Spring Break
Athletes 'united' through faith
CLAIRE MILLER
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The Butts-Mehre building's Team Meeting room has it all: black leather chairs, movie theater-style seating and a wide screen in the front for showing videos.
A massive depiction of Uga VI adorns the far left wall next to the slogan "Finish the Drill" in bold, black lettering.
This might not seem like a typical worship setting, but the members of Team United use the room every Thursday night at 8:30 to discuss Christianity and grow in their faith.
Team United is a combination of Athletes in Action, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Georgia Athletes Outreach Inc., said Scott Shepherd, the Athletes in Action director for the University.
These organizations help student athletes to incorporate God into their sports and their daily lives, he said.
This help takes many forms, including general discussions, videos and mission trip plans.
Each meeting is different, said Kevin "Chappy" Hynes, University football team chaplin and a Team United leader.
"Sometimes we have worship music, sometimes we don't," he said. "We don't do the same thing every time - we like to mix it up."
Students and leaders who attend these meetings usually wear jeans and sweatshirts with team logos, and they greet each other with high fives.
Generally, the weekly meetings begin with announcements from the leaders or from students. This includes dates and times of upcoming sporting events at the University, mission trip information and other opportunities to get involved.
For example, leaders Jill Perry and Scott Shepherd presented a video at a meeting on Feb. 15 about opportunities for athletes to teach at camps over the summer.
"We get you to go on these summer trips because they're life-changing experiences," Shepherd said.
Oftentimes, the leaders will then move to a discussion. Hynes said he's focusing on a series about the parables found in the Bible for the meetings this semester.
At the Feb. 15 meeting, he chose the Good Samaritan story from Luke and encouraged the students to apply it to their sports and their lives. He made jokes, added some Biblical history and shared some of his experiences in order to teach the athletes about acting as the Good Samaritan does in the story.
"You may have a teammate who doesn't know the Lord-keep loving that person," Hynes told them. "Keep being the Good Samaritan."
Then he started an open discussion with the students, asking them for examples from their own experiences. The students sat quietly for a minute, but Hynes told them not to think of sharing their stories as just a way to look good in front of others.
"Think of your stories as testimony to how great God is and how he works in our lives," he said.
Some students talked about stopping to help people whose cars have broken down on the side of the road, and others mentioned being friendly to fellow teammates.
When the stories ended, Hynes closed the meeting with a prayer and invited everyone to stay after the meeting for pizza.
Kelly Whitaker, a senior from High Point, N.C., said she's been attending Team United meetings for three years and has really enjoyed her time with Hynes and the rest of the group.
"I feel like athletics has such a platform in our community, and through Team United that platform can be used to impact lives for Jesus Christ, which I found to be an amazing way to look at playing soccer," she said.
Whitaker plays on the women's soccer team for the University and thinks one of the strengths of Team United is its size. It's a smaller group of students but unique because everyone knows each other's names and can make a difference in each other's lives.
"Personally, my faith was ignited upon coming to Team United because every person there was willing to invest in my life and help me grow in my faith," Whitaker said. "And now I get to be a part of the Lord's work in other people's lives, which is by far the most worthwhile thing I have ever done."
To find out more information about Team United, visit http://www.uga.edu/teamunited/.
A massive depiction of Uga VI adorns the far left wall next to the slogan "Finish the Drill" in bold, black lettering.
This might not seem like a typical worship setting, but the members of Team United use the room every Thursday night at 8:30 to discuss Christianity and grow in their faith.
Team United is a combination of Athletes in Action, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Georgia Athletes Outreach Inc., said Scott Shepherd, the Athletes in Action director for the University.
These organizations help student athletes to incorporate God into their sports and their daily lives, he said.
This help takes many forms, including general discussions, videos and mission trip plans.
Each meeting is different, said Kevin "Chappy" Hynes, University football team chaplin and a Team United leader.
"Sometimes we have worship music, sometimes we don't," he said. "We don't do the same thing every time - we like to mix it up."
Students and leaders who attend these meetings usually wear jeans and sweatshirts with team logos, and they greet each other with high fives.
Generally, the weekly meetings begin with announcements from the leaders or from students. This includes dates and times of upcoming sporting events at the University, mission trip information and other opportunities to get involved.
For example, leaders Jill Perry and Scott Shepherd presented a video at a meeting on Feb. 15 about opportunities for athletes to teach at camps over the summer.
"We get you to go on these summer trips because they're life-changing experiences," Shepherd said.
Oftentimes, the leaders will then move to a discussion. Hynes said he's focusing on a series about the parables found in the Bible for the meetings this semester.
At the Feb. 15 meeting, he chose the Good Samaritan story from Luke and encouraged the students to apply it to their sports and their lives. He made jokes, added some Biblical history and shared some of his experiences in order to teach the athletes about acting as the Good Samaritan does in the story.
"You may have a teammate who doesn't know the Lord-keep loving that person," Hynes told them. "Keep being the Good Samaritan."
Then he started an open discussion with the students, asking them for examples from their own experiences. The students sat quietly for a minute, but Hynes told them not to think of sharing their stories as just a way to look good in front of others.
"Think of your stories as testimony to how great God is and how he works in our lives," he said.
Some students talked about stopping to help people whose cars have broken down on the side of the road, and others mentioned being friendly to fellow teammates.
When the stories ended, Hynes closed the meeting with a prayer and invited everyone to stay after the meeting for pizza.
Kelly Whitaker, a senior from High Point, N.C., said she's been attending Team United meetings for three years and has really enjoyed her time with Hynes and the rest of the group.
"I feel like athletics has such a platform in our community, and through Team United that platform can be used to impact lives for Jesus Christ, which I found to be an amazing way to look at playing soccer," she said.
Whitaker plays on the women's soccer team for the University and thinks one of the strengths of Team United is its size. It's a smaller group of students but unique because everyone knows each other's names and can make a difference in each other's lives.
"Personally, my faith was ignited upon coming to Team United because every person there was willing to invest in my life and help me grow in my faith," Whitaker said. "And now I get to be a part of the Lord's work in other people's lives, which is by far the most worthwhile thing I have ever done."
To find out more information about Team United, visit http://www.uga.edu/teamunited/.
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