Holmes huddle led by PE teacher

By Jack Moody

Holmes PE teacher Corey Peters started a group at his school called Holmes Huddle. The group lets students get together to talk about religion, the Bible or anything else that may be going on in their lives.

Holmes Huddle is a chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. There are over 12,000 huddle groups all over the world. The organization had nearly 90,000 students participate in a FCA summer camp. FCA has been around since the ’60s.

“We work to impact hearts in love through Jesus Christ. It is about loving our community and people around us in Jesus name,” Peters said. The group meets on Fridays before school from 7-7:30 a.m.

Even though public schools and religion don’t usually mix, Peters is able to find the balance to promote the Holmes FCA. “I love my job. I respect the rules and obligations under our laws. I really don’t talk much about FCA during my regular teaching schedule. I will give an announcement to most of the teams at the beginning of the seasons. I might also announce meeting times. I don’t talk about upcoming lessons or things that we talk about at our meetings. I don’t pray during my football practice or games.”

The group at Holmes grows as students invite friends to attend with them. “Students are responsible for their own transportation,” Peters said. “I tell people that if they have ever caught a ball, they are an athlete. We’ve had several students in the past years that haven’t believed in Jesus. I had one girl who came almost every time for two years. I remember thanking her on her last day of ninth grade for coming. This is the type group we have. This is who we are.”

It changed Peters’ life when he started reading the Bible in sixth grade. He wants the same for all of his students that come to his meetings on Friday mornings. This is a big part on why he wanted to start this group.

“When I was teaching at Expo Alternative High School, I kept having dreams of me standing before God when I died,” Peters said. “In every dream, I was so embarrassed. It didn’t just happen one time. During the day the picture would flash through my mind. You could say the embarrassment was haunting me. I started to pray about what to do to share my faith, and God led me to start an FCA group.”

Holmes Huddle does have other events besides just meeting on Fridays in the mornings. Peters said that it was important when he started this for it not to be a “club.”

He wants his students to realize that this is bigger than just meeting at school.

Regarding other things that this group does throughout the year, Peters said, “It was so important for us to get out into the community. It is one thing for students to hear about the poor. It’s another thing to do something about it.”

Throughout the year, the group goes on outreaches where members give out food in tougher neighborhoods in the community. This happens every year around Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. In the past, they have also gone to laundromats and asked to pay for people’s laundry and gone to police stations to pray for officers. “Things like this can be life changing for not only the people we encounter, but also for our students,” Peters said.

Peters also plays a big role in helping put on Fields of Faith, another big event that is held every year at the high school. This year it will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 12 from 7-9 p.m.

Fields of Faith is where people who go to church and people who don’t can all come together. “Students can hear stories of God working in students’ lives. The stories are from students for students. They hear enough of adults talking at them. God really moves when they learn from each other,”  Peters said.

After the talks are over, students are invited to pray on the field in small groups. The UNI FCA group helps with the small group prayer leaders.

Peters’ main goal when leading this group is to have kids find out who Jesus is for themselves. He wants kids to know that their lives have extreme value, and to get out into the community and love people no matter who they are.

As important as he said it is to have students in attendance, he tries not to cross the line. He is a big believer in not shoving things at people, including Jesus. He cares for people no matter what they believe in.

“I believe Christians have built a reputation in some circles as pushy, judgemental and not loving people of other beliefs,” he said. “It is important for me to respect everyone regardless of what they believe, even if they hate Jesus or me.”