Give me a J-E-S-U-S
A former football coach finds inspiration in the Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders.
By Joan Drammeh
Cheerleading might not be the most obvious avenue for missionary work, but Cary Coleman, 49, takes pride in bucking tradition and stereotypes. When asked how a former college football coach became head of the Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders (FCC), Coleman simply says, “God must be having a big laugh up in heaven.”
Coleman knows some people believe the term “Christian cheerleader” to be an oxymoron, but he brushes that off easily. “The stereotype of the typical cheerleader is a sideline decoration,” he says. “But the FCC produces athletes who compete at high levels and get college scholarships.”
Headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia, the FCC, which represents more than 15,000 students, began when Coleman saw a need in the market. “I started an ‘all-sports’ camp called Score when I was coaching football at Liberty University and after three years, I decided to focus on cheerleading only,” he says. “There were so many Christian basketball and soccer camps but no Christian cheerleading camps. I started Score Camps in 1986 and we changed the name to the Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders in 1996.”
Newsweek magazine hailed cheerleading as “the most quintessential of American sports” so it isn’t unusual that it would attract sports enthusiasts such as Coleman. In fact, cheerleading is one of the fastest growing sports with more than 4 million young people participating nationwide. And its appeal continues to draw younger and younger girls. There are 1.6 million kids involved in cheerleading from ages five to 12 and the FCC caters to this demographic with a program called Impact, begun in 2005 to teach kids to use their gifts to glorify God.
With devotionals and prayer incorporated into each practice, Impact offers cheerleaders more than a typical team experience. Coleman believes competition breeds excellence and stresses the physicality of the sport. He emphasizes that his camps aren’t vacation Bible school.
In 1991, the FCC began conducting foreign missions to introduce the sport overseas and conduct free cheerleading clinics in schools, orphanages and town squares. A visit to Hong Kong in 1996 was a formative experience for 15 girls who went on the mission trip, which included a stop at an underground church and smuggling Bibles into mainland China.
“Taking kids on a trip and having them see the hunger for God’s word that Americans take for granted is a life-changing experience,” Coleman says. “We try to pass out gospel tracks here in the USA and most of the time, people just throw them in the trash. Handing out religious material overseas is great because people are excited and open to it.”
But in the end, it is the little things that inspire Coleman on a daily basis. “Just being in ministry and reaching other people, that’s what really lights my fire,” he says. “The fact that everyday God gives me the opportunity to do ministry makes me feel fortunate.”
Joan Drammeh is associate editor of Rejuvenate and Group Travel Planet. She met and talked with Cary Coleman at the 2008 Rejuvenate Marketplace in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in November. She has never been a cheerleader.
