On Wednesday morning, when some students are still heading out the door, shoving a granola bar in their mouths while simultaneously putting on sneakers and yelling at their younger siblings to get in the car, members of FCA gathered together at 7 a.m., bowing their heads in prayer.
“I love that it’s right before school, so it’s setting our eyes right throughout the school day in looking for ways that we can love one another and in spreading the good news of the gospel to others around us,” junior Liv Werner said. “That preparation in the morning, I think, is a very good part of it and it’s just impacted me a lot.”
As a part of FCA’s leadership committee, Werner has a big role in planning what meetings look like.
“We all just come up with ideas,” Werner said. “Sometimes we like to do book studies, like we are doing a book study right now. Other times, it is just parables that Jesus spoke about. We kind of just come up with different topics, it’s not specific for anything going on. We do take heart in things people need to hear–that’s a big goal of ours–not telling people what they want to hear but things that they need to hear and the truth about Jesus and all of the different truths. When we pick a topic, we all, as a congregation, decide on what kind of topic we want to do.”
Werner has been religiously active her whole life. However, since becoming a leader in FCA, she has seen an impact on herself both personally and religiously, specifically in worship.
“It brought out parts in me of being more bold and even speaking and in worship, because normally, I’m not a big public speaker, but I really enjoy taking part in worship and that really impacted my faith,” Werner said.
Some people think FCA, or “Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” allows only athletes to participate.
“We plan a lot of events like ‘See You At The Pole’ and ways that we can continue to support our sports in our school, because it is called ‘Fellowship of Christian Athletes,’” Werner said. “But anybody is welcome.. It doesn’t just have to be athletes, and I think a lot of people just don’t really know that, but we do pray for and continue to support the athletics in our school and plan some things to do for that.”
Being so inclusive, Werner has seen the effect FCA has had on CGHS students.
“Over the years, I think FCA has expanded a lot and other people that have just enjoyed FCA bringing in their friends to hear these messages and just let people know that there is truth and that they can take part in FCA,” Werner said. “You can be anybody from anywhere and you are welcome in these doors.”
