By Arianna Bekas
FCA, otherwise known as Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is a club that combines faith with sports among enrolled students at Apopka High. FCA has meetings every Wednesday during A and B lunch, and this organization allows for students to incorporate important religious aspects into their school life, which in turn lets them express their faith outside of the church. This is very important to many students, seeing as how religion is such an important part of many of thei
r lives, it is nice that they are given opportunities to practice their faith in a setting that not only caters to what they are a part of around school, but also gives students a group of people for them to identify with.
The Blue and White interviewed FCA’s president, Gracie Darlington, about the organization. To begin with, she was asked about the main purpose of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She replied, “FCA on its own is a national organization and in every school you have the ability to have the club. So nationally they are really trying to equip students in high schools, specifically athletes, to use their platform to spread the hope of Jesus. That was the original idea; at Apopka the main purpose is to really just create a fun atmosphere and a place where kids feel welcome and come to find hope, and a place where they can really belong, whether they believe in Jesus or not. That’s our heartbeat, all of us in the leadership team do believe in the faith of Christianity, but it’s more that we all just want to create a welcoming environment.”
Gracie made it clear that while initially the organization was designed with targeting Christian athletes, it has grown to be more inclusive here at Apopka and you can still be a part of FCA even if you do not consider yourself to be an athlete.
The next thing addressed was what exactly goes on at the FCA meetings, to which Gracie replied, “We have two different meetings. Every Wednesday we meet in either room 212 or in the Oasis Room, which are both in the library, and we call this Fellowship of Friends. This is really just a hang out where during A and B lunch we have different groups come in and a local pastor from Grace Point comes in and hangs out with us. He usually always brings Zebra Cakes or pizza with him, so we just hang out, eat, and play games. Then we put in some sort of inspirational devotion, like bible verses, and this is all pretty short. Then once a month, or once every other month, we try to have a big rally. It kind of runs like a youth group service, and we try to balance between games that make people want to be there and be able to give you scripture that will actually help you in your life. So they come in, we have food and they eat, and then we go into games, and then we go into a time of worship, which is music and stuff for a church service and that is one of my favorite parts. We usually have one of our students give a testimony about their life and what faith means to them. After that, there is sometimes another speaker, and then we wrap it up, give announcements, and go.”
Gracie expressed her initial reasons for wanting to be a part of FCA. “It was not super big my freshman, and sophomore year. Then my counselor decided to become a sponsor and they reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be one of the people to help it get going again. I had actually been around FCA for a lot of my life because my dad is a football coach and they had FCA involved in their sports, and my brothers had been involved in it as well. My dad actually used to work with FCA when he was in college, so I knew what it was. So I was excited to help Apopka’s FCA get restarted, so that was really why I joined it.”
As for why students should get involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Gracie said… “I think it is a great thing to do because it helps your faith translate into your everyday life, and not just in your church. You can make it personal here because it becomes not just something you’re forced to do, it’s just something that lets you meet the kids at your school that believe like you.”
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has proven to be a good-hearted organization that revolves around giving students a platform to express their faith. Between the fun games to keep students interacting, to Bible readings and scriptures, FCA really does have it all for each devoted students at this school and due to the common faith that each student possesses it creates bonds that may have never been given the time of day before. Do not let the name put you off, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is certainly for everyone who wishes to learn about and praise Jesus.