In Reach, Then Out Reach

FCA Baseball focuses on both mentoring their own players and ministering to others.
Oct. 26, 2009

Two years ago, Bob Wiedemann started coaching an FCA Baseball team of middle school boys in Atlanta. At the time, two of the 12 team members were Christians. The team played about 45 games in the spring, and then did the same in spring 2009.

Now, of those same 12 boys, all of them have accepted Christ on the baseball field. In Wiedemann's words, it has gone from "inreach" to "outreach," as the team now travels throughout metro Atlanta and the rest of Georgia in an effort to not only grow as a team, but also impact others.


FCA Baseball teams join other teams and umpires in prayer before or after games.

"We have prayer prior to, during or after every ballgame with the opposing teams, inviting them to join, inviting the umpires to join as well," Wiedemann said. "When we travel throughout metro Atlanta, we fly the FCA banner. We've got FCA on our jerseys, on our helmets, so everybody knows who we are and what we stand for. They're paying close attention to us."

Wiedemann said it's very rare to play a game and not have an opposing coach, player or parent question someone on his team about their beliefs. This team ministry started in 2007 with five teams, but it has expanded to 15 today. The age groups range from 10 to 14, and the only requirement is that the head coach is a dedicated Christian.

All of the teams take a seasonal approach, so they stay together for a minimum of a full season. The advantage, Wiedemann said, is it takes multiple seasons to establish a true sense of community within the team.

"We can really, really get some depth into the ministry in that type of situation, which is really the advantage of team ministry," he said. "It takes a full season for it to really sink in. In season two it starts to go into the home, you start seeing some questions and things from parents. Coming into season three, it's pretty unreal what's going on."

Each team is required to do community service at least three times during the season. This involves going to homeless shelters, local food banks –– it really depends on the age of the kids. Every athlete and every coach on every team is resourced with an Athlete's Bible, meaning more than 650 people have received Bibles in the past two years.

The main benefit of the team ministry, though, is that it's reaching an area of the community previously uninvolved with FCA.

"This is a community ministry as opposed to an on-campus ministry," Wiedemann said. "It's just an alternative to the campus ministry that's currently being done. There are literally thousands upon thousands of kids playing community sports who aren't being touched, and this is a tremendous way to reach them."

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant...

On Saturday October 3rd, a delegation of FCA Baseball & Softball Coaches, players, parents and siblings in partnership with a group from Diamond Starz Academy in Douglasville spent the day showing the love of Christ to the many who are suffering in the wake of the recent floods in metro Atlanta. In addition to many hours of physical labor clearing out the interiors of homes that were devastated, we were able to provide several truckloads of supplies (clothing, toiletries, food, water, etc.), much prayer and hope. We were all truly blessed as we had the opportunity to bless others.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life--a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

FCA Baseball in the inner city of Atlanta

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to share the ministry of FCA Baseball with and then pray for the athletes and coaches of L.E.A.D.(Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct). This organization was founded by Atlanta native and former Chicago Cubs outfielder, C.J. Stewart. Understanding the plight of the inner city player as it relates to playing baseball at the college level, Stewart started L.E.A.D. to make collegiate baseball opportunities accesible and affordable to inner city youth. "The reason why there is a less than 3% representation of blacks at the NCAA level is because inner city players (who are predominately black) can't afford to access the development, exposure and consulting resources necessary to showcase their skills to college programs. At this point in time, it has nothing to do with racism. Danny Hall (Georgia Tech) would sign a green martian if he could demonstrate that he could make meaningful contributions to the program. The barriers are access and affordability- no more, no less." - C.J. Stewart, Founder L.E.A.D., Inc.

The ministry of FCA Baseball has been given a vision to come alongside C.J., his staff and his volunteers to help expand the L.E.A.D. program as well as be an active participant in the growth and development of baseball throughout the inner city of Atlanta.

Dominican Republic Day 5

Hello friends and family! It is the end of a great day five. Today we woke up early again and both teams played games in Santo Domingo. We shared the gospel again today and Coach Wiedemann estimates that over a hundred people have come to know Jesus Christ this week including four players from our group. After the games the teams met together for lunch and then went to the straw market to look around for a few souvenirs. From there we headed to Casa de Luz orphanage for an eye opening experience. It is hard to put into words what this was like for the players and adults alike, but hopefully the pictures will tell the story. We came back to SCORE for dinner and then devotions. After devotions, two of the boys on our team who decided to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior were baptized in the swimming pool. This was truly a unique and overwhelming experience for all who were there. It has been a great day and a great week. God has changed lives,opened eyes and opened hearts. Tomorrow we head out for a day of relaxation on Catalina Island. There we will be snorkeling and hanging out on the beach for our last day in the Dominican Republic. Hope you have enjoyed the blog and pictures and I encourage you to leave any comments!

Dominican Republic Day 4

Hello friends and family! Today we headed out early for games and had a great time playing and meeting some new people. After the games we came back for lunch and then headed out to the grocery store to purchase food for a local village. The money was raised by our kids and the food we purchased is enough to feed 40 families for a week. The village was a great time and a blessing once again and we are back at SCORE about to go to bed. More soon.

Dominican Republic Day 3

Hello friends and family! It is the end of a great day three! We all had a another great day of sharing the gospel and playing baseball. This morning we woke up and went to an all boys orphanage. There we played wiffle-ball, soccer, and basketball with the boys. Everyone had a great time! After we left the orphanage we came back to the SCORE headquarters and grabbed some lunch and then set out to play another round of games. The facilities were very nice. The guys got to play right next to the field where the Washington Nationals were holding tryouts! The boys played hard and one of the teams won and one lost, but the day was great! After the game we came back and got dinner and cleaned up for devotions. The boys are relaxing right now out on the patio watching baseball and we will be heading to bed soon!

Hope you are enjoying the blog and pictures so far! Please keep checking in and leave some comments!

Dominican Republic Day 2

Hello friends and family! It is the end of day two and everyone is relaxing right now watching baseball after a long day of games and preaching the gospel. This morning we all got up early and headed off to the teams respective double headers. Both teams had great days playing baseball and both won some games! Between games we shared the gospel, with the help of a translator, to the Dominican teams and the response was amazing! Close to twenty individuals made a decision of faith and were given salvation bracelets and bibles. After the games both teams came back to the SCORE headquarters to grab some lunch and then we all head out to a small village near by to play with children and again share the gospel. The response again was amazing! All the kids had a great time playing with the kids and it was a memorable experience for all.

We will have more very soon! Enjoy!