Campus Life
Mike McCoy is a big man with a bigger heart. As a Notre Dame football player he was an All American in 1969, and the United Press International Lineman of the Year. Mike was then the No. 1 draft pick of the Green Bay Packers. After retiring from the NFL Mike dedicated his life to helping the young people of America find themselves through the meaning and teaching of Christ. Mike is the National Director of Champions for Today, a program whose purpose is to reach students through school assemblies, classroom presentations and other venues as a preventive intervention program to the growing drug, crime and moral problems facing the youth of our nation. Mike’s program uses the vehicle of professional ahletes, especially NFL players to reach young people. The approach that Champions for Today uses is a basic one. As Mike describes it, "The professional ahtlete begins by identifying with the students by mentioning a few of the ups and downs from his professional career and life, then gives a clear presentation on alcohol and drug abuse, sharing current facts and stories about other profession athletes. He talks about the importance of morals, values and his faith in a living God. He discusses the importance of academics, encouraging them to be the best they can be." The following article describes Mike’s visit to a school the day after the Columbine School tradegy. Shock! Despair! Unbelievable! How could this happen in America? These were some of the reactions after the tradegy last month in Littleton, Colorado. I was in Indiana doing my Champions for Today youth outreach programs and I didn’t hear about the shootings until the night of April 20. As I watched the reports on CNN with the outreach team quarterback and his wife I tried to anticipate the reaction in the schools I would be speaking at over the next two days as I completed the scheduled engagements. I sent an urgent email prayer request the next morning for wisdom about how to handle this tragedy. As I spoke, as always, God was faithful and the Holy Spirit guided me to ask for a moment of silence and then to proceed with my talk as planned. The next morning, I was scheduled to speak for a Leadership Breakfast at one of the local high schools where they were honoring twenty-five students. The audience included students, teachers, principals and school board members. It was encouraging to recognize the leadership of these students especially in contrast to the previous day’s events. Later that day I spoke at the same school during an assembly. The principal warned me that they had a problem earlier in the day when ten students came to school dressed in black and one wore a t-shirt saying, "Satan is God." That students was sent home, but the others would be at the assembly. He warned me they might be disruptive. Confidently, I told him they needed to hear what I had to say. There were no problems. I chose to look at the positive aspects I encountered that day; students who said "thanks" for being here, students who started a sexual abstenence club and where asked by the school board to teach these principles to the middle school students, and students handing out strips of paper with Scripture verses on them. I was thinking how unfortunate it is that the press dosen’t report the postive actions of students. God will do and has already done positive things through the tragedy at Columbine High School, because Christs name has been proclaimed through the life and death of some of its students. For this I am grateful. Now it’s time for us to double our efforts to schedule our speakers to bring the message of hope to young people. They are looking for answers and for hope! We are already scheduling programs for the Spring of 2000. Please pray for us. You can reserve a speaker for your city by calling me or Jeff Hepner at (309) 853-1540.
|
