Tommy Schumacher is Transforming Lives Through Sports and Faith

Sponsored by Daniel McGhee and the Victory Team

In this episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett, Tommy Schumacher shares his transformative journey with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). He discusses the organization's expansive mission, local and global community outreach, and how sports and faith unite to empower athletes and coaches. Schumacher recounts personal experiences, from growing up in Germany to leading FCA programs supporting athletes of all abilities. Sponsored by Daniel McGhee and the Victory Team, the episode highlights dedication to faith-driven service and community development.

Harford County FCA

Sponsor Message:

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Transcript

Rich Bennett 0:00
I had a gentleman on. Not too long ago. Sean Millis. Um, he told me, you know, of course he owns two Little Caesars franchises, and he told me that this young gentleman is a virgin. You got to get him on. Okay. I have Tommy Schumacher on, and he is with s f k. If you don't know what FCA is, it is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I actually feature them as non-profit of the week. I want to say a couple of years ago and Harper Kennedy living and that's the first time I heard about them. And uh, it's. Well, you're about to find out more about it because I didn't realize how large this organization is here. First of all, how's it going with Tommy? 

Tommy Schumacher 0:47
I'm pretty good it. Thanks so much for having me. 

Rich Bennett 0:49
Oh, my. My pleasure. I just want to dive right in. What is FICA? 

Tommy Schumacher 0:55
Right? So FCA, like you said, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Was founded in 1954. By a gentleman. Yeah. 70 years this year. 

Rich Bennett 1:05
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:06
A gentleman named Don MacLean. 

Rich Bennett 1:10
Lenin. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:11
Um, wrote a letter to Branch Rickey. If you remember in 42, the Jackie Robinson story. 

Rich Bennett 1:20
I was going to say, Now, wait a minute, Tommy. I may be old, but I'm not that old. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:23
No, no, no. The movie that just came. 

Rich Bennett 1:25
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:27
Harrison Ford played Branch Rickey. So he was 

Rich Bennett 1:29
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:29
the. Dodgers is the one that signed Jackie Robinson. So Branch Rickey receives a letter from Don McClennan outlining, Hey, athletes have a platform. We use it for good. Why don't we use it to share the gospel? 

Rich Bennett 1:43
Gospel. Yes. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:44
And Branch Rickey came back and said, well, if if athletes can promote cigarettes and cars, they can promote the gospel. 

Rich Bennett 1:53
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:53
And so he was all in. And so in 1954, they founded the organization called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes more of the Midwest, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas, Missouri area. And in 1956 was the first camp, a Christian athletics camp that we know of in the country. 

Rich Bennett 2:15
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 2:15
It happened at the YMCA in Estes Park, Colorado, which I think the Lord spent maybe an extra minute making that because it was one of the most beautiful. 

Rich Bennett 2:23
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 2:24
Scenes out there. And and about 216 athletes came rolling in from Texas and Oklahoma. These Division one football athletes came rolling in and they were there to be gathered together for the first Christian sports camp. And RFK kind of took off from there and the camp and campus. 

Rich Bennett 2:46
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 2:47
Ghouls from from there on out. 

Rich Bennett 2:50
So I see their camps. It's not a league. 

Tommy Schumacher 2:54
So it's a good question. So FCA is known to be and had for years been a camp and campus ministry. 

Rich Bennett 3:03
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 3:04
They were in the schools as a club. 

Rich Bennett 3:07
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 3:08
They had camps throughout the summer or throughout the year that were sport and faith driven to serve coaches and athletes. But do you say league's most recently in the past six years? Actually, right when I started coming on staff with FCA. 

Rich Bennett 3:24
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 3:25
FCA is now expanded into their 

theme, saying every, every means, every. 

Rich Bennett 3:34
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 3:34
And so every coach, every athlete. HAYWARD You know, we're known as a campus ministry, known as a camp ministry. But what about motor sports? What about action sports? 

Rich Bennett 3:46
Oh. 

Tommy Schumacher 3:47
All abilities, which I've been really excited to share with you what we're doing here locally in the all abilities, intellectual disabilities space or the Paralympic space. 

Rich Bennett 3:56
No. 

Tommy Schumacher 3:56
Yeah. And then leagues and clubs, I mean, you know, kind of like you got Georgetown Seahawks here, the rec. 

Rich Bennett 4:03
Yeah, 

Tommy Schumacher 4:04
Is maybe a club, which is a higher level with cuts 

Rich Bennett 4:07
right. 

Tommy Schumacher 4:07
and things. 

Rich Bennett 4:08
You see a lot with soccer, especially 

Tommy Schumacher 4:09
Soccer. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:10
cross. 

Tommy Schumacher 4:10
Which is my sport. And yes, so that we now are expanding the ministry into all these different environments as well. And it's been amazing to see just the Lord navigating work. And, you know, our president, Shane Williams, talks about all the time is, hey, we don't want to just be y ed, we want to be deep, deep and wide. 

Rich Bennett 4:33
The thing is, with this, this is something I would love to see every program have, whether it be rec, whether it be school, college and I think there. I know professional sports is missing out on this big time because, you know, Tim Tebow played and he caught a lot of flak and I still don't understand to this day why there's nothing wrong with what he was doing. I will be honest with you. I really don't watch the NFL anymore because of stupid stuff like that, because of them more or less banning him. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:12
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 5:13
So why in the world would you do that? But I think if you bring. You bring God into these things. The kids are learning and it's I think it's bringing back the aspect of. 

To the sports where it's fun to play. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:32
Well, a. 

Rich Bennett 5:33
Win or lose. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:34
Joy for the sport. 

Rich Bennett 5:35
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:35
Is is really yet is. And and scripture talks about how in the world you're going to have trouble. 

Rich Bennett 5:43
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:43
So anything that's surrounding Jesus especially and the Christian faith, there's going to be opposition. 

Rich Bennett 5:52
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 5:53
It's something that doesn't surprise us. But also there's a there's a commission. There's a the great commission talks about in Matthew 28 is that 

Rich Bennett 6:03
Mm 

Tommy Schumacher 6:04
we 

Rich Bennett 6:04
hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 6:04
need to go and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. So he's telling us to go and to share what is ultimately hope and faith and love. So I'm excited that we get to do that through sport because, you know, you asked me earlier, you know, I can't sing. So that's. Run from from Jesus. But thankfully, you know, the Lord, there's a platform within FCA to use athletics, and that's my background. 

Rich Bennett 6:33
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 6:34
That's what I know. And and it's also what we you know, everyone was going crazy on Sunday night watching Derrick Henry run 87 yards for the Ravens. Right. The whole town was electrified because of the Ravens game. And and there's a platform of sports where people surround themselves and come out on Saturdays and they want to watch the the little ones play all the way up to the professional level. There's kind of a Friday Night Lights. Community. That's, you know, Edgewood playing Japantown on Friday. Big deal, you know, in the football scene. So you know, how can. 

Rich Bennett 7:05
You really? You're up on your sports, aren't you? 

Tommy Schumacher 7:08
That's that's what we do. 

Rich Bennett 7:08
Wow. Ned, do I know the names? I never even watched the Ravens game Friday. It was past my bedtime. 

Tommy Schumacher 7:15
Sunday night. 

Rich Bennett 7:18
Well, why? We stayed up to watch it. And I thought we were losing because. 

Tommy Schumacher 7:21
Yeah, against the bills. It was a good game. 

Rich Bennett 7:23
Yeah. She she didn't wake me up with her screaming, so I just figured we were losing. I had. No. Well, I should have. How. How did you get involved with FCA? And how long have you been with them? 

Tommy Schumacher 7:35
Yeah. So I just go back a little bit further than that. So I was born and raised in Germany. 

Rich Bennett 7:39
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 7:40
My parents were Americans. My mom, my dad, and and their graduate degree programs with mom was get her masters at UNC-Chapel Hill. My dad has doctorate and she always had a dream to. To go overseas and teach. 

Rich Bennett 7:57
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 7:58
Her. Her aunt had been a teacher on the military bases, and she always had that dream in her head that I'm going to go. These people are serving overseas. I want to have their four and five year olds. You know, so she taught fourth grade and in Frankfurt. And then 

Rich Bennett 8:12
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 8:12
that's where I was born. So I was born in Frankfurt. Couple of years later, we moved down to Ramstein Air Base, which is one of the largest gatherings of Americans outside the U.S. 120,000 Americans launched or regional medical centers there. It's like the 

Rich Bennett 8:24
I 

Tommy Schumacher 8:24
Walter 

Rich Bennett 8:24
was going 

Tommy Schumacher 8:25
Reed 

Rich Bennett 8:25
to say that's 

Tommy Schumacher 8:25
of Europe. 

Rich Bennett 8:25
where they take everybody. That's. 

Tommy Schumacher 8:27
Everyone is injured from the Middle East. You know, they fly home to Germany and so to Walter Reed here. 

Rich Bennett 8:31
Hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 8:32
So yes, I was born there and my dad played baseball in college. So I tried that for a little bit. But in seventh grade I said, Dad, hey, soccer is a little bit bigger here. I really enjoy it. And and I was really thankful to play at a very high level. 

Rich Bennett 8:47
Women in Germany and Germany. Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 8:50
So I was there until I was 18 years old. So Kaiserslautern is the it was the Bundesliga team. It's the highest level in Germany. And they had a U19 team that that I was asked to be on my senior year in high school. I didn't play very much. No 5 minutes against Bayern. 

Rich Bennett 9:06
They take their soccer seriously over 

Tommy Schumacher 9:08
They 

Rich Bennett 9:08
the. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:08
do. Yeah. It's. It's life. It's life. You know, people get excited about Ravens, you know, Ravens Steelers games pretty. 

Rich Bennett 9:14
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:15
Any any little League game in Germany is. 

Is is that. But it's it's really special, you know? As they're pretzels and they're if they're watching the game and it's beautiful even down to the little towns there, there's their grass field is their pride and joy. So it's perfect. 

Rich Bennett 9:34
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 9:35
It's beautiful. And every Sunday, the whole whole town comes out and watches the men play from the town. It doesn't even matter if it's at the lowest level of the German. 

Rich Bennett 9:45
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:46
It's a culture. 

Rich Bennett 9:46
Pretty wild. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:47
Culture. It's it's beautiful. It's fun. It's really definition of. 

Rich Bennett 9:51
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:52
Community. And I would say the Friday Night Lights is is kind of gets into that a little bit here. 

Rich Bennett 9:56
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 9:57
Texas I guess is pretty 

Rich Bennett 9:58
All it takes is 

Tommy Schumacher 9:59
it. 

Rich Bennett 9:59
a very huge effort. 

Tommy Schumacher 10:00
Yeah, it's pretty wild. So. But anyway, so I grew up playing soccer and then had the opportunity to come to the U.S. and I you know, I wasn't good enough to make the professional route in Europe. And so I had a couple schools give me some offers, and the school called Towson University, which I'd never really heard of. 

Rich Bennett 10:20
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 10:21
Give me a full ride with some academics to come here. And so I was able to play four years Division one here in Baltimore at Towson University. 

Rich Bennett 10:29
You didn't get to MLS or even the playoffs or anything. 

Tommy Schumacher 10:31
No, no, no, no. That's the teammates that do it, which is great. 

Rich Bennett 10:34
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 10:35
And I actually had a 

kind of mentor and disciple, a young man that ended up going number one on the MLS draft from Calvert Hall. Ben Bender, he's from Parkville. 

Rich Bennett 10:45
Go, Cardinals. 

Tommy Schumacher 10:46
Yeah, that's right. University of Maryland guy. Great young man. But no. So I you know, I stayed on to my undergraduate degree. I was thankful to get a graduate assistantship, to be a to be the president of the grad student citizens business, you know, in the business program. But a. 

Rich Bennett 11:06
Oh, wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 11:06
And that's you know, I was part of part of my journey there. And right around that time, 2013, I got involved with a men's group at a two ammonium. Fellowship Church. And a gentleman who's, you know, in his seventies had been on the board for something called FCA for 20 something years. He said to me, You need to bring your resumé. Come with me. I couldn't spell FCA and know what it was. Join them and. Hunter Valley with Frank Kelley of Kelley benefits. He was the board. 

Rich Bennett 11:43
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 11:43
And all these other, you know, millionaire guys sit around the table and then they bring my resume. And it was the new state directors first, you know, one of his first couple of months on the job. And so he couldn't really tell the 24 board member, you know, don't invite this 23 year old who, you know, had just gone through a really rough part of my life. Big, big part of my story. And but now I'm finding my faith and I'm. 

Rich Bennett 12:05
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:06
Faith. And I'm thinking maybe this will help my resume. So they let me join the board. So that's how I got connected to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 

Rich Bennett 12:14
So are you actually on the staff there too, or it 

Tommy Schumacher 12:17
So 

Rich Bennett 12:17
is. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:17
that was in 2013. 

Rich Bennett 12:19
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:20
Over ten years ago. 

Rich Bennett 12:21
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:21
I was working in the business world, I was actually doing sales for a uniform and apparel company. I wanted to. 

Rich Bennett 12:26
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 12:27
Under Armour. That was kind of my dream, is I'm the international soccer guy with. Yay! They only have 5% of the international market. They need me. Arrogant, you know, thinking that, you know, I'm going to go make Under Armour a global brand. The. 

Rich Bennett 12:42
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:43
But, you know, they they were hiring a bunch of stud, the University of Maryland and Notre Dame athletes and things to be on customer service. So I said, well, I'll go sell so much Under Armour and then they'll have to hire me. It was. 

Rich Bennett 12:55
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 12:56
So I went work for a small team dealer just right down the street in White Marsh and learned about international manufacturing and private label manufacturing and vendors like Under Armour did. Delaney High Schools, Under Armour contract. And so that's where I was working in the business world. But you know, really connected to the to the sports thing. 

Rich Bennett 13:16
Yeah, 

Tommy Schumacher 13:17
If I would be on the board with FCA. So I was just a volunteer. 

Rich Bennett 13:20
right. 

Tommy Schumacher 13:20
But it wasn't til about six years ago that I got the call to come on full time staff. 

Rich Bennett 13:24
Wow, that's amazing. So basically, I mean, you're still doing what you love with the sports. 

Tommy Schumacher 13:31
Yeah, well, so like I said, I. 

I never had anybody in my life. I don't think I ever had one Christian coach. 

Rich Bennett 13:41
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 13:41
To be honest with you, I didn't really have a male mentor or anybody that was pouring into me, and I needed that. 

Rich Bennett 13:49
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 13:49
Years old, had some pretty traumatic stuff happened to me. And, you know, either before the thing that happened or afterwards like to have somebody come alongside me and put up guardrails in my life and. 

Rich Bennett 14:04
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 14:04
Didn't have any of that. And so looking back now, I was like, Man, I wish I had somebody at 16 speaking into my life. And so what would have really connected with me would have been sports that would 

Rich Bennett 14:15
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 14:15
have that would have spoken my language. And so FCA kind of gets to do that or. 

Rich Bennett 14:20
So when you move. Were your parents still in Germany? 

Tommy Schumacher 14:24
They were. Yeah. Yeah. They stayed in Germany for almost another ten years. 

Rich Bennett 14:28
So what made you decide? I'm just going to pack up and I know it wasn't thousand Universe. 

Tommy Schumacher 14:35
Right? Well, I said if I could get my college paid for. I'm going to do. I'm going to do that. And so Tolleson was, you know, Division one program. We actually went to the Sweet 16 my freshman year last week. For us, we were 16th in the country. And yeah, it's kind of. Going back to the sports identity thing, you know, we're 16th in the country. I come in my sophomore year. I think this is my year to shine. We're going to UCLA to play a televised ESPN game. And two days before we're supposed to get on the plane to go to California. I tear every ligament in my foot on my left ankle. You know, ankles were the worst. And it's so, man, I'm Tommy, the soccer guy, but I'm not playing soccer, you know, Who am I? Kind of. 

Rich Bennett 15:16
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 15:16
An identity crisis. And again, I wish there had been somebody that was available that was, you know, mentoring me, praying for me, guiding me, discipling me. They would've been like, Hey, Tommy, you're soccer. Something you do. It's not who you are. But again. 

Rich Bennett 15:31
Oh. 

Tommy Schumacher 15:32
That didn't happen. You know. 

Rich Bennett 15:36
Ooh, I like that, though. 

Tommy Schumacher 15:37
Yeah, yeah. A lot of people put their put their worth tied to their performance, especially me. And I could be in anything, you know, even even RFK. I got to be careful of the RFK guy, you know. Hey, I'm doing my best to follow. Follow Jesus. Follow. The Lord has. And when you take that humility in that posture, man, the Lord just does amazing things. 

Rich Bennett 16:03
So where I was in 

before we started talking our recording, you told me how big FCA is. So how many? No, no, it's more than just a country. Right? 

Tommy Schumacher 16:17
Oh, yeah. RFK is now a 3000 staff in 118 countries. 

Rich Bennett 16:22
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 16:23
So when our mission statement is to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes, and to see every coach and athlete coming to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ in his church. So we are not the church. 

Rich Bennett 16:36
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 16:36
We are going out Dabo Swinney from Clemson, who's the coach there? He said, You know, I didn't meet Jesus in church. The FCA met me where I was, which was on the field. And so, you know, he is taking that as his platform. And, you know, that's what we're so excited to do. And it's not just. Harford County. You know, 

Rich Bennett 16:56
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 16:56
it's it's the world. And so it's been amazing. So I'm an area director, so I oversee this area, which is Hertford County, in which we moved up here in 216 to 

Rich Bennett 17:06
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:07
to Bel Air. You know, my and my wife and we got married in 2015. And to be honest with you, we were just looking at the Beltway. She's from Charleston originally. 

Rich Bennett 17:16
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:17
The Beltway really going to go on the side. So. The county. There is a little bit more a little more room up here. And so we came up here and got connected and got connected to a church. Mount Christian church was where we. 

Rich Bennett 17:29
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:30
First got connected and were attending it when I was at the arena clubs. I was like, Oh, this is perfect. It's a gym and it's church. Like, This is great. 

Rich Bennett 17:37
Women now in Christian churches at the arena 

Tommy Schumacher 17:39
They were for a season. Yeah, they they were 

Rich Bennett 17:41
realized that, 

Tommy Schumacher 17:42
they were in John Carroll for seven years as one of their first 

Rich Bennett 17:45
right. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:45
campuses. And then when they moved to the Arena Club, my wife. 

Rich Bennett 17:51
Been. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:52
They're everywhere. Yeah, they're everywhere. They're going to Parkville next. They're going to new campus that they're opening in Parkville, which 

Rich Bennett 17:57
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 17:57
is really exciting. So it'll be their fourth campus. And so, yeah, so very thankful for Mount Christian. They just celebrated their 200 years of being here. 

Rich Bennett 18:05
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 18:06
Which is wild. So I've been actually ordained through Mt., so went through a leadership program. 

Rich Bennett 18:11
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 18:12
And, you know, Ben and the elders were very gracious, too. Just again, I'm always looking for people that are going to pour into me and affirm the calling. And so it's been really neat. So, yeah, so I was hired six years ago to be full time staff in Hartford County, and I was the first staff person they'd ever truly hired. That was full time. 

Rich Bennett 18:33
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 18:34
Now we are six years laters. We have seven staff. We have a house off of Prospect Mill and 22 that Oak Grove. Only allowing us to lease in there that we've renovated and made it completely brand new. We have an 18 wheeler that we use to collect gear for kids who can't afford to play. That's parked right there off a 22. So if you're driving by on your way to Hartford Community College or up to. 

Rich Bennett 18:58
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 18:59
Inside, you'll see this 18 wheeler beautiful truck that's graciously donated from Mariner Distribution up in Aberdeen. So the Lord has just. 

Rich Bennett 19:10
Yes. Hands 

Tommy Schumacher 19:10
Hands 

Rich Bennett 19:10
on 

Tommy Schumacher 19:10
on 

Rich Bennett 19:10
this. 

Tommy Schumacher 19:10
this ministry. We're really grateful to serve our community. 

Rich Bennett 19:13
Okay. With because you mentioned the gear now with FCA. In the camps. What sports? Besides soccer or, as I like to say, real football 

are you guys involved with. 

Tommy Schumacher 19:30
Yeah. So when we say every athlete or every coach. Every means, every. So it's been really neat to have Emma mae and. 

Rich Bennett 19:41
What? 

Tommy Schumacher 19:42
M.A. and boxing and cheerleading and all, you know, all the traditional sports. Yeah. So we try to offer all these different sports at our camps and from endurance to to running. And then you got to, of course, all the traditional sports. We have an FC lacrosse club program out of Baltimore County, and that's that's now grown and expanded. We have a volleyball club right here in Hartford County. Yeah. Called Warriors Volleyball Club. So one of our staff? 

Rich Bennett 20:11
Whoa. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:12
Yeah. 

She's a 93 grad from West Point. She's actually in the Hall of Fame for. 

Rich Bennett 20:18
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:19
Volleyball at West Point, and she came to us and just said, You know, Lourdes put this vision on our heart. To elevate one of the fastest growing 

Rich Bennett 20:28
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:28
sports in in our area right now is volleyball. There's 60 girls going out for ten spots on teams. And so how can we how can we fill in the gap? So it's kind of CFC is how can we fill in the gap for more? 

Rich Bennett 20:41
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:41
It's existing now that's maybe broken or not the way it's supposed to be and the way that it can be, you know, the way that it will be one day. The way the Lord designed it is the way it's supposed to be. But a lot of people would say youth sports is broken right now. 

Rich Bennett 20:57
We. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:57
Way too expensive the parents are out of. 

Rich Bennett 20:59
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 20:59
All. You can't get referees. It's you're traveling 6 hours on the weekend to 

Rich Bennett 21:03
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:03
play, you know, the team that's down the street and you pay all this money to go to the tournament. So. So who could be possibly better positioned than FCA to kind of step into this club in league space? 

Rich Bennett 21:15
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:15
Hey, let's. Let's redeem youth sports. Let's make it. Let's bring the joy back 

Rich Bennett 21:20
I love 

Tommy Schumacher 21:20
into 

Rich Bennett 21:20
the. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:20
it. How can we help with the right expectations? You know, so the club the club volleyball for example, will lead us to do what parents to parents and say. 

What's the expectation for your your 15 year old daughter? 

Rich Bennett 21:34
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:35
You know, the dad will say for her to go on scholarship. Right. For a girl who just picked up volleyball last year, 

Rich Bennett 21:42
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:42
D-1 scholarship. And the mom is I 

Rich Bennett 21:44
I just 

Tommy Schumacher 21:45
still 

Rich Bennett 21:45
don't 

Tommy Schumacher 21:45
want 

Rich Bennett 21:45
want. 

Tommy Schumacher 21:45
to forget her. Her bag at the house. Right. So you've got two paired. Two? Very. Stations, but there's so many clubs around here. The coach coaches, even talk to the parents, doesn't even establish front or even get to share. Hey, well, here's my expectation. Alito Say you. 

Rich Bennett 21:59
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 22:00
I want to take her from here to here, whatever that looks like for her. Not just on the court, but off the court. 

Rich Bennett 22:07
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 22:07
Can we help her in her face? Open the leadership. How can we help her in her development as a young lady navigating the world and everything that's being thrown at them and letting her know volleyball again is something you do? It's not who you are. 

Rich Bennett 22:23
I know you do two camps with the kids. Do you guys do anything with the parents? And the reason I ask that is I'm sure you've seen some games, whether it be football or baseball, and you have parents going at each other. I mean, sometimes fist fights. Is there anything that you guys do with them at all? 

Tommy Schumacher 22:42
Yeah, sure. So, I mean, the the goal that we have is to serve, you know, we want to serve every coach and. 

Rich Bennett 22:49
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 22:50
But we know that there's a ripple effect of that, right? 

Rich Bennett 22:52
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 22:53
There's a whole family ministry. You know, there's entire coaches, ministry and coaches, families, they all abilities, which is we had our first monthly gathering of all abilities at the Bel-Air church last night, had 11 athletes of all abilities, cerebral palsy, quadriplegic, autism, Down syndrome, all coming together to, you know, box and do pickleball and shoot some basketball, all in a carpeted indoor space. Well, the parents and the families were sitting out in the common area drinking coffee. Just resting. 

Rich Bennett 23:25
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 23:25
Some of them left to go run some errands. Just just having a time of fellowship. 

Rich Bennett 23:31
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 23:31
And so we don't want to just minister to the athletes. We want to minister to the families. 

Rich Bennett 23:35
Mhm. 

Tommy Schumacher 23:35
As 

Rich Bennett 23:36
That's good. 

Tommy Schumacher 23:38
athletes back into these homes. We want to make sure that they have a safe environment. They're going back into where they feel loved and accepted. 

Rich Bennett 23:47
This the all abilities. I really want to talk about this because I. 

Yeah, I'm just big on that. I mean, for years our family was. We were. Huggers in the Special Olympics because we had our cousin who had danced. Don't even think they have huggers anymore now. But you have the Miracle League. 

Tommy Schumacher 24:10
Tom Walls and the. 

Rich Bennett 24:11
Yes. Do you guys actually do something with them 

Tommy Schumacher 24:14
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 24:14
as. 

Tommy Schumacher 24:14
I used to walk. I would walk and pray with Tom around the property. 

Rich Bennett 24:17
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 24:17
The. To build the. But we try to come alongside and bring varsity athletes. So we had Aberdeen High School. I got the Harvard Community College baseball team. You know, there's no other way to demonstrate humility than to come and serve with those. 

Rich Bennett 24:30
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 24:31
To see joy in the sport. So we've actually had teams, you know, high school or or high level teams come in and be buddies for. For Tom and 

Rich Bennett 24:41
And 

Tommy Schumacher 24:41
his. 

Rich Bennett 24:41
that's great. So how did you get into that? Your abilities? 

Tommy Schumacher 24:44
Well, so. So I take my mom, actually. So when she moved from Frankfurt down to Ramstein Air Base, the only way she could stay in Germany because they were trying to send her to the Far East, if she 

Rich Bennett 24:53
Hmm? 

Tommy Schumacher 24:53
was going to be a fourth grade teacher, was if she took a special needs job on the 

Rich Bennett 24:57
Really? 

Tommy Schumacher 24:58
on the the Army side of of Kaiserslautern, Cape Town, they would call it Vogue away. 

Rich Bennett 25:03
Hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 25:03
She was a special needs teacher so used to and I was actually in the German school for a little bit. So German holidays and American holidays sometimes were different. I would go with her to her classroom on the days that, you know, I didn't have school 

Rich Bennett 25:17
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 25:17
and would be, you know, in in the classroom or the they had a Special Olympics for Germans and Americans. They'd have this massive police academy. And I got to buddy up and we would go around. It was different stations and would end with the German versus American soccer game and the whole you know, the whole day would come out and watch that. And so that that's always been something of care deeply 

Rich Bennett 25:38
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 25:39
about. Even at Towson University when I played soccer, you know what? Nobody stepped up to lead the serving project for our team. And so our coach signed up for a half marathon to run as part of our service project. So the next year I said, Look, we're not doing that again. You know, we to. 

Rich Bennett 25:56
So there's a. 

Tommy Schumacher 25:57
An organization called Best Buddies. 

Rich Bennett 25:59
Yes, 

Tommy Schumacher 26:00
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:00
I got to get them on. 

Tommy Schumacher 26:01
Yeah. And best buddies. Was at Towson University. And so we did a mini soccer practice for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning at Vertical at Chelsea University. And, you know, accomplish the same amount of hours or whatever we needed to show that we were doing our service project. But, man, it was so fun to watch, you know? You know, I was a knucklehead. Soccer players are all knuckleheads, but sacrificing a Saturday morning. A buddy up to so much joy. And so yeah so the you know here when when they offered all abilities as a new environment for FCA I said we got to do that. We may not be experts by any means, but we got one of our staff, Marie Johnson, 

Rich Bennett 26:41
And 

Tommy Schumacher 26:42
and. 

Rich Bennett 26:42
as you go, man. 

Tommy Schumacher 26:42
Right. And Kirsten Huggins and 

Rich Bennett 26:44
God's 

Tommy Schumacher 26:44
her. 

Rich Bennett 26:44
going to lead the way. That's 

Tommy Schumacher 26:45
That's 

Rich Bennett 26:45
right. 

Tommy Schumacher 26:45
right. And and we're inviting people. And so what I love about FCA is that we really are connecting with and connected to our community and inviting people to be a part of it. They are experts in certain areas. We want to invite them in and. 

Rich Bennett 26:56
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 26:57
You're from Towson University. Come and lead our training for all of the all abilities. And so for our first year, we went to Harford Community College and rented out the whole space and had 25 athletes. All ages 

Rich Bennett 27:12
No. 

Tommy Schumacher 27:12
come out. And then a year later, 

we doubled that. So we had close to 50. 

Rich Bennett 27:19
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 27:20
125 volunteers. A beautiful day Danny McGee actually sponsored because I. 

Rich Bennett 27:26
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 27:26
Bill from HTC for using their their indoor basketball arena. But we had to have it we had some. 

Rich Bennett 27:32
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 27:33
Almost 200 people. We just needed the more space. And so Danny spots, we use all of our passports for all these athletes to kind of go around, try these different stations. And you talk about just a beautiful picture of what heaven is going to look like of. Everyone of all abilities coming together. Buddying. Having a dance party. You know, getting a medal for their participation. Hearing that, you know, someone that looks like them. We had we had Daniel Lee, who's from Malaysia on staff with RFK. He's in a wheelchair. He has brittle bone. 

Rich Bennett 28:05
Oh. 

Tommy Schumacher 28:06
Syndrome. And so he's been in a wheelchair since a little since he was a little boy. Well, having it having a message from him compared to someone like me. 

Rich Bennett 28:13
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 28:13
An able bodied person saying, Hey, got. 

Rich Bennett 28:15
The big difference. 

Tommy Schumacher 28:16
Didn't make a mistake when he made you. Sharing that with a room full of athletes, their caregivers, their parents. It was powerful. It's beautiful. And so now we have a month. And so one of the one of the one of the athletes is named Michael. She will file taxes on Facebook and he'll you know, he'll Michael, you know, he'll message me and say, Hey, Mr. Tommy, I don't why do we have to wait a whole year before we have to do this? 

Rich Bennett 28:38
I love that. 

Tommy Schumacher 28:39
Said, Michael, I pre I appreciate you. I hear you. And so we went out and there's all these churches that have space. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 28:47
Maybe throughout the week they're not being used or, you know, they have opportunities for it. And so we we approached the Bel-Air Church up Route one Church of the Nazarene. Church and said, Hey, you have a carpeted indoor space that's maybe not ideal for a competitive basketball league or something, but for an all abilities that could be perfect. 

Rich Bennett 29:08
Oh, yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 29:09
So we have a carpeted indoor space. And just last night, the first Tuesday of every month now we will be at the Bel Air Church and we have a host of volunteers. They have something called a hype line where they they welcome everybody in either loud or quietly. There's bubbles, and then they come in, they get buddied up and they go around and they try boxing. They try pickleball cornhole. And it's just, again, a beautiful picture. They hear devotion and we end with some pizza. Sean Will. Yeah, Pizza abundance and the two Little Caesars, you know, has generously provided the pizza for us. Mike Ward from the pretzel factory, generously providing the pretzels from Philly Pretzel Factory. 

Rich Bennett 29:46
Wonder if you're going to have pretzels or not. The German background. 

Tommy Schumacher 29:49
That's right. That's right. And so it's just a beautiful. Yeah. And so, like I said, beautiful. And, you know, one of the moms last night said, I there's not a lot of places I can drop off my son and know that he's safe. 

Rich Bennett 30:01
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 30:01
And this is it. 

Rich Bennett 30:03
And this is going on every Tuesday. 

Tommy Schumacher 30:04
It'll be the first Tuesday. 

Rich Bennett 30:06
First Tuesday. 

Tommy Schumacher 30:07
Of every month. So we had the last night, October 1st. 

Rich Bennett 30:10
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 30:10
The next one, I think, is on Election Day, actually. So yeah, it'll be the first Tuesday and everyone's invited. We just see register. We need volunteers. We love for people to come and volunteer. 

Rich Bennett 30:20
How do people volunteer? 

Tommy Schumacher 30:21
Yes. So we have them sign up online. So if you go to Hartford, FCA. 

Rich Bennett 30:25
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 30:26
It's our Web site. You'll see a little all abilities. FC All abilities sport tab and you can you can register and then you'll get training, right? And then you say what you'd like to do. Hey, you know, I'm not sure if I feel too comfortable. I can maybe cut up the pizza versus, Hey, I'm all in to to be with Brandon or Cameron, who you know, very limited mobility and wheelchairs. And you get to you get to be their buddy and everything in between. You could work a station. It's something for everybody. 

Rich Bennett 30:55
So how many how many people with differing abilities do you have? They come there now. So. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:01
So last night was our first one. 

Rich Bennett 31:03
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:03
It was kind of a little bit of a tester. We had 11 athletes last night, so we always try to have 2 to 3 volunteers. Per. Athlete. That's a good ratio. So November was the November 3rd is Election Day is the next. 

Rich Bennett 31:17
I don't know. I'm looking into December. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:19
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 31:20
December. Oh yeah. December is a. December 3rd. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:25
So December 5th, I'm sorry, November 5th and December 3rd will be at the Bel Air Church. 

Rich Bennett 31:32
What's a name? Is it just Bel Air? 

Tommy Schumacher 31:34
Bella Church. 

Rich Bennett 31:35
Really? And whereabouts is it? 

Tommy Schumacher 31:37
That's right. Up root

142430. Conner, Wingo Road and Bellaire. 

Rich Bennett 31:42
2430. Kind of whinger. Rude. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:45
The church has been so gracious to allow us into that space. And that's really, again, FCA. 

We are not the church. We want to 

Rich Bennett 31:56
This. 

Tommy Schumacher 31:56
partner with folks. You know, Acts 242 is kind of a great model of the church of people that are devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, making God's Word their playbook for life, and then they dedicate themselves to prayer and breaking bread. They talk about, you know, people like to take it out of context. You know, if you give the clothes off your back, give away all your belongings. Well, they're just saying serve just if you have resources, serve, it's all the Lord's anyways, you know, serve and and that's just a beautiful picture. And so we we want to come alongside these churches and these pastors and these youth pastors that are shepherding a flock. And we want to say, hey, you know, how can we serve you? More than likely, you know, people like me that can't sing or, you know, are made for more than just stacking chairs in. 

Rich Bennett 32:42
All 

Tommy Schumacher 32:43
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but maybe, maybe made for more. But you may have teachers in your congregation that want to open up their classroom to be an f k club. You may have coaches in your congregation that have influence and are overseeing a 30, you know, roster team of ten year olds. How are you using that platform to be on mission 

Rich Bennett 33:01
right. 

Tommy Schumacher 33:01
for the Lord? Because it's not just a Sunday morning thing. Right. What are you doing on Friday night? What are you doing on Wednesday morning with the rest of the week? How is Jesus not a piece of the pie, but the center of everything that you do? And I wish like I said, I wish someone to share that with me long ago. 

Rich Bennett 33:18
I love the fact that you're pulling well, you're pulling the community together, especially actually with the volunteers held that they have to be as our age limit. 

Tommy Schumacher 33:27
So there's not, you know, 13 and up typically. But I have I have a five and and three year old and they were with my wife Abby, who's beautiful. They were rolling the ball up of Cameron's legs where he doesn't 

Rich Bennett 33:43
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 33:43
can't move or speak. And you know, that there was some sensation that he was feeling as the ball was being rolled up and down his leg. So Abby, Milly and Micah, you know, they were helping out with that. And my 13 year old Landon was a big part of my story. You know, he's he's been volunteering at these camps to. 

Rich Bennett 33:59
All right, Tommy, be honest. How many times do you go through Kleenex? 

Tommy Schumacher 34:03
That's a lot of. 

Rich Bennett 34:04
There's guys going to say there's going to be a lot of crying. 

Tommy Schumacher 34:08
Yeah, well, not just because I've got all women, part time staff working with me. 

And they they'd be okay with me say that. But no, it's it's just 

Rich Bennett 34:18
TARP? 

Tommy Schumacher 34:19
it is beautiful. You remember the Chicken Soup for the Soul books 

Rich Bennett 34:22
Yes. 

Tommy Schumacher 34:22
back in the day kind of thing? Well, that's what the that's the the Bible has become to to us is that and this is our playbook for life. How can we walk with the Lord? You know, Colossians four two through six. Paul is in jail and he's writing saying, Lord, I pray that you open the doors. And I'd be like, Well, selfishly, I also would be saying that if I was in jail, like Paul, I'd say, Open the door. So I get out of there. You saying, I wish the doors would be open so I can share the gospel. So he's I mean, talking about his circumstance. 

Rich Bennett 34:52
Right? 

Tommy Schumacher 34:52
In prison. He's saying, I just am looking for the opportunities for the Gospel to share that my words be season with salt and full of grace. And so when we have that posture, prayer is like, Lord, I know we got a really bad circumstance right now. My buddies down in North Carolina, you know, high country, North Carolina. And, you know, he and I are soccer guys playing in a big soccer convention in Chicago together that we're working on. And he's all that's on the back burner right now. Right. Like, man, I got a I got to serve. You know, I've got he texted me last night. I'm in line for the bathroom at my house because we're opening up our place for showers and things. So it's like, hey, we are here to serve. And that's what, you know, FCA in the Bible Belt of Texas and Alabama and Georgia and Florida. I mean, people are like, Come on in, this is great. Well, in Maryland, the Northeast, it's a little different, right? So we can operate a little bit more under the radar. 

Rich Bennett 35:42
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 35:43
And so what is our way and what's it's to serve? And so, you know, Mark, 1042 to 45 said Jesus came to serve, not to be served and to give his life as a ransom for many. So I kind of use that versus like we're here to serve. So one time we had all these donations with the Bel-Air United Methodist Church in town had received all this Under Armour donations. And I got a call. Actually, I used to work at Coulson and he gave me a call and says, Hey, I got all your Under Armour stuff. It's all kind of, you know, random, you know, overage things. So if you want it, you can come take it, but you gotta take it all. 

Rich Bennett 36:15
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 36:16
Like maybe there's like weird dog underdog shirts and all different sizes, different colors, all kind of crazy. What we did is we box it up into all these different containers and we just took it to Japantown, Edgewood, Aberdeen, having met with the principal, met with the addy, said, Hey, I know it's not much, but here's a huge box of brand new, brand new Under Armour gear. Maybe that'll bless plus your kids and and just 

Rich Bennett 36:42
That 

Tommy Schumacher 36:43
doing different things like that has really just shown like, hey, it's not about us pushing anything. We want to serve you. We want to create a place of hope, 

Rich Bennett 36:50
was. 

Tommy Schumacher 36:50
a safe place. And that's what FCA has been in the schools this morning. First huddle we've had in five years, Japantown High School. 

Rich Bennett 36:59
For 

Tommy Schumacher 36:59
So 

Rich Bennett 36:59
the loan 

Tommy Schumacher 36:59
it's 

Rich Bennett 37:00
clause. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:00
six. 

Rich Bennett 37:00
I don't want to say loan clause. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:01
No, no, no. So and that that gear stuff is that's a whole nother conversation. 

Rich Bennett 37:05
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:05
The club is what most people know us for. If you have a teacher in the high school that says, I open up my classroom and we have a student in high school, it says, I'll lead. 

Rich Bennett 37:14
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:14
We are a student led ministry in the schools. 

Rich Bennett 37:17
Okay? 

Tommy Schumacher 37:18
Which is why we're allowed to be there if someone wants to see our chess club. You see, a teacher in a student was the same deal with FCA and so Miss Watson and is down the street at Japantown High School. She said, I'll open up my classroom and ah, your student leader said, I just want people to have hope. I want them to know that Jesus is real. I want them to know that their life is so much more than what they see in their everyday circumstances, which seems to be a little bit harder in the Japantown 

Rich Bennett 37:42
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:42
Edgewood area. Same heart problems that are in Folsom or Bel Air. 

Rich Bennett 37:46
Everywhere. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:47
Same 

Rich Bennett 37:47
You. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:47
heart problems. But, you know, it's just, you know, some pretty tough stories that have come out of Japantown Edgewood recently. 

Rich Bennett 37:52
Lately? Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 37:52
Especially. And so we said, Hey, what can we do to bring hope back in? Well, donuts that helps. So have donuts. And at 6:45 a.m., they're gathered in a classroom playing a game, playing a little icebreaker. Then they have some prayer, and then a student gets up and shares a devotion. You know, we give them all the resources out of the back of the Bible. They were learned about patients. Today we're going to learn about what do you do with your anxiety? And someone will read first, Peter five, seven says. Cast all your anxieties on him because he because he cares for you. And to hear that from a junior in high school rather than, you know, a pastor 

Rich Bennett 38:28
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 38:28
or somebody else. Man my peer is telling me that I've got these anxieties, these physical things that are locking me down, and I'm supposed to give it away to a creator that cares for me. 

Rich Bennett 38:38
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 38:39
That wants to know me. And that's. I've never heard that before. That's new. Or it's different. Or I want to. I want this piece that I want with that person has whatever she has, I want it. And so that's what we get to do with FCA, is empower these young leaders, equip them with God's Word, and allow them to go and engage others who maybe have never heard the good news. 

Rich Bennett 38:59
I'm just excited that the schools are allowing you in. I mean, that needs to happen. 

Tommy Schumacher 39:04
Well, yeah, And to be honest with you, it's been a challenge. It's. 

Rich Bennett 39:07
Oh, I bet. 

Tommy Schumacher 39:08
You know, here locally, we've been very, very fortunate. We have there's wonderful administrators, 

Rich Bennett 39:12
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 39:13
there's wonderful head of athletics, know just wonderful people that say, hey, man, you're trying to do something good 

Rich Bennett 39:20
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 39:20
through these students. You know, we're all about it. But in D.C., my counterpart, Joe Lee, is the D.C. director. The major battle of getting kicked out of the public schools. So you can't bring that in here. 

Rich Bennett 39:33
That's 

Tommy Schumacher 39:34
And 

Rich Bennett 39:34
a shame. 

Tommy Schumacher 39:34
it's going into the court system now. We just had a huge thing in California where we went up to the district court and they ruled, hey, it's it's unconstitutional for you to kick out a student led. 

Rich Bennett 39:45
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 39:45
Program. It's unconstitutional, The freedom of speech and and all the different dynamics that go with that, You know, but we we have you know, we have leaders that we asked to. If you're going to represent the organization, we want you to, you know, share 

Rich Bennett 39:59
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:00
you know, share our values. And we asked that you agreed to those values before you share. And so that's it's caused a little stir some people and which is unfortunate because, again, we just we you know, I think people need help. 

Rich Bennett 40:14
You mentioned Calvert Hall earlier. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:16
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:16
Are you guys in the private schools as well? 

Tommy Schumacher 40:18
We are actually. So John Carroll here locally. We have we have a presence. And then Calvert Hall. Yeah, you know, Frank. 

Rich Bennett 40:25
Even. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:27
I don't. I don't believe so. Not yet. 

Rich Bennett 40:29
I know, because there's kids love soccer there. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:32
That's all I'm saying. So again, we're not, you know, especially these these private Christian or Catholic schools, you 

Rich Bennett 40:38
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:38
know, we're not again, we're not trying to come in and compete or do anything. We're just, 

Rich Bennett 40:41
Now. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:41
hey, you've got a ton of athletes in your. 

Rich Bennett 40:44
Mhm. 

Tommy Schumacher 40:45
Student body. How can we resource them? We are actually you have leaders. How can we help them share the gospel? You know, we got the we have something called the four that we came up with, which is the gospel in emojis. You know, kids don't even text me back words anymore. You know, they just text me emojis, 

Rich Bennett 41:01
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 41:01
a thumbs up emoji or, you know, some 

Rich Bennett 41:03
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 41:03
upside down face emoji or whatever, thumbs up. So we actually came up with this. It's the gospel. So we have a heart emoji, the division sign, the cross and the question mark. So those four, we call it the four as the gospel in emojis, which is pretty neat. So the. 

Rich Bennett 41:19
I like that. 

Tommy Schumacher 41:20
Yeah. So the heart is God loves you, right? And it's a holy, perfect love. He actually requires perfection 

Rich Bennett 41:25
Mm 

Tommy Schumacher 41:26
because the way he designed it, it was perfect. But then this division sign is, Well, we're now separated from God because of our sin, because we mess up, because we do things we shouldn't do. And I do, though you I do that all the time. So we're not so I'm not perfect, Right? So, you know, I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect. Right? So we're we're separated from the father because he requires perfection 

Rich Bennett 41:48
hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 41:49
and we're not perfect. Well, that would be bad news. That means we'd never be with him. But the good news is there was someone who was perfect, so God sent his son down. 

Rich Bennett 41:59
Huh? 

Tommy Schumacher 41:59
He was perfect. He lived 33 years. Never sinned once. He died on Friday. For you and me, for our sins, for our inadequacies, for everything that we. Because they used to bring all these lambs and sacrifice them all the time. You know, the priests were pretty much butchers back in the day because they're just sacrificing these baby lambs because they their requires. There has to be a sacrifice. There 

Rich Bennett 42:23
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 42:23
has to be a penalty for for doing wrong. And so Jesus came down and he didn't do anything wrong, but he was the perfect sacrifice. Three days later, he rose again, walked out of the grave, was among people for 40 days, showed them how to live, ate with them, wasn't illusion at all by any means. And then he rose again to heaven and left us with the advocate. So the question mark is Will you trust Jesus? What are you going to do now that you know this? Right. So remember the Jade bracelet? 

Rich Bennett 42:49
Yes. 

Tommy Schumacher 42:50
The day was just 

Rich Bennett 42:50
Well, 

Tommy Schumacher 42:50
kind of this. 

Rich Bennett 42:51
the. 

Tommy Schumacher 42:51
And what's great is I can text these emojis and in any language this work, so I can go to any of the 118 countries and we can walk through it in their language with the with the for. 

Rich Bennett 43:00
I love. How do I how do people get that bracelet? 

Tommy Schumacher 43:03
Yeah, Well, hey, come see us at seven Prospect Mill Road. Come visit us at our office. There's a prayer room in there. We have a fridge fully stocked with chocolate milk and Gatorade. I actually. 

Rich Bennett 43:13
Tom, Are you guys there? 

Tommy Schumacher 43:14
Tip. Usually normal business hours. Yeah. Kind of a, you know. 832 to 4 kind of deal. Monday. But but let us know because like I said, I've got a part time staff. 

Rich Bennett 43:25
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 43:25
I'm always out in about. I'm here today, right now. So. Be great if you let us know you're coming. That's where people can drop off gear as well. If they want to donate gear lightly used equipment that they use for sports that they you know, somebody outgrew their shoe size or they have an extra lacrosse stick or their son isn't playing. You know, volleyball anymore or 

Rich Bennett 43:45
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 43:45
whatever. We then take that and we give it to kids that can't afford to play, which is pretty. 

Rich Bennett 43:52
Okay. Well, something like that, I guess. Like how much? You probably can't take a donation. 

Tommy Schumacher 43:58
So helmets get a little tricky because, you know, it will not see certification for for lacrosse or for for football. And I'll be honest with you, we took about $15,000 worth of lacrosse equipment over to Africa this summer. 

Rich Bennett 44:12
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 44:13
So I had six. 

Rich Bennett 44:13
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 44:14
Coaches, a couple of them and their sons, and four college lacrosse players from Liberty University. So ten total left from Harford County with $15,000 worth of equipment. Sticks, balls, gloves, jerseys and burgundy helmets. But they could have they could have taken 

Rich Bennett 44:34
Right? 

Tommy Schumacher 44:35
these old helmets because they didn't have shoes. 

Rich Bennett 44:36
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 44:37
They don't even wear shoes. So those people over there, so that's perfectly we find. So not saying we don't take it. It's a little bit harder with the helmet side of things. But everything I mean, everything else we take and we we give. I mean, there was a fee to play public school sports at one time, and so people couldn't even, you know, let alone afford that as well as have to buy equipment on top of it. So during COVID is actually where Andrew Patterson, who's now on staff at Mt. Zion, is a pastor, but he and I were on staff together with FCA. That's where Mike Warden and the truck came in from. 

Rich Bennett 45:08
Right? 

Tommy Schumacher 45:08
Attribution. You heard about this program. We called it Kickstart. We had an international donation program with FCA, but there wasn't a national like a local program for FCA. So we said, Well, Operation FCA serves the nations with gear, you know, shoes for Malaysia Soccer or, you know, soccer balls in Mexico or whatever baseball is. They go to 

Rich Bennett 45:28
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 45:29
Dominican or Cuba. Well, what about what if we called it Kickstart? We helped kickstart a young athletes career by taking new and lightly used gear and loaning it donated to those who need it. And so that's where the Under Armour and the gear. So now we've we took turf, we put it in our basement at the Yeah. Have a degree. So every year a new public school gets new turf. So every year a new high school will 

Rich Bennett 45:53
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 45:53
get through their nine year cycle of having turf. So actually I called CPS. I said, Hey, can I heard you guys are getting rid of turf. Have a degree. Can I. Can I have that? And they're like, Oh, no, We ran it through the, you know, 

Rich Bennett 46:05
Whatever. 

Tommy Schumacher 46:05
liability and 

Rich Bennett 46:06
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 46:06
just can't give it to you. I was like, Oh, that's too bad. I had a vision for it. So I said, okay, well, now look on Facebook Marketplace. Well, there's a guy selling rolls of turf in have degrees. $500 a roll. So I reached out to this guy, say, Hey, I know it's $500 roll, you know, Jose or whatever, but can I get five rolls for 500 bucks? I'll come pay for it right now and pick it up. He said, sure, go get it. So we took that. We took turf, we cut it, we put it in the basement. So you walk down to the basement of this, you know, older house that Oak Grove owns, and we turn it into almost the back of a foot locker. We've got shoes and golf 

Rich Bennett 46:39
That's. 

Tommy Schumacher 46:39
clubs in lacrosse, so you got to come see it. It's really neat. And so that's what we do. Somebody will come by and drop off a, you know, brand new pair of Under Armour shoes that their daughter outgrew. They never had a chance to wear. And we get to pray with them. We get to share, you know, the floor with them, give them a bracelet, give them anything that they need. 

Rich Bennett 46:54
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 46:54
And then and and then we we accept that. And then what's really nice that the Lord brings somebody that next week or whatever, Hey, I need size 12 cleats. Oh, my gosh, we just got a donation size 12 soccer cleats. Yes, soccer cleats. And we get to turn around, do the same thing, share the gospel with them, with with the bracelet, pray over them, let them know, hey, someone just was praying for these shoes to be used and it was made for you. And there's a father in heaven who wants to do the same thing. And so it's a really, really neat and so it's a great for me to reach out to coaches Hey, Coach, you got anybody that you know, average in baseball said, Hey, I got a couple of guys coming out for to be catchers and they never caught before. We don't have the equipment. Well, Towson University baseball coach called me up and said, Tommy, come get our old equipment. Which Division one? Baseball has pretty nice equipment. 

Rich Bennett 47:42
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 47:42
And we were able to give that to Aberdeen Baseball. And I had a minute to talk about the talk with the boys. Hey, boys, baseball is something you do. It's not who you are. Like, let's make sure your identity. Tied up. So it's a really neat. So yeah, it doesn't feel like I'm working sometimes because but there's a lot of work to do. There's a lot of work to do 

Rich Bennett 47:59
That's great, though, because and you're right, when it comes to the equipment, stuff is not cheap. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:04
up. 

Rich Bennett 48:04
It is not cheap at all. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:06
No. 

Rich Bennett 48:06
You look at baseball, the gloves, you know, the 

Tommy Schumacher 48:12
They changed the regulations on the bat, too. So you buy a brand new bat. They keep changing the regulations on the bat, so it's, Oh, well, hey, that one's too heavy or, you know, too long. Or so they keep changing it. You know, Louisville or whatever is probably in cahoots with somebody. But 

Rich Bennett 48:26
Y. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:26
we, you know, we we get to say, okay, hey, we'll take that old bat. And, you know, that gives us a chance to teach baseball 

Rich Bennett 48:32
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:32
at our power camp. So we do a power camp for 8 to 12 year olds every year. We hosted Edgewood High School. First year was two years ago. We had 75 kids come out. The next year. We grew it by almost 50%, had 115, 117, 8 to 12 year olds. A majority of them were scholarship. The Dresher Foundation is a 

Rich Bennett 48:51
Yes. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:51
wonderful 

Rich Bennett 48:52
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 48:52
organization here. They said, Hey, we love what you're doing serving in the Japantown Edgewood communities. We will give you funds specifically to go towards families in need. And so we were able to scholarship anybody, anybody that wanted to come to camp. They couldn't afford it. Hey, you know, we try to make it very affordable. 

Rich Bennett 49:10
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 49:10
$150 for four days includes lunch and a snack all day camps. That's pretty good bargain. But but there were folks that said, hey, I can't I can't afford to do that. And, you know, I'd actually pick up a couple of kids and bring them to camp. Drop them off at the end of the day. But it's what I love is that we have students in high school that are then leading these kids. So they're the you know, you've got a 

Rich Bennett 49:35
Soccer. 

Tommy Schumacher 49:35
soccer gal from John Carroll leading a group of young ladies, 8 to 12 year olds, and she's the leader. She's the huddle leader for them for the week. And then you've got a former intern doing the the talk and you've got a band for Christian Church. Was our band this year worshipping inside Edgewood High School sharing. 

Rich Bennett 49:56
A band. 

Tommy Schumacher 49:58
We're full on. Yeah. Every morning is beautiful worship and program and. And then they would go to their practice, usually led by a high school coach, you know, and then the high school leaders are helping out. Come back. They have lunch, they go out for a second practice. They come back for an all sport game, and then they have a, you know, worship and prayer at the end. And they got to do that for four days last year. And we're going to see that continually grow. 

Rich Bennett 50:23
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 50:24
So 

Rich Bennett 50:24
So, 

Tommy Schumacher 50:24
FCA is really they've got this FCA for life 

Rich Bennett 50:27
uh, kind 

Tommy Schumacher 50:28
kind 

Rich Bennett 50:28
of. 

Tommy Schumacher 50:28
of mission like, hey, it doesn't matter if you're six years old and you're coming out for flag football at the copper plex. 

Rich Bennett 50:33
Mhm. 

Tommy Schumacher 50:34
Tuesday nights in partnership with Mountain, a flag football clinic, six years old, all the way up to, you 

Rich Bennett 50:40
You 

Tommy Schumacher 50:40
know, 

Rich Bennett 50:40
know. 

Tommy Schumacher 50:41
maybe we got somebody else to start a pickleball league for the 60 year olds, you know, 6 to 60 you can be RFK for life is kind of the the idea that there's a there's a touch point at some point all the way along the way up to the professional level if you make it or if you don't and you become an accountant. Well, you can be you can be someone that gives to the ministry or you can be part of a board or you can be part of the golf tournaments. So there's lots of ways to be involved. 

Rich Bennett 51:03
And correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably already answered the question just by saying donations, but you guys are five of 1c3. 

Tommy Schumacher 51:11
Right. So we are a non-profit and every staff, so some 3000 staff, every one of us have raised support to be full time. 

Rich Bennett 51:19
Huh? 

Tommy Schumacher 51:20
Yeah. So that was my reaction. So I was in the corporate world, so I went from the sales soldiers and the sales world for uniforms and apparel. And then I joined the corporate world and my MBA. I thought I climbed the corporate ladder, so I just took a job, didn't even know what the company did, but it helped the benefit consultants. And so I took a job as a in the corporate world, and me and my wife could see it and she's like, Man, I didn't look like you're having a lot of fun. You're wearing a suit every day going downtown, fighting traffic to be in Baltimore and I was like, Man, I think I'm made for more than this. 

Rich Bennett 51:52
Mm hmm. 

Tommy Schumacher 51:53
I just kept and I was praying this I was really praying. It's kind of a neat story. I'd raise money for Steve Bettinger, who's on staff managers on staff here in Harford County, 20 plus years with the ministry. 

Rich Bennett 52:04
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 52:05
I'd raise money for him at a golf tournament, and 

he called me. So I'm driving downtown Bel Air, and I'm praying this prayer. I said, Lord, you know, I feel like I feel like I'm ready to lead and manage something. What is it you want me to lead and manage? I've got my MBA. I've got all these ideas. I'm joining the over 30 soccer team. You know, I'm trying to figure out what's next for me in life. But while driving downtown Baltimore, I'm in Bel Air. They have the used to be a DUI board, but now it's an overdose board. 

Rich Bennett 52:36
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 52:36
Outside the courthouse shows how many overdoses are happening. And I heard through our nannies, our nannies, neighbor. She's like, can you pray for my my neighbor? Their son, good kid, grew up in a Christian household, went to a Christian school, got involved with a girl who's bad news. Bears tried something laced with fentanyl one time and overdosed and died. So I'm praying this prayer as I'm driving down to Bel Air. Lord, what do you want me to do? Manage. I'm also feeling this, like, just unsettle. 

Rich Bennett 53:11
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 53:12
I hard of like, Man, what are these young kids doing? They're trying things laced with fentanyl and all that, doing suicide challenges on Instagram. They're letting social media define their worth and, you know, 95 is a trafficking. I learned all this stuff talking to a local delegate here about how much trafficking is 

Rich Bennett 53:28
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 53:28
happening up 95. So I'm like, what is happening with these young people? And I get a call from Steve. I hadn't talked to this guy ever really. I knew of him. I was on the board for FCA in the Maryland 

Rich Bennett 53:40
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 53:40
for a while, so I always saw his name up on the board kind of thing and he said, Hey, what are you doing with your life? Well, thanks for the call, Steve. You drive. He said, The Lord sent me to ask you if you want to lead and manage Harford County, FCA. I was like, Steve, you know, to believe this, I just pray and a prayer about leading and managing something. And you're asking me to lead him. Like, what does that mean? You know, 

Rich Bennett 54:05
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 54:05
he said, Well, you get to you get to use your business skills. You be the director, be my first full time hire. You know, you get to use combined faith and sports. You get to go to schools, you get to build up leaders, You get to connect with, you know, business folks and community folks in the 

Rich Bennett 54:19
Yep. 

Tommy Schumacher 54:19
area you get to serve. And I'm like, Man, oh, that sounds awesome. You know, I'm I'm the sports guy. And, you know, I'm trying to use some of my faith and I'm praying these prayers. And I was like, what do I got to do? He's like, We just have to raise a bunch of money. You can come on staff. I did the look, the the look that you're giving me right now is what you want me to do. You know? And I kind of heard my parents in my ear say, Oh, you're going to go beg people for money so you could have a salary. I'm not doing that. Or, you know, I'm recently married. 

Rich Bennett 54:50
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 54:50
Oh, do you? What are you talking about? I'm not doing that. And so I tried to run from it, tried to go get my old job back, try to be a director. Sales tried to go. I played it Under Armour again and even looked at some franchising stuff like Orangetheory franchise, all this stuff. And but then I had this just wrestling in my heart. And there's this book called The God Ask. 

Rich Bennett 55:12
The God ask. 

Tommy Schumacher 55:13
The God Ask by Steve Shadrach. You know what to name this guy. He wrote a book on why it's biblical. To ask for funds to do ministry, especially geared towards those that are looking to do full time ministry. So FCA, every single staff person creates a budget that they think which includes their salary, includes the pizzas, includes the Bibles, includes the food. If I remember meeting with somebody, meeting with a donor or teacher, I want to bless them with some doughnuts and coffee or whatever. All that big budget that is 100% fundraised. 

Rich Bennett 55:47
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 55:48
So I said, That's a lot. So I but I read this book and it's called The Goddess, and it's just this beautiful picture of me sitting down, you know, praying, Lord, who do you want me to ask to 

Rich Bennett 56:00
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 56:00
invite to be part of this mission? And so then presents a person of my heart. I get to sit down with them and I get to share with them, Hey, SCA is a great investment. Let me tell you why. As a non-pro Buffett Right. That is focused on the faith that what we are doing in the community matters. Why it matters to be invested in the all abilities. Why invest in these young people, invest in coaches. We have a coaches study on Thursday mornings. All these coaches get together at 5:45 a.m. to hear from a former NFL coach. The New York Knicks chaplain comes up to it and 

Rich Bennett 56:29
Wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 56:29
gets to sit down and and and hear about what it means to coach so much more than the X's and O's. But coach the heart of the athlete. Like, why does that matter all these all these opportunities that are here locally. I would love if you asked the Lord if FCA is a good investment, if you would tithe, if you would give just like you would to, you know, sponsor a missionary overseas or, you know, maybe the SPCA or wherever, you feel like it is a good investment. You know, lions were sitting here in the Lions Club, you know, give to a nonprofit because they're doing good. Would you consider FCA as an investment and would you consider giving monthly to FCA? And so I'm asking you to ask the Lord if this is a good investment. So if you say no, well, you know, I'm not begging. 

Rich Bennett 57:12
Move on to the next. 

Tommy Schumacher 57:13
So it's okay. You know, it's it's not the right time. 

Rich Bennett 57:15
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 57:16
But, man, the got asked has really just changed my whole perspective that it is biblical. Actually the first fruits were supposed to go to the priests that we need to have faith. Like Nehemiah said, nearby is as a person in the Bible that was serving for King Xerxes, have you ever seen Throne that was a real king, 

Rich Bennett 57:34
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 57:34
right? That just if you looked at him the wrong way, he would cut your head off. 

Rich Bennett 57:38
Mm. 

Tommy Schumacher 57:38
He was just a dominant king, right? Well, Nehemiah had favor and was a consult. You know, the Lord was using Nehemiah and he was a consultant for the king. Well, he had this big burden on his heart that he needs to go build his city. The city had been burned to the ground and it was it was his God, the Lord city's people. And so he wanted to go build the city. He went, he prayed. He knew what he needed to ask for. And he went to the king and he said, This is what I need. And he asked for it. And then he shut up. He did say one thing more than what he was supposed to ask for. The king graciously not only provided him what he needed all the building materials, all of it, but he also provided safe passage to go and build this. So when you ask what the Lord has asked you to ask and you've prayed about it and He's given it to you, and you ask, then he's not only he's going to give you way more. 

Rich Bennett 58:28
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 58:28
My part, the pastor just last week said, Hey, if you've got five loaves of bread and two fish times, Jesus, you've your feed more than 5000 people, right? So anything times Jesus is going to be abundantly more than you could ever pray and imagine asked for. And so and even Jesus said in Luke eight, it's amazing. It says He was financially supported by Joanna, Susanna and Mary. So three ladies financially gave to the ministry that Jesus was leading in the Bible. And you said, Well, he Jesus, he's the he's the king of kings. He is God. Why does he need anything? Well, those ladies, were they allowed to go out and preach back in the day? Were they allowed to do those certain 

Rich Bennett 59:07
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 59:07
things? They wouldn't. So how could they be involved in the ministry? Well, they gave they gave 

Rich Bennett 59:12
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:12
to his ministry so that the disciples and Jesus could go out and do what they do. So it was really need to change. It just changed my whole perspective. I'm not begging people to give to my salary. I'm inviting them to be a part of a people movement here in FCA and it's a non you know, it's 

Rich Bennett 59:25
Nonprofit. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:25
a. 

Rich Bennett 59:26
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:26
Non-profit tax deductible donation. And so I had 100,000. So I say, okay, I'm all in. I get it. I get that I get offered the job, I sign on the line. It's a pretty neat story. They fly you out to Kansas City to train up our headquarters 

Rich Bennett 59:40
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:40
in Kansas. You take 70 all the way Arrowhead stadiums right there. You can see the the Chiefs in the Royals stadium and the number on the other side of the hill is AFC is headquarters. So they fly you out there two weeks before I go out there. My wife, who's all in, by the way, that I'm going to do this because that's who I was most worried about. 

Rich Bennett 59:55
Right? 

Tommy Schumacher 59:56
Hey. 

Rich Bennett 59:56
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 59:56
Hey, 

Rich Bennett 59:56
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:56
babe. 

Rich Bennett 59:57
It's got to 

Tommy Schumacher 59:57
Hey, 

Rich Bennett 59:57
be 

Tommy Schumacher 59:57
babe. 

Rich Bennett 59:58
happy life. 

Tommy Schumacher 59:58
I'm leaving my fully benefited corporate job. With my MBA that I could climb the corporate ladder, all these things to go. And I that it's okay if you're not, you know, that kind of thing. And she she said, Hey, this looks like an amazing opportunity if you're doing it with the Lord, it's going to be good. So she was just amazing. But two weeks before I fly out to get trained up, she gives me a little box. So she's half Filipino, beautiful or half Filipino. She gave me a box of the rice kernel in it. Hey, this is the size of our baby. You know, buckle, buckle. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:25
Oh, you didn't know. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:00:26
I didn't know. So, you know, she's telling me, Hey, we're pregnant. You know, I'm like, Oh, my God. All right, Lord, you're going have to do something big here. And and over the next nine months, you talk about God's faithfulness. You know, I had almost $100,000 I needed to raise. Well, I had about 75% of that come in by monthly donations. People that said, hey, Tommy, I believe in this. I believe in you. We prayed about it. We want to give to FCA monthly. And so that's the model that really sustains. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:53
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:00:54
About, you know, 75%. You know, now my budget's $200,000. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:58
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:00:58
Right. It's coming in monthly. So people that say, hey, we will give monthly. So it's kind of like a no no stopping, no ending, no end. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:05
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:01:06
We love the one time gifts. Those are great, of course, but the monthly gift just really helps us plan. So all staff, all seven staff here in Harford County and 3000 staff around the world, they are all using this model where they can give monthly or one time to FCA you. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:20
If you think you think about it. I mean, non-profits. Their staff is paid by donations. But the way you're doing it. 

That is. That's I think all non-profits need to do that. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:01:37
Well, and that's why I do consult with them. You know, the epicenter was telling me, hey, you guys need to have a monthly donation period. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:42
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:01:42
You need to have something you. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:45
It's helping you believe in FCA even more. It's helping you get the message out. Because a lot of people let's face a lot of people that are in charge of a nonprofit will just sit back. For the donations that come in 

Tommy Schumacher 1:01:59
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:59
and don't even go out and push it. You know, 

Tommy Schumacher 1:02:01
Well, that's what 

Rich Bennett 1:02:01
you're 

Tommy Schumacher 1:02:01
makes. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:02
talking about it, which is a good thing. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:02:03
That's what makes it really personal. So. I always say this like we're not. We're trying to get donors. We're not trying to get donors. Donors give blood. You know, I. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:12
Yeah. Oh. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:02:13
We want partners. We want people that are part on fire for the mission with us. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:20
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:02:21
Really neat. So when I, you know, I'll take the pictures that we took last night of our all abilities gathering and I'll get to share either video or text or, you know, constant contact email that says, Hey, last night, thank you for your prayers. You know, we even asked you to pray about a monthly All Abilities gathering. We finally launched it. And so share share it with your friends, share with your people with disabilities or or special needs and share with your community if you want to come serve. But it is part of my ministry. It's a donor ministries. I get to love on them and I get to sit down. I can't tell you how many times I've maybe have sat down with somebody, you know, thinking. Ask him for $150. That's a good number a month that I'm going to ask him. I think they can they can swing that. Amazing. I sit down with them. I've got my pitch ready to go and ready here. I say, you know what's going on with you and the guy sitting across from me to say, I'll be honest with you, I could think about leaving my wife. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:14
Oh, 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:14
I'm like, okay, well, I take my magazine, I dig my my pitch. I throw that out the window, right? 

Rich Bennett 1:03:20
yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:20
Like, that's not hey, now I get to I get 

Rich Bennett 1:03:22
It's 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:23
to 

Rich Bennett 1:03:23
hard 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:23
sit. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:23
to. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:23
I get to sit with you. I get to sit down with you. I just talk to you, you know, share or sit with a parent. And they're telling me about things that are going on with them. And, you know, and I need to have Scripture ready to go at the tip of my tongue. That's why we're that's why we study the Bible. It's a playbook for life. And I can say, hey, first, Peter, five, seven says, Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. So I know your daughter struggling with this eating thing that she's got going on in her identity. And I just want you. I want to. I want you to. Rest and first Peter five seven. So gives me an opportunity that I wouldn't have had that conversation. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:53
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:03:54
Otherwise I wouldn't know. It's a very intimate thing to ask somebody to give of their finances. Lord says, Hey, follow the money. You follow your heart. You know, You see where your heart is based on where you're giving kind of things like, Man. So we get to invite people into a safe space, build a relationship. And I'm super grateful for all the people that prayed for me and the family prayed for the ministry. And and hopefully, you know, I put on my business hat like it's a good ROI, like you're getting a great return on your investment. Look at these young leaders that are leading. And we've got about 1500 people a week being impacted by FCA just just here in Little Hartford County because of the ministry. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:33
I have to ask, how old's that little baby now? 

Tommy Schumacher 1:04:36
Oh, yeah, Micah is five, so. Yeah. So it's so my wife and I have Micah and Millie five and three years old, so. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:46
Did you say, Milli? 

Tommy Schumacher 1:04:47
Molly Yup. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:47
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:04:48
Micah and Molly. So they are just just so fun. So my wife and I have have those two. And then Landon, who's a big part of my story. His mom lives about 25 minutes away. He's going to Hereford Middle School. He's 13 years old, so. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:06
Oh, wow. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:07
So that's our family. They're showing you a picture. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:09
Oh, man. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:10
Such as? So much fun. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:12
All right. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:13
Very important. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:16
Tell everybody the website because they can now also make donations through the website, right? 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:20
For sure. Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:21
You can learn how to volunteer and 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:23
Everything. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:23
all abilities. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:24
How your kids can come to camp. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:25
abilities. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:05:26
Oh, man, it's so fun. I would love to invite you all out for that, because we'll have next. Next June, June twenty-firsts is going to be our all abilities Day camp from 9 to 2 at Hartford Community College. So that's what we're leading these these monthly gatherings will lead up to that. But yes, if you go to Hartford, RFK, Dawjee, you can find all the information about camps, camps for your, you know, clinics for the the 6 to 12 year olds. Right. We have basketball clinics. We have flag football happening right now. Would you soccer in the spring you know, upwards was a big organization around here. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:03
Yeah. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:06:03
Yeah. Yeah. So RFK Sports is kind of coming in and saying, hey, we want to take all the the wonderful things have been built with upwards and and continue it. All that information can be found on the website. The camps. We have camps for 8 to 12 year olds at Edgewood High School. We have a camp for the 13 to 18 year olds. We're going to Liberty University. It's an overnight camp this year. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:25
Where is that? 

Tommy Schumacher 1:06:26
It's in Lynchburg, Virginia. So it's. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:28
Okay. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:06:28
Pretty far. It's about 5 hours. But when you talk about moving, most people know us for having been at Kutztown University for 30 years. When we had the opportunity to come to Liberty, which is like a Division one powerhouse Christian school, we jumped on it. We said those facilities that campus is going to be amazing. So we're going to be going there at the end of June next year for our 13 to 18 year olds. They get to go for overnight camp. We have a college. We have a college camp, which is actually right up the street and Cecil County. So all college athletes in the mid-Atlantic will come to that. Another overnight, amazing camp for athletes and so all that information is found on our website. Where's the volunteers found? And yeah of course ways to give it's a you know we we literally cannot do it without the support and 95% of the support for me personally is coming through individuals. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:23
Right. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:07:24
You know there are some churches that give and some businesses that give but really it's and some of the grant stuff. But 95 plus percent of it is individual families that say, hey, we we believe in what you're doing. We want to give a monthly gift to you. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:37
I didn't realize you guys are as big as you are. And number one, I want to thank you for that, because what you're doing well, you're changing lives. You're you're saving lives. And getting the word out there. That's very important. Very important. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:07:55
Well, we appreciate that. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:56
And I have a funny feeling I'm going to be seeing you a lot more. I got some ideas. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:08:01
Okay. I love it. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:02
Tommy, thanks a lot. And. 

Tommy Schumacher 1:08:04
Thank you for having me.