Intro

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The higher you go in support, the greater the demand, and the more it costs. I'm not talking just money. I'm talking about sacrifice, denying self, limits on relationships. There's so many things that come because the stakes keep going up. Right. At the price that you pay, is it really going to end up being worth the return in the long run? Right.

Steve Keenum

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Today's guest has seen sports from just about every angle as an athlete, a college head coach, a ministry leader, and then as a dad. Steve Keenan played at McMurray University before beginning a 25-year coaching career that included stops at Harden Simmons, Charlton State, and Sol Rock State, along with 10 seasons as the head football coach at his alma mater, McMurray. And many of you will also know Steve as the dad of longtime NFL quarterback and University of Houston alum, Case Keenum. But with all of his on-the-field accolades, he will tell you that one of the most important influences in his own life happened long before that. He became involved with fellowship of Christian athletes as a teenager, and SDA played a central role in his coming to faith in Christ. Today, Steve serves as the regional director for FDA sports in the Texas region, helping coaches and athletes use sports as a platform for something much bigger than a scoreboard. But in this conversation, we don't just talk about how you raise an NFL quarterback. We talk about how you raise a kid who knows who he or she is, whether they become an NFL quarterback or never play another game. I hope that you guys enjoy the episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Roger Staubach, Tom Landry & Steve’s sports heroes

SPEAKER_04 1:56

See you soon. Are you good to go, Noah? You're square? Okay. So um so Steve Keenum, uh a well-known figure in this area, just for through a lot of different reasons, but in particular with your your role in Fellowship Christian athletes. But here at our podcast, we like to start off with the same question to every single person. Who was your sports hero growing up and why?

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Well, that's an interesting question. Uh I grew up in the Metroplex uh in Dallas area, so I was a cowboy fan. There you go. Uh so Roger Saubach was a guy that everybody loved.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Uh come to find out he's a Christian athlete.

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Yeah.

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Uh I got to go to an FCA camp when I was in high school, and I got the privilege of hearing him speak.

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I love it.

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Uh so I'd have to say uh Roger Staubach and then uh Coach Landry. I'm one of the few people who can say Coach Landry spoke at this high school FCA banquet, but he did. He went to high school at Duncanville. Uh and the man was the uh epitome of uh a Christian gentleman and uh a pretty fierce competitor that wanted to uh to play well.

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So yeah, yeah.

Can Christians be fiercely competitive?

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So so I'd really like for us to talk today to cover kind of uh coaching, fatherhood, faith, identity. But I think one of the things that kind of runs through all of that is being competitive through in in each of those different aspects. And a lot of people would say that as a Christian, that that would pull back your competitive nature, but you're talking about some highly competitive people. So help help us understand kind of where those two things intersect and how they relate to each other.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Well, you know, it's funny when if people argue that I'm saying you really haven't read the Old Testament and you haven't really looked at some of the great men of faith and the way they conducted their lives. I mean, if you can't tell me that David was not competitive, uh Joshua was not competitive, uh you know, John Eldridge, you know, I saw that book over there, you know, the Wild at Heart book talked about that spirit that God put in men, uh competitiveness, protectiveness, then that willingness to strive and to and to take a risk and challenge, yeah, uh in chance. Uh and the scripture's pretty plain. When you run, run to win. Uh don't run, you know, to come in last. Now somebody's going to, but that doesn't mean you don't bust your tail to win. Right. So get after it. That's the point.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

Right. I like that. So what is uh we we talked the other day about this idea that a lot of people have of pacifist Jesus. And what do you what do you what do you kind of where do you attribute that to and and how does that relate to kind of what you see in society around you and then maybe in sports and well God is love, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, God, you know, is merciful, God is but he's the line of Judah. Yeah. Um when Revelation talks about how he's gonna return on the white horse and you know, the sword coming from his mouth and yeah, you know, the fire in his eyes, uh he's he's competitive for the souls and hearts of men.

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Yeah.

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Uh to the point of I'm gonna leave heaven and and I'm gonna go jump on this cross, uh, let people beat the crap out of me and then hang myself there. I'm gonna fight for men's souls.

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Yeah.

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So uh passive is not uh, I don't think that's part of how I would describe Jesus.

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Good. Yeah, yeah. I should agree with that. Sure.

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Long suffering, but passive, no.

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Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that that uh the willingness to suffer and die is pressing into that pain that he knew that that would be required. And in even in his prayer in Gethsemane

Growing up without Dad—and finding coaches who mattered

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to say, Lord, if there's any other way, oh yeah, then pull this cup away from me. But if not, then let's rock and roll. Let's go. Yeah, let's go. Um, I love that. So tell me, so tell me a little bit, uh, so some people know that you're a father. Some people may have heard the fact that you're a father. Uh, talk to us about fatherhood and tell us about your family and what that was like growing up and kind of being around sports.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Well, uh, you know, I'm an old story, you know, I'm the child of divorce. Um, dad wasn't around. And uh years later, looking back on it, it it made me angry. And uh sports was where I minted that. Sure. And I was fortunate that I had coaches that uh uh were more positive, and that was where my uh male role models came from, and that's part of the reason I'm sure that I'd got drawn to be a coach as things went on. Uh men are made for challenge. They're made to see a mountain and see if they can climb it. And sports is kind of a way that uh uh everybody can have a mountain in front of them and they can have somebody that can help them climb it.

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Yeah.

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Uh and I was fortunate that I had good coaches uh that wanted to do it the right way. And, you know, this was you know, back in the early 70s, which is a whole lot different now. Uh we did things, you know, it was salt tablets and no water breaks and all of those kind of things. But uh uh, you know, I had a coach that invited me to this thing called FCA because it was more than just whether or not I was a football player or not. It was

Becoming the dad he didn’t have

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where was I gonna end up uh for eternity? And I'm thankful for that. And then uh that's part of what drew me into coaching, and I was fortunate to work with men that had the same mindset, the same philosophy, and uh, and hopefully that was true of my career.

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So, what was it like being a father and and having a family and trying to balance those out and to see how that those two played into and against each other at different times?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Oh well, you know, when you grow up and your dad's not around, you kinda you kind of make your mind that that you're not gonna do it that way, you're gonna do it different, that you're gonna be at things.

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Yeah.

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Uh it's hard to do when you're coaching. Yeah. Um just because of the time constraints of what uh going on. Travel. I was coaching in college, and we would, you know, leave on a Friday morning to go play someplace. And, you know, your son's playing on Friday night. But uh uh and then when I stopped

“You show up for them”

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coaching, you know, we made a commitment that we were gonna be involved as much as we could. You know, Case was at the University of Houston, and one day during spring ball, I drove down six hours to watch practice and turn around. I took him to dinner and turned around and drove home. Yeah. Um went to 57 college football games, everyone he started.

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Wow.

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Um every game that he's played or started in the NFL, I've been to except for one, and that was because of a funeral.

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Wow.

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Uh loving your kids and being proud of them, showing up, that's important. The same thing. You know, you get in the car and you drive, go Odessa for the regional track meet to watch your daughter run the intermediate hurdles. 45 seconds later, she's done. You know, you hug her neck, you get in the car and you drive home. Right. Uh, but you show up for uh because that's what daddies are supposed to do.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

And how many kids do you have? Three. Three kids. Yeah. Okay. Two boys and a girl. Case two girls and a boy.

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Case is the oldest. Uh he's the one everybody wants to talk about, you know.

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Sure, sure.

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Uh middle one, Lauren.

Raising siblings when one becomes a star

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Uh she's uh got three beautiful daughters and lives in Austin, and then my youngest is in uh uh Brigham. Okay. And uh in a lot of ways, uh she was the least accomplished athlete, but I'm more proud of her because she's the greatest servant of them all. Uh really proud of her.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Yeah. So talk to me about uh I think there's a tendency when when you have a uh high profile or a high successful athlete as a child, then that spotlight gets shown on them. How do you make sure that the other kids in the family feel loved and cared for and attention in the same way as a dad? How do you do that?

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Well, it's you know, like I said, we'd do something. We go to watch Casey's game on Friday night. My youngest one, she was cheerleading. So we got in the car, watched the game, took her to the place where she was gonna play basketball, did the basketball, then they drove, you know, to the next game. We

The muscle coaches forget to train

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you go out of your way for all of them. I mean, uh every contest, every spelling bee, everything. I mean, it didn't matter. Yeah. We were gonna show up for them just like we did, you know, for the one that's in the NFL. Right. Uh I just it it doesn't matter what they're doing. You just show up, support them, and love on.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Right. What uh talk to me about uh something that you feel like coaches get wrong as a general rule.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Well and I'm guilty, I was guilty of it. I mean, you're always you have a certain amount of time to be able to do the things that you need to do as a coach when you've got your players. So it was always how could I get one more rep or how could I get one more set on the bench press or how could I get one more thing covered in a meeting? We spend an enormous amount of time on the mental part of it or the physical part of it. But the thing that we the the muscle that we exercise the least as coaches is that heart muscle, that character muscle.

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Yeah.

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Because if you if you strengthen that one, it's gonna impact everything else because the effort in the physical part is gonna be better.

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Right.

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The encouragement in the emotional part for others and themselves, they're gonna feel better about what they're doing in the emotional piece. So, really, if you're not exercising the spiritual muscle, uh, you're really missing out. Uh man, I I didn't want to graduate great players that were sorry men. You know? Uh I would have rather graduated a great young man who was an okay football player. But I can tell you for a fact that the more you invest in the character, the better players they turned into.

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So then how do you, as a coach, how do you how do you change that focus then as a coach? Like what are some things that you can intentionally do to build the character of kids as opposed to just building them as sports?

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Well, it it's it's being deliberate. That's you know, the thing about coaching is you were really we were really deliberate about everything that you you do because you want to control as much of the the controllable that that you can.

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Yeah.

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And if you're in a position to control the time, yeah, the schedule, then you build that piece of it into it. You plan for it. Um whether it's before practice, during practice, whatever it is, however you want to do it, but there's all kinds of ways to invest in the character of young people. Uh, whether it's having somebody that's a role model uh could come in and share, you know, the other day, you know, Case and them were practicing against uh Cincinnati and Thursday night, Derek Jeter comes in and talks to the Bears. Well, yeah, that made an impact on those guys.

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Right.

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Because he didn't talk just about, you know, uh what you gotta do to win.

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Yeah.

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You know, he talked about what are you gonna do as a daddy? You know, what kind of husband are you gonna be? Yeah. So if you do that, but then you also bring stories and examples and uh opportunities to to serve, you know, uh to your team and and and be intentional about it, then you have a chance to change their hearts and it changes the culture of your team.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Yeah, that's really good. So so give me a practical example then as a coach of some of the kinds of things that you did. Uh say you were at Brownwood, you were at Sol Ross, you were at McMurray. Uh, what were some things that you did, maybe in

Building character through team leaders

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a high school setting? Let's start there.

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What what kinds of things could you do there to Well in the high school, it was real one of the things we did is we really encouraged the fellowship of Christian athletes.

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Sure.

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Um I wanted all our kids to be involved in that if we could, and all of our coaches supported it, you know, some more uh actively than uh at others, but again, going towards that that spiritual piece, that heart piece there. But um we had uh groups called the Captain's Council, and those were team leaders, and in those Captain's Council meetings, you did character development. You know, we you may have uh camouflaged scripture in there, right? Uh, but you're talking biblical principles because you you talk about operating with integrity and with great effort and uh humility. I mean, all those things are biblical. Right. So uh that would be a the first way that we would I would encourage the coach to try to do is is to find those core folks, sure, those bell cows, those leaders, you put them in there and you try to encourage their leadership capacity and their integrity growth that uh so when they're sitting in the locker room, the conversation may

When your athlete’s identity depends on performance

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be a little different if if their hearts change.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

That's true. Yeah. That's good. Let me are you good here? We in good shape on both of those? Do we need to start them and stop them again just to kind of break it up a little bit?

SPEAKER_05 17:21

I think we're so probably good.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

We're good? Okay. Okay. All right, forgive the interruption there, Steve. Sorry. Um, what is it what about uh you've talked a little bit about this, but I'd I'd like for you to kind of focus on it a little bit more specifically. What what about how do you in leading leaders get their focus less on their identity as a successful sports athlete and more on the person that they are? Does that make sense as a question there?

SPEAKER_02 18:09

You know, I I'll never forget Casey's done some pretty remarkable things and me pretty if you'd have told me he was gonna write a book, I'd have said you were nuts, but he did. Well, he tells a story in there about when he was a freshman at University of Houston and how uh he was in competition, you know, for a for a spot and he threw an interception and basically his world ended.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

You know, uh that his identity was totally there. And fortunately, there was a an FCA chaplain that basically grabbed him by the nose and said, Hey, you're a child of God. Your value doesn't come whether you perform here or not. God hung on the cross for you and he's given you some ability. So maximize it and then don't be afraid to share it.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Uh if your world is built around winning, you're gonna be miserable because you don't win all the time. It's just and it's the same thing about about sports. There's always you're not gonna win every time. There's gonna be somebody that's better than you. Right. Uh at some point, you're not gonna be able to play anymore. The window, I used to tell players the window closes a little bit every day.

“Do what’s right”—intentional parenting

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And sooner or later it's gonna be closed completely, and you're not gonna be able to do this anymore. And if your whole world revolves around this, then when that happens, your world is wrecked.

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Yeah.

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So you better build your world around something or on something that uh isn't gonna change, isn't gonna fluctuate. Yeah. Uh because people aren't always gonna write nice things about you in the press. But the savior's love doesn't change. And that goes back to the character, it goes back to the heart piece. It's understanding that we're lost in need of a savior. And if you have that perspective, then it gets a little easier to come to the point where I'm just gonna lay it out there and then the results I'll leave up to the good Lord.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I don't know if that answers your question, but that's about all I got.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

That's good. So what are some of uh what are some of the ways with with your kids that you helped to drill that into them? What are some of the things you did as a dad?

SPEAKER_02 21:13

We'd read every night and read the Bible and you know, it was always do what's right. Last thing I tell them, do what's right. Do what's right. Uh talk about intention, being intentional about what you go about to do. Uh have a great day, I intend to. Doing something passionately on purpose. Uh always encouraging. Don't be Afraid to take risk. You know. Case was 11 years old when we go to Costa Rica to see his aunt and uncle who were missionaries down in the jungle, basically.

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Wow.

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And uh they lived on a river, and we're on a boat going to this place, and you said Cain and Crocodile, and there's no telling what all's in that water. Well, one day the uncle and his cousin and his son get out there, and their son's on the back of this thing on a boogie board. In that water, yeah. Dad's pulling him around a boat. When Case looks up, he can't get after it. And people say, Why

Why family meals mattered

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would you do that? It's so dangerous. I didn't want my son to be afraid.

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Yeah.

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I don't want him to be afraid.

SPEAKER_05 22:56

Right.

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This last weekend we're in Cincinnati. We've got her kids, and her youngest one's five, and she's on a rock wall. She's climbing a rock wall. My mom was encouraging her.

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Yeah.

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Don't be afraid. I don't know if that answers the question about what's going on. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

No, it's fantastic. Yeah. Uh so what is what is a what's something that you could just looking at being a dad to three kids, what's something that you would change about your intentionality or the way you raised your kids, or how if you could go back and talk to yourself 30 years ago, say, hey, I've got a great idea for you. What what is something that you would change?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

I don't know if I've got an answer for that. Because uh you know, the the thing that was hard was coaching and and being gone. You know. Uh but I tried to love their mama. Uh I tried to deal with integrity to them, tell them uh when I was wrong and and tell

How hard should parents push?

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them I was sorry. Um I think we made mistakes together, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Okay. That's a legitimate answer, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:53

You know, uh when I grew up, you know, mom worked and was gone a bunch, so I was a latchkey kid, so I had dinner by myself a whole bunch. My wife's family was completely different. Uh we'd go to their house and we'd have big table and meal and meal be over, and 45 minutes later, everybody's still sitting at the table. And that's one of the things that our family started doing. Uh and it was probably a little later. I would have started that earlier, I guess.

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Uh yeah.

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So Yeah.

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Meals at the table.

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Just being together. Hanging out, talking, you know, laughing. There was more. We had more, we had more fun. Yeah. After we got through telling stories on each other.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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I think uh it's it's always interesting to me. We we had a couple days ago, we were sitting around eating dinner, and kids were like, hey, can we can we finish watching this movie? And my wife's like, no, we're just gonna talk.

Let your kid own the motivation

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We're just gonna talk. And and the boys are like, oh, we really, you know, they wanted to watch the movie, and we ended up having the greatest conversation for the next hour and a half.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Well, there was no cell phone back when our kids were growing up, no video games, none of those things. So Right, right. A little different world.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Yeah, very different world. So let me let me shift gears a little bit with you. We um as a dad, there's a uh, and and as a former athlete, and I like the I like saying former athlete because there's gonna be a former in

When your child isn’t getting playing time

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front of athlete for everybody at some point. We're all gonna be formers. Um as a former athlete, you were a competitive guy and you wanted to be the best at what you're doing. And now as a dad, you're standing there and you're watching your son compete, you're watching your daughters, and you're you have that fire of competition in you and you want to push them. How do you find the line between you being the impetus of their drive versus them having to be the ones to drive themselves?

Don’t bulldoze the road for your kids

SPEAKER_02 27:36

You know, when I was coaching, it was really easy to see the ones that had to play and the ones that didn't. And I watched my son and my daughters on teams, and you could see the kids that were serious and the ones that were there, probably because somebody else wanted them to be there.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

That's fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

And the thing about it is the higher you go in sport, the greater the demands, and the more it costs. And I'm not talking just money, I'm talking about sacrifice, I'm talking about uh denying self. I'm talking about uh limits on relationships. There's so many things that come because the stakes keep going up. Right. That the price, you know, that you pay. Yeah. And you say, well, you get certain things in return. Yeah, but some things, you know, is it really going to end up being worth the return in the long run?

SPEAKER_05 28:56

Right.

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And I guess really the thing I would tell parents is I didn't have to push my son to drive him.

SPEAKER_05 29:05

Yeah.

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It just because of what he saw, what he wanted. He this is what he wants. It wasn't what I wanted necessarily. It's what he wanted. And I've seen parents that didn't want their kids to go on because of the things that they were afraid of.

SPEAKER_05 29:23

Yeah.

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They didn't want them to go on. Which, you know, so it's the other side, you know, I'm going to hold them back or push them.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Right.

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At some point,

How FCA changed Steve’s life

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you have to let them be in charge of their motivation, their desire, their drive.

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Yeah.

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All you can do is provide opportunity.

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There you go.

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And if you get past that point where you're driving and they don't want to go, the results aren't going to be very good for you or your family or that athlete.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Right.

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Because really and truly, the bottom line, you know, I was on the school board for a long time, and my daughter, my youngest one, sweetest kid, great work ethic. She never started a volleyball game. And somebody said, Well, you know, you could go talk to the coach. It's not my job to talk to the coach. Whether or not she plays is not between me and the coach, it's between her and the coach. You know, what I told my kids always is don't give the coach a choice. Right. You play at a level where they don't have a choice but to play. Sure. And if you don't have that in you, then you're gonna have a role and you're just gonna have to learn to accept that role and thrive in it.

SPEAKER_05 30:39

Yeah.

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Brad McCoy, Colt McCoy's dad. We were talking about stuff one day, and he was talking about praying that the Lord would give his kids the feet of a deer so they could stand in high places.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

Yeah.

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And I thought, you know, that's really sharp because it wasn't about smoothing the road.

SPEAKER_05 31:07

Right.

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It was about giving your kids the tools necessary to go difficult places and then giving them the freedom and hopefully instilling in them the willingness to take risks to go to those places instead of trying to be the bulldozer that plows the road that makes it easy for them.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Because the values of one versus the other, my youngest daughter, the one I'm talking about, there is not an obstacle that she's afraid to take on. There's not she's there's no effort that she's not willing to give.

SPEAKER_05 31:50

Yeah.

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And she knows she's gonna get what she earns.

SPEAKER_05 31:54

Right.

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And I wouldn't trade that. And athletics taught her that. And she never started a volleyball varsity volleyball game.

SPEAKER_05 32:02

Yeah.

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But I'm as I'm, you know, case been in the league 15 years, and yes, I'm extremely proud. But I'm more proud, I'm just as proud of her. Sure. Of what she's accomplished and the kind of person she is.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Um so I don't know if that answers that question or not, but uh yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

I

The opportunity inside youth sports

SPEAKER_04 32:24

love it. Um let me uh so I want to kind of back up a little bit. Yeah, we're in good shape, I think. Um I want to back up a little bit. And I want you to talk about FCA. You you talked about being from a broken home growing up and the challenges that that caused and and and what it was like. You kind of touched on that a little bit. And then tell me a little bit more about how you kind of came into there's a horse over there, I think. You that are a big dog. Um talk talk a little bit about your journey of faith coming into FCA, what it was like, and the people around you that helped kind of help you walk that path.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Uh high school coach invited me to this meeting. Live in Dallas. Dallas Cowboys just won a Super Bowl. There was a guy named John Now, an all-pro guard came and gave his testimony at our school. Wow. I'm a sophomore, I'll get big eyed. There's this guy that's an all-pro guard doing what I wanted to do. And he says Jesus is the most important thing in his life. And God uses the Spirit, did what the Spirit does, yeah, and grabbed this 16-year-old kid. Wow. Got down on my knees and said yes to Jesus. Yeah. And um it's been quite an interesting journey. Yeah. Uh I've been involved in the Fellowship of Christianity since 1974. That's a long time.

SPEAKER_04 34:01

Yeah, you were two then at the time, right? Pretty close. Yeah, pretty close to two.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Yeah, pretty close.

Coaches don’t have to disciple athletes alone

SPEAKER_02 34:05

Was driving, though. Uh which led me to college, and I was fortunate enough to have a college coach that believed in FCA and was involved. My first coaching job was a guy with the name Randy Allen, you know, pretty successful high school coach. Uh, but we had FCA in common, so we did FCA. And uh everywhere I went, we were involved in it. Then we came back to Ameline and we had another guy on our staff that was really good at the huddle part. So I started working with adults and trying to do some things, and it kind of became a niche for me, which uh when I stopped coaching, it led me into this ministry, which is working or people in the community, working with coaches, which I speak coach pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 34:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Uh, and how those things come together to to make an impact in a community uh for coaches who impact kids, who impact campuses, who impact homes, who impact communities. Uh and that's really the thing for me, why I do have been doing what I've been doing since I stopped coaching. Uh because uh sport trans transcends all kinds of things. World Cup showed us that. And this thing called FCA can go into places where a lot of ministries can't.

SPEAKER_06 35:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

And we want to impact leaders. We want to impact difference makers, and typically those are on athletic teams. So yeah. And then uh, you know, our ministry's been around 70 plus years, started as a college ministry and then evolved into high school and then junior high campus ministry primarily. But in the last several years, our emphasis has been to move off campus. You know, most people don't know. Well, they drive around on weekends and they see hundreds of kids on a field playing soccer or baseball, little league, all those kind of things. Uh over 60 million kids play.

SPEAKER_05 36:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

And only about seven and a half million play on a school team. So that tells you there's a whole bunch of ball being played. It don't have anything to do with the school campus. Right. So our ministry has begun to move into that world. Okay. And that's what you when you see a thing called FCA sport, that's what we're talking about. If leagues and clubs are the two worlds that we're operating in, and our ministries made uh significant investment in financial and human capital to try to make a difference in that world, yeah. Uh, to give parents an opportunity to to have a different environment for their kids to play in, yeah. Uh, where they're gonna hear about Jesus. Yeah. They're gonna be taught about what it is to be a disciple maker, what it is to be a disciple, right, and uh the tools that uh that are available to do that. And it changes the dynamic on a field.

SPEAKER_04 37:25

Good time.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

When uh we've got a club baseball team here in Abilene that uh they'll play they'll play, and then when the game's over, they're handing Bibles to the other team. Um they're gathering to pray. Yeah uh we had some food truck guys send us and uh post something on uh uh Instagram where they brought Bibles to the food truck guys and they were so impressed. Wow that the body of Christ makes a difference in the community, saw the light. Yeah. And that's the the goal of what we're trying to accomplish with our ministry.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

So

How faith changes team culture

SPEAKER_04 38:05

talk to the coach who thinks to himself or herself, yeah, man, look, I've got enough trying to teach these kids plays, help them learn their assignment, make sure that they understand their role on the team. Uh I don't have time to work on this Jesus thing because I feel like there's there's just not enough hours in the day, and they want to compete at a high level. And so now they're they're trying to juggle and figure out which one is a better investment of their time and resources, and the Jesus thing kind of falls to the side.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Well, the good news is FCA's been doing this thing, ministry thing, for 70 plus years. And we developed this vast library of resources, both online, printed material.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Plus, we have over 2,000, 2,500 staff in the United States that can help support somebody that's interested in doing that. Okay. So they don't feel like they're doing it by themselves. Okay. Um, which is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing with our staff to try to raise up. Well, we were looking for three things. We're looking for leaders who can lead. We're talking about in the league and club world. Sure. We're looking for players that want to play, yeah, which means families that want to be involved in a different kind of culture, and then we're looking for places to play. Because you got to have those three things. If you don't have those three things, you can't you can't compete. Right. So uh that's what we're doing, is we're working on trying to find the leaders are going to step up and lead, places where we can do it, and then the the athletes are coming, and and we're finding that it's happening all over Texas, and really it's happening all over the country, yeah, where opportunities are are coming right and left because people where we're doing it and people see it, they're drawn to it. Uh, for example, we've had some volleyball clubs that have taken place in competition with other well-established uh clubs. Well, parents see you guys do it different.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

Yeah, we're gonna do it different. We want to be a part of that. And uh if you've got somebody who wants to do that, they go to Google, Fellows Pro Christian Athletes, you get on the website, locate staff, put in your zip code, there'll be a name, you make a phone call, and they can help connect you to uh somebody like that that uh maybe can help you do this.

SPEAKER_04 40:39

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Not by yourself.

SPEAKER_04 40:41

Not by yourself. Good. Support staff for the coach to train the kids.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

You wouldn't believe the structure, the infrastructure that FCA has built.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

One of the things that if if you're familiar with youth sports, you probably know about upward basketball. Well, the guy that started that's a guy named Kaz McCaslin. Yes. Kaz McCaslin is the executive vice president for facilities for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Okay. The guy

Faith shouldn’t stay in a separate silo

SPEAKER_02 41:06

that worked with him forever is a guy named Derek Parks. Well, he's the executive vice president for leagues for FCA.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

And we've got somebody that does the same thing for clubs. And inside of all of that, all of the resources that FCA can bring to bear is there to support you, whether it's how to schedule, uh, how to communicate. We've got apps, we've got websites, we've got scheduling uh processes, we've got the ability for uniforms, insurance, you name it. Yeah. We've got uh we've got some expertise to help somebody do this.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

That's great. So let me ask this. Do you think uh I well, I'll kind of give you uh a little background to this question. Um, but I had a a friend of mine that played baseball in the major leagues for a while. His name was Lance Berkman, and he talked about playing with the New York Yankees for a little bit. And one of the things he talked about was that some of their highly successful years, they had just a decade where they were either playing in the World Series or just right up to it or winning a World Series. And he said that that what most people didn't realize is that the biggest portion of that, in his opinion, was the fact that there were several people that were high-profile stars on the team that were followers of Jesus. And he said, so when you walked into the clubhouse, you would meet these guys that were the stars of a team who loved Jesus, and it changed the culture of the team. And that in his what he said was the highest part of their success. Speak to that a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Well, it goes back to what we were talking about, coaching the heart.

SPEAKER_04 42:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

This part changes, right? Then the atmosphere changes.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

The the chemistry changes. Yeah. The self-sacrifice, your willingness to to give up yourself for somebody else to be successful. Sure. You you don't have petty little petty things that happen when you don't have uh the fruit of the spirit working in you. Yeah. All of those things are gonna play into it. And uh you deal with adversity differently when you have that. Uh I mean, I'd rather have a teammate that is full of peace, patience, love, joy, kind of, you know, goodness, self-control, all of those things than somebody that's full of envy and jealousy and you know. Yeah. Um it just makes it makes it easier and more fun to go to work and you can perform better.

SPEAKER_05 43:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

So uh And that's the difference when we talk about what our approach to sport is compared to the world's. That's really what it boils down to. It's doing it God's way or doing it the world's way.

SPEAKER_05 44:12

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

And whichever way you do it, you're going to get what you get in those things. I mean, there's just, I mean, that's just the reality of it. Right. You know, you're good. God's not mocked. You're going to reap what you sow.

SPEAKER_05 44:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

So I don't know if that illustrates there, but that's I believe that with all my heart.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Yeah. No, I 100% agree with you. I think it's important. I think there are a lot of people that would put faith, uh, you know, faith in Jesus, uh, Christianity. They would put it in a category and then put sports in this category, school, work, social life, they would have silos for each one of those, and they would feel like they should each stay in their own silo. But what you're saying is it doesn't work that way.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Not if you're a believer of Christ, it's not. Shouldn't.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

Shouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

No. I mean, it's got to ooze out of you. It's got to, you got when you bleed, that's what it's got to bleed. When you breathe, that's what's got to come out. Uh and it should impact every silo that you're, you know, or aspect of your life. Yeah. Yeah. You just it just got to.

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Uh God didn't say go and keep it a secret. You know, he said go and tell.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

Right. Uh He also said they would know you. Yeah. Yes. Even if you're not, tell us they would know you.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Exactly. Uh by the way you conduct yourself. Uh you know, case doesn't he say one time, you know, I'm not a football player, it's a Christian. You know, I'm a Christian who plays football. You know, we're your identity is what you put first.

SPEAKER_05 46:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

What comes out first? Yeah. Is is my faith the thing that impacts everything else? Or does everything else impact my faith?

SPEAKER_05 46:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

Well, we're supposed to impact everything.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

Yeah, that's good work. Would you mind praying? Or I I would hear, I would love if you would pray for those

Steve’s prayer for sports parents and coaches

SPEAKER_04 46:46

coaches and parents that just need a little bit of Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Okay. Oh Lord. I'm glad you're a big God, Lord. We'd be in trouble if you weren't. Father, I watch my kids raise theirs. And all of the struggles and the pressures that they face. From school to friends to teams, Lord, all the things. Social media. Oh Lord. Father, I just pray for every mom and dad who loves their kids, Lord, but they want them to know you. They want their kids to have strong, deep faith. Life-changing, world-changing faith. Father, I pray for that mom whose husband is debating coaching. I pray that you would encourage her. To encourage him. To give of himself for his kids. And for the kids that may, he may, they may he may not be their daddy father, but he may be the only thing like a daddy that they get to see. And the same thing for husbands, father, for wives who may have a daughter that wants to play softball or soccer and needs a coach. Or both, father, that have kids playing that they're not coaching, but there's somebody that's serving their kids, Lord. Help them encourage that coach. Help them pray for that coach. Love on that coach and thank them for what they sacrificed for their kids. Father, remind moms and dads and kids too that you are the way, the truth, and the life. And if you are at the center, Lord, everything else is better. Father, I pray that you would stir a revival in this thing called eusports. That the church would attack it, Lord. That it would be on mission to take Jesus into that world. Through parents and coaches. I pray

Behind the Scenes Story

SPEAKER_02 50:00

that you would uh raise up warriors, Lord. For the kingdom that happened to coach volleyball or baseball. Please. Father, we just thank you that uh you loved us enough to send your son. Father, we're even more thankful that uh he conquered the grave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 50:44

Thank you. I have a minute over. I apologize.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

We're good. Okay. I just got a meeting with my boss here in a minute.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

Well, I certainly would not want you to miss that. So listen. I'm so grateful. This this was a God orchestrated in so many. Yeah. We we came, my son went to the ACU, they had a little baseball workout, a little prospect camp, and he wanted to do this. He paid for the whole thing. Oh, good. Paid for his ticket, paid for the gas, get here, food, all of it. And then my brakes went out while we were here. They locked up on me. And so we couldn't go home last night. We were supposed to go home last night. And I'd hoped to interview one of the coaches, but couldn't. Just didn't work out. So I came back over here and I was talking to them about that. And they go, Well, what about Steve Keenum? And I was like, who's he? Who's that guy? And then so and then they reached out to you last night. So this is just a total god.

unknown 51:41

Steve.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

Yeah, bless you. Let me I'll grab that microphone from you. Oh, yeah, you probably have something that kind of makes me have more confidence all the time.