During one of the coldest nights in October thus far, Fellowship of Christian Athletes managed to gather around 200 people in the community to hold the first “Fields of Faith” tradition last Sunday at Bishop Stadium from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“Fields of Faith” is an international event where students, families, faculty members, etc. will come together to worship, share their story with faith and pray. 

“So FCA is a national organization that most high schools have and Fields of Faith is a national event,” officer of FCA junior Chanae Parker said. “We took that idea and kind of started adding pieces.”

Unlike FCA’s original thoughts about the weather, as they planned the event in August, the Kansas chill proved to be an obstacle for the night. FCA provided hot chocolate and blankets to help people stay warm. 

“We kind of took a chance on the weather,” Field Representative and FCA Organizer Ty Zimmerman said. “I didn’t think as many people would show up.”

The night started off with a Rock Hills Church led worship. After, Parker shared a few verses from the Bible that would tie into the events later.

In the span of a few hours, students participated in the cardboard testimonies, an activity in which they wrote on one side of a piece of cardboard how they felt before God was a priority in their life. On the other side, the students wrote how their life has changed after God entered their life. 

Junior Mason Reid was involved in the cardboard testimonies, where he included how he felt “apathetic” towards God before he was introduced to a book that engaged Reid in his faith.

“Apathetic means I wasn’t passionate about Christ before He came into my life,” Reid said.

Reid was not only one of the students who presented their cardboard testimony, but he also spoke at “Fields of Faith” to share his story more in depth. 

After Reid’s speech and the testimonies, Tommy Brady, a former track runner at K-State, made an appearance as the guest speaker. Brady touched on certain areas in the Bible, in real life, etc. where God has changed lives. 

“I had a teammate in college that was originally going to be the speaker and over the weekend he got in a car accident,” Zimmerman said. “I was kind of scrambling but Tommy was the guy that I went to college with and knew, and he’s in ministry as well, so I kind of just reached out to him.”

The night ended with another session of worship and time to socialize, play games and, of course, drink hot chocolate. 

“I think despite the weather everyone seems to be having a good time,” FCA sponsor Sarah Rhodes said. “I mean just watching everybody play the games and just socialize is awesome to see.”

The whole goal of this event was to give people a better understanding of how God can change people’s lives for the better. 

“I’m just hoping that the people that came were blessed and I’m hoping the people that came that don’t really know Jesus were challenged. I grew up in church my whole life and like I said I always believed in the existence of God,” Zimmerman said. “My life was a surrender to Him and that’s my prayer is that these kids and adults that were here would recognize that Jesus wants all of them.”

FCA hopes to make this event a long-lasting tradition. Even though the weather surprised them with harsh winds, FCA still seems to be satisfied with “Fields of Faith” along with other members of the community as well.

“I just want to say it was an amazing experience and I’m so glad we got to put this on,” Parker said. “It was so much fun and I’m just hoping that it touched at least one person and that will make it worth it.”