The Myrle Greathouse Big Country FCA All-Star Football Game has come a long way over the past 13 years. Five years ago, women's basketball was added in Abilene. Now, the FCA All-Star Festival, which is sponsored by the Big Country Chevy Dealers, has expanded to include volleyball and men's basketball. The football and volleyball games were both still played in Abilene on Saturday, June 8, 2013. But, the Brownwood Coliseum became the new host site for the 5th annual women's basketball game and inaugural men's basketball game on Thursday, June 6, 2013 presented by Action Sports Medicine.
Hosting these games locally has been a tremendous blessing for our Brownwood Area FCA. Brownwood ISD played a critical part in making this all possible. They opened their facilities and gyms at the high school and middle school for practices each day. The City of Brownwood and Howard Payne University also provided the Coliseum, basketball court, backboards, and scoreboards to make the games possible. In addition to these sponsors, FCA gained many new ministry partners through this event. The cheerleaders, basketball players and coaches all reported for check-in on Tuesday, June 4th. Host families from different churches all around Brownwood and Early opened their homes to house these athletes and show the hospitality of Christ. Several different local churches and restaurants also helped to provide and donate the meals for these All-Stars throughout the week.
In addition to feeding and serving these coaches and athletes physically, most importantly we intentionally focused on feeding them spiritually and sharing Christ each day. We gave every All-Star a watch and a Bible. We also had a chapel service each night. Dallas Huston was our All-Star Chaplain and Chris Stuard was our All-Star Worship Leader. We also had different individuals share their testimony and challenge these All-Stars at each meal. Perhaps the greatest win of the entire week came on Wednesday night at our final chapel, where 4 of the guy basketball players came forward during the invitation to pray and receive Christ for the first time. Many other athletes also responded for prayer and made other faith decisions. The Regional Vice President of FCA and former NFL receiver, Wade Hopkins, came in from Houston to speak and deliver the pregame chapel message right before the games. 
The games were well attended with approximately 1,200 total fans coming out to support these athletes in their final game as high school basketball players and cheerleaders. During the games, FCA was able to recognize and thank our many sponsors and ministry partners who made this first year of hosting the All-Star games such a great success. Thanks again to everyone who helped through your business, church, or individually.
No comments:
Post a Comment