FCA director: ‘The Lord has opened doors to me’

— By PATRIC FLANNIGAN

Staff writer

Fellowship of Christian Athletes Director of Southeast Arkansas David Preston served as the guest speaker during the Camden Kiwanis Club on Thursday. Preston spoke about the organization, its duties and how there mission can impact lives.

Preston began by thanking the Kiwanis Club and saying that he was an area representative with FCA when he visited the club a year and a half ago. Now with him being a regional director is shows how much FCA is growing. He explained that he coached in Smackover for 12 years before God directed him to take on a new role with the fellowship.

“Enjoyed my time as a coach but the Lord opened this door for me and after six months of fighting it and my wife telling me I needed to take this job and me was telling her that I liked my job - I’m doing OK,” Preston shared. “Finally, the Lord made it obvious that this is where I needed to be and I haven’t regretted a single second of it. There are parts of coaching that I miss but I haven’t had a parent yell at me in almost two years. I haven’t yelled at an official in almost two years so my blood pressure is a lot better than it used to be. A lot less stress and I get to spend more time with my kids.”

Preston said that FCA is currently in the middle of a fund drive. FCA is self funded and relies on “teammates” or partners to come up needed materials and finances. He explained that the goal of the fund drive is to gain 30 new partners that will pledge to donate $1, $2 or $3 a day. The money that is donated stays local.

“It doesn’t take a huge donation to play a huge part in FCA,” Preston explained. “If a partner chooses to pay $3 a day then that’s $90 a month. We could buy and deliver eight full bibles to schools every month.”

Preston shared that last year, FCA was able to provide a congratulatory bible to every coach that played in the basketball state playoffs in Drew Central. That led to Smackover contacting FCA to do the same during the state softball and baseball playoffs that were hosted there. FCA was able to provide bibles to each coach as well as the umpires that participated. As a result of its action in the south east, Carlisle contacted FCA this year and wanted to do the same for the state playoffs that it hosted. Preston explained that FCA is able to give the bibles to the coaches but not to the children unless they ask for them first.

FCA is also working on its Fields of Faith event that is set for Oct. 12. Preston said that event has drawn an average of 1,000 student athletes each year. The event is held in El Dorado annually, but Preston shared that he is hoping to host one in Camden and possibly Monticello or Hamburg this year. He said Fields of Faith was a big success and added that he was able to bring in Dr. Fitz Hill for the event. C.F. graduate Anna Dawson and C.F. Coach Carson Lamb also participated in Fields of Faith last year and gave testimonials.

Preston also talked about the FCA camps, how FCA isn’t just for athletes and talked about its “huddles” - Christian study groups at different school districts for students, teachers and coaches that are trained by FCA. Preston said that there are 15 huddles across the 10 counties that he over sees and it involves 25 high schools, 15 jr. high and middle schools. They are also looking to get involved with SouthArk Community College now that it is starting a basketball program.

Preston shared a couple of stories to drive home how important the FCA is. Preston - a father of four - said a student moved to Smackover while he was still coaching. That student came from a “chaotic” situation at home but wanted to play basketball. Preston was told by several coaches that the student was a “cancer” to their teams and that the student was more trouble than anything. However, Preston believed in giving every kid a chance and allowed the student to play. The student got in trouble a few days into the season and Preston told him that he only had one more chance to do so before he would dismiss him from the team. The student avoided getting in trouble for a while and disclosed to Preston that he had never had anyone treat him like a father wood.

“‘I’ve never had anyone act like a dad to me every before in my life and you’re the first person ever treated me like a dad,’” Preston said the student told him. “I was trying not to cry. He looked at me and asked if I cared if he called me dad. I told him, ‘when we’re at basketball practice, I’m Coach Preston. But any other time if that’s what you want to call me, you feel free. That what I’m here for.’” From that day on, if he saw me away from basketball he called me “dad.”

Preston said a few weeks later, the student got in trouble and he had to dismiss him from the team. He said that he knew the student tried his hardest but just “fell back into old habits.” He told the student that he didn’t want to kick him off the team but he had to and the student understood and told him that he appreciated Preston giving him a chance.

“He gets up and walks towards the door,” Preston recalled. “He turns around and says, ‘You might not be my coach anymore but you’re always gonna be my dad,’ and I just lost it.”

Preston said the student called him “dad” the rest of the school year but his family moved away over that summer and the students number was changed so he didn’t have a way of keeping up with the student. He said he thinks about the student all the time and he is hoping the student is doing great but emphasized that reaching out to students in troubled situations is one of the reasons why he got involved with FCA.

Preston then shared a story of a teenage girl that shared in front of her peers at camp that she had been molested as a child and felt guilty because the person who did it was in jail. He said the young lady informed the group that she had battled depression until she came to the camp and now she understands that it wasn’t her fault.

“Can you imagine how bad she had been feeling since that happened to her?” Preston asked. “She stood up and said that she had made it this far ‘because God is taking care of me and I’m going to make it even further because I’m a child of God.’ Her life changed rapidly and that has a lot to do with what FCA does… FCA is the only religious organization in the country that has an open door policy to public schools at anytime because we’ve done it right since the 1950’s. We want to keep doing that. If you have anything to do with religion you have to fight to get into public schools right now and FCA has its foot in the door and that door hasn’t been able to shut.”

The Camden Kiwanis Club presented Preston with a check to be a partner for the year.

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