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Faith on the Field

Through Reach MoreTM Mission Training, a Division I athlete learned how to bring her faith out from the sidelines.

Think back to your time as a young adult. You can probably still recall the struggles, doubts, and challenges you faced. Who guided you or who do you wish was there to have guided you?

Briana Gonzalez is a senior at Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston, Illinois. In her hometown of Huntington Beach, California, she was surrounded by religious education programs and youth groups through her parish, but never quite felt a deep connection to her faith. As a talented athlete, Briana grew up pouring her energy and determination into excelling as a competitive softball player. She committed to EIU in 2020, and took a big leap in moving from California to Illinois.

 

Adjusting to these major transitions – entering university, being far away from home, and handling the schedule and pressures of a Division 1 athlete – can be a difficult task for even the most independent young person.

“I was lucky to have my team and coaches surrounding me,” Briana says, “I was really impacted by one of my coaches who was a great model of faith. It introduced me to the idea that my faith doesn’t have to be compartmentalized.”

Briana had plugged herself into the university’s Newman Center, but was nervous when she was invited by the campus minister to join a Reach More Mission Training group. “I didn’t feel prepared for the mission training because I didn’t really know Jesus,” she admits. Nonetheless, she said yes to the invitation. Briana immediately noticed a difference between her training group and other religious programs she’d experienced in the past.

 

“It was so much deeper than anything else I’ve done,” Briana shares, “I loved that it challenged me to pray and read Scripture every day, to share my faith with people I wouldn’t normally hang out with, and to truly listen to Jesus and to others. I’d never known my faith in that way before.”

The transformation that Briana experienced was obvious. Her daily habit of prayer strengthened her relationship with God, which fueled her confidence both on and off the field. She grew as an athlete, becoming more supportive and aware of the needs of her teammates. She started praying before practices and games. Briana’s teammates took notice of the changes.

 

 

“God was working in my team and teammates, too,” Briana recalls, “When I would pray on the sidelines, my teammates would join me. Girls that wouldn’t normally do anything like that were praying with me.”

 

Softball is hard, Briana says, and you need a lot of physical and mental toughness to excel as an athlete. But God was softening the hearts of Briana and her teammates, inviting them to grow together and explore this deeper, more vulnerable side of their friendships.

Looking back, Briana sees her biggest transformational moments as the realization of how much her self-assuredness had grown. “I saw that fear held me back in a lot of situations. Fear of failure, fear of not being the best, fear that my worth was tied to my performance as an athlete. Since I’ve learned how to really pray, I feel secure in my identity as a daughter of God.”

Effective evangelization is difficult if you don’t establish your own personal relationship with Jesus through a regular habit of prayer and participation in the sacraments. But once you know how to listen, the Holy Spirit is able to do amazing things!

Little League Apostolate | A Texas woman is reaching fallen-away Catholics through her children’s extracurriculars:

April, a parishioner of St. Thomas More in Austin, TX, is leveraging the time she spends at her children’s sports practices and games to reach others who have fallen away from the faith. She realized that she was already spending lots of time socializing with other parents on the sidelines, so she decided to inject more intentionality into their conversations. April now has her whole family on board, finding these small evangelization opportunities in everyday life.

Writer’s Group Apostolate | An author of young adult fiction is inviting the Holy Spirit into the storytelling process:

At Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Winchester, Virginia, a parishioner who is an author of young adult fiction felt that there was a lack of publishers who accepted manuscripts that pointed to God. So they started a small group of like-minded Catholic authors to read Scripture together, pray over their projects, discuss Catholic publishing, and honor God with their writing talents.

Dad Apostolate | A man in Washington was inspired to walk with other fathers from his child’s school.

A man from Mary Queen of Peace in Sammamish, Washington, noticed that there was a lack of fellowship and support for the fathers at his children’s school. With the help of some other parents, he was able to reach out to many men to invite them into a small group. Now, these fathers are able to share their experiences of faith and fatherhood.

 

Heart + Habits of Mission: Ask About Experiences of Faith

As missionary disciples, we aim to live as witnesses to God’s presence, Kingdom, and love. We do this, of course, in our actions and with our words. But when we think of “using words” in evangelization, how often do we think first and foremost about things like teaching, testifying, explaining, correcting, posting, commenting, and the like? In short, do we think first about using our words to tell people something?

Telling is good and necessary. But very often, it’s better to ask than to tell, at least at first. Asking questions leads to conversation, and conversation leads to relationship. When we’re graced with relationships of trust and conversation, we have far more opportunities to ask and to tell. In genuine dialogue, we learn about others’ experiences and thoughts, we connect more deeply, and we get to share our thoughts and experiences with others, too.

As followers of Jesus, we must become good at asking questions. Not for the sake of conversational technique or to set up a chance for a mic drop. Love compels us to truly enter into questions, relationships, and conversations with genuine interest in others. We take our cue here from Jesus, the master question-asker. In fact, “Jesus is asked 183 questions in the Gospels. He answers just three of them [directly]—and he asks 307 questions back!”

Jesus isn’t afraid of telling and teaching. But most often we see him engaging people in conversation. Good questions tee up great conversation, not just about topics “out there” but also about what’s “in here”—topics that touch the soul.

It’s not always easy to turn a conversation from small talk to deeper territory. One of the most practical ways to do it, when the opportunity arises, is to ask someone about their experiences of faith. Did you grow up in a church? What was your experience of faith growing up?

People can answer a question like this at whatever level they feel comfortable. It may lead to conversations about how their beliefs and practices changed over time. They might ask about your experience of faith. Or maybe not. But if asked in the right way, at the right time, they won’t feel judged or interrogated by the question itself.

As we follow Jesus, the master question-asker, let’s put intentional thought and prayer into asking questions of life and faith.

 

 

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