Lead Time
Lead Time
Was the Fate of CUAA Sealed? Gratitude in the Midst of Loss with Chance Childers
Coach Chance Childers, a pivotal figure at Concordia University Ann Arbor, joins us to share his insights on the meaningful intersection of faith and sports.
In this conversation, Tim Ahlman and Coach Chance Childers discuss the significant role of Concordia Ann Arbor in shaping young lives through football and education. They explore the impact of athletics on character development, the calling of coaching, and the importance of maintaining Lutheran identity within the institution. The conversation also addresses the challenges faced by Concordia Ann Arbor and the frustrations surrounding its future, emphasizing the need for community support and engagement. In this conversation, Chance Childers reflects on the challenges faced by Concordia Ann Arbor, particularly regarding financial transparency and the impact on the community. He emphasizes the importance of service, the role of athletics in fostering relationships, and the need for the church to invite more people into its fold. Childers shares his hopes for the future of the church, focusing on unity, growth, and the continuation of the Great Commission.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to Lead Time, tim Allman. Here I pray. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Jack is doing something else today as I get the opportunity to hang out with Coach Chance Childers, and Coach has been serving at Concordia Ann Arbor for gosh over 10 years now. He came on as the associate head coach for the football program for five years, director of enrollment at CUAA for two years and then has been in athletic recruitment bringing kids there to hear about Jesus and to be mobilized, sent out into the world to be the light of Christ. Most recently this last year he's coached the defensive line and he's still actually recruiting as the athletic program there at CUAA has one more year, about six, seven months now for that program.
Speaker 2:I've been blessed to have a lot of conversations about the Concordia Ann Arbor struggles and today's going to be hopefully a little bit of a different. We'll talk about some struggles, to be sure, but a little different tone. My dad a little backstory is my dad went to a school that was closed he was a Johnny St John's back in the day when we had a number of different two year kind of associate degree institutions and Lutherans have been in education for a long time and you know, institutions come and and unfortunately sometimes they go, but it's about the people that they changed. I guess I've I've heard you know some may say that I or we are anti-institution. Nothing could be further from the truth. We love all of our schools, our seminaries. We're praying for innovation and partnership with our schools and seminaries. But we love the people who have been shaped and I'm one of them by our seminaries. And before I turn it over to Coach Childers here, I'm having a number of different folks coming on here soon.
Speaker 2:Reverend Dr Jameson Hardy will be a guest shortly here on lead time. He is the president, the head of the Concordia University system, with kind of ecclesiastical theological oversight, and he's got a certain perspective that he's going to be sharing as we try to grow up, we try to listen, learn, love and center ourselves in the LCMS around the mission of God to seek and save those who are lost through the means of grace, through word and sacrament. So it's a good day. I pray this conversation gives you a lot of joy and gratitude. Honestly, we're recording this right before Thanksgiving. That gratitude would be in our hearts for all the people as we think about Concordia University, ann Arbor, all the people who have been shaped and will continue to be light in the darkness because of Concordia, ann Arbor. So how are you doing, coach? What a joy to be light in the darkness because of Concordia, ann Arbor. So how are you doing, coach? What a joy to be with you today.
Speaker 3:Thank, you much, tim. It's been a blessing and I think that every time we've stood up, whether it was at visit days or town halls that we've had or anything else, it's really been about singing the praises of the people and kind of the mission and the work and the leadership and just the togetherness that we've had on that campus and I just kind of thought like, wow, you know what, we've got a special, special group of men and women who get to serve families and kids and just want to get that out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So before we get into some you know CUAA specific things, you and I are coaches, football coaches. I think football has the is of all sports. Now it is, you know, parents make some choices, you know, and our kids to get concussions, et cetera, and I get that. But football brings more personalities, sizes and shapes of of young men together. You've got a larger football normally has a larger coaching staff, so you've got these kind of varying, probably heavy, personalities trying to make it, make it work. And I've just seen so much love and joy and growth, especially for young student athletes, grow out of coaching high school football and I'm sure you've seen the same. What is it that is so special about the game of football, especially in shaping the next generation of Jesus followers? Coach.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's an awesome question. I can talk a cat off a fish cart. You get me going on something like this brother. But I will tell you one a I love the strategy and the teamwork of it is, you know, jesus had a strategy and the teamwork to how he was going to go out and, and you know, build the believers.
Speaker 3:And, um, the other thing that I think is a huge quality that we try to, you know, characteristic, that we try to show as christ-like, is just being physically tough. You know the fast in the desert carrying the cross on the cross, like you have to be physically tough, mentally strong to kind of do this. And um, one aspect that I've always tried to you know instill in my guys is that, you know, to me it's a lot like the forgiveness we wake up every day renewed, right, it's a, it's a new start, it's a clean start. And the great thing with football is like every you 30 seconds, depending on the tempo, you get that same shot. Every time it's like flush it and move on Right, you carry that baggage with you, you know it's going to be there.
Speaker 3:And then you get into just the accountability and the development of men and that they're working for something and for others. That is way more important than that. And we tell our guys all the time like, man, don't get it out of order right, because the rest of your life you know you better you put Jesus first and then your wife and then your kid. Like anytime you get that out of order on how you're going to serve, like you're going to see the ramifications of it when those things get out of whack. And so for us we just think it's an awesome correlation of life, of the Christian walk and to then be able to do those things with really salt of the earth, christian men like Josh Schumacher and the Lonnie Priestess and all the Lutheran men I've gotten to serve with. I couldn't ask for a bigger blessing.
Speaker 2:So, so amazing. I kind of. I get to be a chaplain at this kind of non-denominational school. You may have some Baptist or reform kind of teaching, but I've gotten the privilege of bringing Lutheran theology to kids and it's a little undercover. I teach them the two kinds of righteousness like consistently.
Speaker 2:You know it's righteousness before Christ is by grace, and we talk this is a little bit of law, gospel or gospel law kind of handles. You know, in our relationship with God is it's grace, toocracy right. The gospel is the pool in which we live. But then as you go out into the world to love your neighbor, based on the gifts that you have or maybe you don't have, it's meritocracy right. It's it's do your job, it's it's going to be and there's guys that are going to be better than you.
Speaker 2:And do you want to work? Do you want to roll over? Do you want to give up or do you want to like, push in and grow like it? And the cool thing about it is it's all. It's all Jesus, like. Our identity is secure. So football is not going to define you. But do you want to out in the marketplace? Do you want to give up? Do you want to roll over, or do you want to press in and learn and grow? Recognize your gifts, recognize your gaps? There's very few other games like football that that teach that. So thank you for pouring your life.
Speaker 3:How many years as a coach now? Well, I've been at Concordia for 12 and was coaching, you know, high school and little junior football up here in Michigan for another 10, and out of Lutheran High School here in Michigan for two. And even right out of college was coaching down in Houston, texas, where my wife had her first call for a couple years down there as well.
Speaker 2:Would you feel like God put a call on your life to be a coach? Did you ever? What did that feel sound like? Because when you've been doing it for that long, do you feel like man? A major part of my calling is to coach young men, young women in sports.
Speaker 3:You know I was blessed to him to have some really awesome men I got to play for and be mentored by uh coach Jim Brown, who was my head coach at Concordia Um first time.
Speaker 2:I not the not the Jim Brown coach. There's a Jim Brown that played football, not the Syracuse running back, but yeah, yeah, that's cool but he is.
Speaker 3:It was the first time that I had stepped foot in a Lutheran church when he took us as a team and you know, our RD at the time was a Lutheran guy named Stan Tischer. He's in like Concordia, st Paul's Hall of Fame, coach Brown's, chicago's Hall of Fame. And then, just from a Christian perspective, our offensive coordinator at the time was a guy by the name of Chris Creighton and I had a one on one Bible study with him while I was in school and he's now the head coach at Division One Eastern Michigan University, now the head coach at division one Eastern Michigan university, you know, and I just had just Christian men and and Christian teammates that, um, I just felt compelled that like this is, uh, you know, kind of pay it forward. You got to go out and impact lives is, if you're not living for others, life's not where to live. It's kind of like, let's get this thing impact, impact some people, you know, and impact their futures. But more importantly, man, like it changed some eternities.
Speaker 3:You know, I, I, I was a kid when I first got to Concordia. I had no idea who Jesus was, tim, I had, I had heard of Jesus but you know, it was more like it could have been Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. It was not personal at all. And I remember I was talking to this girl who played tennis that first, you know, right away in that first week, she just asked me kind of like, hey, if you die tonight, where are you going to go? And I was like what? I'm like probably heaven. She's like probably why? And I gave all the wrong answers. I've tried to be a good guy, follow 10 commandments. I'm kind of funny, blah, blah, blah. She was like wrong answer, brother. If you could save yourself, jesus would have never died on the cross.
Speaker 3:And I was kind of like, all right, you know, nice meeting you. And slumped back to my dorm room and me and he's like, bro, she's 100% right. And I was going to talk to you about the same thing. And that tennis player and I celebrated 30 years this past summer being married. There you go, you know. And that college roommate of mine was Lonnie Priest, who's been our AD here that I've been able to serve with. And so when I say, from the coaches to the teammates, to what it is that Concordia experience and Christian life and football has given me, and then to kind of double that down with having people like Josh Schumacher and others in my life Brother. I don't know how I could do anything but try to pay this forward so good, praise God.
Speaker 2:And I like that story too, because that was a Kennedy evangelism technique, exactly.
Speaker 3:Listen and come to find out. Her dad is a Lutheran pastor, her brother-in-law is a Lutheran pastor and all this kind of. Her mom was a Lutheran pastor, her brother-in-law is a Lutheran pastor and all this kind of you know. Her mom was a Lutheran school teacher and that's exactly what it was kind of the evangelism you know and that's you know got to hear from her dad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, which sometimes gets downplayed, and I understand. I understand why, because relationship evangelism is the best right. But the question did serve to kind of spark your spiritual curiosity and it obviously worked out relationally for you. So I think sometimes it's a great story that sometimes we can kind of poo-poo various strategies and even theologically justify it, and I think there can be some ways that Kennedy evangelism has been abused. But the abuse doesn't change your story Right.
Speaker 3:The Holy Spirit used it and this guy who didn't really know who Jesus was and I was begat, a Lutheran pastor, you know, down at Grace Lutheran in Knoxville and and a Lutheran Chicago police officer, you know. And yeah, brother, you know, uh, lord had a a way different plan for me than I had ever envisioned when I first walked onto that campus in River Forest, illinois.
Speaker 2:Yeah, amen. Well, hey, let's get into it just a little bit more. About Concordia Ann Arbor. What would you say and I've heard this from a number of different people what would you say to some in our synod who say our Concordias are not Lutheran and we're under threat of losing our Lutheran identity? What would you say to that brother or sister?
Speaker 3:My first thing I would ask them is how many of your sons and daughters and neighbors and grandkids have you encouraged to go to the great institutions of our Concordia's? Have you done that? Because I can say that I put my money in my heart there, because both my boys are concordia grads, right and um, so that's the first thing. Like I, are you in this together with us, right and um, and so that'd be the first thing I'd ask them. And then I'd it just sound to be like you know, I do know, like I said, how you know, we first got started talking because I thought, like man, you know, I knew there were some questions about the Lutheran identity and all that, and I, if there's a more, if there's been a more Lutheran coaching staff on the planet than what it is that we've had here, I just don't think there is. I mean, between our full-time guys, you know there's like I think, seven Lutheran pastors in our immediate families, from our fathers and father-in-laws and brother-in-laws and sons. You know my daughter-in-law's a deaconess, our assistant coach's sister is, and you know I think there's a total of like 13 called teachers among our moms and siblings and wives, you know, on this coaching staff, and so one I think, like I could try to prove, you know, try to prove otherwise.
Speaker 3:And then it's not only just have you encouraged them, and hey, we are, we're there, and it's a little bit different. Encouraged them and hey, we are, it's, we're there and it's a little bit different. But I would also say I'm not quite sure that our Concordia is looked that much different than our, our day school, our Lutheran day schools and our Lutheran high schools, you know, in the country, and that, um, these are still, you know, fruitful mission grounds that we can go and and and uh and share the good news of Jesus. And so we're not. Definitely none of these places are perfect places, but man they are some great people.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and that's the heart of this Coach, is our schools are different. Historically We've not been covenant schools, meaning you have to be LCMS card carrying, et cetera Now to enter into. We've got different levels of kind of engagement, obviously to enter into our church work formation, like we'd like for you to be in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, for sure you're going to be serving the institutions of the LCMS. So we're unashamedly that. But we're also open.
Speaker 2:Back in the day some of my best friends, my football gosh, probably had 120 kids on the program at Concordia Seward in Nebraska at the time and my guess is half of them, maybe a third to a half, were outside of the LCMS. You know, but the, the coaching staff, the, what we, what we did in terms ofordias and athletics. One of the hardest things for me looking at the Concordia Ann Arbor story is well, we're going to narrow down to and I don't exactly know where it's at right now, you can kind of update me but we're going to narrow down to church work only and athletics aren't going to be a part of our future. Historically, all of our Concordia's like athletics has been a major selling point for our Concordia's. Tell a little bit of the history of like the role that athletics have played in not just CUAA, but you're a graduate of Concordia, river Forest, chicago, now. I mean athletics have been a major recruiting arm for the mission, isn't that right, coach 100%.
Speaker 3:You know it's my story alone. It's just kind of like, you know, like, hey, listen, it's definitely a mission field. And you know, I think, like you know, at Chicago it was kind of like in whatever, 1920, you know, they used to just play. You know a couple of dorms used to just play each other and then it was like, oh, let's go compete against others. You know the Lord made us, you know, want to have fun and have a competitive spirit and do those things. And then, while we're here, you know it's been home that our thought, when all these Lutherans got together to coach this football team, we're like, man, let's go get like, let's prove that Lutherans aren't the lovable losers. We can, we can win Right. Let's, let's go get the best Lutherans Right. And so we were hitting Lutheran high schools around the country and you know, thankfully for us, man, some of those guys have been compelled to go be Lutheran teachers.
Speaker 3:And we've had Lutheran pastors. You know Sam Schick is a Lutheran pastor down at St Luke's in Oviedo. You know he was one of our captains. You know, kind of deal. And the national at our place we've had the national, or the defensive player of the year in our conference is also in his fourth year at Fort Wayne right now and he was a Defensive Player of the Year in a conference that has produced six of seven national champions. At one point in NAI he was definitely a freak and just awesome, awesome human. And you know, we've had two of the National Christian College defensive players of the year come through our place and they're both Lutheran.
Speaker 3:One is actually coaching Division II football in South Carolina where I could tell you, man, we have a list of kids that have gone on to coach college and high school football around the country.
Speaker 3:I've gone on to coach college and high school at football around the country, kind of paying it forward just like the mission and passion that I had. And then the other guy who won the National Christian College Defensive Player of the Year Lutheran is a nurse and we need Lutheran teachers, coaches, pastors, nurses, police officers, all that kind of good stuff and I think the role that it plays in there and in bringing these people together and those relationships and that like they can influence, like we talk about the influence of coaches but we've got to be able to recruit the right people, because your peers are as impactful on you as your coaches are you know, I referenced my college roommate and best friend, lonnie Priest having an impact on me, and that's how, when we got these kids that are a lot like us, that we were recruiting and tugging on that rope for Jesus, like they're impacting their teammates as well, and so I think that's been the impact it's had, and I can just speak from my personal experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, my experience has been the same. So, from a coach's perspective and as we get into some of the behind the scenes things with the Concordia Ann Arbor story coach, there's obviously a level of frustration. That has been I was in the community. It's wild how we're kind of feeling, sensing things before we're thinking things, and and uh, there was definitely a spirit of gratitude, um, but also a spirit of of pain and and loss, which you would definitely understand.
Speaker 2:I, I was walking through the campus and just ran, ran up to two freshmen football players and just ask them point blank you know why'd you choose here? Well, I mean, jesus was here. It was a place I could play quick. If I could, if I could, you know, make it, make it happen and grow. And, and I'm just sorry, I told him, man, I'm just sorry you got to go find another place. And I guess, yeah, it's okay, god will take care. I think they said something like God will, god will take care of me. And I'm sure that's what all the coaches have been telling these young men. God's got a plan, he's going to be with you, no matter what the next chapter of your story looks like. But, as a leader, long time there at CUA. What frustrates you the most in how the situation was kind of handled, coach?
Speaker 3:You know, I think we're all reasonable men and women and that if in fact we had not, you know, tripled the size of the school in the 12 years and been one of those fastest growing universities in the country, and even in the last two years, tripled the number of non-athletes that we were coming on Like we were finally getting it out there in this region, right, and I could be mistaken. You know, growing, having the baptisms. You know, sharing Jesus with these families and these students, producing quality humans to go serve, whether as police officers and nurses, and these are the same people who are sitting in the pews of churches, you know, are going to be sitting in pews of churches that may keep them from shuttering their doors. You know, and then you know, being all reasonable if we hadn't done all those things and they still came to us and was like, hey, you know, this financial deficit is such, you know, had we not done all the things they'd asked us? And was like, hey, you know, this financial deficit is such, you know, had we not done all the things they'd asked us, and then some, and those were the finances, we'd all had to look each other in the eyes and be like, brother, we didn't get it done Like we didn't do it. You know we failed, but that's not the case, you know.
Speaker 3:And then, as they were talking about finances and all this stuff there and the outcry and the transparency, you know, I told them that I loved them, other people who were up there, and that I was going to pray for him and I was going to free him at the town hall. And I just think that, you know, there were situations that only time would reveal, situations from the finances. Only time would reveal and I think they've been revealed that it really, you know, there wasn't a deficit. There was very little that we could have done. You know, you had the support of the Michigan District. It just seemed like our fate was sealed, you know, and that a thriving mission, you know, producing, you know, quality humans and Christians and servants, was being decimated.
Speaker 3:And for what? And I think that that was the frustrating part and, quite frankly, I talk about being here since December of 12, but in the grand scheme of things, tim, I hadn't been here that long, right, I mean, I would be devastated. And I know whether it's our former director of enrollment, Kyle Tomes, our baseball coach, our volleyball like. There are people who, like, this is where they got their degree, it's where they called home they're you know they, I know they. They're as passionate about it as I am. You know Concordia, chicago, and you are Seward and man. My heart bleeds for them Cause I'm like I, you know my devastation, while there've been tears shed, you know, would be at like a I don't know, you know, just at a crazy level, you know. And so my heart bleeds for them and hurts for them and the teachers my wife gets to teach with. It's just.
Speaker 3:I just always believed that we needed more places like CUAA and like our Concordias, not less, if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission and share the gospel and impact the world around us. That was the frustrating part, because I felt like we were masters I said this on the top. We were masters at making sure our kids and our families experienced Jesus. And then so that's like kind of on the personal, like you, kind of heard level.
Speaker 3:You know there's a different level of, like you know, some of the finest leaders that the Lord has put in here, whether it's, you know, from Pat Ferry and Bill Cario to Ryan Peterson and Ted Hopkins and Josh Schumacher, all these guys, like you have these families of servants that are now just splintered and scattered. You know, and maybe you know, on the surface maybe it's a negative. I think I know it's all work out for the glory of the Lord and that all this means is that all those people get to go, continue to be those same humans and doing those same things in other places. But we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into doing exactly what they had told us to do, and then some, and then just seem like it still was not. You know, maybe used against us, not. Maybe used against us.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, there are so many outstanding questions and maybe someday we'll get more clarity on that. Here's what I know is, at the local level, I'm accountable and if, if this happens so I'll bring it down to a more local level, less funding concerns. You know, we're a $8 million ministry right here and that's our budget church, school, our family of ministries. We have a multi-site, right. If that, if that multi-site is, if there was even a whiff of me having conversations to leverage the assets of another multi-site just to make the main site, now that's something that you can say like we're going to sell this to make this. But I would have to disclose that right from the jump. Or I think integrity would say I need to explore how we can have a peaceful, jesus-filled separation to differentiate that institution. But I would have to disclose that as well.
Speaker 2:There's just too much in the whole conversation that was in the dark, right, people want to put the best construction on stuff if they just know like, hey, we were at a tough spot, we came to a crossroads, we thought maybe we could sell this to make because this is where I'm left. I think they thought they could sell CUAA to make Concordia, wisconsin, all the more viable. And then we're trying to like weasel and I don't know what other word to use. We're trying to weasel to tell the financial story, to make it seem like our hands are tied. It just is. Yeah, it just is.
Speaker 2:I've said this before. It's just a yucky leadership story and it's not one thing. Whatever was in the water of that system allowed for things to be kept in the dark that should have been brought into the light for the entire church to understand the why. If people you got to start with, why, if people don't understand the why, we're going to come up with a whole bunch of you know, things that may be part of the truth right, maybe part of the truth.
Speaker 1:So I don't know what other.
Speaker 2:I think the analogy though for me with the multi-site, that's the best way I can kind of start to understand it. But this was at a multi, multi-million dollar level and it's just tragic. It's just tragic, coach, and it doesn't I mean.
Speaker 3:I'm going to try to. I know a lot of people over there and they've, you know, treated me well and been and and been. You know good people and I know they love the Lord, they love Jesus and but, like you know, it's not a good look when there are letters crafted trying to recruit our kids and offering them an extra $1,500 if they'll transfer. You know it's kind of like what you know and and it's it's probably not a good look when you know we're told at a town hall there's a $5 million deficit and then there's a recording that gets leaked that it's 2.4. And then now there's you know, the stories that actually we're in the black. Cuaa alone is in the black by like $50,000 through all of this and we're kind of like what is happening.
Speaker 3:And I said from the even the graduates that were there, you know, when it was originally a junior college, and you know our former associate pastor here and his family, harry Enfield, to all the teachers in this building, to all my, all the players who have played for us that aren't going to get that opportunity to come back to a homecoming or, you know, let this be where they send their kids, like I sent mine, my wife and I sent ours to our alma mater, or you're talking about sending yours to your and your wife's right Like they're not, they don't have that, and so that's why, when it comes back to that, like that very first question, I just want us to, as a Lutheran, like promote our Concordias and our Lutheran schools, like let's get these people influenced and impacted by just strong Lutherans and Christians.
Speaker 3:I know that's what we've been doing here. There's definitely some frustration and some hurt in this, but I know, at the end of the day, man, it's a good thing that I'm not in charge of a lot. I'd already messed stuff up. The Lord's in charge of this man is the way we're going to hand it over to.
Speaker 2:Hey, coach, I think we froze up there just for a second. But for those that are wondering, you know it seems like the narrative has been slanted toward one side, meaning toward those that are hurt. At Concordia, ann Arbor, we have tried actually to have President Ankerberg on and other leaders on, but a number of them have. Well, he personally has declined and then others connected to it have declined. There's just a lot of pain and maybe distance will give us more clarity on why this needed to occur. But it's just very, very sad because you're helping before we hit record. You're helping kids finish well, talk about your story. Right now You're still recruiting within your athletic department to fill out programs to help kids finish well. Tell that story Chance.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we are you know we've had, obviously, a lot of kids leave. You know, when this announcement you know, across the board and in various programs we're still larger than we were that December. That in 2012, when I started, you know, and we still had, you know, like 20 freshmen come in for football and they were just like coach, you know, one year with you guys was better than none and that's what they were going to do. And but since we've had people leave and we still wanted to make sure that the kids who stayed got to have their that experience, I've gone around and talked to, you know, our, our men's soccer team about saying, like, listen, if you have played tennis, will you please prayerfully consider being part of the tennis team in the spring so that way these two or three kids who stuck it out can have a season.
Speaker 3:You know, and I don't mean like it's just if you volley, we're, we're an AI program and we know no one wants to go be embarrassed, but like, if you've played and you know how to keep score for tennis, prayerfully consider to do it. You know, like be we, we've tried to instill in y'all a servant else by kind of doing this. You know, and I know, uh, I have a goddaughter that she's on our softball team and I very athletic family, she's been a super athlete and uh, uh, I just grabbed her and was like honey, please pray about a soccer team, needs you, like you know they, they need six more girls so they can have a season and and go make a memory memory. And I even went out and told all these kids, like you don't know, like you know, maybe you're the computer science major and this person on this team that you know you don't know very well is a business major and y'all can go make the next whatever Twitter or something else you don't know.
Speaker 3:Like go build a relationship. Maybe you're a teacher, maybe you're going to go into education, and a girl or a guy on this team, their mom or dad's a superintendent in some school district and right, like you got a job, but like you don't know what the Lord has in plan for you, just have a servant's heart. That we've tried to instill in y'all, in in every sport. You know, on that, and that's been a pass down to us from Ryan Peterson priests, all of our coaches, like that's just how we've lived here and so that that's still been going on and and it'll, and it'll still go on.
Speaker 3:Heck, I've been putting together all the the hall of fame, induction ceremonies and things that we've had as as part of that athletic staff. You know, putting those things together. So that's still honoring the people that you know that they can still make memories, you know that they can still make memories, you know. So that's still going on here and we're still heck, our football program every Friday night. We've had 25 guys in a Bible study every Friday night, whether we're at home or on the road. So, whether it's being a servant's heart, whether it's competing, whether it's what it is you're going to do in the future, ultimately like sharing the gospel with these kids. It's been, whether it's what it is you're going to do in the future, ultimately like sharing the gospel with these kids. That's been in the forefront of everything that we've done, and that we're going to continue to do.
Speaker 2:Coach, you get me fired up. I got eligibility for tennis. You take me, I'm going to come out. Man, let's make this season happen.
Speaker 3:I just get passionate about it because I know how much the Concordia experience changed my life, my forever, what it's given me in terms of spouse and kids and in-laws and families and, quite frankly, the closest friends that I'll ever ever have in my life. Coach Schumacher's youngest baby is another one of my wife's nice goddaughters, and so the prayers that we get for the community and the family that has been built here. It's definitely heartbreaking when you know we've done exactly what we've been asked and then some and I'll be quite frank done it well. Yeah, you have.
Speaker 2:Done it well, well done, well done, good and faithful servant. In this season, brother, I can say not just from me but from so many in the church Well, well done. What's your next? What are you planning?
Speaker 3:And we've had our kids and our families ask us that from the time camp opened, and I'm going to tell you just what I tell them. I don't know, but I know Jesus knows me by name. That's it, and I hope that it's still about serving families, sharing Jesus, impacting lives and changing eternities, and involved in the game of football and athletics. And if it's not, that's okay too, you know. But you know, lord's plan is greater than mine, and so that's what we're going to ride.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, hey, the staff I coach is looking for a D-line coach. I just talked to our head coach, gilbert Christian. Send me an email.
Speaker 3:I don't know, you never know, you know, right? Yeah, I don't know what I got with you. I've got to tell you. The crazy thing is it's like I, you know. I think my young men have turned out to be who they are. I'm a Chicago police officer and my Lutheran pastor because we've had the benefit of family for their entire life. We've lived two blocks from my in-laws and four blocks from our church and it's just been who we are and what we're about, and with my father-in-law and brother-in-law being our pastors here. And you know, my in-laws are Asian, they're 79. And I don't know. I figure like.
Speaker 2:Ann Arbor.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I figure, like when she said, when my wife said I do that, that meant I will, and so that means helping her and whatever that involves, you know, and she was standing next to me when both my folks took their last breath and I'm going to, you know, to hope to do that, for her to pass that forward, you know. And but again it's kind of like, hey, the Lord could have us called to go do this ministry and impact lives, and we've got to be OK with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, well, he's Jesus is so good, he's so faithful. Brother Austin is awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, he's Jesus is so good he's so faithful Brother Austin's awesome.
Speaker 2:So kind. The joy of Jesus is all over you, coach, and it's been such an honor to talk with you about Jesus and about his mission and what he's done at Concordia, ann Arbor. So last question as you look at the broader landscape of the LCMS, what are your greatest prayers, hopes for us as a church body moving forward?
Speaker 3:Pray that we invite people into our churches, pray that we invite them into our schools and their young ones to go to Concordia. That, while you know they're not all perfect places, man, our theology is great. Our theology is great and we have to get it out there and I pray that we'll be so focused on Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Go, make disciples of all nations, man, get it out there, because you don't know they're going to continue and pay that forward and impact lives and who it is that the Holy Spirit is going to touch through them. I pray that we just get this leadership and focus to grow so that way that churches aren't shuttering and schools aren't closing, that driving places are not going to have to go through what we go through Selfishly. I pray that my mother's not next. That's a fear or yours, I just think, like we have.
Speaker 3:My prayer is that we just have an ability that we get people to come together For the glory of Jesus, to grow and share this and not and not have it be a secret club or secret handshake or have to check certain boxes to get in here, because I know this, like you know, they talk about the Lutheran classical colleges and, oh, your pastor has to sign this letter of recommendation or something to get in these places, like you know, I know of a Lutheran police officer or Lutheran pastor who would not exist today because I'd have never been welcomed in those doors, right. So my prayer is that we can come together to glorify Jesus and hold fast on the greatest doctrine that you know, we have and share that. And that's my prayer that we come together and that I wish there would be some, some healing, and even if there if there's not, you know that there's definitely going to be some forgiveness. We, that's what we've been taught, and you're just going to still go do the Lord's work. That's my prayer.
Speaker 2:Amen. Hey, what a vision for our church and our church body. Coach, you're a blessing. The Lord's going to take care of you. He's never failed you and he's not going to start now. And for everyone connected to Concordia Ann Arbor, we love you, we are grateful for you and, as hard as this is, you are leaving and deploying a legacy of love and care out into the world. And all is certainly not lost, because it's never about the institution. It's about the people that the institution shapes and sends to be about the mission of Jesus. So well done everyone who's been connected to Concordia Ann Arbor. I know I speak for the wider church when I say it's salt of the earth. People who have been about the mission of God have not wavered on our Lutheran fidelity to the Lutheran confessions and have just served so, so faithfully as a mission-oriented institution of the Lutheran Church, missouri Synod. So thank you, coach. If people want to connect with you, how can they do so? Yeah, they find me.
Speaker 3:They've told us our university emails are still going to work. You know, I guess you know even after the separation and they can find me on, you know, even after the separation and they could find me on social media and Twitter account. We've still kind of used it for, you know, recruiting and doing some stuff and, yeah, through our email.
Speaker 2:And sometimes I get on so many podcasts I don't ask the is it Childers or Childers, Childers?
Speaker 1:I'm sorry if I messed it. It's.
Speaker 2:Childers.
Speaker 3:I messed it up. The is it Childers or Childers? I'm sorry if I messed it.
Speaker 2:It's Childers. I messed it up. I'm sorry, bro.
Speaker 3:Childers? Yeah, it's been. It's been messed up for 55 years. No one's ever got it right. It's spelled Childers.
Speaker 2:but it's Childers Next time, man, I'll get it. What an honor to be with you and thank you for all you've done. This is Lead Time. Sharing is caring Like, subscribe, comment, wherever it is you take in these podcasts. Comments really actually do help move the mission forward and I pray it's a tragic story that hopefully brings clarity and unity to our church body and that's why we'll continue to have conversations with those who have a certain perspective and those who have a different perspective, so that we can grow up into Jesus, who is our head, our leader, our Lord, the lover of our souls. It's a good day. Go make it a great day. Thanks so much, coach. What a joy, Thank you.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Lead Time, a podcast of the Unite Leadership Collective. The ULC's mission is to collaborate with the local church to discover, develop and deploy leaders through biblical Lutheran doctrine and innovative methods To partner with us in this gospel message. Subscribe to our channel, then go to theuniteleadershiporg to create your free login for exclusive material and resources and then to explore ways in which you can sponsor an episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for next week's episode.