This article appears in the Spring 2025 issue of the FCA Donor Publication. The FCA publication is a gift from our FCA staff to all donors giving $50 or more annually. For more information about giving, visit here.
Chris Franke believes in the transforming power of God and the ministry of FCA. Franke, a native of Southern California, grew up in a Christian home—the son of a youth minister—and called himself a Christian as an adolescent. But after graduating high school, “I spent 20 years in the desert where I experienced an unpleasant alternative reality,” he said. His love for Jesus was reignited in 2002, when he got connected to FCA by playing in a local charity golf tournament sponsored by the ministry. He ultimately reached FCA’s national championship scramble tournament in 2005, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where the PGA Tour hosts its annual THE PLAYERS Championship. After winning the national title that year, Franke remained involved in FCA golf tournaments before meeting Colin Sinclair, FCA’s Multi-Area Director of San Diego at the time, in 2009. Franke joined Sinclair’s board of directors in 2010, serving as the board chair. Today, Franke continues to serve as board chair for Sinclair, who is now the Regional Vice President of the Pacific Southwest, even though Franke and his family have relocated to Ponte Vedra Beach, where he works as a financial advisor.
How has serving as a donor and volunteer in FCA impacted your faith?
From when I graduated high school in 1992 to when I found FCA in 2002, I think it would be fair to say that I had lost my way. I wasn’t walking with the Lord for 20 years until I found FCA. Finding FCA helped me remember to not rely on yourself and what you do in the world, but to refocus on the relationship you can have with Jesus and what He’s already done on the cross for us. The weight that it takes off your shoulder and the burden that it lifts for me—it was a great way to feel like life didn’t have to be so hard when you’re reminded of what Jesus did for us.
What would you tell someone who is considering whether or not to get involved in FCA, whether as a donor, a board member or in another capacity?
You’ve got to love sports, but you’ve also got to love Jesus and kids. And for me, now having kids of my own, the peer pressure that kids face, the concerns over their image and popularity, can really destroy a kid. And there’s no better way to engage a kid through sports for Jesus than FCA. Sports is a great way to get a kid’s attention and then tell them about Jesus. What parent or grandparent doesn’t have a son or daughter or a grandchild that is involved in sports and doesn’t want their child to have a relationship with Jesus? Because the alternative is terrible. And that’s why I’m so involved, because I experienced the alternative. There were times where I felt worthless. There were times that I felt empty. There were times that I felt like, “Man, I don’t love myself. I’m a bad person because I’m doing stupid things.” So I want kids to know there’s a better way, and it’s finding Jesus. That’s what FCA does, and that’s why I love it.
How can sports be used to reveal God’s glory?
When you see an athlete give glory to God, that’s the best thing. [I told Colin Sinclair], “We need to find that athlete, and we need to do a gala.” Several years later, I think it was during COVID, Drew Brees was that athlete, and he did a gala in San Diego. Five hundred people showed up, and I think the ministry in San Diego raised close to $400,000. Somebody like me doesn’t have that aura to draw people like that. But can we use our connections, our networks, our influence to find those people and make it happen so that God’s glory can be revealed? Absolutely. That’s what I love about serving on the board. The people I’ve met, we’re all on the same team with different gifts, and when you’ve got the right people in the right seats on the bus with God behind you, nothing is impossible for God’s glory to be revealed.
What is God teaching you right now?
What is God not teaching me! Humility, dependence, surrender, perseverance, discipline, love, empathy, sacrifice and excitement. I'm excited. Sometimes when you’re in the moment, you want to be hit over the head with a two-by-four with God saying, “Do this.” And that doesn’t happen. But a week later, a month later, a year later, in the quiet time when you’re spending time in the Word and reflecting, you look back on it and you say, “Oh yeah, He did hit me over the head with a two-by-four. I just didn't realize it until now. That’s the best part of walking with the Lord, just being able to reflect back on all the wonderful things, good and even bad, because it’s how we learn. That's how He keeps us close to Him.