Halfway Through A Job Well Done

Week Three is in the books for the 2025 SoCal FCA Summer camps. Over the three weeks In La Mirada, Anaheim Hills, and Yorba Linda, countless balls have been tossed, smiles and laughs shared, and lives changed forever. The latter of those is always the ultimate goal and that goal has certainly been met and even exceeded thus far. 

This year’s team of Shepherds has poured out everything they’ve had week in and week out through a long and in many ways treacherous month of June. 105 camp hours were carried out over a three week span and countless hours have gone into preparing for those. The team has been diligent day in and day out, cherishing the work that they have the privilege to continue to do. For this is not just their work that they are doing, but the mission of their Father in heaven and the Son that he sent down for us. It’s beautiful work but certainly not easy. 

With this level of difficulty comes an acute awareness of the need for God’s strength and his hand in our life. This leads to beautiful and powerful moments that change lives forever. This can happen for either a coach or a camper over the course of a summer and thus far FCA has been with both. 

One Shepherd who has had the privilege to see this on full display has been Afton Koch, a first time Shepherd who has come all the way from Minnesota and been blown away by the experience thus far. 

When reflecting on his personal life in the summer thus far, Afton shared that “I’ve seen God work in my own life this summer by Jesus helping me understand how much He loves me and what he did for me on the cross. Understanding His love for me has helped me love the campers in a deep way.” 

In terms of the campers, he reveled in the fact that “I’ve seen God work in many of the campers’ lives throughout the first 3 camps. One camper stuck out in particular and that was a member of the Pigs in the Crescent Hills camp. It was absolutely amazing to see his life changed as he began to know Jesus more, and as he saw the love of Jesus in his coaches. You could see his heart just soften throughout the week. My highlight of the summer so far has definitely been the individual time getting to talk to campers during coaches time and all other points during the camp. All the kids are so precious to get to spend time with, helping them in their relationship with Jesus”

The work of the Lord our God never comes back void or in vain. He works in ways we can never imagine. All we must do is follow him diligently to the best of our abilities. We are grown and shaped for this work largely by those around us, and Afton has certainly been helped by his peers by being part of a great Shepherds team. 

In reflecting on this, Afton shared that “It’s been absolutely amazing to be a part of the shepherd’s team as a first-time coach. Being a coach at these FCA camps is one of the most amazing things I’ve gotten the opportunity to do. To be able to love on the kids for hours and hours a week is such an amazing opportunity. It’s definitely helped me get to know Jesus more personally and it has been amazing to get to know many others who are on fire for Jesus that help push me in my faith.”

The young men who make up the SoCal FCA Shepherds have guided their flock well through the three weeks of June Camps. You can be sure that they’ll come back rested and ready for the July chapter of the summer. 

WEEK 2: ADJUST AND EXCEL

Any task worth doing will test the mind, body, or soul, and sometimes even all three. FCA Baseball camps often hit all three and the first ever Crescent Elementary School FCA Camp in Anaheim Hills was most certainly no exception. There were obstacles from day one, with missing leadership and sudden physical ailments to coaches being headliners amongst them. 

But any team with intentions of accomplishing anything knows to be ready for a challenge and the Shepherds and their leaders are certainly one such team. Proving themselves to be more than justa group of individuals with skills, they showed the true metal of a team that is a well oiled machine, making necessary adjustments from the get go and setting out to achieve their goal. 

From the very first day I saw that unfold before my own eyes, as young men stepped into tasks that they had never done before, trusting God’s grace and provision to get them through the week successfully. I saw young first timers stepping up to work at a caliber many would think was that of a seasoned veteran. The mission of FCA was in a dire spot for a moment that anxious Monday morning, but the Shepherds would rather break themselves to pieces than see an opportunity for the gospel to move forward. It was a task that promised to bring pain, sweat, and tears. It was a task that the Shepherds signed up for with a smile and a high five.    

Shepherd Anthony Wilson was one of the first year Shepherds who stepped up on the front lines of the camp this week and he had much insight to share about how the week went and the unique challenges it brought. 

Wilson said that “This year’s team is special, even with smaller numbers and different people leading us we came together as a group and supported and leaned on each other and worked tirelessly to have a smooth camp for the kids, it was a complete team effort.”

As a result of this team effort Wilson saw great fruit at the camp this week. There were many examples but one particularly special one he recalled was a particularly challenging camper having a massive change of heart throughout the week as a result of the diligent faithful work of another coach who really felt God put serving this kid on his heart. Another highlight was his own team showing appreciation and encouragement after Wilson’s first ever Bible time talk in front of the whole camp. 

When asked about the biggest challenge of a camp week, Wilson said “the long days, with practice and gym after camp days, but the kids make it well worth the effort and bring out joy in us shepherds and we get to see how God is moving out here and it’s such a blessing to be a part of!”

In sports, many athletes or teams have crumbled under the pressure of a big moment due to youth or inexperience. This year’s team of Shepherds is a massive outlier, with few returners on the roster and extraordinary work being done wherever one may look. The difference is found in a special bond based in a faith in the truth that God spoke in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when he made a beautiful promise. 

“My strength is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God’s work needs nothing more from us than faith and diligent servitude and this year’s young squad of Shepherds were a beautiful example of that at Crescent Elementary this week.

Week 1: Starting the Race

WEEK 1:STARTING THE RACE

by Peter Koontz


Any great undertaking takes adjustment and time to learn. FCA Baseball camps are a great undertaking with a myriad of challenges and nobody could really fault a camp worker for needing to figure it out as they go in the first week of a long summer. But that is simply not the way the Shepherds do things. Eternal lives are at stake week in and week out and there are souls that can be won by the grace of God every single day of camp. So there is no time to start slow or ease in. The Shepherds dove into Week 1 of the summer at La Mirada High school with purpose, intensity, and excellence despite the magnitude of their task. 

Over the course of a week, I had the privilege of seeing numerous examples of the type of beautiful sacrifice talked about in Philippians 2:3-4 which reads “2 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Day in and day out this week, I was able to witness many men and women of the faith truly show how deeply they care about God’s kingdom and his children who need to hear about it so desperately. Self interest of all kinds was put to the side as mind, body and spirit were put to the test all day every day for a long week of camp. 

One of the men on the front lines of these efforts was Shepherd Matthew Busch. Busch was able to speak into the mentality and trials of the week by saying that “The most tiring part of a week at camp is probably just how long our days are. With practice and the gym on top of camp the hours add up.” They certainly do, as the Shepherds serve at camp for 40 hours a week and have to work to stay in baseball shape outside of the camps too. 

But this is the life that the Shepherds have chosen for this summer, and they would not trade it for anything. 

For Busch himself, he says that “It’s all worth it for the relationships I have been able to make with the campers and the other coaches. I saw God working in one of my campers this week and he made the amazing decision to follow Christ! Another big highlight was me and my boys winning our final game of the week in a nail biter against the Maple Mashers.” 

Jesus and baseball really do come together in beautiful harmony at these camps, and getting to teach and share both beautiful things makes serving at FCA baseball not merely a chore that the men and women God brings together to run this time suffer through and tolerate, but a pleasure and privilege that every one of them cherish as a highlight of their summer, year, and even lives. 

Week 1 is in the books, and this year’s squad of FCA leaders is off to a hot start.  

The Need For a Team

by Peter Koontz

The work of the Lord our God requires our entire commitment. In Mark 12:30 spells this out for us, saying that the path of a follower of Christ is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. We cannot do this work on our own in a world that seeks to distract, harm, and derail us. In fact, we are CALLED to not do this alone. We need to be part of a team that’s seeking to train together to do this work.

For the past two weeks, I have had the privilege to be a small part of a team that is embodying the fellowship of growth and love that the Word of God shows us the beauty of in Philippians 2:1-2. This passage reads, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind”. 

The Shepherds have prepared and equipped themselves for a summer of Ministry by fully embracing brothers who are like minded. During the Pine Summit retreat, I saw young men coming alongside one another in Christ-like love, truly showing that they are one in spirit and of one mind mere hours into meeting one another. Burdens, trials, sins, and failures were laid bare before those who were truly strangers a short time ago, knowing that all who were there with them had their sins washed away just the same.  

They came down from the mountain energized and eager to learn all they could during a long training week. The week presented the group with many questions, obstacles, challenges, and bright young faces of Junior coaches who they would be guiding all summer long. But this new team rose to the challenge, relishing in the love for their God and their peers. No beating sun, challenging question, or heavy box of equipment was too much for this team. As a lone man, any of them could have fallen, but as a team of brothers they learned and grew from every day’s challenges and came out the other side ready and eager.   

The blood of Christ brought together mere strangers over a short few hours, transforming a band of young guys who had come from all over the country into a team eager to share the good news that had transformed them with everyone they could. Many came in to Day One timid and unsure of themselves, but were quickly built up by their new friends and ready to tackle whatever challenge was presented to them in the coming weeks and months. 

The Shepherds have assembled, and they can’t wait to feed the flock given to them by their great God.