Soccer Chaplains United is pleased to announce the addition of Tiago Souza to the chaplaincy team. Tiago, a native of Brazil, will be assisting with chaplaincy in the Pacific Northwest, as well as adding to the communications and also assisting with Portuguese translations for the group, as a whole. A graduate of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, Tiago is currently the Communications Manager at GracePoint Church in Bremerton, WA. You can see Tiago's biography page (also in Portuguese) here. Tiago became familiar with Chaplain Jubal McDaniel (Tacoma Defiance, MLS Next Pro) and watched Jubal in his chaplaincy role. A passionate soccer fan, Tiago took great interest in Jubal's work with the team. One of Tiago's roommates, during his time at Liberty,

Recently, Jubal McDaniel, volunteer chaplain to Tacoma Defiance shared an email with the rest of the Soccer Chaplains United team about his experience thus far in working out chaplaincy service for his team context. Our conversations with Jubal began in late 2020, with COVID and the pandemic in full-swing, it took time for the introductions and beginnings of ministry. More headway was made in 2021 — Jubal as able to meet and serve the team in many virtual ways and towards the end of the year, in a few, tangible ways. What follows below are some of Jubal's reflections, which I believe give helpful insight into the work of soccer chaplaincy and some of the challenges and ways to take

Since moving to Colorado in 2010 and turning on the television to watch the local soccer team in the MLS Cup final, Kevin Hasenack has been a fan — not just of football (soccer), but of the Colorado Rapids. But more than a fan, this local pastor to Calvary Wellspring (located in Aurora, CO) has been involved in the game at different points and in different ways. Pastoring and befriending a former Colorado Rapids 1st Team player and his family further piqued his interest in the "Beautiful Game," but also revealed some of the more difficult sides to being an elite pro. The challenges that I see is that athletes are asked of a lot: fans ask a lot of them,

It has been awhile since I have undertaken the pastoral writing mode of the From the Rev genre. So much of my time is now spent in writing for podcasting and the production of such. But this past week Saint Martin of Tour's feast day (Thursday, November 11 - also known as Veteran's Day or Remembrance Day) is slowly starting to become a rhythm of rest for me as a chaplain. I usually take the day or couple of days surrounding 11 November to retreat and reflect on ministry and life. I call these times the Founder's Retreat — Saint Martin being the "founder" of chaplaincy in the 4th century. In certain spaces and epochs, chaplains and chaplaincy has been

A number of results this past Wednesday night solidified the playoff destinies of teams where Soccer Chaplains United chaplains are serving. In Major League Soccer, while my own Colorado Rapids lost to league-leading New England, Ben Dudley and Troy Ready's Portland Timbers won 2-0 to clinch a spot. In the Eastern Conference Billy Cerveny's Nashville SC won with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Cincinnati to clinch a playoff place with a few games in the season remaining. In the National Women's League, Christina Garber's Portland Thorns clinched the league shield (most points in the season) and will have the top seed for postseason play. In the United Soccer League Championship, Soccer Chaplains United chaplains are serving six different teams. In