From the Touchline

In football, there are many places where one’s career may take them — across international borders and all around the world. The shoes that we wear as we travel that journey in football (soccer) can become muddied and grimy with the difficult situations and circumstances that we walk through. It might be a failed tryout, a sketchy contract, an abusive coach, a failed relationship, a season-e...

Last week, our From the Touchline podcast, special guest, Rev Billy Cerveny, Nashville SC Chaplain and I started to look at the new Nashville SC anthem, Never Give Up On You , by Judah and the Lion. We continue the conversation today and take a look at the rest of the song. One of the key themes in scripture that we see from God, from the very beginning is that He never gives up on us, on His peop...

Nashville SC is a new, expansion franchise in Major League Soccer for 2020 and they have written a new supporter anthem. The anthem, entitled, Never Give Up On You , is written and performed by Judah and the Lion, an alternative band out of Nashville and ardent supporters of the Nashville SC team. In today’s From the Touchline episode, I am joined by special guest, Nashville SC Chaplain, Rev...

As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues on, the challenges of lockdown and quarantine confront all of us. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, a person of faith or a person of no faith — these are challenging times to live through. In today’s From the Touchline episode, I look at three different S’s that are likely present and a challenge for all of us in varying ways righ...

Today we are in the midst of Holy Week — Palm Sunday is a fading memory and Easter is soon to come. But this year, around the world will look and feel very different from past Easter celebrations given the global pandemic that we are facing with Coronavirus. Many will have to remain at home. Church buildings will sit empty. The normal festive time for Christian people will be muted in many places....

The Coronavirus pandemic has thrown much of life into an uproar — amongst the many things that are no longer normal, school and education around the world looks very different. Children are now full-time at home with their families. Learning and education that once happened in traditional school settings is now taking place online and at home with the willing or, maybe, not so willing work of...

The first of April is usually a day wrought with jokes and pranks around the world. But during these times of global pandemic, there likely won’t be a lot of practical jokes going on and, in fact, some have made comments about the “foolishness” of certain things like sports and football, or soccer. Times like these do bring different introspection and perspective, but is football...

Defender is a descriptor used at several different points throughout the Bible to describe God. He is there for the weak, the vulnerable, the oppressed — for His people — as the ultimate refuge, as a shelter, as shield, as protector. During these difficult times, when the world is struggling with fear from the coronavirus and its tremendous impact, perhaps more than ever, we need to remember and c...

One of my favorite days and favorite historical persons is Saint Patrick and his feast day is March 17. I feel that I connect with Patrick on many levels — from the way he lived life, to some of the ways that he, by faith, came to understand and know and believe in God. My Scot-Irish background also plays a big part of of why I have enjoyed studying and reading Patrick a bit more closely — whether...

The Coronavirus is making headlines locally and around the world. The virus is having an even greater impact on economies and supply chains and is even effecting the beautiful game in a negative way. The virus is certainly on the radar as football (soccer) governing bodies are discussing suspending league play in certain countries to avert a greater crisis. And talk of suspending the Olympic games...

Defend Memphis , the motto of United Soccer League – Championship team, Memphis 901 FC, has an interesting history behind it. That motto not only helps characterize the city of Memphis, it can give inspiration to others, as well. In today’s From the Touchline episode, Rev Brad hosts special guest Rev Greg Aydt, chaplain for Memphis 901 FC. Rev Brad and Rev Greg talk about Greg’s...

Today marks the beginning of the season of Lent. For the next 40 days (excluding Sundays) Christians around the world will “practice Lent” in this time leading up to Easter. Perhaps Lent is a familiar space for you – one in which you have grown up in. Or, maybe, Ash Wednesday is that one day a year where you wonder why people are walking about with black marks on their foreheads?...

To what team do you ascribe allegiance to? What team/sport do you avidly follow or you might even say you, “bleed these colors?” Our allegiances to sports teams are not something that are lightly considered — and a plethora of reasons exist for the way that we follow and cheer on our sports teams. Maybe it was where we grew up, how we were raised or a special or significant person who...

Recently, Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and the volunteer chaplain for the Colorado Rapids returned from a month-long sabbatical. His time away during the month of January was filled with rest and learning to shut-down and say ‘no’ to several things. In today’s From the Touchline episode, Rev Brad shares about his sabbatical and offers...

February 1 is Saint Brigid’s feast day (the day when the church recognizes and celebrates her life). Brigid (also known as Brigid of Kildare) was an Irish woman who lived from 450 – 523 AD. She was well-known and well-endeared to people for her generous and hospitable spirit. In today’s From the Touchline episode, Rev Brad looks at the life of Brigid as an example for us today. W...

Mephibosheth’s life is about to change — he’s leaving the old behind for something new. He’ll have to say goodbye, but he will be welcomed in, adopted, made as a son into a new family. Have you ever had this happen to you? Football, in many ways, feels like family. The world of football is a small, tight-knit community (even with it being a global game). Some of the best stories...

Have you ever been about to walk into a meeting that might be your last? Maybe it was a review as an employee, an end-of-season meeting as an athlete, or the chairman’s office — what went through your mind as you were about to walk through the doors? Did the hammer fall? Or, was it something different? Did it happen or turn out the way you thought it would? In today’s From the Touchlin...

It can be difficult to watch others go on to glory while we wait in the wings, injured or out of the starting lineup. When last we saw our friend Mephibosheth, he was reflecting on the successes of King David — and his own family and life was in shambles. When we see and experience these things in life, it can leave us feeling forgotten, irrelevant — relegated to a life we never would have dreamed...

Have you been “crippled” by football? We don’t often use the word nowadays because it is politically incorrect and insensitive to name or call a person crippled; however, a person may have crippling injuries — physical, mental, and spiritual from football. During the next few weeks, we will journey with a special person from the Bible whose life has some interesting parallels for...

When was the last time that you really rested? When did you last “get off the grid” or completely and totally “shut-down”? The ideas and concepts of sabbath, sabbatical and rest may seem like foreign concepts to you and me or something that we absolutely can’t do in our current place in the journey or station in life. In today’s From the Touchline episode, Rev B...

December for footballers in the US is often the time to have that off-season surgery that has been put off. It’s also a time when other folks, too, are looking to get that surgery now that the insurance deductible for the year has been met. It can be a difficult time filled with uncertainty and long, painful hours leading up to and after a physical repair. In today’s From the Touchline...

They say dogs are man’s best friend and today’s podcast touches on a best friend who has traveled with the Kenney family for the past seven years. For many people in and around football pets have an important place — they are helpful companions on the journey. Pets, especially dogs, can lift an athlete who has had a difficult day at training or lost a match, nuzzle up to the manager af...

Sport, especially the sport of soccer, is increasingly filled with more and more pressure. Pressure to perform, pressure to leave family, pressure to succeed, and more. Part of the work of Soccer Chaplains United is to look to care for the entire person that is involved in the game — whether an athlete, a coach, executive, or staff member, and even fans — our aim and mission to provide chaplaincy...

Being thankful has a tremendous impact on our own spiritual and mental health and well-being. No matter one’s circumstances, there is always something that we can give thanks for, something that we can be grateful for. And when that focus is off of one’s self it can help foster greater sense of gratitude and even impact things like one’s self-esteem. In today’s From the Tou...

Family. You can’t choose them. But ancestry is important — and we have ancestral pieces to other parts of our lives, as well. For example, we have an ancestry to our vocational lives — whether as footballer, coach, or chaplain there are people who have helped shape and form who we are today. In a similar way we have a spiritual heritage, a spiritual ancestry that is important to consider. Wh...