A student club unites: DHS joins together for Christ
Melena McCormick reintroduced the fellowship of Christian athletes
Members of FCA gather together on event night to play games and worship the lord. FCA assembles to do a group chant to get to know each other. The mix of sports and religious expression is prevalent in the group.
February 8, 2022
“For some time, I have had the idea of forming an organization of athletes and coaches in this hero-worshiping nation of ours. If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades and cigarettes, surely, they can endorse the Lord, too. So, my idea is to form an organization that would project you as Christian men before the youth and athletes of our nation.”
– Don McClanen, a founder of Fellowship of the Christian Athletes.
FCA is a non-profit Christian sports ministry that focuses on serving local communities and empowering others to make a difference for Christ. FCA was officially founded on November 10, 1954. Four of the founding fathers of the Fellowship of Christain Athletes are Dr. Louis R. Evan, Dr. Roe Johnston, Don McClanen, and Branch Rickey.
After former legal battles, FCA was no longer at Delta High School. Five years prior, a former Delta High School student, Cidney Fisk, sued the Delta County School District for not accepting that she was atheist. Fisk claimed that the lawsuit had cost her college opportunities. She later became vigilant of the Christian programs that were ongoing at Delta High School and used her position as student body treasurer to speak up against what she saw as violations of the state. This all caused an uproar and Christian programs like FCA became a source of debate at Delta High School.
Years later, high school student Melana McCormick started the club her freshman year with a few teachers and classmates supporting her. “God put it on my heart my freshman year ‘cause we didn’t have it after all the legal battles…and so I just started it up with some teachers and some other students,” McCormick said.
According to McCormick, there are not any qualifications to be in FCA. “We have to call it Fellowship of the Christian Athletes because if we get into any legal battles, we do have lawyers that we don’t have to pay for, for us. And it’s just a group of people that get together and worship the lord,” McCormick said.
“Even though I’m not a part of FCA, it seems like a good time definitely has a positive impact on DHS,”said Freshman Ellie Magner.
Planning the meetings has been a big part of her responsibilities in FCA, but recently she has put Judah Neely in charge. After McCormick graduates this year, Neely will be taking over in the fall. That involves getting in contact with pastors in the area and other teachers. Landon Henson and teachers Austin Kimber, Kayley Archuleta, and Steven Reiher are also highly involved in the club.
“My faith has been a really important part in my life, and I know that when I was in high school it was really important. So, I wanted to be able to be there for kids and kinda be that mentor that they can look up to and look for in regard to their faith while they’re going through high school,” Kimber said, “I think that there’s just a lot more love going around.”