January Newsletter
Meeting Venue
We met at Starbucks on East Blvd for our kickoff huddle meeting last month. We’ve grown our membership base already, and may have too many people to squeeze into the back corner at Starbucks. We need a venue to have Huddle meetings & such. We have a couple of ideas, but nothing super-fantastic. Do any of you guys have a good meeting place in mind? We’d likely have 10-15 people for the first couple of meetings. Let us know if you have any good ideas.
The Website
We would really like to have everyone’s picture up at the Members page, along with a short bio blurb of who you are. Check out some of the existing member’s photos and bios for examples. This is not required, but highly encouraged.
Next Huddle Meeting
We are exploring ideas for having our next Huddle meeting. I think it would great if as many of us as possible could run a local 5K, and then go meet and greet afterwards. There is a 5K race on the McAlpine greenway on Feb 28th. How is this date for everyone? Let us know your thoughts about the race & meet.
Facebook
Yes, we are on Facebook. We’ve started a group called “FCA Endurance Charlotte“, and 4 of us are currently members. Please join us on facebook if you can. Ryan and I also frequently upload good stuff, and are constantly amusing our friends with our thought-provoking and comical status updates.
Our Focus for 2009
I wanted to remind everyone what our focus is for 2009. Our Vision:
To see Charlotte impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of endurance athletes.
And Our Mission:
To present to endurance athletes, and all whom they influence, the challenge and
adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving Him in their relationships and in the
fellowship of the church.
To accomplish this impacting and presenting and winning people over to the Lord, we need people. People willing to jump in, get involved, and do something great for the kingdom. Our main focus for this year is building the Charlotte team. God is already growing the numbers pretty steadily, and once we get the man-power in place, we’ll be ready to take on a different main focus. For example, the South Carolina FCAE huddles were in team building mode for the first year or two, and are now getting more strategic at infiltrating the endurance world, and are able to be very specific on how they minister. This is a big year for them, and they will have a presence at every major South Carolina triathlon. I’d like to see us move in this direction, (and we are!), but we need to have more teammates. I’d encourage our current teammates to invite other endurance athletes into the huddle. We’re not looking for x number of people to join the huddle in x months or anything like that. Jesus had 12 men in his core-group and we see what they did! Praise God for bringing all of you guys onboard! I think God will grow and direct the huddle however he sees fit. The momentum so far is incredible!
Events
We noticed that the “Events” tab on the website has always been empty, and we’d like to change that. Please pray for God to open doors with race organizers so we can be at these events. We thought it would be easier, but we’re having to contact each race director individually about FCAE showing up. We will keep you updated on the progress of these:
Jetton Park Triathlon, 5/9
Tri Latta, 6/13 and 6/14
Lake Wylie Triathlon, 7/25
Lake Norman YMCA Tri, 8/22/2009 and 8/23
We’re also still exploring having a presence at running and cycling events.
South Carolina Shoutout
The South Carolina FCA Endurance rockstars are hosting 3 events which they’ve asked all area FCAE members to be a part of if possible.
#1 – Zebra’s Do Exist 5K on 4/18/2009. FCAE will be a huge part of this race, and we’ll be carpooling down there.
#2 – The SC Ride for Life, a 3-day bike ride on June 12-14. Though this is not an FCAE event, the FCA leadership has recommended this as a great event for any huddle members (who like cycling) to attend.
#3 – The Endurance in Sport and Faith Training Camp on Feb 27 – Mar 1st. An awesome opportunity to get equiped in the ministry. FCAE 101. We’ll probably be carpooling down to this event as well.
Well, that’s it for this installment. Please remember to send in your photo and mini bio! And let us know if you have any good ideas on a meeting venue, and if you dig the 5K race/huddle meeting on Feb 28th. Safe training, and blessings on all of God’s teammates!
