This article appears in the Spring 2026 issue of the FCA Donor Publication. The FCA publication is a gift from our FCA staff to all donors giving $50 or more annually. For more information about giving, visit here.

They say you can only learn so much from a person’s social media accounts — and that’s true. But you can learn a lot about Mitch Mason, FCA’s longtime Football Chaplain at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, by scrolling his Instagram account, @tarheelchaplain. 

The very first post, on August 17, 2020, was to celebrate his daughter Sydney’s 17th birthday. His page is brimming with photos of his family — including his wife Chondra and son Riley — and Tar Heel football. This much is clear: The man loves his family and bleeds Carolina blue. 

But as you scroll from oldest posts forward, you begin to notice something else. It starts with one, dated May 3, 2021, showing Mason in a hospital bed with an IV line in his arm. Despite the surroundings, his facemask — this was still in the COVID-19 days — can’t hide the smile behind it. Keep scrolling and you see another hospital photo … and another … and another … and another. His page is filled with images detailing a harrowing journey. 

Mitch Mason, as fiery and Spirit-filled a sports chaplain as you’ll ever meet, is fighting for his life. 

Ministry of Presence 

Mason, a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, has always loved football. The sport provided him purpose — and a way to temporarily escape the hardships of a home with an abusive father. From 1993 to 1996, he was a four-year starting cornerback at Missouri Western State University, becoming a two-time All-American, setting the school record for career interceptions (16) and eventually being inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame. He played professionally in the Arena Football League and coached at Army for a season (2009) while going through seminary. 

After placing his faith in Christ in 1998, Mason transitioned into ministry. While living in Tampa Bay, he served as a telephone crisis and suicide prevention counselor and also worked in the city’s Sexual Assault Services. Following seminary, he became an associate pastor of FreeWay Church in Clemson, South Carolina, where he also served as mentor for the Clemson University football team. 

In 2012, Mason began serving with FCA, being welcomed as chaplain of the UNC football team by Head Coach Larry Fedora, whom the Tar Heels had just hired. Mason remained at UNC through two more coaching changes — from Fedora to Mack Brown in 2019, and from Brown to Bill Belichick in 2024. 

To have heard Mason address players in the locker room, lead a chapel service or pray on the sidelines is to have felt the ground rumble underneath your feet. He burned with the fire of God’s love and exuded Gospel power. 

But Mason also ministered powerfully through his presence. He has counseled countless players through dark times — the death of loved ones, family crises and a myriad of other challenges. He has led many players to Christ. He’s baptized athletes and officiated their weddings. Whether in the training facility, in the locker room, on the field or in his campus office, “Chap,” as he was known, was always available — always there.

“I really learned a lot from Mitch about just the ministry of presence and just showing up and being available,” said FCA’s Triangle (N.C.) Metro Director Elizabeth Ledford. “Mitch is a really, really dynamic personality. He’s so passionate. He communicates with passion when he’s teaching on Scripture, like a chapel talk, or even just in conversation with him. He’s inspirational. He’s always pointing you to Christ.” 

 A Life Altered 

In August 2019, as Mason was jogging on UNC’s football practice fields, he suddenly stopped, unable to catch his breath. Strange, he thought. Migraines and flu-like symptoms soon followed. Two months later, during the Tar Heels’ game at Georgia Tech, Mason collapsed on the sidelines.  

This triggered a dizzying gauntlet of medical tests at UNC, Duke, and even the Mayo Clinic. Mason’s case perplexed him and his family — and doctors, too. Some days, he could walk five miles. Other days, he could barely get out of bed. 

Eventually, Mason, who turns 51 in June, was diagnosed with idiopathic small fiber polyneuropathy, a rare disorder that attacks the nervous system with no known root cause. Doctors soon added another diagnosis: dysautonomia, a nervous system disorder that affects automatic functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, breathing, digestion and more. 

Regular daily functions became increasingly more difficult. Mason experienced excruciating pain, weakness, and a loss of mobility. He struggled to digest and even swallow. Fainting, seizures, memory loss — he’s endured it all. Even speaking became a challenge, his voice quickly evaporating in prolonged conversation. 

But true to form, Mason didn’t let a debilitating illness defeat him. 

“This is my opportunity to really live out what I preach every day and to trust in the Lord,” Mason told FCA in 2021. 

He certainly has. 

In March 2022, when UNC senior wide receiver Tylee Craft was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, Mason walked alongside Craft even as he was enduring his own ever-worsening symptoms and endless medical visits. He’d often text Craft a simple message: “Keep swinging!” 

After Craft died on October 12, 2024 at age 23, his family asked Mason to speak at the funeral. 

“He walked with this young man and they had a bond as they both faced their mortality and uncertainty,” Ledford said. 

Mason, who wasn’t available to speak for this article, was named an Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion in 2023. 

Yet things kept getting worse. Although Belichick, hired in December 2024, extended an invitation for Mason to continue in his chaplain role last season, Mason was no longer able to physically perform his duties, giving way to former NFL running back Cedric Peerman by the start of the 2025 season. 

“What he’s shown me is that his just continually fighting,” said Peerman, who is serving as the UNC football chaplain on an interim basis. “I can’t imagine what he and his family have been through over the years since they’ve found out this diagnosis, but he’s definitely been an encouragement to me.” 

Throughout Mason’s life-changing ordeal, the unsung hero has been Chondra, who was working part-time for FCA as Mitch’s assistant before becoming a real estate agent as her husband’s ability to work diminished. 

“She’s been by his side the whole time,” Ledford said, “obviously taking care of his physical needs, but just being a rock spiritually as well. I often ask myself, If this were me, if my husband were to receive this diagnosis, would I be able to have the grace and the perseverance and just the servanthood that she’s had? She’s just amazing.” 

Suffering … and Joy 

On October 4, 2025, when Chondra wheeled her husband through a set of double doors in the UNC athletic facility, Mitch covered his face and broke down in tears. There before him was a crowd of friends and associates and a poignant monument of his lasting spiritual legacy. 

Mason’s ministry at UNC has been so impactful, the school dedicated part of its athletic weight room facility to him — The Mitch Mason Inspiration Deck, a spot where he could often be seen encouraging football players as they worked out. Later that afternoon, a crowd of 50,500 watched as UNC honored him with an on-field ceremony and tribute video during the Tar Heels’ home game against Clemson. 

“In all of my time playing and being around a lot of chaplains, I’ve never seen that done or never heard of it being done,” Peerman said. “That’s because of Mitch Mason, because of the impact that he’s had.” 

Moments like those are helpful to Ledford as she tries to make sense of a severe trial that can feel so arbitrary, so cruel. “It’s hard not to question God,” she said.