Lipscomb spiritual formation team gives student athletes, coaches new opportunity to serve locally
Lacey Klotz |
At Lipscomb, athletics is about more than the final score. It’s about faith, character and recognizing one’s place in God’s Kingdom.
Each week, teams from Lipscomb Athletics work toward those goals by visiting Carter Lawrence, an elementary school located just three miles down the road from Lipscomb’s campus.
Positioned between two of the most up-and-coming areas in Nashville known as the 12th South neighborhood and the Gulch, Carter Lawrence Elementary Magnet School is located in a small community known as the Edge Hill neighborhood and a part of the Metropolitan Nashville Public School system.
For Lipscomb’s athletics spiritual formation team, Carter Lawrence is a place where Bison athletes and coaches come to pour into the next generation.
“It’s fun to see the way our kids have responded with great enthusiasm to Lipscomb athletes coming each week,” said Sharon Jacobs, school counselor for Carter Lawrence. “Most of these kids want to be professional athletes when they grow up, and being around teams and seeing athletes in action, it helps our students to see this is something they could do one day too.”
Christopher Klotz recently stepped into a new role as director of spiritual formation in Lipscomb Athletics. Through this position, Klotz, along with his team of Shannon O’Brien, director of women’s spiritual formation; and graduate assistants, Aaron Spragg and Alex Newby, are charged to come alongside teams to help student athletes grow in their faith.
One way they are able to do this is by providing opportunities to serve locally.
“Part of my role and passion is to provide environments for our athletes to grow spiritually,” Klotz explained. “As John Ortberg said, ‘growing spiritually means to live increasingly as Jesus would in our unique place - to perceive what Jesus would perceive if he looked through our eyes, to think what he would think, to feel what he would feel, and therefore to do what he would do.’ Without a doubt, serving at Carter Lawrence is something Jesus would do, and because of that, we are there.”
For the past two years, the spiritual formation team has provided student athletes and coaches the opportunity to volunteer at Carter Lawrence’s after-
school program.
With nearly 400 students, grades K-4, Carter Lawrence’s school motto is “developing college graduates.” As the partnership has developed, Lipscomb student athletes and coaches have come to Carter Lawrence’s sports fun club every Thursday afternoon to encourage the students to stay focused on their education as motivation for their futures.
Beginning as simply a homework club three years ago, Carter Lawrence’s after-school program now provides seven clubs for elementary students to participate: sports fun, debate team, Zumba, knitting club, science club, yearbook club and student council. All students meet together in the library for the first 45 minutes of their time to get help with their homework before dispersing to their individual clubs.
“Offering a variety of clubs has benefited our students in several ways,” said Candice M. Banks, an instructional coach, yearbook advisor and after-school program coordinator at Carter Lawrence Elementary. “They have support to complete their homework assignments, and they get to participate and engage in activities they may not otherwise be exposed to.”
Lipscomb student athletes assist nearly 20 third and fourth grade students in the sports fun club by helping tutor and complete homework assignments in the library. After, student athletes lead the elementary students in various sporting activities in the gymnasium as well as share wisdom with students about the importance of academics and being a team player.
“Having the male student athletes around has been good for the boys who may not have fatherly figures in their lives whom they can depend on, and having the female athletes around has been good for the girls to see that it is okay for girls to play sports just like the boys,” said Jacobs.
One team that has benefited from the partnership is Lipscomb’s men’s basketball team. Head Coach Casey Alexander shared how valuable it is for 
him and his team to experience the impact of helping others as it puts life, academics and the current basketball season into perspective.
“Our team is honored to be included in Lipscomb's partnership with Carter Lawrence,” said Alexander. “Impacting people isn't always on some grand scale. It’s a real privilege to love on those kids just by making ourselves available to them.
“It's also a great reminder to our players that life is not about us, and what we're doing. Those life lessons have far greater weight than a scoring average or even a grade point average.”
One player who has learned this valuable lesson was junior basketball player, Charles Smith.
“Serving at Carter Lawrence was a tremendous opportunity for my teammates and I to spend time with kids that were extremely excited to see us,” said Smith. “Not only did the kids have fun, but we had fun as well, and I felt that it was good to know that I was able to impact someone's life just by doing something simple like spending time with them.”
This partnership has benefited the elementary students as they look forward to spending time with Lipscomb athletes each week, Banks said.
“Students in other clubs often forget what days they do or don’t meet, but this is not an issue with ANY of the students in sports fun,” said Banks. “They count down the days and are extremely excited each Thursday when the college students enter. The social skills of the group have improved over all, and they are having experiences and making memories that will hopefully be with them for a lifetime.”
Klotz emphasized the growth he has seen in both Lipscomb and Carter Lawrence students alike.
“The impact we have seen over the last two years is astounding,” said Klotz. “The elementary school students have grown in confidence and self esteem, and our student athletes have realized their life is defined by something much bigger than themselves.”
As busy as student athletes and coaches are known to be, Klotz and the spiritual formation team will continue to bring athletic teams to Carter Lawrence Elementary in spite of crazy schedules.
“To see a smile on a kid’s face, hear deep belly laughter and to know that lives are being changed is why we return to Carter Lawrence week-after-week,” he said.