Imperial Valley FCA Blog

Watch How God Moved in Greater Ways!

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 19:58:57 GMT

Help us reach every coach and athlete in the Imperial Valley for Christ!

FCA has been seeing God move in The Imperial Valley this year! With your support, we led devotionals with 102 teams this past school year. We led devotionals with an average of 1500 athletes and 72 coaches per week. This school year we are already working with new teams, new coaches, and new athletes. This is just one area where we saw God’s imprint on the lives of coaches and athletes as their relationships with Jesus Christ grew. Thank you for your generous partnership in making this happen!

Even though we saw many coaches and athletes grow as disciples who make disciples, we know there’s more to be done. We will continue to strive to reach every High School Athlete and Coach in the Imperial Valley. Will you prayerfully consider a special year-end gift so that even more coaches and athletes will become followers of Jesus Christ?

I am thankful that God brought us together for this greater impact on the lives of coaches and athletes. My prayer is that you enjoy the increased presence of Jesus Christ throughout 2024.

We have included a special highlight video attached to this email. Every image is reflective of a different huddle held in the Imperial Valley this year. That's over 600 huddles (devotionals) this past school year.

Your Teammate in Christ,

Juan Benito

October 2023 Newsletter

jbenito@fca.org (Juan Benito) — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 19:09:19 GMT

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

“The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Psalm 145:9

As we reflect back on this past school year and begin a new one we ask you to celebrate with us. God has been so good. We honestly thought it couldn’t get any better and once again it’s just a reminder that our view is so narrow at times. As we begin this year with fall sports we are already seeing God at work in amazing ways. We are working with new teams, new coaches, and most importantly sharing the Gospel with new athletes.

We really do have a great team that love serving God. They go above and beyond to share the Gospel and build relationships with our coaches and athletes. They tirelessly share the Gospel and try to be a reflection of Christ on campus. We ask that you continue to lift our staff and volunteers in prayer on a daily basis. Thank you for your continued prayers.

- Juan Benito

PRAYER:

Please continue to lift our ministry in prayer. You can join us in praying for:

Coaches & Athletes
Staff & Volunteers
Our Board & Families
Our New Office
Provision - Volunteers / Financial Needs to be able to expand to Calexico & Calipat High School

HUDDLES:

Two months into the new school year, we are working with over 35 teams, hosting five weekly team breakfasts and having multi-sport lunchtime huddles at BUHS, CUHS, HHS, IHS and SHS. We also have a Coach’s Bible Study open to all coaches on Wednesday mornings. Juan, Jen and Bunda meet with their student leaders regularly to spend time in the Word, encourage one another and prep for the weeks ahead at their schools. God is opening doors in the Imperial Valley, and we need more people who want to help lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. Each number you see above represents a team that needs your prayers. Athletes and coaches who need Jesus, and we are honored that we get to share God’s love with them. Please keep our staff, volunteers, coaches and athletes in your prayers.

SUPPORT BANQUET:

On September 16, 2023, we hosted our second annual support banquet. It was a wonderful evening highlighting God's work in the Imperial Valley through FCA and sharing ministry needs and testimonies. We are thankful to all who joined us, donated and supported the silent auction. Calvary Chapel El Centro graciously opened its doors to us for the evening, and several local businesses donated towards the auction. We are blessed to be surrounded by a community that supports our ministry and is eager to see how God will continue to open doors and grow our team. Because the Imperial Valley FCA is expanding, our budget and needs are also increasing. We are looking for part-time staff members to help at local schools and volunteers to help with teams. If you want to join our support team or are interested in working with the coaches and athletes, don't hesitate to contact us. We'd love to share how you can get involved!

We love competition and seeing our teams battle it out. But we also love seeing teams come together and remember that outside the game, they are one community .

End of Year Banquet 2023

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 18:57:53 GMT

Every year we celebrate and honor our student leaders, volunteers and staff at our End of the Year Banquet, and this year was our biggest one yet.

We had nearly 150 in attendance to rejoice in all that God has done in the Imperial Valley this school year. We were all blessed by the testimonies we heard from two of our student leaders (Cidney Roper, BUHS and Amy Riley, IHS) and one of our coaches (Chelsey Strahm, HHS Volleyball). We had 50 student leaders who were mentored by our staff and volunteers and will sadly say "see you later" to 24 of them as they have graduated and will soon begin a new chapter in their lives. We are proud of our students for modeling Jesus to their peers and demonstrating leadership on their campuses and teams.

Kickball Tournament 2023

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 22:59:46 GMT

On February 20, 2023, we hosted our first annual Kickball Tournament.

Over 100 students joined us that morning, and we had seven teams compete for the title "Champion"! We invited high school students across the Imperial Valley to build a team and partake in this exciting event.

Of those 100 students, several of them said before this event, they hadn't heard of FCA. We are grateful for the opportunity to introduce this ministry to them and pray they'll begin attending their school's weekly huddles. We got to share about Jesus and the ministry with several students for the first time and passed out dozens of Bibles to boys and girls. We loved watching the students battle it out on the fields, but even more so, we loved planting seeds in the lives of so many athletes.

It was a great turnout - even parents and coaches came to cheer their teams on to victory! Congratulations to the winning team, 24 Carrot Gold, from Holtville High School! And a big "thank you" to IVGSL for generously allowing us to use their softball fields for the day. We are already considering how to make next year's Kickball Tournament bigger and better!

The Mountain Top

jbenito@fca.org (Juan Benito) — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 22:41:42 GMT

I was recently talking with a friend and we were discussing how everyone wants to reach the top.

Regardless of what that "top" may be, we want to get there. However, how many people want to do the work that it takes to get there? If you spend any time on social media you see ads for making money fast, getting what you want, getting rich, leaving your 8 to 5, and making more money. They are marketing to our desire to make it to the Top. However, what happens when we get there without doing the work?

I had a thought, take someone that hasn't done the training or preparation to learn how to climb and place them at the top of Mount Everest. What would happen? Honestly, they would most likely die. Why, because they haven't done any of the leg work to prepare their body, acclimate to the weather and the environment, and do not have the necessary experience and survival skills to succeed in that environment.

In the same way, what if you took an athlete and placed them straight into a professional team?

They may be gifted and naturally talented but still lack experience and the conditioning to succeed in that environment.

We see so many hi-light reels of people that we look up to achieving what we hope will one day be our dream. What we don't see is the long nights, endless hours, and sacrifices that they made to get to where they are today. Even if they took an unusual route that worked for them they still put in an endless amount of time to learn the necessary skills to achieve success.

We cannot so easily discount the experiences that we gain from going through the journey to achieve our goals.

In the same way, I believe we so often take our relationship with God for granted. We do not put in the time to build our relationship with Him and get to know Him. Then, hardship or tragedy strikes and we feel alone and wonder why we cannot feel Him near. It's not because He has left us, but instead, it's because we are not accustomed to hearing the shepherd's voice. We have been so busy listening to everyone and anyone else so His voice has become foreign to us. We pray for God to help us avoid conflict, hardship, and difficulty and find ourselves spiritually weak when difficulty strikes.

We need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "what does my spiritual conditioning look like"?

How much time do I spend listening to His voice, in prayer, and reading my Bible?

That cannot be substituted by listening to other preachers. I am not saying that God does not speak to us through them, however, they are sharing with us what God has spoken and revealed to them in their personal time with Him. What is God saying to you in your personal time with Him?

You can listen to a physical trainer tell you all the techniques that He has learned through his experience but if you never get into the gym yourself and train it's all theory without application. You may learn a lot of theory, but physically you will not see any improvements.

So let's stop sitting on the sidelines and get in the game.

What is God calling you to do?

What do you need to do to prepare for whatever you may face?

What do you need to do for your spiritual conditioning and take it from theory to application?

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

James 1:3-4 For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Relationship or Routine?

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:37:32 GMT

One of the perks of my job is having the opportunity to visit our different campuses and listen to our student leaders share their testimonies with their peers.

A few weeks ago, I got to attend the lunch huddle at BUHS, and of the leaders was sharing her testimony. I'll try to do it justice, but I want to share a small portion of what she said.

"I'll be the first to admit that I have a good life. I don't worry about having food on the table or shelter over my head. I have loving parents that are still married and have served in ministry for a large part of my life. I have a good life", is how she started.

She then explained how that all changed recently when her father was diagnosed with cancer. She asked God why and was taken aback by how much his diagnosis shook her faith. It challenged her reality and made her look closely at her relationship with God, and then she said something that I had to stop and write down.

"Through all of it, I had to come to the realization that I didn't have a relationship with God; I had a routine"!

I know, right?

What high school student comes to that realization?

She explained to her peers that she had a routine. She prayed, read her Bible when to church, served, and did everything she was supposed to do. However, when her faith was tested, she realized that it wasn't to further her relationship with God. It was out of routine. I know we can ask so many follow-up questions, and the inner critic comes out. We are supposed to pray and read our Bible. Are you saying that's bad, Juan?

No, I'm not. We should do all of those things. We encourage our athletes to get plugged in with a local church, pray and read their Bible. However, we also need to understand the why. So often, we do things out of habit or go through our list.

Church, check.

Bible Reading Plan, check.

Prayer for Food, check.

As an athlete:

Warm up, check

Practice, check.

Games, check.

And then something happens in life, and we find ourselves alone and surrounded by Darkness, asking where God is. I did all the things and went through the list. We know about God, but we don't know God. I encourage you to see after HIM and dig deep to further your knowledge of Him and, more importantly, build your relationship with Him.

We see the same thing on the court, field, and gym. The athlete that does it because they have to or because it's expected vs. the athlete that is passionate about the game and desires to learn and grow.

Are you seeking God passionately?

Do you have a relationship or a routine?

Will you please continue to pray for our different campuses and our student leaders who so boldly stand before their peers and share their hearts on a weekly basis?

Full Circle

jbenito@fca.org (Juan Benito) — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:23:18 GMT

I wanted to share an amazing story with you, and I hope God uses it to encourage you.

In ministry, we don't always get to see things come around. We may have an opportunity to plant a seed, start a new relationship, provide a Bible or give a Devotional. Honestly, we often quickly forget the little things God has done in our lives or the ministries we serve. I recently had a similar experience.

Jen and I were recently asked how we began to work with a local coach. As we sat and thought about it, we realized that we sat on the bench for two seasons simply being a support system. The ministry was new, and we were trying to introduce it to coaches, and there was a lot of hesitation. Why are you here? What do you want? How will your ministry impact our ministry? At the end of the second season, a team mom asked if she could host a team dinner along with FCA to recognize all of the hard work the girls put in. She even paid for the dinner. That simple act of kindness and belief in our ministry was enough to help us build a relationship with that coach.

Three years later, we listened to one of our student leaders share her testimony. She shared how her coach encouraged her to check out FCA during lunch. "Jen comes to your practices, to all your games, she invested in you, and what you do, the least you can do is give her a shot." That same coach encouraged her to step into our lunchtime Huddle. "I remember feeling weird, being scared, but I am glad that I came," she stated. Now, here she was, serving as a student leader and sharing her testimony of how God had changed her life over the last three years, and she was encouraging others to give God a shot.

I could not imagine a better example of how our ministry reaches our local athletes.

We saw an investment take place in the life of a coach.
That led to that coach encouraging her athletes to step further into FCA.
Which led to that athlete giving her life to Christ and now serving in student leadership.

The amazing thing is that another student leader shared her testimony two weeks later, and guess what? Same coach, same encouragement, and same result. Both leaders are now actively attending youth groups, serving, and above all, Loving Christ. One of them was even recently baptized by her Youth Pastor. How amazing is that!

So often, we don't get to see how God uses us in the lives of those around us, but when you do get to see it, don't be so quick to forget it, and most of all, don't forget to share it with others.

Thank you for your continued support of FCA Imperial Valley. God is at work in the life of our local coaches and athletes, and your ongoing partnership allows us to step into their lives.