Bobby Bowden Award
| Abbreviation | (FCA) |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1954 |
| Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Location |
|
|
President and CEO
|
Shane Williamson |
| Website | www.fca.org |
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri. FCA was founded in 1954. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad.
FCA's mission is to present to athletes and coaches, and all whom they influence, the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving Him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church. Its vision is to see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.
The organization's headquarters are located across Interstate 70 from the Truman Sports Complex.
FCA was founded in 1954 by Eastern Oklahoma A&M basketball coach Don McClanen, who later resigned to become its full-time director. After watching sports stars use fame to endorse and sell general merchandise, McClanen wrote to 19 prominent sports figures asking for their help in establishing an organization that would use the same principle to share the Christian faith. Among the first supporters were Baseball Hall of Famer Branch Rickey, who was most known for breaking the MLB color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945, and professional athletes including Otto Graham, Carl Erskine and Don Moomaw. FCA held its first advisory board meeting in September 1954 and was officially incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in November.
After two years in Oklahoma, McClanen moved FCA's headquarters to Kansas City, Missouri. That year (1956), FCA also conducted its first national camp‚then referred to as a national conference‚which drew 256 athletes and coaches to Estes Park, Colo. The ministry continued its expansion by adding additional camp locations, establishing a national magazine and beginning school campus groups called ‚"Huddles‚" within 10 years of the first camp. In 1979 FCA completed and dedicated a new headquarters facility overlooking Kansas City‚ Truman Sports Complex, and the building was officially renamed the FCA National Support Center in 2011.
After more than 60 years of operation, FCA has developed into a global Christian sports ministry reaching more than two million people per year at the professional, college, high school, junior high and youth sports levels. As of 2014, FCA included a staff of approximately 1,200 ministry personnel in more than 450 U.S. and international staff offices.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes operates according to an internally written statement of faith. This statement consists of seven points based on Bible teachings and Christian principles. Each point has a corresponding scripture. All staff and leaders agree with and operate according to the FCA statement of faith. The statement has been criticized because it includes anti-gay sentiments which those signing the form (student and adult leaders) must agree to uphold.
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