GREENE COUNTY
The Lake Oconee area chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) hosted its inaugural charity golf tournament on Monday at Reynolds Lake Oconee, with more than 100 golfers participating.
Before the start of the event, golfers and participants gathered at the driving range portion of the course, where Lake Oconee FCA’s staff served a free breakfast, including Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits and other snacks. They also handed out pamphlets and information about their organization.
Jason McBay, a former Morgan County softball coach and the Lake Oconee FCA area director, spoke to the golfers and volunteers before the 10 a.m. start of the event.
“About two years ago, I left the classroom and went into full-time ministry with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” McBay said. “My role as area director is to oversee the ministry in Morgan, Greene, Putnam, Jasper and Taliaferro counties. So, we have about 18 different middle and high schools that we minister, which comes out to be about 300 coaches and over 1,800 student-athletes across all sports. I have not regretted this decision as I feel like God has called me to this.”
McBay then talked about the purpose of the tournament, which was to raise money for the Lake Oconee FCA ministry resource fund.
He added that the organization will use the money to buy Bibles for its community-wide worship services, and also for breakfast meals for meetings at the schools.
“We do about 80 huddles, which are Bible studies that we have with teams after practice or in the morning times,” McBay said. “We challenge them with the word of God. So, what we do, it matters, especially in today’s society … FCA is still in schools and Jesus is very much in public schools.”
Lake Oconee FCA also had several board members in attendance, including Steve Jones, Roger Blythe, Jared Chaney, Lindsay Chaney, Tim Carter, Rob Taylor and Buddy Cain, among others.
“These people serve as an advisory board to me and really oversee our ministry. [They] pray and support my wife and me as we lead these five counties,” McBay said. “So, many thanks to them.”
Before the golfers hit the course, McBay added that he hopes next year’s event will be even bigger.
“We’re planning on doing this [tournament] and making it an annual event,” he said. “We hope that everyone comes back and that we can grow this event next year.”
Lake Oconee FCA is also looking for new volunteers to help it reach more teams, coaches and athletes. The organization is specifically seeking men and women who will pray, serve and give to support to the schools it serves in its five counties. For more information, check out Lake Oconee FCA online at lakeoconeefca.org or find the Lake Oconee FCA page on Facebook.