From the Touchline

Rupert Manion rudely interrupts the fundraising benefit and in his mid-event introduction to Coach Lasso, he claims the love of his team that resides in his heart…you know, the lifelong love that we often have for our sports teams and clubs? Which team (or sport) has your lifetime fan-dom or passion? In today’s “Lessons from Lasso” on the From the Touchline podcast, this on...

Veteran Roy Kent is fuming. Pretty boy Jamie Tartt is antagonizing. The team is divided. And Coach Lasso is struggling to repair and restore team unity. Coach Lasso’s words of wisdom to Kent? “Don’t let the wisdom of age be wasted on you…” In today’s “Lessons from Lasso” on the From the Touchline podcast, we take a look at wisdom — how does someone g...

In a special, bonus episode podcast, my good friend, Reverend Dave Meserve , shares a devotional writing on this, Easter Sunday. Gerard Manley Hopkins originally crafted the idea of letting Jesus “easter” in us — using the word not as a noun, but as a verb. And today, on the From the Touchline podcast, my friend, Rev Dave shares what it means to let Jesus easter in our hearts. Dave is...

Today is Spy Wednesday. Coming in the middle of Holy Week, tonight is the night when Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas the betrayer, the traitor. Judas has a different relationship with Jesus than most of the other disciples — and a telling distinction in the Gospel of Matthew gives us some insight into this difference. Today, on the Soccer Chaplains United podcast, From the Touch...

Telling the truth is difficult in our day and age and maybe nowhere more difficult than in the football world. Today, Coach Lasso takes a minute to speak some truth into young Nathan’s life as they head off for the team charity benefit gala. In today’s “Lessons from Lasso” on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on how difficult it is for truth-telling these days and s...

Perhaps you’ve heard the adage — a house divided cannot stand. These words, spoken by Jesus a couple thousand years ago, play out in the rift that we see between members of the AFC Richmond team and Coach Lasso and Coach Beard have got to come up with a solution before it all unravels. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on the inability for teams, homes, and kingdoms or nati...

Tensions and fights happen in football — especially in the elite side of the game. There’s a lot at stake and a wide variety of sources and causes of division and struggle and more. What happens when the emotions and passion boil over and threaten to destroy the camaraderie and unity of a locker room? Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I look at AFC Richmond going through this particu...

The National Women’s Soccer League, the top league for women’s soccer in the US, begins their season with the Challenge Cup tournament this Friday as the Portland Thorns take on the OL Reign. Today, on the Soccer Chaplains United podcast, From the Touchline I am joined by special guests — Lori Krueger, volunteer chaplain with NWSL side KC Current and the volunteer chaplain coordinator...

What do you love? Who are you and how has God made you? Do you know those things? It’s a question that our friend Coach Ted Lasso asks of Reporter Trent Crimm in our latest and last look at episode three from season 1 of the Ted Lasso TV show. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I look at the ideas of vocation and passion and doing the things that we love to do and understanding how th...

Hoy es Miércoles de Ceniza y el momento en que la iglesia y los cristianos de todo el mundo marcan el comienzo de la temporada de Cuaresma y los más de 40 días previos a la Pascua. Hoy, en el podcast de Soccer Chaplains United, From the Touchline, compartimos el audio de nuestro video del Miércoles de Ceniza en español que puede encontrar en nuestro sitio web, en la aplicación o en nuestro canal d...

Today is Ash Wednesday and the time that the church and Christians around the world mark the beginning of the season of Lent and the 40+ days leading up to Easter. Today, on the Soccer Chaplains United podcast, From the Touchline , we share the audio for our English Ash Wednesday video which you can find on our website, on the app, or on our YouTube channel. Let me encourage you — if you have 10 m...

Major League Soccer, the top flight for US football, kicks off the league season this weekend and while it’s super early compared to other years, we can blame it on the World Cup. Today, on the Soccer Chaplains United podcast, From the Touchline I am joined by a couple of special guests — Rev Billy Cerveny, volunteer chaplain with Nashville SC and Troy Ready (or Rev Ready) as we come to know, co-c...

It is a rare thing in football that a good idea originating from an unlikely source would ever get praise or appropriate credit. Usually, it’s a dog-eat-dog world with managers, executives, and even footballers fighting for every advantage in the elite circles — so when a new play comes from the mind of AFC Richmond’s kit man, Nate Shelly, one would think it to be just the opportu...

Can a football manager or a football player really be unconcerned with wins and losses? Teams rise and fall with wins and losses. Contracts are offered or extended based on performances. Scholarships and other opportunities come as the result of the results. Who would dare be unconcerned with wins and losses at the elite levels and echelons of the game? Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, in...

The January transfer window just closed on Monday, and with it a host of player movement around the world. Hundreds of trades and loans were executed and millions of dollars exchanging hands. And with every deal done, a new beginning with a host of hopes and dreams and expectations to go along with it. What is the secret to facing new beginnings? What stories of old might inform us for the new cha...

How does a coach get his team to have buy-in to what he is trying to do, what he is trying to achieve? Much of it begins at the heart level — at least when it comes to talking about long-lasting change. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, in our Lessons From Lasso series we look at Coach Lasso who is working at getting to the heart issues of some of his team in order to produce the turnaroun...

Have you been bullied? As a child? Because of a physical attribute? Or, for something else or some other reason? Bullying is an issue that has gone on for a long time and for a number of different reasons. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, we pick up with Lesson 20 in our Lessons From Lasso series and we talk about dealing with bullies. Do you agree with Coach Lasso’s take on dealing...

Preseason. It’s here. For many teams in the US professional soccer, they will begin reporting to their particular teams in the next few days and weeks. It’s the preseason, and with the World Cup happening in November and December, it’s coming fast and furious for many professional footballers. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I look at a biblical example of a “pres...

Devastating fires rocked the northwestern suburbs of Denver along the Denver/Boulder corridor. 1000 homes damaged and many people displaced from their homes as the start of 2022 comes. It has been a difficult couple of years — COVID, effects of the pandemic, social unrest, injustices left and right — and yet, with the start of every new year, we have hopes and dreams and resolutions, that thi...

Maybe you’re the kind of person that has a hard time believing in yourself. Perhaps in life or in football or in relationships you’ve been beat down, oppressed, disregarded or otherwise so maligned that you no longer have a voice or lack any sort of confidence. Or, maybe you’re in a different position — maybe you’re a person who has power, prestige, and influence. Mayb...

How do we see ourselves? Special? Unique? Genius? World-talent? Many times, our selfishness takes over and we forget that we are part of a team, we forget that we are part of something bigger than ourself — it might be that we are part of a football team, a family, or another larger body. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, another of our Lessons From Lasso , we look at Coach Lasso’s s...

Have you ever had a test that lasted just 90 minutes? Maybe it was a job interview or it was a first date impression. Did you get it right? Or, did you bomb it a miserably fail? In professional sport, the elite athlete, the coach has a certain time frame to prove themselves — to get it right, to succeed. And if they don’t — well, it’s a short-lived life sometimes in the midst of t...

I can commiserate with Coach Lasso — not everyone comes from your same background and at times, in an honest attempt to support people, we can sometimes fail miserably. In today’s Lesson from Lasso, we are reminded of the sensitivity that we must often approach people with because “not everyone is fond of the American military” as we come to learn from star defender Sam Obis...

This Friday, December 3, is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. With this in mind, we take a look at disability sport — it’s origins, some of the challenges, and the story of someone who is firmly entrenched in serving the disability sporting world as a chaplain. Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, my friend and fellow sports chaplaincy colleague, Rev Steve Jones, joins...

A few weeks ago, my friends, Dr Chad Carlson of Hope College and Dr Brian Bolt of Calvin University on their podcast Sport. Faith. Life ask the question, Would Jesus Play…Soccer? It’s part of a new series whereby they are looking at some of the different sports that Jesus would have participated in back in his day and what about that sport Jesus might have liked and what he would not h...