Content Warning: The following content contains sensitive topics, including mental health and self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.

Bryce Wallingford was a kind and quiet sophomore at Nampa High School in Nampa, Idaho, who played baseball and grew up in a Christian home. When he attended the FCA Pacific Northwest Multi-Sport Camp in the summer of 2021, his faith journey took off.

His Huddle Leader, FCA Baseball Representative Ryan Dearing, took him under his wing that week and poured God’s love into him. Ryan was also a baseball coach in the area, and the two formed a bond that week that rolled into the rest of the year.

That bond would make a substantial difference.

THE YES THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Bryce was always friendly and social, but in his sophomore year of high school, he began to withdraw from others. Difficult life circumstances swirled him in a vortex of depression and anxiety, and he began to distance himself from God.

Ryan’s care and influence struck a chord in Bryce, even as he slipped further into his depression. They stayed in touch over the year, often meeting at the batting cage during the winter, where Bryce would work on his swing and share his personal struggles.

The next summer, Bryce asked if Ryan would be a baseball Huddle Leader at camp again. Ryan explained that he couldn’t because the camp needed help with motocross, and he was stepping in.

Bryce was already on the fence about attending that year; something in him wanted to go, but he was not planning to.

“I began thinking maybe it would be better if I weren’t here,” Bryce said. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I went to counseling and was talking to people and have medication, but it still felt like something was missing.”As camp drew closer, Bryce wavered back and forth on attending. He reached out to Ryan again to check if he’d be there.

*

Ryan couldn’t shake the baseball group from his mind and reached out to his advisor, FCA Sports Director Sean Rooney. Two days before camp, Sean put him back in baseball.

Bryce texted Ryan again the day before camp to ask once more, if Ryan would be a baseball Huddle Leader. Ryan’s one-word response came a day later.

Yes.

*

Standing alone in a parking lot, Bryce was at his wits’ end.

“I hadn’t heard from him for a day and just decided I can’t take it anymore; I’m done. I had lost all hope.”

Then, his phone buzzed. When Ryan’s text came, relief rushed in. “One word was all it took, all I needed,” he said. “I just needed to know if he was going to be there. I really felt that was God’s way of saving me. It hit me that God’s not done, and He had a plan for me and has something greater planned for my life.

“When I got that text from Ryan, I burst into tears, and I knew that I was saved.”

A LIFE-CHANGING WEEK

Bryce showed up at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa for camp and was swept up in the joy of seeing old friends and beginning to make new ones. Ryan dove into Huddle Leader duties, making the guys comfortable and pouring out encouragement.

During Tuesday evening’s reflection time, the group discussed the night’s message from the University of Arkansas baseball chaplain, who mentioned how a coach saved his life. But as the others chatted, Bryce stayed silent.

Ryan knew something was forming underneath the surface for Bryce. “I knew that wasn’t like him, so I asked what was going on.”

Bryce broke down. “I wrote down in the back of my Bible a little note that said, A coach changed his life. And I wrote right next to it, A coach saved mine. I felt like I needed to open up, and felt God tell me it’s OK, I’m not alone.”

Then it hit home for Ryan: He was the coach God used to save Ryan’s life.

Ryan’s simple yes started the new trajectory in Bryce’s story. For all the exhaustion and work going from camp to camp and ministry to ministry, this is what it’s about.

“This is why I'm not just doing ministry or just doing sports” said Ryan, who had considered jobs in both coaching and ministry individually. “There's a reason it's both.”

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

The rest of the week, the group transformed from investing and supporting each other to looking outward and finding younger campers to encourage.

“One thing Ryan always says is disciples make disciples that make disciples,” said Bryce. “I really felt like Ryan giving me the opportunity to share my story made an impact on all the other guys in our Huddle becoming more involved in everybody else's experience at camp.

“We were putting it all out there and letting it show for the younger guys.”

THE DRIVING FACTOR

Bryce returned to school that fall renewed, his love for Jesus driving his relationships and actions. While hanging with friends, he’d suggest doing a devotional or diving into a deep topic, and the boys would pause and pick up their Bibles.

“I’ve grown in confidence to be out there talking with people during my day. Camp pushed me to be more involved and make an impact on people’s lives.”

He even ran for student body president and won. His senior year, he and Ryan started a Huddle.

Bryce’s warmth, openness and honesty allowed for an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere many students were searching for, so it didn’t take long for the classroom to fill with friends, teammates and classmates.

“It’s a comfortable place to be open, share, dive into the Word and express yourself,” said Bryce.

Ryan’s noticed the change, too. “His confidence has grown. When I coached him a few years ago, I had always seen him as a great kid and a good athlete, but never an outgoing guy. Now, he’s making a point to reach out to people and see how they are.

”What’s made the confidence shift?

“Knowing that I have nothing to fear,” Bryce said. “The only judgment I need is from God Himself. Being myself and living for God’s glory is my driving factor now.”

*

Bryce and Ryan will always remember 2022 camp as the catalyst to life in full like it is today, and how genuine the coach and athlete connection can be, all from one simple step of obedience.

“I just said yes,” said Ryan, who became available for God to show up and share Himself with Bryce.

“There have been times where I thought maybe God's not working in my life, but He's clearly shown that he's always going to be there no matter how hard it gets,” said Bryce. “He's always going have a presence of my life.”

Sometimes, God shows up in the shape of a coach who cares.

Learn more about what Ryan is doing with FCA Baseball and Idaho ministry.

-FCA-