The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club meets at Lafayette High School every Friday morning. No applications are necessary, and everyone is welcome. FCA lets Lafayette’s Christian athletes share their faith with other students, learn how to apply it to their athletic lives, and enjoy a good donut first thing in the morning.
FCA is a student-led organization where students can participate by simply listening to the speakers or volunteering to speak for themselves. Being a speaker is optional but encouraged. A leader in FCA, Rusty Parks, told The Times that he began leading in 2019. The Times asked Rusty for information about the club in an interview on September 20th. Rusty told The Times, “My first meeting when I took over, there were [only] 2 [students], there was a brother and sister, and last Friday [September 13th, 2024] we had 75.” Since the first meeting, Lafayette’s FCA participants have grown tremendously and now include students from all four grade levels.
The Times spoke to senior Chance Howard, a frequent speaker at FCA. We asked him why he wanted to be a student speaker at FCA. He told The Times,“…I used to watch pastors on YouTube. I was like, I could probably do that. It wasn’t from a point of pride or anything. I just really wanted to do that. I’ve always wanted to be a pastor. I saw it as a practice run. I wanted to share my knowledge with other people.” Any student can choose to speak at FCA if there is an opening, usually picking out Bible verses to share with the students and applying them to their everyday lives.
There are four FCA meetings each month. Three of them are student-led, while the other usually includes a speaker. To speak, students have to create notes but are given a guide with suggestions they can use. We asked Chance Howard, an experienced three-time speaker, about his process. He told The Times, “I…pick the verse from the sheet provided, and then I will think about what I want to say. I will then find theological writing that corresponds with it or find other verses that back it up.” He also mentioned that sometimes, he just wings it when he goes up to speak. Howard mentions, “Mostly, the result turns out the same; it just depends on how in-depth I want to get.” Chance Howard explained that when he speaks, no matter which path he takes, he ends up with the same outcome. Each student’s speaking experience is different, making each speaker’s discussion unique.
FCA is at Lafayette and all the district’s high and middle schools to help provide athletes with opportunities to spread their faith. FCA has speakers at schools and works with other programs and mission services, such as the Lifeline meal-packing organization students signed up for last year.
When speaking, students can interpret and choose which verses to discuss; it is all student-run. If you want to be more involved with your faith as a student-athlete, come to the FCA meetings every Friday.
