Thousands of Youths to Gather Nationwide for Fields of Faith Event

By Jeff Schapiro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Thousands of youth throughout the United States will gather together Wednesday to participate in Fields of Faith, an event that unites young Christians together and gives them an opportunity to share their faith with their peers.

“The impact of Fields of Faith has been incredible in just these past few years,” said Les Steckel, president of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and former veteran NFL coach.

“It’s all about young people in these communities coming together on their school’s athletic field and challenging each other to go back to the fundamentals of reading God’s Word and coming to faith in Jesus Christ.”

Fellowship of Christian Athletes staff member Jeff Martin had the idea for Fields of Faith in 2002 while he was looking for a way to help young people deal with the spiritual battles they face.

The answer came to him after reading 2 Chronicles 34, which tells of how young King Josiah gathered his people together and challenged them to read the Word of God, thus changing the culture around him.

“Fields of Faith challenges this generation to be committed to reading the Bible and living a transformed life for Jesus Christ,” said Martin. “It’s students challenging students, peers challenging peers, and that’s the heart and soul of Fields of Faith.”

The event has grown every year since its inception. The first Fields of Faith was in 2004, when 6,000 students gathered at athletic fields in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. In 2006, more than 50,000 people across 35 states and 337 different fields participated in the first national event. Last year, those numbers reached a record of more than 150,000 people across 41 states and 475 different fields.

Though FCA is spearheading the event, it was created to also include a number of Christian denominations, ministries and organizations. Several FCA Huddle sponsors – adults who oversee local FCA groups – told The Christian Post via email on Tuesday that an athletic field or gym is a more familiar and inviting location for young people to meet than a church would be.

“It is a location that students feel comfortable in, and it allows for the event to be interdenominational because no one church is sponsoring the event,” said Adam Comeens, FCA Huddle sponsor at Fort Payne High School in Fort Payne, Ala., in an email to CP.

Damien Bates, a Huddle leader at Goose Creek Memorial High School in Baytown, Texas, said he expects more than 1,000 people to attend the event there, which will feature a live band, testimonies of students from four local high schools and a special guest speaker.

“Last year's impact was huge in the fact that it brought light to Jesus Christ and how students need to be responsible for their eternity as well as sharing God's word,” Bates said.

Melissa Rios Lopez, FCA Huddle leader for Bentworth High School in Bentleyville, Pa., said Bentworth’s Field of Faith will be inside a gym, and will feature guest Tyler Grisham of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the second year in a row.

She said the event helps encourage students to think about Christ and shows how even a young person, like King Josiah, can make right decisions regardless of what those before him have done.

Nationwide, last year's event led to more than 3,500 students committing their lives to Christ for the first time, more than 5,000 recommitting their lives and nearly 13,000 making a commitment to reading the Bible on a daily basis.

“We are praying for people to come to Christ through this event,” said Loren Renfrow, fitness teacher and FCA Huddle leader at Fairdale High School in Louisville, Ky.

“If just one person is saved or grows closer to God, then this event will be a success!”