Spiritual leadership retreat trains Club Sports student-athletes in disciple-making

A record turnout of 40 student-athletes representing most of Club Sports' 42 teams attended its annual spiritual leadership retreat to kick off the school year this past Friday and Saturday at the Peaks Adventure and Retreat Center, a 66-acre recreational property in nearby Bedford County.

"It was a very good weekend, the largest retreat that we've ever had, so it was encouraging to see all of the students there," said Josh Graham, one of three Club Sports Disciple Making Team (DMT) coordinators along with triathlon Head Coach Heather Gollnick, who planned the retreat, and LU Dance Head Coach Christine Ewald, who joined the staff this summer. "This retreat helps to build community within the Club Sports teams and teaches our student-athletes how to disciple (teammates)."

Club Sports Associate Athletic Director for Holistic Development Reese Braband said about half of the disciple makers participated in the retreat for the first time, and they brought fresh spiritual perspectives to the devotions and energy to the worship times and team-building activities.

"It was a lot of fun with all of the new faces, and good to see the spiritual maturity of these student-athletes," Braband said. "You could tell there was a reason their coaches chose them for the role, for their desire to grow in their relationships with the Lord and with one another."

Low-ropes-course-spiritual-leaders — Club Sports disciple makers work together on a low-ropes challenge at the Peaks Event and Retreat Center on Saturday morning.

He said between the weekend's activities that included spiritual sessions led by Rebekah Trittipoe, a scavenger hunt, canoe races, swimming, ziplining, and low ropes course challenges, as well as games of cornhole, disc golf, pickleball, and spikeball, four meals, and a Friday night campfire worship session, the student-athletes made the most of every fellowship opportunity.

"Free time is always refreshing to see them interacting, watching hockey players and gymnasts, and triathletes, and lacrosse players come together because they love Jesus and want to Train Champions for Christ," Braband said. "That is our goal, and it is fun to see the athletes building those relationships so they can lean on one another and serve in support roles throughout the upcoming year."

He said the disciple makers were split into smaller groups on Saturday morning led by the five staff members — including Spiritual Life Assistant Jackson Vercellono, a graduate forward on the Division I men's hockey team — to pray and share testimonies of how God has worked in their lives over the summer and ways they have experienced spiritual breakthrough within their teams in previous seasons.

The four spiritual sessions led by Trittipoe covered teaching like Jesus, shepherding like Jesus, building relationships like Jesus, and having an attitude like Jesus.

"She does a great job interacting with the students and making the sessions fun while teaching important truths from the Bible to help the student-athletes to grow deeper in their relationships with Christ," Braband said of Trittipoe, who formerly worked as a Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative on campus and as a Health Sciences career coach.

Graham plans to follow up on those four disciplines in the monthly spiritual leaders meetings that he leads with Braband, building continued rapport between the Club Sports teams' representatives and incorporating prayer time and fellowship.

"We will try to dig into specific topics that will help give practical advice and wisdom for the (disciple makers) to grow in their walks with the Lord, so they can serve their teams better," Graham said.

Throughout the school year, each of the five staff members are assigned 10-12 disciple makers representing five or six teams to mentor as shepherds, praying for their needs as well as training in discipleship and planning community engagement events.

Braband said having Christine Ewald on the DMT adds balance to the staff, leaving fewer female student-athletes for Gollnick to be accountable for. Her daughter, Ava Ewald, a sophomore disciple maker for the women's beach volleyball team, led worship on Friday night.

"I love having Christine as part of our staff, to help build relationships with all the female teams' disciple makers and encourage them to take other athletes under their wings for discipleship," Braband said.

New this year, the Club Sports DMT introduced a vision for the disciple makers to focus on as they minister to their respective student-athletes.

"The Disciple Making Team is designed to Train Champions for Christ through the teaching of God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) which brings about spiritual maturity (Colossians 1:28) and the equipping of our leaders to do the works God has prepared for them (Ephesians 2:10)," Braband said.

He is in the early stages of planning a Club Sports disciple maker outreach trip to Vietnam or Malaysia next summer, working in conjunction with FCA Mid-Atlantic Director Mark Stephens.

"We hope to finalize the dates here soon so we can know who's going by December and then use the spring semester to fund-raise," Braband said, noting the student-athletes will lead multi-sports camps and clinics.

He said the DMT also hopes to continue to partner with the Greater Lynchburg FCA to enlist Club Sports disciple makers and other student-athletes to participate in local High School Huddles and Fields of Faith evangelism nights throughout the fall semester, as well as to develop more community service projects.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Andrew Musser/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant

Spiritual leadership retreat trains Club Sports student-athletes in disciple-making

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