Heather Crowe, FCA chaplain for female athletes at Clemson University,
is pictured with the members of her board: sitting: Mari Lou Banks,
Robin Lewis, Nancy Bennett, Libby Dalton, Heather Crowe, and Tricia
Phillips; standing: Ruthie McCraw, Linda Bowden, Jennifer Floyd, Libby
Crowe, Lynn Merritt, Jan Childress, and Allyison Merritt.



      "Two things will last forever – the Word of God and people’s souls." 
      Heather Crowe, a 2004 Clemson University graduate, described her motivation for returning to her alma mater as the state’s first and the nation’s third female college chaplain with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). 
      FCA’s vision is ‘to see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of athletes and coaches.’ 
      Crowe meets with female athletes one on one and also for a weekly group Bible study. Once each month, they meet for a Bible study with football players and Clemson Tigers Team Chaplain Tony Eubanks, after a team meal with players and coaches. Crowe encourages the athletes to also be involved in the student-led Clemson FCA which meets on Thursday nights. 
      Crowe and some of the women athletes met for a luncheon at the Poinsett Club in Greenville with members of the newly established board, which includes board Chair Libby Dalton and members Mari Lou Banks, Nancy Bennett, Linda Bowden, Amy Chapman, Jan Childress, Libby Crowe, Jennifer Floyd, Robin Lewis, Ruthie McCraw, Allyison Merritt, Lynn Merritt, Tricia Phillips, and Jeanne Ward. One hundred ladies were invited, as well, and asked to be a part of the newly established FCA Women’s 100 Club. 
       Bennett, wife of George Bennett, Clemson ambassador and retired IPTAY Executive Director, explained that the idea for the 100 Club came from a similar idea that originated with Ann Bowden, the mother of Clemson Tigers Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden and the wife of Florida State Seminoles Head Football Coach Bobby Bowden. "When Linda Bowden first came to Clemson, we talked about what her mother-in-law was doing at Florida State," said Bennett. "She had a 100 Ladies Club. Each of the ladies put $100 into a pool, and that money was used for good causes." Being a part of the FCA Women’s 100 Club, and donating $100, Bennett explained, would be one way for women to assist Crowe in her ministry. 
      The luncheon was sponsored by Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Blue Ridge Security, Foothills Motorsports, and The McCraw Corporation. Music was by Kathy Webb, who sang, Be Still and Know that He is God. The opening prayer was by Linda Bowden, wife of Clemson Tigers Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden, and the closing prayer was by Tricia Phillips, wife of Clemson Athletics Director Terry Don Phillips. 
       "I’d like to thank the women who have decided to join the board and stand in the gap for Heather, to give her an opportunity to freely minister without having the cumbersome task of some of the things that take away from the ministry," Becky Bowman, Associate Athletics Director at Clemson, said at the luncheon. "I am totally fired up that Heather Crowe is going to be doing ministry on our campus, because I believe that Heather understands the power of the Word, and I believe that she will be faithful to deliver." 
      The female athletes have pressure, Bowman said, from being female and from being athletes and from being students. "We’re dealing with a generation of women who do not know what they don’t know," she added. "This ministry has the opportunity to change the face of our campus, because we are dealing with young women right now who are getting their clues, about how to grow up, from television, movies, and glamour magazines. We have to introduce these women to the truth. I want them to live their lives based upon the Scripture, because that really is the only truth." 
      Britten Meyer, a member of the women’s soccer team at Clemson, and a regular attendee of the Wednesday night Bible studies, thanked the ladies involved as board members and as donors of the 100 Club. "Because of people like you, we’re able to have a position for Heather," she said. "I really appreciate every single one of you for helping and supporting this. I know God has huge plans for this. God has worked in my life, and He has used FCA to work through our Athletic Department. 
      "When I came to Clemson, I was a Christian," she said. "I grew up going to church a lot. My Mom was a Baptist. My Dad was a Catholic. I went to an Episcopalian school for 13 years. I had a well-rounded view of what Jesus was about and what the Bible said, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I began to grasp what it meant to live for Christ. I started going to FCA when I was a freshman, and I had the opportunity to be a part of a small Bible study. By small, I mean me and a couple of other girls. I thought it was neat that we could share Christ. I remember thinking how cool it would be if our whole team could have it, if all of us could experience this bond as teammates and also loving God. I’ve been praying for it, and I’ve been able to witness half of our team coming to Bible study. We have girls from every sport at Clemson coming. It’s incredible. We share a bond with each other. I think it’s so important that we have Bible study and have fellowship with each other, not just as Christians but also as college athletes, and to be able to encourage each other and hold each other accountable for everything we encounter. 
      "It is so incredible to watch what we learn in Bible study and FCA go from our room to other people who don’t know Christ. There is an opportunity for us when we are around other people, whether on our team or throughout campus." Meyer added that, as athletes, they receive attention from the media. "We can mention God in an interview, and that’s huge," she said. "We have an opportunity to use what we’re learning here. We’re so blessed at the university to be able to have this, for us to grow and learn together." 
      Crowe thanked the ladies for coming and for showing their support. "God always does exceedingly and abundantly beyond anything I could ever ask or think," she said. "I am so humbled, and I am in awe that God would bring you here. I know that each person is here for a purpose and that God ordains our steps. From the very start of this, God made it clear that He is working, and that it’s nothing that I have done. It’s not about Heather, at all. 
      "Psalm 37:3-5 says, Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. The last part—He will do it—describes why we’re here right now." 
      Crowe called the ladies who volunteered to serve on the board "women I’m in awe over and have grown to truly love." Referring to this new ministry, she added, "I know that God is going to do great things through it. "God has given me such a desire and a passion to invest my life in other people," she said. 
      "God has given me a heart for discipleship and for women, especially. The opportunity with FCA is huge right now. The history of FCA has pretty much been male-dominated. It started out with football and has been prevalent in the men’s sports. Now, the focus is on women as well. I’m excited about what God is doing, and I definitely feel that this is where God wants me to be. 
      "In my vision for the FCA women’s ministry, especially at Clemson, I asked the Lord to raise up a group of women to give me advice. God has been so faithful to do that, and I’m so thankful. The board is a group of women who love the Lord and have a passion for young people and want to see lives changed in the power of the Word. Beyond that, we prayed for an even larger group of women whom God would raise up to join with us in going forward with this ministry. I want a group of women who have a heart for other women, who want to see our generation change. God needs an army of women to march in this battle with the female athletes at Clemson with whom I have the privilege of working. They are going out into battle every day in their stand for Jesus Christ. They stick out like a sore thumb in this world, because they are so different from everything around them. They’re hungry for someone to invest in them." 
      Crowe is being assisted by Laurel Goggans, a sophomore at Clemson who meets with the freshmen female athletes. "She played basketball last year and felt that the Lord told her to focus all of her time on the ministry of FCA," said Crowe. "She is a huge help. There are so many girls, that I can’t meet them all right now." 
      Crowe added that some of the coaches of women’s sports at Clemson are interested in having a Bible study, also. 
      She closed by quoting National FCA President Coach Les Steckel, whom she heard speak at a staff retreat at Lake Lanier. "One of his quotes was this: ‘When God speaks, do you listen? When He commands, do you obey? When He leads, do you follow?’ I want a group of women who, when God speaks, they’ll listen, when He commands, they’ll obey, and when He leads, they’ll follow."
      In an interview with The Christian View the evening of a Bible study with the female and male athletes at Clemson, Crowe, an elementary education major, spoke of her decision to change careers and follow her heart. "God opened the door," she said. "Teaching really wasn’t where my heart was. My heart is in ministry, discipleship with these girls. I’ve been around FCA my whole life. My Dad was on the board, and my whole family has been involved in FCA for years. Lance Shealy, the FCA Area Director, had told me about the need to have a female on staff at Clemson, and God worked it out. The timing was absolutely perfect." 
      Crowe said that, after hearing about the need at Clemson from Shealy and Eubanks, she thought of Dalton, who then helped her with forming the board. "God laid her on my heart," Crowe said. "I told her I felt God was telling me to talk with her, and I shared with her the need at Clemson, the opportunities there, and we began to pray. God laid people on her heart, and she put me in contact with them. She helped me assemble these women, show them a vision, see if there was interest, have the women pray about it. A couple of weeks later, we had a board of 14 women. Mrs. Dalton has been a huge part of that. She has offered a lot of wisdom and is a godly lady." 
      The Foothills South Carolina Ministry Area includes 14 high schools and 19 middle schools in Pickens, Oconee, and Anderson Counties, as well as Anderson University and Southern Wesleyan University, in addition to Clemson University. 
      Crowe, an Easley native, has enjoyed returning to Wren High School, where she, as a student and basketball player, was involved in FCA. "My goal is to become familiar with the high schools that already have huddles and to make sure they are strong and have the resources they need," she said. "My vision for the high school huddles is to have a church partner with each huddle, like Pickens First Baptist Church does with the Pickens High School FCA. Beyond that, I’ll be eventually reaching out to the schools that don’t have an FCA presence yet and seeing what possibilities are there for them." 
      After Crowe attended an FCA Leadership Camp, her perspective on the ministry of FCA changed. "I learned that the FCA ministry is so much bigger than I ever thought it was," she said. "When you go to camp, you get a picture of how broad it is, how many opportunities are out there, and how many kids are involved, thousands of kids. I learned that there is a solid staff all across the country and that they have a heart for the Lord and for sharing the Gospel." 
      As for her ministry of being Clemson’s female chaplain, Crowe said that it’s all about relationships. "God has been gracious in providing people that have relationships with some of the athletes and helping me make the connection through them," she said. "God has been working it all out. It’s growing. It starts with getting one girl from a team and then that girl spreading the word to her teammates. I feel very blessed to have strong, godly women to seek advice from and gain wisdom from." 
      Clemson Tigers Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden told The Christian View that he is glad that the women athletes are able to have a chaplain of their own. "I think it’s a great idea," he said. "I don’t think we’ve ever had someone in that role in the past. It’s good for the women to have a female chaplain to go to." 
      "Tommy has always been involved in FCA, since high school, and we’ve always supported FCA since we’ve been married," said Linda Bowden, who has volunteered as a member of the board. "We know it’s a good organization. It’s been a tremendous ministry for the male athletes, and, now, with female athletes involved in collegiate sports, I feel it’s a good ministry to undertake. The females need a female to talk to. I didn’t know Heather (before joining the board), but I know Libby Dalton and Nancy Bennett, and I know that anything they are involved in would be good." 
      "My first passion has always been working with women," said Dalton. "I thought this could really work, as another arm of the FCA." As Crowe was informed by the FCA Chapter in Greenville that she would need a board, Dalton explained, she asked Dalton if she would be a part of it. "She wanted to have a board of all women," said Dalton. "She thought that would be something different. I thought it would be a wonderful idea. I said that we should start praying for this. God placed on our hearts women to ask to be on the board, and every woman we asked accepted.
      "It’s a ministry that we want to see grow with more women involved," said Dalton. "It will be a praying group of women. Also, we feel that we can be helpful to these girls by attending some of their Bible studies so that they’re able to hear from older women." 
      "I think Heather displays a tremendous amount of maturity, both spiritually and personally, to be able to do what God has called her to do, being the female chaplain there," said Lance Shealy, Director of FCA Northwest South Carolina. "She is doing a great job, having been an athlete at Clemson, building relationships with coaches and athletes, being able to connect with them, where they are as young ladies and as athletes, the struggles they have, on and off the field. The need is tremendous for a female chaplain to give them a voice of truth from a Biblical perspective, to help the girls learn their identity in Christ, to help them as individuals and also as athletes, to encourage them and to be a role model for them. It is a great opportunity for ministry for Heather." 
      Anyone wanting to donate toward the chaplain ministry may contact Crowe by e-mail at hcrowe@fca.org.


MKB, Publisher, The Christian View