The first annual FCA Men's League Super Bowl took place this morning at Soldier's Field in Rochester. In the semi final matchups the 4 Seed Autumn Ridge Blue upset the 1 Seed and previously undefeated Calvary RED team 34-27 and the 3 Seed Calvary BLUE beat the 2 Seed Christ Community 33-27. Then in the Super Bowl Autumn Ridge Blue defeated Calvary BLUE 32-20 to take home the Championship. Here are the pictures of the winning and runner up teams.
Last night we had the Super Bowl for the first year of the FCA Monday Night Youth Flag Football League. The Vikings won for the 3rd and 4th graders and the Steelers took home the Championship for the 1st and 2nd grade division. There were 42 kids on 6 teams at the field and roughly 70 parents and siblings in attendance. The weather was great and everyone had a fun time on the nice turf field under the lights. Below are the team pics for all the teams in the league with their coaches.
This is a picture that I took on Friday early afternoon as our first snow of the winter was coming down in large flakes.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
This is the group picture we took last night at the FCA Monday Night Youth Flag Football League. We were missing about 10 kids so usually there is more but this is most of the kids and shows them on the nice field under the lights with the coaches.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Friends and Family,
I just wanted to update all of you who mean so much to me and my ministry with FCA on how things are going with Nicole and I and the ministry of FCA that God is using to change the lives of athletes and coaches here in Southeast Minnesota.
I'm going to be putting up pictures from the youth flag football league next week.
Jesus said, “The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2) The vast majority of people are slipping into eternity not knowing or living for Jesus. Coupled with the tailspin of organized sports generating media headlines of incidents fueled by rage, drugs, pride, entitlement, and a win-at-all-costs attitude, there concludes the immediate and dire need for Christian leaders to be sent out into this harvest. Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a catalyst for transforming the sports culture bringing Biblical solutions to the problem plaguing the world of athletics-solutions for a lifetime, beginning with a change of heart, transformed by Jesus Christ.
If Southeast Minnesota FCA is going to be a catalyst for transforming the sports culture, we must unite, develop and mobilize Christian leaders to impact their sphere of influence. We are focused on relationships with faithful, available and teachable athletic influencers. Once a person goes through our discipleship process they are strongly encouraged to invest in the life or lives of others who the Lord puts in their life so they can reproduce the training that they themselves went through. This process is really about leaders developing leaders, not leaders leading followers.
Well first of all, I am currently working part-time (20 Hours) as the campus and camps ministry director for Southeast Minnesota. As of October 1st, I have raised $1200 in monthly support which puts me 50% of the way to my full time goal of support. I am thankful for everyone who has helped me to get this far and most of all thankful to God for allowing me to experience Him through this entire process. I am excited about the opportunity to develop, equip, and mobilize kingdom building student leaders to lead the campus groups on school campuses. This summer was a pretty busy one as I served as Co-Director for the Rochester FCA Youth Sports Camp. I have a vision for our youth camp, which had 155 kids to become a huge impact for the youth in Rochester and surrounding communities not only for the kids involved but also for their parents in getting the community more aware of FCA. We are also in talks with starting up a youth camp in the Red Wing area.
I am also very excited to be overseeing the brand new FCA Monday Night Youth Flag Football League as League Commissioner which has 42 kids on 6 teams in its first year of existence. We focus on building character through themed character talks given by a coach or athlete each week of the league. The five themes for this year are Developing the Heart of a Champion, Playing with Sportsmanship, Overcoming Adversity, Being a Good Teammate and Combining Faith and Sports. It is really exciting and I have found that I am really passionate about this aspect of FCA and have put a lot of energy and resources into making this league a successful ministry to the kids and their parents. God has been gracious and blessed me with great volunteer coaches. The coaches are made up of dads as well as RCTC college football players who are involved with their FCA and John Marshall Rochester High School guys. It is awesome to watch the kids have an opportunity to enjoy some competition on RCTC's brand new turf field stadium playing under the lights on a Monday night. What a great experience for a 1st-4th grader!
Through FCA I took over this fall as commissioner of the men’s church flag football league that I served as ref for last fall. I am still doing all the reffing for the league this year which plays on Saturday mornings at Soldier’s Field. We have 8 teams in this year’s league and it is a great sport ministry outreach to the men in churches in Rochester. I’m really excited about the potential of this league growing and getting more churches involved and making it even more of a ministry outreach.
Besides running the two flag football leagues this fall I am also overseeing our campus ministry by visiting and encouraging student leaders and huddle coaches all over Southeast Minnesota as well as working with Student Leaders at John Marshall Rochester High School and Mayo Rochester High School to get FCA’s going at their campuses. As a part of our Campus Ministry this fall we have begun a track for leadership training called Kingdom Building Leaders. We have two options for Leadership Locker room for students to choose from. One meets one Sunday a month and the other meets two Wednesdays a month.
Finally, Our local Southeast Minnesota FCA is having a FCA Fundraising Banquet and are bringing in Hall of Famer Paul Molitor as our guest speaker. I am attaching the sponsorship information as well as the table host information for this great event. If you feel led to become involved at any level you can print off the form and mail it in or just let me know. If you have any questions, I can answer those as well.
Prayer requests for Nicole and I would be that I would be able to continue my progress in support raising so that I will be able to join FCA staff as full-time. Also, pray that we would continue to grow in love for each other and for God and that we would seek out His will for our lives together in our work, relationships with others and every aspect of our lives.
Well, it's once again been a while since I updated our blog, but things have been really good and there is a lot to praise God for! I am now over $1000 in monthly support for FCA which is about 40% of the way to full-time. I thank God for all those who are supporting me and I know that my work with FCA would not be possible without these great people! I got the opportunity to work as a Huddle Leader at FCA Sports Camp in Decorah, IA the last week of June. I had a group of 12 High School Boy's Basketball Players that I was in charge of for the week and they were a great group of guys. I was able to lead them in Bible Studies and play basketball with them throughout the week which was a lot of fun. Then, the following week, I helped out by reffing a basketball tournament at East Park in Rochester for inner city at risk kids. There was a great group of kids there and I enjoyed getting to play basketball with them and use our common interest in basketball and sports as a platform for developing a positive relationship with them and introducing them to the love of Christ. The week of July 13th-16th was our Rochester Youth Sports Camp, which I was the Assistant Director for and in charge of recruiting huddle leaders. We had a great turn out of 155 kids for the camp and they were able to improve in their sports and have a lot of fun, but more importantly were introduced to the Gospel and our theme this year "Inside Out" from Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." I am now getting things in order as commisioner for the first ever FCA Youth Flag Football league set to begin Sept. 14th at RCTC's brand new turf field. I already have 10 kids registered and am hoping to have 60 kids for 8 teams. We are going to have a time of skills and drills instruction from RCTC football players as well as a halftime character talk followed by games against the other teams in the age group. FCA has recently also taken over as commisioner for the men's church flag football league that I reffed for last year. I will be serving as commsioner and head ref for this league this year as well and am hoping to use it as an opportunity to grow the ministry of FCA but more importantly as a chance for the unbelievers in the league to see the love of Christ. It is also Back to School Season in the Retail World and so my hours at Aeropostale will be picking up dramatically for the month of August and through Labor Day. I have recently been appointed "Jean-ius" aka "Denim Expert" for the Back to School Season, so I have to know all the different fits, washes, sizing orders, etc. for our four types of guys and girls jeans and lead the charge in selling, organizing and promoting jeans. Nicole put in her two weeks notice at Panera yesterday so she will be able to have her weekends off soon, which will be nice, since she is working 40 hours a week chasing around 3 year olds at KinderCare. I'm sure I missed a lot but these are just the highlights from our past couple months. Hope you are all doing well!!
It's been awhile since I last updated this...We moved into a new townhome on May 1st in NW Rochester at the Douglas Trail's Townhomes. We are really enjoying our new place as it is much more spacious than our little apartment on the Crossroads campus. It is also right next to the beautiful Douglas Bike Trail and has a basketball court right on the grounds as well so that's good for the summer. Nicole graduated from Crossroads on May 2nd and we enjoyed getting to see a lot of family then. She is still working full time at Kindercare and part time at Panera. I'm still working part time at Aeropostale and part time with FCA, I am now up to almost $900 a month in monthly support so I'm just over a third of the way to being in full-time sports ministry, which I'm really excited about! Also, if I can get my support up, then Nicole can quit her second job at Panera, which would be really nice for her to have her weekends off to rest! Last weekend, we were in Iowa helping out with Kory's (Nicole's bro) graduation party and got to see more family then as well. I'm still playing on the church softball team as well and I have another game tonite, I got some hitting tips from Nicole and her sisters when we were at their house so hopefully that helps as I've never played baseball or softball before this summer! I'm hoping to get a walking video tour of our new place posted on here sometime but for now, here's a pic from move in day that shows a brief glimpse of our new home...That's all I got for now, later!
Well, it's finally getting nicer outside and we've really been enjoying it. Yesterday, we played tennis and sand volleyball and even got a little sunburned. Last Sunday we got to go home for the day for Easter and had a great time at Barb and Dave's house getting to see family and also got to see Grandma and Grandpa Bolin's new apartment and stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house as well before going to Nicole's family's house and then back to Rochester for Nicole to work Monday morning. Nicole is now working full time M-F 8-5 at Kindercare as well as still working weekends at Panera. I am now up to 15 hours a week working with FCA and have been visiting huddles and going to staff meetings. Currently, I'm recruiting high school and college age huddle leaders for this summers FCA Rochester Youth Sports Camp. Also, I'm in the beginning stages of starting up an FCA youth Flag Football League for this fall, so I'm really excited about that. I also am joining the Hope Summit church softball team, which may be interesting since I've never played softball or baseball before, but I figured I would try it since they asked me. In other news, we are moving May 1st hopefully and Nicole is graduating from Crossroads on May 2nd so that will be a fun weekend and we'll get to see a lot of family again. I've also been asked to run a Skip Day Sand Volleyball Tourney for Crossroads again so that should be next week sometime. Here's a pic of me, Nicole and Noah from Easter. Hope this post finds everyone doing well!
Well it's been a couple months since I updated this but things have been busy here. I am now at almost $800 in monthly support for FCA and am still working 10-15 hours a week at Aeropostale. Nicole just got a full-time job and Kinder Care today so she is really excited about that. We are also going to be applying to get into Sunrise Townhomes within the next month or so and will probably be moving the end of April hopefully. Nicole spent last weekend with her mom and Aunt in the Twin Cities shopping and hanging out while I went home to the farm and visited Mom and Dad and also saw the grandparents and Matt, Ashley and Noah, so I had a great weekend as well. I am also really excited for the warmer weather, it has been really great. Nicole and I went roller blading on the trail today so that was fun. Other than that, we are doing well, The picture here is of me and Noah when I was home this last weekend.
It's been a few weeks since my last update. We went to Florida with my parents from the 9th-15th and went to a few days of Disney World, including going on Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror 3 times each. Since returning from Florida, I have been working part-time still with Aeropostale while beginning to work with FCA 10-12 hrs per week. I have also been doing more support raising and I am now at $700 in monthly support. Nicole has applied for three jobs but still waiting to hear back, while getting very anxious to begin working somewhere. This past weekend, Nicole and I stayed at a hotel in Marshalltown with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. So we are staying pretty busy but doing well. Hope all is well with all of you.
Hey all, I know I haven't updated our blog for some time now, but things have been busy in the James and Nicole Bolin household with Christmases on both sides of the family and celebrating our first Christmas and New Year's as a married couple. We had lots of fun seeing family on both sides and Nicole is now officially done with college and college basketball now and she is now looking for a job once we get back from Florida. We are leaving for Florida this Friday and coming back the following Thursday. We're going for a meeting for my mom and going to Disney for a couple days as a Christmas present from my parents. I also got hired back on as a Core Team Member at Aeropostale but as business is slowing down, my hours there have been cut back to 10-15 per week. However, the timing is fine because I officially started part time with FCA this week at 10-15 hours per week as well. I am mostly still doing support raising, but also I will start visiting some campuses and doing some of the ministry stuff as well as more training for when I raise enough support to become full time. As of January 1st, I am now at $640 per month support. I hope to be up to $2000 per month by this coming fall or winter. I hope to be able to call and visit some more people and make new connections in the coming months to make this goal a reality. I just need to put my faith in God that he will make a way for his works if it is His will for my life. This is definitely a time of transition for us, with us both just out of college and sports for the first time and just married and looking for full time work but I know that God will see His will be done in our lives if we just trust in Him. Of that I am certain, of any of the details I am far less than certain... I hope anyone reading this is doing well and I love you all...
Autumn Ridge Blue Champion Team
Calvary Blue Runner Up Team
