Central Iowa FCA, 2500 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA (2026)

06/10/2026

Be Available

Ready:
“Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” —1 Corinthians 1:27

Set:
December 23, 1972. AFC Divisional Playoff. Steelers vs. Raiders… With seconds left and Pittsburgh trailing, Terry Bradshaw dropped back under heavy pressure. What followed wasn’t calm or calculated—it was a desperation throw, the kind quarterbacks are warned never to make. Receivers and defenders collided mid-air. The ball ricocheted backward, tumbling toward the turf.

Then chaos became history. Franco Harris reacted on instinct, scooping the ball inches before it hit the ground. He regained his balance, sprinted into the end zone and scored the game-winning touchdown. The Pittsburgh Steeler dynasty was born. The play wasn’t drawn up. It wasn’t clean. But everything changed in one chaotic moment. Fans later called it The Immaculate Reception—an ill-advised, unscripted decision that became accidental perfection. Truthfully, Franco Harris wasn’t supposed to be the hero. He was simply present, alert and available when a broken play needed mending.

That’s a truth every athlete needs to hear. Paul writes that God deliberately chooses what is foolish (moros) —where we get our word moronic—to shame the wise. God repurposes unscripted, unexpected—even “moronic”—moments to display His power. What looks reckless or weak to bystanders often becomes the stage for God’s strength. Faith, then, isn’t about flawlessness. It’s about availability.

Yes, athletes train to eliminate mistakes. Yes, discipline matters. Yes, practice matters. But God’s work doesn’t stop when plans break down. Some of the most meaningful moments in your life won’t happen when everything goes right—but when you are faithfully engaged after something goes wrong.

Go:
When have you seen a “mistake” or broken moment turn into an unexpected opportunity?

Why is availability sometimes harder than preparation or performance?

What does staying present and alert look like for you this week—on or off the field?

Workout:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.
Isaiah 6:8

Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the Lord ’s decree will prevail.
Proverbs 19:21

Overtime:
“My Lord and my Coach, thank You for using unscripted, unexpected and discouraging moments to show your power. You are sovereign. Today, make me available when Your moments arise. Amen.”

06/09/2026

Softball Players — this one's for you! 🥎

The Iowa FCA Sports Camp is more than a place to improve your game. It's an opportunity to grow as an athlete, leader, and follower of Christ alongside other competitors from across the state.

On the field, you'll experience:

✔ Skill development and instruction
✔ Competitive play
✔ Daily discipleship and faith growth
✔ Meaningful connections with other athletes
✔ Leadership development on and off the field

📅 July 13–17
📍 Central College | Pella, Iowa
🎓 Girls entering grades 9–12 (Fall 2026)

Come train with purpose, compete with excellence, and be part of a Christ-centered community this summer.

👉 Register today: iowafca.org/pellacamp

06/09/2026

Compete with Joy

Ready:
“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” – John 15:11

Set:
It’s common for competitors to focus on “outworking” their opponents. While giving great effort is crucial, some of the most successful teams also emphasize this: playing with joy. When we compete with joy, it has a way of raising the level of our performance.

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” As God through His Spirit is growing us in spiritual maturity, how we live will be increasingly marked by certain qualities—one of which is joy.

Joy is a deep, consistent delight at the core of our being based not on favorable circumstances but rather on the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. As Jesus affirms in John 15:11, we experience deepening joy as we trust Christ and surrender control of our life to Him. We’re filled with joy as we recognize the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness to us day by day. Our joy in Christ enables us to stay positive and encourage others even when present circumstances are challenging.

When you are growing in joy through responding to the work of God’s Spirit in you, you can compete with a joy that is contagious. Your teammates or those you coach will be drawn to your joy, giving you opportunities to point to the Source of this joy. While working hard to improve, never lose sight of the fact that sports are intended to be fun! Being able to participate in sports is a gift—and every good gift comes from God (James 1:17).

Daily delight in God’s goodness and faithfulness to you, including giving you the chance to play or coach your sport. Compete with joy out of gratitude to the Lord.

Go:
To what extent are you currently competing with joy?

What can you do to help you consistently recognize God’s goodness and faithfulness, enabling you to experience deepening joy?

Workout:
Psalm 16
Romans 15:13

Overtime:
“Lord Jesus, thank You for the joy You give as I trust and follow You. Thank You that in You is fullness of joy. I pray that through Your Spirit’s work in me I would live and compete with joy today. Amen.”

06/08/2026

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

Matthew 7:12

06/08/2026

Rest & Responsibility

Ready:
“When it was day, he went out and made his way to a deserted place. But the crowds were searching for him. They came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.” –Luke 4:42-43

Set:
One constant in the sport world is busyness. The number of scheduled practices and games fill up the calendar before you can even catch your breath for the next month. When you add on top of that, academics, friends, clubs, social life, church life; there is little to no time left to rest, which is what your body and soul truly need.

No one had greater reasons for being “busy” and having a stacked schedule than Jesus. Jesus could forgive sins, cast out demons and heal sicknesses and diseases. The demand for His time and presence in lives was something heavier than our busy schedules could ever comprehend. And yet with all that responsibility, He still chose to rest.

That is the point. Our level of responsibility should be directly balanced with the amount of time we take to rest and spend time with the Father in the quiet. Jesus understood this. The demands of His life pushed Him to prayer, not away from it. How often do our lives reflect the opposite? We line up our calendars, filling every free moment of our time with something to do or somewhere to go, almost fearful of what would happen if we slowed down enough to be quiet.

There is nothing to fear in the quiet because that is where God is waiting for us. This is why Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus knew what it was like to have demands and expectations placed on Him daily. And yet He never allowed those things to take away His time of rest with the Father. Those reasons, among others, kept Him daily tied to the Father. The schedule doesn’t get to negate the relationship.

Go:
How might Jesus be prompting you to respond to Him with your calendar in hand?

Which are you more concerned with keeping up, your schedule with others or your relationship with God?

If your soul could speak out today, would it ask for rest?

Workout:
“Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:12

2On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.
Genesis 2:2-3

For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. A psalm of David. 1I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:1-2

Overtime:
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to live in the flesh that we might truly see You and Your heart and learn from Jesus’ example of rest and responsibility. Please forgive me for my pride in thinking my responsibility to others negates my responsibility to care for my own soul. I need You. I need uninterrupted quiet time in a desolate place with You each day. Please give me wisdom in choosing what I allow into my schedule each day. I want to serve others from a heart filled from my daily time with You.”

06/06/2026

Bench Humility

Ready:
“The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen. So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. He prayed to him, and the LORD was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the LORD is God.” – 2 Chronicles 33:10-13

Set:
Manasseh became a ruler in Jerusalem at 12 years old. His dad Hezekiah wasn’t perfect but he did have a relationship with God that influenced his decision making as king. Manasseh, on the other hand “caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites,” (2 Chronicles 33:9). Manasseh had plenty of instruction to learn from his father’s ways, but when it came time for him to reign, he wanted to do things his own way. So, God put him on the bench.

Manasseh had the opportunity to play in the game, but when he started doing more damage than good- it was time for him to sit. Granted, a dungeon versus a bench- clearly one is more severe. But Manasseh was sent to the dungeon to repent. He needed time to sit in his actions. And in that time of distress, he turned to the Lord and humbled himself. And what happened? God heard his prayer and granted his request.

Humbling ourselves on the bench is the best use of our time; self-reflecting to see what’s working and what’s not working. For Manasseh, he didn’t blame anyone else for his actions that landed him in his time of distress. It’s not recorded that he cursed God or blamed God for being captured. It’s only recorded that he went to God for help. So many times when we get benched, we blame the coach, another player or even the game officials. Even Manasseh in his evilness knew that the person to blame for his actions was himself. And the person to go to for help was God.

What might our bench moments look like if we had the humility of Manasseh to humble ourselves and have a conversation with the coach about our actions? The coach might just put us back in the game. The most inspiring part of Manasseh’s story is that although he did more evil than many of the kings combined, God still chose to offer mercy to him and when he repented, God restored the kingdom to him. And in response to that mercy, Manasseh went back and righted many of his wrongs.

Go:
In what ways are you denying the wisdom and instruction of those before you in order to do things your own way?
On your team, are you doing more damage than good?
How might you need to humble yourself today in light of Manasseh’s story?

Workout:
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:10

A person’s pride will humble him, but a humble spirit will gain honor.
Proverbs 29:23

Overtime:
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the account of Manasseh’s life and Your mercy in his humility. Help me be humble. If there be any pride in my heart, please bring it to light so I might surrender it to you. Help me assess where I am going things my own way and help me do them Yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

06/05/2026

Connecting to the God Who Loves Us

In the fast-paced world of sports, it's easy to get caught up in the game—the noise, the pressure, the crowds, the stats, the wins and the losses. This pace can lead to burnout, frustration and a desire to check out. But disconnecting isn't the answer.

God's plan is for us to remain connected to Him and to one another. We must look to our Heavenly Father and His love through His Son, Jesus. God’s love is not performance-based; it is proven through His pursuit of us and giving of His Son, Jesus.

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." — John 3:16

Before we take one step more into our day, our sport, our fears and worries, sit for a moment in the truth that you are beloved by God. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us; He loves us as His child and desires intimacy with us.

In this broken, backwards world, we have become wired to perform to please others or gain approval. But it is enough simply to be in Jesus' presence. God values relationships over results. He is after our heart, not our stats or status.

As we stay connected to Christ, He changes us from the inside out, and we bear fruit that lasts through every season. We need Him, and we need His people. May this be a season of moving from disconnection to connection—not just with the game, but with one another and Christ.

📖 Quarter Verse
"Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me." — John 15:4

06/05/2026

Hometown Acceptance

Ready:
“He also said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.’” – Luke 4:24

Set:
If an athlete ever makes it to the pro and elite level, they’ll quickly tell you the hometown is usually the first to renounce their support. Not in all cases of course, but in many. In Jesus’ case, this was so. People in the town of Nazareth had watched Him grow up as a young boy, a teenager and now as a man in the mundane things of life. They were proud of Him at first. Luke 4:22 tells us, “They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Later in John 6:42, the Jews said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?”

Their acceptance of Jesus was based on their own opinion and understanding, not the reality of who Jesus was. The Jews watched Jesus grow up; there was no way He could be the Savior of the universe. But if you look at it in a different way, they watched Him grow up. What a beautiful privilege they had to see the Savior of the universe grow up in the flesh and never sin as He walked through the same temptations we daily walk through. They witnessed that with their own eyes, something the rest of the world had no access to!

It's a beautiful thing to watch a prophet grow up and work through the development of His character and live out His chosen identity. It’s quite the stretch, but similarly, what a beautiful thing it is to watch a pro or elite athlete grow up into the talent he or she has been given by God.

As members of the hometown crowd, we should learn from the crowds of Jesus’ time and choose to see the beauty of good coming from our Nazareth. To celebrate the plan, purpose and talent of those whom He has gifted to go further than a normal high school or college sport career. Let us not join the voice of the critical crowd, furthering the doubts and fears of those who are destined for a greater platform.

As Christian athletes who have been trusted with playing on the bigger stage, let us look to Christ for our firm foundation so we won’t be shaken by the negative comments of the crowd.

Go:

Does your voice join the voices of the negative crowd when a fellow hometown athlete moves onto a bigger field, role, or opportunity?

How much confidence are you placing in the voice of the crowd?

What platform has the Lord given you and how are you using it for the Kingdom?

Workout:
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27

1When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),
John 4:1-2

Overtime:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I want to be like the few who believed and supported Christ as He grew up into the plan You had prepared for Him. I pray you will show me places in my heart where I’ve joined the critical voice of the crowd in doubting your plan for other teammates’ lives and maybe even doubting your plan for my own life as well. May I truly mean it when I say, 'Thy will be done, not mine.'”

06/05/2026

Ready:

“He also said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.’” – Luke 4:24

Set:
If an athlete ever makes it to the pro and elite level, they’ll quickly tell you the hometown is usually the first to renounce their support. Not in all cases of course, but in many. In Jesus’ case, this was so. People in the town of Nazareth had watched Him grow up as a young boy, a teenager and now as a man in the mundane things of life. They were proud of Him at first. Luke 4:22 tells us, “They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Later in John 6:42, the Jews said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?”

Their acceptance of Jesus was based on their own opinion and understanding, not the reality of who Jesus was. The Jews watched Jesus grow up; there was no way He could be the Savior of the universe. But if you look at it in a different way, they watched Him grow up. What a beautiful privilege they had to see the Savior of the universe grow up in the flesh and never sin as He walked through the same temptations we daily walk through. They witnessed that with their own eyes, something the rest of the world had no access to!

It's a beautiful thing to watch a prophet grow up and work through the development of His character and live out His chosen identity. It’s quite the stretch, but similarly, what a beautiful thing it is to watch a pro or elite athlete grow up into the talent he or she has been given by God.

As members of the hometown crowd, we should learn from the crowds of Jesus’ time and choose to see the beauty of good coming from our Nazareth. To celebrate the plan, purpose and talent of those whom He has gifted to go further than a normal high school or college sport career. Let us not join the voice of the critical crowd, furthering the doubts and fears of those who are destined for a greater platform.

As Christian athletes who have been trusted with playing on the bigger stage, let us look to Christ for our firm foundation so we won’t be shaken by the negative comments of the crowd.

Go:
Does your voice join the voices of the negative crowd when a fellow hometown athlete moves onto a bigger field, role, or opportunity?

How much confidence are you placing in the voice of the crowd?

What platform has the Lord given you and how are you using it for the Kingdom?

Workout:
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27

1When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),
John 4:1-2

Overtime:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I want to be like the few who believed and supported Christ as He grew up into the plan You had prepared for Him. I pray you will show me places in my heart where I’ve joined the critical voice of the crowd in doubting your plan for other teammates’ lives and maybe even doubting your plan for my own life as well. May I truly mean it when I say, 'Thy will be done, not mine.'”

06/04/2026

What a great way to wrap up the year at Newton-Berg Middle School FCA! 🙌

We were blessed to have local high school FCA members join us for our year-end celebration, encouraging these middle school student-athletes in their faith and sport. Seeing older students invest in the next generation and share what God is doing in their lives is what FCA is all about.

Thankful for a great year of growth, relationships, and opportunities to make Jesus known on campus. 💙

Central Iowa FCA

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