Two FCA Groups Come Together For The Nathan Project

By Jeff Gulley

As students in two high schools are trying to make sense of the death of a 17-year-old football players, the schools’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes organizations came together recently to promote healing for both groups and to kick start the Nathan Project program.

Ron and Connie Stiles, along with former Green Bay Packer’s tight end Paul Coffman, spoke to the students during the program which began with a mixer for the estimated 150-175 students.

“It was a real positive night,” Osawatomie FCA sponsor Rod Madden said. “The messages were good and I think the kids really got a lot out of it.”

Stiles was a senior captain of the Spring Hill football team that played at Lynn Dickey field for the final game of the season on Oct. 28. After rushing for more than 165 yards in the first half, Stiles collapsed on the sidelines. He was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to the University of Kansas Hospital where he died a few hours later.

The Kansas City Star reported this week that an autopsy showed that Stiles died of a re-bleed of a subdural hematoma suffered in an earlier game.

A celebration of his life was held on Nov. 4 and Ron Stiles presented the Nathan Project that night, offering 1,000 Bibles to any student who wanted them providing they would commit to some type of Bible study.

The FCA groups have taken on that responsibility. Madden said the Osawatomie FCA will meet this week to discuss starting the study groups.

“There is not a real road map for this,” Madden said. “For a lot of kids, Bible study and discipleship are done in their church, but we can provide an option for kids who don’t have a church option.”

Madden said the Bible studies will be before or after school with a group size of about 8-10.

Osawatomie FCA co-sponsor Don Blanchat said he thinks the program will help students answer some questions.

“I think some kids are trying to make sense of what happened,” he said.

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Posted by admin on Dec 8 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry