Coach Rick Andreassen: Serving his Savior through Saints

In the beginning Serving his Savior through Saints

Twenty-one years ago, one man had a vision given to him by God. That vision: A homeschool PE Program for kids also known as Saints. Before that Coach Rick wasn’t saved, he was a lifeguard at the time. Thirty-four years ago, Coach Rick felt like there had to be more to life than what he was living. Soon after that, he came to Christ. Serving his Savior through Saints.

After he was saved, he went to three years of Bible college and then he was the athletic director of a Christian school as well. He worked as a Children’s pastor and minister then he worked in Christian sports ministry for 11 years. During that time God gave him His plan on August 27th, 1997 it was the vision for homeschool P.E. Coach Rick went into more detail of how the vision transpired.

“The Summer of 1997, I was flying on an airplane. I was reading a Christian book about walking a deeper walk with the Lord. One page happened to say, ‘that God is looking for trustworthy vessels.’” God gave him two words: Homeschool PE. He risked it all stepping out in faith and gave up his job, salary, and 401k to do what God called him to do. Not long after that 3 homeschool families asked if he would do a homeschool PE. Coach Rick stepped out in faith and did it.

Saints’ first year Serving his Savior through Saints

The inaugural year of Saints was in 1997 and started out with eighteen kids! The first park was at George English Park. Fast forward to the present and Saints is now in 5 different states and 5 different countries. The first day there were 18 kids and two volunteers. Every year the attendance doubled for the first 10-12 years.

It went from 500 to 1,000 kids in one year. Saints has always been about encouragement which is clear in Coach Rick’s lifestyle and Saints mantra “Where Jesus is Lord and every child is a winner.” It is such a powerful message in a world of competition where the emphasis is on winners and losers! Instead of determining your worth due to athletic ability, instead, your worth is found in Christ! You are a child of God!

Florida and beyond Serving his Savior through Saints

Incredibly, 5 states that have Saints are, Florida, Texas, California, Nevada, and Indiana. Internationally they’re found in Haiti, Guatemala, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In these third world countries, Saints are building orphanages for these countries and they share the gospel of Jesus Christ. “We’re called to be fishers of men.”

That’s exactly what Saints is doing, with 13 facilities and ministers to 2,000 kids per week in Florida alone! “It’s all God! It could be any one of us and I wouldn’t trade a day of it! What I get to do. The older I get, the more I realize how valuable it is and that we get to impact kids through sports. I wouldn’t trade a day.”

One day a family asked Coach Rick if he would do a Saints in Zambia. Coach Rick’s answer, “Absolutely, yes!” The cool thing about this ministry is that it’s very portable. In other words, they can load everything into a van and go all over South Florida. In response to Saints international, the Saints held a fundraiser and the support was amazing!

The cool thing was that Saints had the kids write cards to the children in Zambia. For instance, one boy named Joey wrote that his favorite games were archery and sharks’ and minnows then they took the letters with them to Africa. When the team got to Zambia, they would bring back cards that the children in Zambia wrote in response.

When Coach got back to the states, there was a pastor who asked, “Can you do Saints in Guatemala?” Guess what his answer was? “Absolutely, yes!” Since then Coach Rick has been to every country that they’ve started Saints in, and Saints continues to grow.

Saints’ vision Serving his Savior through Saints

The vision of Saints is different from your average sports teams. Coach Rick says, “We’re not teaching soccer we’re teaching the child. God has softened the children’s hearts through sports. Between the laughing and high fives, we get to share the gospel.”

The age group that Saints targets are a very impressionable age group. If you can win their heart for Jesus at that age, that is usually the turning point of their lives and when they decide to follow Christ. “Statistically, 70% of all people make their decision to follow Christ before they’re 14. 20% percent before they’re 18 and 10 % as young adults. We’re really lasered in what is kind of the lion’s share of that age group.”

Coach Rick believes he was put on this planet to do this for Christ and he has no intention of going away anytime soon. What Coach Rick is really looking forward to is the next generation of children. Children of other people that have participated in Saints their Children now do Saints as well! Coach Rick says it’s almost like his grandkids as he considers all Saints members as his own kids.

A time to cry Serving his Savior through Saints

With tears in his eyes, Coach Rick explains what he is most proud of, which is Saints, Homeschool P.E. “God said homeschool PE, I was in children’s ministry, etc. He could have asked anyone to do this, kickball’s not rocket science. I’m extremely honored God asked me, very, very honored. I think of what all that I would’ve missed if I didn’t. What I wouldn’t have done for this, I mean all of this. I’m glad he asked me, and I’m glad I said yes.”

What could best describe Coach Rick’s passion is this. Something I personally never knew and was very interesting to me is that the word enthusiasm literally means “from God”. So, when we are excited or put in our best effort or do something with great joy, that is something “from God”.

Coach Rick has a passion for kids because he believes speaking over human life is so humbling. “As I get older, what really drives my passion and fuels it, how God has hard-wired me. I just so believe in what we do. I so believe in the opportunity that God has given all of us our staff. To be involved in children’s lives. We can speak life or death over what we say to children. Also, tell them you’re more than a conqueror, “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”

The power of coaches

The power of coaches is evident to Coach Rick, but has also been spoken about by Bill Graham, he (Graham) said, “The coach is one of the most influential people of America today.” Coach Rick went on to say, “A coach will have more influence on someone in a year than someone else will in a lifetime.” A lesson we could all learn from Coach Rick and Saints is that God doesn’t look at the outward appearance, a job title, or the scoreboard. Rather God looks at the heart of a child or any person for that matter.

Something you might not know…

A unique fact about Coach Rick is that before he was a Christian, he was a lifeguard. At that time, he thought, “there’s got to be more to life than this.” As soon as he got off work, he went to the yellow pages and looked up Big Brothers and Big Sisters. After he did that, he requested to get a child he could mentor who didn’t have a dad. He went on to say, he never had a younger brother. He called the organization and they let him mentor a little boy.

He spent 7 years every Saturday with that little boy and until he moved away, he mentored another little boy after that.  For 18 years Coach Rick mentored individual children. “As a single guy, my favorite thing to do was to take a little guy out.” Another great lesson from Coach Rick was that he said, “If you are faithful with the little things God will entrust you with more.”

Due to the impact Saints had on the country Coach Rick was given a very rare honor. In 2002 Coach Rick ran with the Olympic torch in the Salt Lake City games. This was huge not only for Saints but homeschoolers all over the world!

Large Family

Coach Rick because he comes out of a large family of 11 people and was the second youngest at number 10. He also believes that “No one should ever be turned away,” since people continuously would help their family to participate in sports by giving scholarships to his family, so money was not an issue.

From that background came the vision of Saints. The fact that you could touch one life at a time, and now Saints touches thousands of lives around the country and around the world!
When you are faithful with little…

As well-known as he is and as many accolades as Coach Rick has received, he remains humble. In the interview Coach Rick told me he was acknowledged by Carson Wentz Philadelphia Eagles quarterback who is known for his faith. He was acknowledged as the top 10 people in America as showing love to others. This was also put in the Good News recently.

The biggest take away out of the interview was what he said about life, “Stay the course, stay faithful, God didn’t call us to be famous or popular or rich we’re called to be faithful.” Coach Rick is a true testimony of how-to bring glory to Christ through what God has called us to do. If we are obedient and step out in faith as it says in the Bible, we will reap a harvest.

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