From the Touchline

Today’s Nations and Devotions podcast features a prayer for the nations of IR Iran and New Zealand. Both teams play a group stage game against each other. Portland Timbers Chaplain Troy Ready prays for these two nations and offers a reflection from Psalm 51. Today’s special hashtag is #iranandnewzealand for the Nations and Devotions sticker challenge. Make sure to use #soccerchaplainsu...

Today’s Nations and Devotions podcast features a prayer for the nations of Ecuador and Côte d’Ivorie as both teams have a group stage match against each other. Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Chaplain Jason Rollins, born in Ecuador and his wife growing up in Côte d’Ivorie, delivers a prayer for these two nations and offers a reflection on always being ready because we never know...

Today’s Nations and Devotions podcast features a prayer for the nations of Scotland and Haiti as both teams have a group stage match against each other. Sacramento Republic Chaplain Robert Briggs, a Scottish expat, prays for his home nation and the nation of Haiti as he offers a reflection about playing through pressure from Psalm 3 and Soccer Psalm 3. Today’s special hashtag is #scotl...

Today’s Nations and Devotions podcast features a prayer for the nations of Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The teams face off against each other in a group stage match. I share a reflection about Trusting in God’s Game Plan based on Psalm 19 and Soccer Psalm 19. Today’s special hashtag is #canadaandbosniaandherzegovina for the Nations and Devotions sticker challenge. Make sure...

Today’s Nations and Devotions podcast features a prayer for the nations of Mexico and South Africa. Both teams have the amazing opportunity to open up the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. El Paso Locomotives FC Chaplain Mike Richards prays for these two nations and offers a reflection from Psalm 23. Today’s special hashtag is #mexicoandsouthafrica for th...

Today on the podcast, I am joined by former Aberdeen Football Club Chaplain Pastor Barry Douglas. Barry, born in Scotland, raised in South Africa before he returned home, shares his story of coming to faith and beginning in ministry all the way to planting a church in Aberdeen, to his new work today with Northwest Orlando. It’s a fantastic story that we don’t have time for it all, so w...

Today on the podcast, I am joined by Founder and CEO of Surge International — Dave Irby. Many years ago, God took the unlikeliest of people and burdened Dave for doing mission. It was a call that he couldn’t escape and led him to working with several sports ministry organizations before founding and starting Surge. Surge International ministers through soccer to help with different needs pre...

Today is our final podcast for the month of May looking at mental and spiritual health. Today, from the Gospel of Mark 5:1-20, we see the fragile mental state of a man besieged with demons. Jesus heals him. During the podcast we look at the condition of the man and contemplate how often times we dismiss stories like this as fantastical and too amazing to maybe even be true; however, the truth is t...

Continuing to look at mental, emotionally and spiritual health issues, we turn this week to look at a particular story of madness in the book of Daniel and how a king went mad with his delusions of grandeur and himself. Certainly, pride played a factor, but from King Nebuchadnezzar’s life we learn that there is a warning God intends for us when it comes to building our own kingdoms and brand...

May is Mental Health Awareness month. It’s during this time that here is an increased emphasis on looking after one’s mental and emotional health. Last week on the podcast, we talked about our environment and needing to take an assessment of what voices and other things in our surrounding environment are affecting and impacting our mental and spiritual state. Today, we look at the ways...

During the month of May, there is an increased emphasis on looking after one’s mental and emotional health. For the next few weeks on the podcast, I want to look at some biblical stories that deal with individuals who struggled with mental health and some of the changes that they made in their lives and ways that God helped them through a difficult time or struggle. This week, we look at a m...

In soccer, we don’t always win. As followers of Jesus, we don’t always have success — at least not in the ways that the world defines success. In fact, the people of God have usually been more characterized by suffering than success. Maybe that’s why Psalm 34 hits in a different way than so many other psalms. What does it look like to praise God, even after a difficult time or so...

We’re just 51 days out from the start of the World Cup! And today on the podcast, we look at Psalm 51 and the Soccer Psalm 51. Infidelity is a massive problem in soccer (and professional sport, in general) and Psalm 51 gives us a look at the confession of David after his affair and subsequent impregnation of Bathsheba had been revealed and that first son had died. David offers words and a so...

Psalm 139 speaks to the way that God knows us uniquely and intimately. This psalm of David speaks to the ways that God knew us before we were even born — and that there was a plan laid out of our lives. What an amazing comfort this can bring in the midst of the moments of crisis or celebration that we go through in this life. Soccer Psalm 139 mimics that same language by picturing God as a Masterm...

Psalm 16 has language that resonates in a post-Resurrection Sunday time, “…you will not abandon me to the grave,…” Psalm 16 is known as a miktam — it’s like an inscription. It’s something that one recites to themselves to remind them of truths in the midst of hardship. It’s a mix of praise in the midst of an adverse situation. I wrote Soccer Psalm 16 as an...

During Holy Week, I’ve often talked about “Spy Wednesday” (Judas’ betrayal of Jesus) or occasionally about something around “Good Friday,” but today on the podcast I look at some of the events going on during “Temple Tuesday” (during a time of Jesus teaching in the temple courts). It’s in this moment that the authority of Jesus is questioned by...

It’s the historic home opener for Denver Summit FC, one of the newest and hottest teams in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Soccer Chaplains United’s very own, Lis Cheesman, one of the volunteer co-chaplains for the team joins the podcast to share about her soccer journey and background and how God has led her to being a pastor at LifeGate Church in Denver, CO and one o...

Psalm 90 has one of my favorite phrases and prayers which encapsulates these words of Moses to God —  “establish the work of our hands, yes establish the work of our hands.” But in football (soccer) it’s the feet that get used most — so does God establish the work of our feet? Sure, I believe He does. He’s the one who sets out the cones, He marks the lines. I wrote Soccer P...

Psalm 91 speaks to the protection that God offers his people. He is the shelter, the refuge, the fortress where people can go and be safe from the different threats that abound. Soccer Psalm 91 is about how God protects the athlete, the player. Injuries — physical, spiritual, and mental — abound in the beautiful game. Some happen with malicious intent from other people. Others occur as a result of...

Psalm 100 is a song for giving joyful praise. And behold, in honor of the 2026 FIFA World Cup now being less than 100 days away from kicking off, Soccer Psalm 100 features on the podcast this week. Soon, there will be much celebration and jubilation (and some sadness when one’s team loses) around the world’s biggest stage and tournament. I wrote Soccer Psalm 100 from the perspective of...

It’s the home opener this weekend for my club team, the Colorado Rapids. It has me thinking and reflecting on home. I am a Denver and Colorado native (we’re rare these days). And our beautiful state is surrounded by roadway signs that say “Welcome to Colorful Colorado.” But the signs aren’t what you think that they might be. Today, on the podcast, I reflect more on th...

Every season, there is usually a team or two that acknowledges a “rebuilding” year. It can come with a transition of a new coach, an influx of several athletes, changes in management, or the loss of key individuals upon whom the organization was depending on. Rebuilding is never easy — especially after a devastating loss (like the California wildfires of 2025) where a whole community s...

As we wrap up our series on temptation, we look at the fifth and final stage of temptation and sin — the stage of obsession. The progressive slide of temptation leading into sin and sin leading, eventually, to death. Stage five is the most hurtful and the most helpless that we can feel (for ourselves or for our loved ones). How do we get out of the spiral? Today, on the podcast, it’s not to...

As we continue our series on temptation, we look at the fourth stage, today. A logismoi (Greek) is an obtrusive, invading thought that assaults our mind, that setups a temptation. There is a progressive nature to temptation in that it leads to sin and, eventually, to death. Today, on the podcast, we look at stage 4 — captivity. The captivity stage is where we keep falling over and over to the same...

We’re in the midst of a series on how to handle temptation. Logismos (a Greek word describing those obtrusive, invading thoughts that assault our minds) has a number of stages that we go through, but ultimately, its path leads to destruction. James 1 has an excellent description of the nature of temptation — it’s source, how we often fall for it, and what it eventually leads to. Today,...