WIN OR LOSE—A FAITH-BASED APPROACH INSPIRES TEAM

ABOUT ONE-THIRD of [National Football League] players openly celebrate their Christian faith, according to The Christian Science Monitor, but they encounter just one problem.

They don't have time to attend church on Sundays.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, like the other 32 NFL teams, have solved that problem by creating a church of their own.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, at a meeting room of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Cleveland, the Tampa Bay Bucs held a 30-minute chapel service, as they do every Saturday preceding a Sunday game, home or away....

"Faith is a big deal to me," said third-string quarterback Luke McCown, the of about 25 players who attends the chapel services each week. "If's what keeps me level-headed. It's what keeps me going....

"Whether it's football or any sport, it can give you a better understanding of the blessings that you have."

Doug Gilcrease ... presides over the chapel services as the team chaplain. Entering his 14th year in that role, Gilcrease said 80 percent of the time he looks for guest speakers to deliver the weekly message.

For this Saturday, Gilcrease chose Andre Thornton a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in the 1970s....

"He had done a chapel for the Bears, and I heard he did a great job," Gilcrease said of Thornton. "I try to find people who have compelling stories, who aren't intimidated by these guys."...

On Saturday, Dec. 9, Gilcrease brought in pastor Jeffrey Singletary out of Idlewild Central Church in Tampa to deliver the weekly message.

"It was about how David went off to fight some army," said Maurice Stovall, a rookie wide receiver. "He came back, and his wife and his children were taken, and his village was destroyed.

"He related that to adversity. He kind of related that to the losing season we're having right now."...

Gilcrease tries to avoid relating the sermons to football.

"You have to understand, that all these guys hear every week is football, football, football," Gilcrease said.

That Saturday proved to be an exception.

"He went off for an invasion," Gilcrease said of David. "When he came back, the city they were based out of was no fire. The city is going up in smoke. Well, what do you do when the season is going up in smoke?"

Gilcrease explained how he interpreted that sermon's message.

"When things go bad, we often try to fix the situation ourselves, and half the time, we mess things up even more," Gilcrease said. "David inquired of the Lord for guidance.

"Even though we need people around us to encourage us, you need to find a place in your life where you can encourage yourself."

David Dorsey
"Buccaneers carve out time for faith"
The News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida). December 24, 2006

PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGES AIM TO NURTURE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF STUDENTS

CHOOSING A CAREER PATH, deciding on a major, the stress of pulling an all-nighter—for many college students, spiritual needs can sometimes get lose somewhere between mid-terms and the annual fraternity rush.

However, for Franklin & Marshall and Elizabethtown Colleges and Millserville University, catering to students' religious needs is an important part of the education they're striving to provide.

"When it comes to students' religious lives, our job is to be as supportive as we can. We try to act as a resource, plus we do our best to support student religious groups," Ralph Taber, dean of students at F&M, said [January 13].

"College is filled with changes, and in some cases, a young person will face lots of challenges to their belief system," he said. "To be true educators, our job is to think of the total student, and for us that means concentrating on a spiritual and religious aspect, too."

For Darrel Woomer, campus minister at Millersville University, one of the biggest challenges he faces is that many young people often decide to give up on church just when they need help the most.

"Young people can go through so many changes during their college years," Wooner said Wednesday. "This is the time when many young folks are making the decisions that ... are going to be affecting the rest of their lives....

For F&M, the goal of the college is to help students of like minded beliefs find each other, as well as to connect those students to churches and synagogues in the community....

At state-owned Millersville University, campus ministering is paid for via contributions from local churches, as well as by private donations....

"Students from different faiths, such as our campus Muslim group, have been able to develop their own program during their time at F&M, meeting for religious services or, in some cases, holding religious celebrations like Ramadan," Taber said. "For our Hindu students, we've also been able to help them celebrate religious holidays like Diwali, the festival of lights."

It's a similar situation at Elizabethtown, Dolheimer said, though the college also has a Buddhist faculty member who helps to facilitate student gatherings.

"I'm always surprised by all the opportunities that students have these days to express their religious convictions," she said. "Here at Elizabethtown we're looking at the whole student, and for a number of them, spirituality and religion plays a huge part in their lives.

"Faith is a reality of modern-day student life," she said, "and our job is to help our students develop and nurture their spiritual selves."

James Buescher
"Colleges cater to students' religious needs"
Lancaster New Era/Intelligencer Journal/Sunday News
January 13, 2007