Local Area FCA Blog

Mississippi FCA Leadership Camp Update

jhubbard@fca.org (Jason Hubbard) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 20:44:02 GMT

Leadership Camp Update

We are almost a week back from camp and I am still praising the Lord for all He has did at camp. We had over 130 middle and high school student athletes attend camp. During this camp, they got to compete, worship and be invested into. It was a powerful 4 days and I am grateful that I was able to be a part of this camp. During this camp, we had 14 athletes come to faith in Christ and over 40 athletes who want to grow in their relationship with Christ! This is what your support for FCA is doing!

During the last service, we invited anyone who wanted to come to the alter to pray, to come. Every single person got up, went to the alter and kneeled down to pray. For over 20 minutes, groups of athletes, were all praying to our Lord! It is easily the most impactful moment in my life. It was real, sincere and authentic.

Coming out of this camp, all I can think about is Revelation 7 and how on that beautiful day, when we are all gathered around the throne, how there will be ones there who encountered our Lord Jesus on that day for the very first time!

Below I want to share some quotes from our campers regarding their time at camp.

"During the last service, I was standing singing with my arms around some girls from my huddle and I saw someone at the altar and I could feel myself being led to go pray with this person and I did and he later raised his hand saying he had become a Christian."

"Realizing I’m not alone and porn has no power over me." (We had a purity session during camp)

"I was set free from the chains that had been holding me down and I confessed things to my group I never thought I would."

"The most impactful moment during the camp was when everyone laid all there sin and prayers down. It really showed that God was working in everyone."

"The most impactful moment during camp was the huddle leaders and the words of wisdom from not only them but in the services and meetings as well. "

"Bringing my baggage, things I have been holding onto to God. For the first time I actually felt Royal, a princess."

"the last night service, it was the most amazing worship and praise I have given in my life."

Please join me in praising our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for this camp and the work He did through so many during this week.

FCA Golden Triangle Update

jhubbard@fca.org (Jason Hubbard) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 19:03:17 GMT

Things have been busy in the Golden Triangle!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind! As school has ended for summer break, things have not slowed down with Golden Triangle FCA. We have had dinner with Noxapater athletes and coaches to set up FCA at their school, was part of the Leadership Team with Mississippi FCA Leadership Camp, working to hire (2) new full-time Area Reps, prepping for the Mission Trip to Uganda and working with my staff on our 2022/2023 Ministry Plan and Budgets.

As you can see from the updates, we had a successful dinner with Noxapater athletics and Mississippi FCA Leadership Camp. See below for updates on new staff, Uganda prep, staff update and Ministry Plan and Budgets.

New Staff

We have been praying for the Lord to send workers into the harvest (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2). So who are the "workers of the harvest"? For us, that is staff, volunteers and board members. We have been working for the past several months interviewing and praying regarding two men to come on staff with us in the Golden Triangle full time. One of those men has gone through training and is currently working to raise funds. We are prayerful that he can officially start September 1st. The other man is currently going through training. Once he has completed training, he can start to fundraise. We are prayerful he can begin January 1st. As you are aware, staff cannot officially start working with FCA until they have raised 100% of their budget. We are working and praying to recruit volunteers to assist us with the ministry. We believe the life blood of our ministry is a healthy volunteer base. We currently only have 3 consistent volunteers in our ministry. We are also working to bring on more board members. We currently have 12 board members. We are speaking with and praying about adding 3 to 5 more board members. Please join us in praying for "workers of the harvest".

Uganda

On July 8th, I will depart for Uganda for 10 days with 5 other MS FCA staff and partners to go on what is called a vision trip to Uganda to visit with our ministry partners in Uganda. During this trip, we will train and encourage coaches and pastors who our ministry partners work with. We will also visit a refuge camp in Northern Uganda. The prayer is that the Lord will give us a vision for us to bring back to Mississippi to mobilize coaches, athletes and supporters to go and serve in Uganda for future mission trips. Leading up to the trip, we have been learning about the culture in Uganda and praying for the Lord to prepare us for the upcoming trip. After serving full time in the Ghana as a missionary, I am excited to return to Africa for a short time. Please join us in praying for the upcoming trip. I look forward to updating you all soon!

2022/2023 Ministry Plan and Budgets

With FCA, our fiscal year runs September to August. We are currently praying through and organizing our ministry plan for next year, along with budgets. During this time, we envision what the next year will look like regarding huddles, ministry, partners, donations, events, etc. This is a very important part of our ministry as it gives us a chance to engage the Lord to see what He is calling us to do for the upcoming year. This can be very time consuming and takes a lot of prayer to complete. Please spend the next 2 months keeping us in prayer as we complete our plan and budgets. The plans and budgets are due the end of July.

I am extremely grateful for your support and prayers. You all are a huge part of this ministry and we could not engage, equip and empower our area coaches and athletes without you!

FCA Huddles at Starkville Academy

Thu, 26 May 2022 20:06:47 GMT

Making Disciples Through Huddles

FCA Huddles have served as a vital tool in my development as a Christian. I always looked forward to my weekly meetings with a few of my fellow classmates and FCA Leader. For ten weeks, our group met each week and conducted an in-depth and encouraging study of The Core: 8 Essentials to Strengthen Your Faith. This study presented an interactive format through the use of an athletic perspective that works to build and train disciples of Christ. During my time in FCA Huddles, I developed a stronger relationship with those in my group, became more assured of my relationship with God, and learned how to walk daily with God and spread the Gospel to others.

And it is from the beginnings of this small group of four that my other two classmates and I began working to start our own FCA Huddles within our school’s sports teams this past spring. By the end of the school year, our group had held several FCA Huddle meetings with our school’s tennis and baseball teams. Additionally, during the implementation of FCA Huddles within our sports teams, our group was able to recruit three more faithful disciples of Christ to continue working to implement FCA Huddle meetings into more of our school’s teams. Our hope is to one day have every sports team and group in the school holding frequent, student-lead FCA Huddle meetings that provide a safe environment for students to share and grow into stronger disciples of Christ. On a personal level, FCA Huddles presented an opportunity for me to take a step of faith in which I received feedback from teammates and parents who were thankful for Christ being more boldly shared within our school and encouraged the continuation of these meetings.