy." Again, discouraging. Fast forward to my meet up with

Handoffs aren't always easy in volunteer sports chaplaincy ministry. This truth is what makes the story unfolding with Rio Grande Valley Toros FC (a USL-Championship side) that much more heart-warming. Isidro Piña is a member of Soccer Chaplains United and the first volunteer team chaplain to serve the Toros. I remember back to 2018 when we made the placement after interviewing Isidro, who had come to us by way of recommendation from Chaplain Cesar Duran. Making the trip down to McAllen, Texas I ran into former Colorado Rapids defender, Jared Watts, who was doing a rehab stint with the team because of their affiliation with the Houston Dynamo. Isidro, who had recently met the team for the first time, remarked,

Jared Watts played professional soccer for the Colorado Rapids and Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. His pathway of coming into pro soccer came through his time spent at IMG Academy and later at Wake Forest University. He had to endure a few injuries and needed to lean on the support of others doing key moments in life. Today, on the Soccer Chaplains United podcast, From the Touchline, is the finale in our three-part series with Jared. He shares more about the work that he is doing today and we get in a fun game of Crosses with Rev. Jared leaves us with a word for parents and grandparents on how they can encourage younger athletes and soccer players today