Maben United Methodist Church had its regular fourth Sunday morning breakfast meeting March 24.
Before the program, a guest sat and talked with all the members about knowing many of the same people they know.
That guest, or speaker for the breakfast meeting, was Coach Jeff Terrill from Starkville, who for the last four years has been director of Northeast Mississippi Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Before being called into the FCA, Coach Jeff had coached for 36 years at 25 Mississippi community colleges, such as East Mississippi and Hinds. He retired from his last coaching job, at Starkville Academy, after coaching five years, and became director of NE Mississippi FCA, which covers 19 counties.
He mentioned that he considered the late William F. “Bill” Buckner as a mentor. Buckner had ties in the area after coaching in high schools for 18 years. When he died in 2004, his obituary said he had retired and entered the ministry of FCA.
Terrill said being called into the ministry did not mean a person had to be preaching in a pulpit every week and that one could serve other ways.
Really, he said, that is what FCA is about and those working in it can be thought of as missionaries. He gave as an example the members who work with the campus at Mississippi State University. Terrill told about the visits the FCA has with the coaching staff and the athletes at the university, as well as with the athletes in high schools throughout Mississippi.
He mentioned in the last part of his program that the late evangelist Billy Graham once said, “A coach will influence more people than a lot of other occupations.”
Hearing a program like this makes a person wonder how much an organization like the Mississippi Fellowship of Christian Athletes will grow.
