Bits from Beth

Friday, October 16, 2025

 

Dear Friends,

Today our church is helping to feed the Camden Fairview football team before they travel to DeQueen for a game tonight. It reminded me of a story I heard many years ago but is worth retelling.

 

Grapevine Faith Christian Academy is a Christian college prepatory school located in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. Like most southern schools of its size, it has a full athletic program but unlike public schools, it is responsible for creating its own athletic schedule. Many years ago, the Faith Lions were preparing to play the team from the local juvenile detention center in Gainesville, Texas. A week before the game, the Grapevine coach sent an email to all the parents of the Faith football players with a special request. He explained the situation involved with playing a team from prison. They would arrive via bus from the prison and they would likely be under armed guard as well as handcuffed for the journey. They would not have cheerleaders nor would parents likely be present. The players on the field would not have the support that other teams take for granted. The lack of support showed – the prison team had not won a game or even scored that season. The coach wanted their experience at Faith to be different.

 

He asked that one parent from each family agree to sit on the other side of the field. He provided a rooster and asked families to adopt a player from the prison team and cheer for them by name during the game. The parents took it even further. They made signs for their “adopted” sons and created a giant banner for the team to run through at the beginning of the game. The booster club collected enough money to provide box dinners for their ride home.

 

Game day finally arrived. When the bus pulled up from Gainesville, the juvenile inmates were surprised to find a crowd cheering for them. They could not understand how parents from the opposing team could be cheering for them against their own sons. They often paused on the field to listen to the encouragement in disbelief. 

 

At the end of the game, the players from both teams gathered in the center of the field. Much to their surprise, one of the inmates asked if he could say a prayer. He thanked God for the day but most of all he thanked God for this group of strangers that made him feel as if he mattered. “No one,” he said, “had ever cheered for us before.”

          

I first heard this story while at a preacher’s meeting in Dallas. There was hardly a dry eye in the room when it was told. When I arrived home I looked it up on the internet to verify the story and much to my surprise, the story had grown. Other Christian schools across the country had decided to extend hospitality to the prison team they were playing that year. What started out as a simple act of grace in one school has now spread to other schools. There is no better example of radical hospitality than this story of the Faith Academy Lions. They truly made one group of young men feel as if they belonged and that someone cared.  

 

In the day of division, it is nice to be reminded of our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. Hope to see you Sunday!

 

Grace and peace,

Beth