Tonight, I embark on something a little bit new and different — I will help facilitate an online course with Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. The course, entitled, Soul Care in Sports, is developed by Professor Cindy White. She, along with husband John, helped to co-found the Faith and Sport Institute and teaches part-time with the university.
The Soul Care in Sports class is part of the degree plan for the Master of Arts in Theology and Sports Studies. The course has a number of residential as well as online students participating in the class. Baylor’s Truett Seminary is one of the few seminaries in the US offering a sports ministry and sports chaplaincy focus for learning.
As I prepare (now weekly) to co-facilitate and teach, I can certainly say it feels humbling. There is a lot to learn about and I am not even talking about the course! My daughter asked what kind of grader or teacher I was going to be — the tough one, or the grace-filled one? I told her I don’t know but I hope it is the grace one 🙂, because I will need that from the students!
It is also helpful to realize and recognize that many of the students are peers in the sports ministry space, so there is an element that we are building community and journeying together — not being some talking head dispensing generalized wisdom.
Please pray for me as I take this task on for this first, spring semester. Maybe pray more for the students, too, because I don’t know what kind of teacher they are going to get. At times, I feel like I should be taking the class, not helping lead it!
