The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is an organization with one goal in mind: to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes. FCA was founded in 1954 and since then, the organization has reached over two million coaches and athletes worldwide. They have also been able to reach thousands of colleges and universities worldwide, with Piedmont being one of those campuses.

For most, college is the pivotal point in someone’s life, a constant experience of learning and growing to become ready for the real world.  In FCA at Piedmont, the students take this as an opportunity to grow their faith, be encouraged by classmates and teammates, share truth, help the community and develop lasting friendships.  

“FCA was able to connect me within the community at Wilbanks Middle School. FCA drew me closer to other followers of Christ on campus and FCA created friendships for me that will last a lifetime. It taught me how to use my platform to glorify God, and that platform was basketball,” said Mikey Joseph, a senior basketball player and active leader of Piedmont FCA.  

Joseph came to Piedmont in August of 2017, and actively started getting involved with the FCA here on campus. He gravitated toward Piedmont’s FCA because they were developing athletes who can use their experiences and learning from FCA on their respective teams. This helps shift the mindset of these Christian athletes and allows them to not play for themselves, but rather play for God.

“FCA, for me, has honestly been life changing and I knew it was going to have an impact on these four years at Piedmont. After my time here at Piedmont, I just hope I left a legacy of glorifying God on the court, campus, in the community, and in life,” says Joseph.  

The main goal for Joseph is to leave behind a legacy when he graduates where people don’t see what he has done here, but instead they see what God has done through him.  This is an important value that FCA at Piedmont instills in their members, and it’s one that helps the athletes become better leaders, as well. Piedmont FCA focuses on developing leadership qualities in the athletes on campus by equipping them with characteristics of Christians mentioned frequently in the bible.  

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).  These are all qualities of a leader, and they are encouraged by Piedmont FCA in order to guide athletes to be strong, courageous, bold and positive influences on their sports teams.  

“FCA reminds me that I am playing for something bigger. I use what I’ve learned about leadership to seek opportunities to love, encourage, and build up my teammates.  At the end of the day, I want them to know that they are more than just their game statistics,” says Tanner Kate Sauls, president of FCA at Piedmont College.  

FCA has impacted many athletes here at Piedmont, like Sauls and Joseph, but the impact reaches far beyond just the FCA members. Each member of FCA participates on Piedmont sports teams, so when they step out of a club meeting and go back to their teammates, they can encourage all of them to walk in their faith, as well. Teammates are a vital part of FCA’s mission, and having encouragement and support from teammates is something FCA values. With college teams consisting of both underclassmen and upperclassmen, there’s lots of opportunities for the older leaders in FCA to share their stories of all that God has done in their lives.

“Relationships are what FCA focuses on for leaders, and accountability with peers and having an older person pouring into you, teaching you what they’ve learned about life is important. Christianity itself is based in relationships and that’s what we as leaders need to focus on,” says Sauls.

Piedmont has been fortunate to see lives change with the work of God through the FCA on campus. Developing athletes and leaders on our college campus is just a small part of this worldwide organization, but desiring every coach and athlete to enter into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ: that’s what FCA is all about.