Statesboro's Fellowship of Christian Athletes, known as Coastal Plains FCA, includes Screven, Candler, Evans, Jenkins, and Bulloch counties. It consists of middle and high schoolers who meet for Bible study twice a month, sometimes once a week.
They come together for their love in Christ -- and sports. The organization has been around Bulloch County for the last 10 years. They utilize Georgia Southern’s campus for some of their camps, and some out-of-state teams like South Carolina and Florida even come here to compete with Coastal Plains.
"The FCA vision is to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes," said Karen Carr, Area Director.
Operation FCA: Brazil
FCA Georgia and Brazil are working together to collect and send needed sports equipment to their FCA Brazil teammates in September 2024. This is again spreading the word internationally through sports and fellowship. Coastal Plains FCA sends not only supplies but coaches and volunteers down to help as well.
Tom Joyner, Assistant Regional Director of International Advancement shares a story about the impact that one of the coaches had in Brazil.
Back in 2014, they were in contact with one of the less fortunate areas of Brazil, and the people were reaching out to learn how to play American Football. The only knowledge they had on the sport was through watching tutorials on YouTube.
So, FCA sent some coaches down to teach the game. One kid in particular talked about how he wanted to play, but he didn't have the money for shoulder pads. But he also talked about having a gun. Well, one of the coaches sat down with the kid and said that if he sold the gun, they could use that money to go get some shoulder pads. Now, that kid is coaching American Football, as well as leading Bible studies, and they are now discipled.
The team will gather up all of the donated materials and have them sent to Bland Farms in Vidalia, GA, where they will be bagged up by September 16 and shipped down to Brazil.
"You can think about every time we make a trip to Brazil, someone's carrying an equipment bag, extra suitcase, leather bag, a variety of different stuff. And so a lot of times we go and we're bringing in coaches who specifically specialize in a specific sport," said Joyner.
Joyner also talked about how while they have very talented translators to speak with the people of Brazil, sports are a universal language and that is the way they are connected to begin doing huddles and such.
“Serving alone, coming alongside sports leaders who are like us, we have this desire to be able to utilize and share the Gospel through sport.”
You can contribute to the FCA's efforts by donating the specific equipment needed in Brazil. Visit Operation FCA Brazil and click "All Sports" to see a list of what is needed. Items include balls, vests, uniforms, cones, and much more.
