One of the requests I hear most consistently from character coaches and sports chaplains is for resources. Over the next couple of months I will be highlighting several different websites containing a wide variety of resources. Some have videos, some written resources, some are podcasts, and a couple have all those and more.   One of the best sites for written resources in the USA is Cross Training Publishing from Nebraska. I certainly am biased in my opinion because Cross Training and its owner, GordonThiessen, have published 14 projects for me.  https://www.crosstrainingpubli ..read more

 One of the requests I hear most consistently from character coaches and sports chaplains is for resources. Over the next couple of months I will be highlighting several different websites containing a wide variety of resources. Some have videos, some written resources, some are podcasts, and a couple have all those and more. The first resource site I would like to heartily recommend to you is Verité Sport. https://www.veritesport.org/  Verité Sport is a remarkable site developed by my friend and colleague from Oxford, England, Stuart Wei ..read more

This is the final in a long series of posts featuring excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Challenge If your ministry role has you serving elite level, professional, high-profile competitors or the coaches who lead them, you are in a unique position. You are among a select few people who will be allowed into their circle of friends, teammates, and colleagues. Yours is a place of remarkable privilege and immense responsibility. Further, if this person has ..read more

For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Faith Development Exercises  for Elite Sportspeople To begin the development of one’s faith I simply show the prospective disciple the diagram, explain that one’s life in Christ is developed through a vertical relationship with God in prayer and study, as well as horizontal relationships with other believers (Christian community) and with people yet to believe (the sharin ..read more

For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Faith Development Exercises for Elite Sportspeople Since 1980 I have been engaged in the process of making disciples and since 1985, I have been using the same approach to this process. I learned it from my mentor, Fred Bishop of No Greater Love Ministries. This approach is very simple but allows for tremendous depth and flexibility for both the faith development leader, a ..read more

For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Teach, Mentor, or Coach Faith Development? In my earliest years of helping sportspeople develop their faith, I used a teaching approach. Having gone to schools in the USA, and having been raised in a Baptist church, teaching was the primary and only available model for intellectual and spiritual development. I started with the swimmers who attended the Sunday School class I was t ..read more

 For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Serve selflessly. Whereas elite and professional sportspeople and coaches grow accustomed to people asking them to do things, we must be the ones to serve them with no thought of receiving anything in return. They find this both refreshing and endearing. This builds trust. This opens hearts. To perform the most menial tasks with and for them is a profound relationship b ..read more

 For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Love extravagantly. People of sport are often less than loveable. Much of the life of a coach, elite or professional athlete is less than lovely. Ministry with them often smells bad and sounds coarse. It requires extravagant love. It is not safe, is seldom convenient, and is certainly not normal. It is, however, extremely rewarding. When one invests deeply, loves powerfull ..read more

 For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training Invite them into your home. Without question, some of the most deeply impactful moments of making disciples and building depth of relationship have occurred in my home. As we have welcomed coaches and competitors into our home for studies, for meals, for picnics, coffee, or discussions, they find our place to be peaceful and like home. Your home does not feel like a dorm roo ..read more

Holistic Team Development   Some of the most important values I hold in my service of sports teams are those I learned while studying small group dynamics during the 1980s and 1990s. Having led small groups of various sorts in my local church and with short-term mission groups, I was able to test a number of ideas I had gathered from books, teaching tapes (yes, I am that old), and conversations with friends and colleagues. I employed these principles in my leadership of groups involving competitors from multiple teams (FCA huddles), groups of coaches (Coaches huddles), and sports teams (A ..read more