Christina Garber has faithfully served the Portland Thorns since 2019 as volunteer chaplain and will continue to do so but not under the banner of Soccer Chaplains United, any longer. As Christina and I have spoken over the last few weeks, a greater need to "simplify life" has become an emerging theme. Wife to Andy, (who is a Tottenham fan) and mother to three wonderful children, Christina has also supported the Portland Thorns through a NWSL championship season (2022) as volunteer chaplain all the while maintaining full-time work with CRU City and helping the development of the Pro Soccer Chaplains Association. In truth, it has all become a bit too much. Christina will continue to serve the Thorns and step

Josh Bailey has a pastors heart. Josh also is coach and enjoys sports — namely basketball and soccer. In his time as both coach and pastor he has for awhile now, been prayerfully considering ways to combine soccer and sharing about Jesus; being Jesus. He's had previous opportunities to do serve as a chaplain in the past. Josh served as a chaplain with a men's college basketball team before — traveling with athletes, attending practices, leading chapel services, and meeting with people one-on-one for spiritual and emotional support. It's from that experience that Josh knows the many opportunities that can come when investing in the lives of people and he has been sensing it's time to be more active doing that type

Jordan Rivera recently completed the process to being serving as a volunteer chaplain to New Mexico United, a team playing in the United Soccer League — Championship (USL-C) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. USL-C is part of the second division of professional soccer in the United States and New Mexico United has, historically, been one of the stronger and more exciting teams to play in the league independent of any Major League Soccer (MLS) club affiliations. Established in 2018, NMU is a constant contender in the Western Conference of what is USL-Championship Jordan, originally from Ecuador, was tabbed by current volunteer chaplain Clint Moore to help assist with Spanish-speaking needs throughout the organization — from the first team through the academy. Growing up,

TBH, when Billy Cerveny called and told me that he was going to need to move to Jacksonville, FL I was discouraged. It takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and relational capital to discover, develop, and deploy a chaplain and the higher the level (especially within the elite, professional ranks) the more that seems to be at stake and the more things that could go wrong. So, fighting back the tears and fears (yes, I believe God is sovereign), Billy and I began searching earlier this year for candidates that might be able to be a fit with Nashville SC. A short list of names cropped up. "What about _______?" I asked. "No, I don't think that person will

From east coast to west coast, Michael Kell has seen and been in all parts of the US, but he now calls Southern California home. The father of two has recently seen his oldest off to college at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA — his old alma mater. And his son, (Ethan) currently plays with Los Angeles Football Club's Academy program, as a goalkeeper. From the countless hours spent on the sidelines, Michael was curiously stirred by the tremendous amount of need that he would come across as he would patiently sit and watch games with other parents. The felt needs prompted him to start exploring what chaplaincy at the academy level might look like. Enter in Soccer Chaplains United.