Welcome to “Making a Difference!” Step into the inspiring world of business owners who are making a tangible difference in their communities. Join us as we spotlight passionate entrepreneurs who go beyond profit, dedicating their time, resources, and innovative ideas to create positive social impact. Today our hosts, Greg Chapman and James Fenimore, spoke with Ken Vensel of Cru.
Ken Vensel
Metro Director of Cru
Website Address: CruJacksonville.com
Short company description:
High School ministry.
What is a tip for success that you would provide someone in your same industry?
Trust and Obey Christ.
What volunteer experience has impacted you the most?
Fellow soul winners.
What’s one cause you’re passionate about?
Fulfilling the Great Commission.
Transcript:
James:
Hi, and welcome to Making a Difference, where we spotlight somebody making a real difference in the community. I’m James Fenimore, and joining me as always is my co-host Greg Chapman.
Greg:
James, thanks for having me again. It’s always a pleasure to be here highlighting coaches throughout Northeast Florida who are just leveraging their coaching abilities for the gospel. And today we get to hear from Ken Vensel, who is in a partnership ministry with FCA. People may not realize a lot of ways FCA and Cru are partnered. But Ken, tell us about Cru. A lot of people know the FCA, but tell us about Cru.
Ken:
Yeah, Cru is our new name. We were called Campus Crusade for over 60 years, and we decided to change it. We never did use the crusade word ever in Europe because it has a bad connotation. Bill Bright wanted to change it, but he never did during his lifetime. But we are the Campus Crusade. Seventy ministries worldwide, from businessmen to embassy ministry to the high school ministries where I serve.
Greg:
That’s great. Our mission with FCA is to lead every coach and athlete into growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. Even though you don’t work for FCA, through Cru you’re kind of helping us fulfill our mission to lead coaches and athletes and those of influence into a relationship with Jesus Christ. How, as a coach, are you leveraging your ability to coach for the gospel?
Ken:
Well, my dad told me when I was in high school that I should be a coach, and I told him that they don’t make any money, so that’s not for me. My dad was a prophet, and I guess it all started when I was a high school kid. I started helping the middle school coaches. Our high school in West Virginia was the number one high school for wrestling in the whole state. We won 20 out of 40 state championships.
So I grew up in a wrestling family, but I also grew up in an athletic family. So not just coaching that. I would just say that I’ve always said that the father and the coach have the greatest influence on boys, and girls too for that matter. But when I became a Christian, I didn’t think I would be able to use the valuable kind of wrestling that I had done.
But really, most of my ministry has been tied somehow to wrestling. Again, because kids today, they need help. Teenagers need help. There’s a great gap between the physical and the spiritual in high school and middle school. So I think really the beginning year of my ministry helped start these high school wrestling programs.
And I just thought, because my son was wrestling and I wanted to coach him, but by his senior year he fired me. He said, “I don’t want you to be my coach my senior year.” And it was his best year ever. So I took that opportunity to start a wrestling program at Switzerland Point Middle School. They didn’t have a program.
All my life I’ve started things, companies. And if you’ve ever eaten a Grandma cookie, I started that factory in 1981. So that was before I was a Christian. But I would just say that because of the leverage that you can have as a coach, because of the need of kids for leadership, and I think we all would agree that we’re living in a time of great passivity.
I call it an ocean of passivity. And I teach kids not to be passive about their faith. Some of the parents have accused me of making them into Jesus freaks, and I take that as a badge of honor.
But as I coached them, I wanted them to be good wrestlers. I wanted them to win. I wanted them to compete. I think that again prepares them for life because life is competitive and life is a chore. But I also want them to come to know Christ. So I had the privilege of leading many of these students to Christ.
I’m going tomorrow to an eye doctor that I coached, and he’s a believer. And so now he’s grown up. He went to Nease with great wrestlers. But again, I didn’t want to make faith frail or a problem. I wanted to make it a priority for kids. And like so many coaches today, we want to build character, not just athletes.
Greg:
Yeah. Paul says that whatever you do, do it as unto Him. And he says, what more after that? But to the young coach who, whatever they do, they want to win, win, win. They want to get kids to college. They want to do all these things, and they’re not bad things. We don’t coach to lose as coaches.
But what have you gotten from that? And why don’t you—what? Obviously there’s a greater why. Yeah. So coach some young guys who maybe are listening.
Ken:
Well, my high school coach was not a Christian. He was a tremendous coach, but he didn’t have a clean mouth. He didn’t use it around us, but as I came back from college he did. So his influence was not in the spiritual area, and it could have been. Again, we were great athletes. There was always a state champ.
But I just think that the balance between being a competitor and being a Christian—Jim Elliot went to Michigan and he said that wrestling was the most like the Christian life. And so I just think that the coaching position, if they’re believers, they can have such an impact on the entire community.
And I’ve seen that happen here in Jacksonville. We’ve had coaches, for example at Clay High School, led to Christ by my partner, and we’ve seen him influence people in wrestling and football. So I think again just the idea that we’re not opposed to the program of the schools, but we want to add that spiritual dimension.
For us to eliminate that completely from the program is just giving the boys half a deal. And if you bring in Christ and help them understand that, that’s—you know, I tell people I wish I would have had Christ go on the mat with me. I probably would have won more matches.
But today many coaches feel like that’s off the program, but it’s not. It’s part of the program. Building character involves leading them to Christ. And we’ve seen many of them come to Christ and go on even to coach.
Greg:
Yeah. Ken, I sure appreciate you and what you’re doing down there in Saint Johns County and Clay County. It’s really cool to see those stories.
James:
Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us today, Ken. Really appreciate it. And if you want to find out anything about Ken or Cru, it’s going to be all right below this video. All his information, all the contact info. So just take a look there, click the links, email, and go to the website—whatever works for you.
But on behalf of Greg Chapman, I’m James Fenimore. This has been Making a Difference, and we’ll see you next time.
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