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 host, Greg Chapman, spoke with Erika Lambert and Derek Reeves.
Erika Lambert
Head Coach for the UNF Women’s Basketball Team
Website Address: unfospreys.com
Derek Reeves
Director of College Ministries for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Website Address: nefloridafca.org
Transcript:
Greg:
Welcome back to Making a Difference. I’m your host, Greg Chapman. Today we have a special guest with us from the University of North Florida, Erika Lambert, along with our Jax Collegiate FCA director, Derek Reeves. Thank you all so much for being on the show.
Erika:
Thanks for having us.
Greg:
So real quick, Derek, because there’s no telling how many people have seen the last one. But starting with you, Erica, just tell us about yourself. What do you do? Where do you do? How did you end up at UNF?
Erika:
Yeah. So I’m the head women’s basketball coach at University of North Florida. I just finished my third season and my 17th overall to coach in college. I played at the College of Charleston and coached there, coached at Charleston Southern University, and then I was at Abilene Christian University in West Texas for eight seasons prior to coming to unfold.
Greg:
Yeah. That’s great. So, Derek, share with us again what do you do?
Derek:
I’m the director of college ministry for FCA. Get to serve all six colleges here in the Jacksonville, Florida area and get to work with awesome coaches like Erica and their athletic director and so many others that have been a blessing to us to serve and be present with their teams.
Greg:
On a side note, maybe a different conversation, but if Derek and I can help, you know that we coached some six, you ask.
Speaker 4
Really? We thought about that.
Greg:
We know it, we know it, Erica. So don’t waste this opportunity with us. We gladly invest in you.
Erika:
I will keep that in mind.
Greg:
But Erica, you’ve been around FCA for some time, I know.
Something we encourage coaches to always kind of keep on the forefront of their mind as a coaches there. Why, why, why do you do what you do? Not just win games or recruit or stay at the college level, whatever. But deep down inside, why do you continue to do what you do at UNF?
Erika:
Well, when I got into this, you know, my my why was just to come alongside young women in what I think are the four most formative years of their life and to make a positive impact through the game of basketball. I played for amazing coaches basketball. To me, sports really, but basketball specifically was very transformative for me, and I was fortunate to be able to play for coaches at the College of Charleston, whose faith was really strong.
And so they poured into me as a person and really grew me up. And I consider them to be my my spiritual moms. And so I was learning basketball, but I was learning a lot more than that. And I dealt with injuries a lot as a, as an athlete. And so that question of worth and value came up a lot, you know, and I experienced just amazing leadership where it was always more important that they reminded me who God said I was, instead of what the stats were saying or what.
You know, my experience was at the time, on and off the court. But anyway, I just was really fortunate in my playing days to be under that kind of leadership. And that inspired me to get into coaching and to continue to give back.
Greg:
That’s cool. Derek, with your role at UNF and just college ministry in general, I know you get a court side view to Erica, the coach. How are you encouraged just knowing her why and seeing how that actually plays out amongst the young women that she’s been entrusted to. From an perspective, how what’s the win? How are you encouraged?
Derek:
Well, I remember just a couple of years ago she was a new coach. This is your third season going into fourth. And I looked a little bit of her background and always do that when there’s a coaching change. And I saw the Abilene Christian and College of Charleston and some of these other schools that she’s had, there’s a Christian impact and influence around.
And I was like, all right, this is a cool opportunity. So we we met I, I think you were maybe my first coaches Bible that I intentionally gave away, not just handed out, but intentionally wanted a gift. And, and I think I knew this would be somebody that I could partner with to make disciples and be a part of the calling that we both share and faith.
But knowing that this campus, there’s a lot of momentum, there’s a lot of open doors and just wanted to see if that was another open door that we could come in and be a trusted source of love and encouragement. And I think her doors have been super open to me. But even so much that we’ve even got a team chaplain and character coach to come and be that extended encouragement.
And and Eric has been amazing by providing tons of opportunities for game day chapels and to even just come and speak at practices as a voice of encouragement and more than anything, pop into the office randomly without a notice and.
Erika:
No appointment.
Derek:
And then to just bring in joy. And that’s probably one of my favorite parts about.
Erika:
Derek brings it is it is.
Derek:
And sometimes they need a smile, you know, they need a smile right in the middle of the day when they’re working on stuff that could be delegated.
Greg:
He doesn’t realize we’re laughing at.
Erika:
Him well, but.
Derek:
Nonetheless, it was a joy. And I love getting a chance to serve at UNF and alongside Eric. It’s been a joy for the last couple of years.
Greg:
Erica, we were talking a little bit off camera. Just the climate of collegiate athletes is is like or athletics is like the Wild West. There’s who’s controlling what, who’s leading what as a person or coach of faith who understands the Great Commission. We want to make disciples who make disciples and unknown. And your capacity is hard. At a state school.
It’s hard in school in general. But in today’s climate of coaching, how do you leverage your role as coach for the gospel?
Derek:
Wow.
Erika:
Yeah, well, I try to keep I try to ask myself that question a lot, and it keeps me mission focused, where a lot of college basketball in particular, has become so much about dollar signs and logistics and transfer portal. And the biggest change, and probably why I described my why when I got into this. I have to constantly remind myself about when I got into it because it looks so different.
My day to day looks so different now than it used to then. I mean, we had four years with our players to develop a relationship with them and build that trust and find touchpoints in ways to to point them to Jesus. And now, like, I might have a kid for a season and I just it took me a few years of the transfer portal to really accept that and adapt to that, like I might.
And when we say one year, I mean, a player might come to campus in June and then if they’re online grad student, you know, they could be gone by the end of March. And so it’s not really even a year. You get them for a matter of months. And so now it’s like, well, that’s how long I have to really, like make an impact on them and show them my heart and connect to theirs.
And so the connection there’s there’s not really a substitute for time, but the process gets pretty accelerated. And so if that’s really if I know our time is limited, I don’t want to wait. And so it’s really just making sure even at a state school that they know, you know, how how important it just that God loves them.
Like that’s really it sounds really simple, but it looks very different for me to coach from a Christ centered perspective, where kids are always wondering if they’re doing if they’re good enough. It’s constantly about are they good enough? And I don’t know if coaching men is different. For me, coaching young women like the one thing that is consistent throughout is like they all talk about confidence and which really is about self-worth and value and understanding that.
And so I just really try to use our relationship in my platform to if a kid is a believer, to constantly remind them, like, who does God say you are if they’re not a person of faith and we’re just coming at this thing from a place of love and compassion. It’s tough, though, to build discipline and relationships at the same time.
You know, on The Disciplinarian and I’m the one who makes their life hard every day, too. So trying to do those things side by side is always the challenge. But it’s that’s always going to be the biggest mission in this role for me is to just point point kids to Jesus. And if if it’s not about that anymore, if it changes so much that it can’t be about that, then I’ll find something else to do.
But I can’t imagine doing anything else right now.
Greg:
Yeah. Don’t tease. We’ll find a spot. For you.
Yeah. I just want to encourage you because Isaiah says that God’s word doesn’t return void. And I know that you have to kind of encrypt that message in some of the language that you use with your athletes. And so just keep keep pushing, keep doing it. You may not see the fruit, but the seeds are planted.
Erika:
I’ve really been blessed to work at both state schools and Christian universities and at Abilene Christian, the community there. And the mission of the university is so special. And it was a it was a great place for my family. My kids really grew up in Texas. They were born in Charleston, but they think they’re from Texas. And when we were when I was interviewing for head coaching jobs and really trying to consider, excuse me, my next step, I thought I would have to sacrifice that community aspect, maybe that we loved so much at Abilene Christian.
But we found that at UNF, and for me, it was important to not be in that private, private Christian school setting for my whole career. I really felt like from the time we set foot on that campus, I was being filled up and poured into so that I could go back out into the world, you know? And I know a lot of our coaches in our community and in our schools are maybe in settings where you can’t just, you know, openly pray or talk about Jesus, but finding ways to just be authentically who you are and treat kids in a way that reflects his love is, I think, really, really important.
So I appreciated my time coaching in Christian universities. But everything, you know, all the programing there is required. And so it’s cool to be at a place where it’s optional and still see kids show up. Like I love. When FCA meets at UNF, they’re in a room that’s that. I share a wall in my office and I work late a lot, so it’s always really lively over there.
They’ve got them doing fun stuff and you know, it’s high energy, but none of those kids have to be there. So I’ve worked in settings where you’ve got to you need to be there and you need to swipe in and we’re tracking and all of that. And there’s there’s certainly some value in that for sure. But I have loved being in a place where our athletes are showing up because they want to know more about the Lord.
Greg:
That’s great. Erica, thank you for making a difference in our community. And, Derek, you continue to make a difference in the ways that you do and for all of us, all of you who listen and check us out every once in a while, we appreciate you coming back again.
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