Former Jackson educator/coach already attacking his next chapter in life

As he cut through a sizzling ribeye steak at Jeremiah’s Fine Dining and Spirits in downtown Sikeston on Tuesday evening, young Sikeston resident Noah Mason proudly wore his Southeast Missouri Fellowship of Christian Athletes hat for all to see.

Call it “Divine marketing,” if you will.

“Oh yeah,” Mason said enthusiastically when asked if he was active in the organization.

Mason is transferring from Murray State to Southeast Missouri State, well, beginning Monday, and he has already spent the past couple of months serving with the local FCA chapter as an intern.

“(Noah) is majoring in Nonprofit Management,” SEMO FCA Area Director Darrin Scott posted on social media at the start of Mason’s internship, “and hopes to start his own ministry or be a part of college ministry after graduation.

“We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through Noah.”

Next chapter

As excited as Mason is about immersing himself into the FCA, that is how excited Scott is to be leading the local chapter.

“At first,” Scott said of taking over following the seven-year reign of his predecessor, Mike Litzelfelner, “I didn’t know if I wanted to commit to it. But the more that I thought about it, the more I prayed about it, and I started liking (the idea) more.

“It felt like, maybe this is what I am supposed to do.”

After three decades of coaching basketball and teaching at Poplar Bluff, Greenville, Notre Dame, and in his final chapter of education, Jackson High School, Scott stepped away this summer from THAT classroom and into a different (yet very similar) educational environment.

“Some of the things that I liked the most in teaching,” Scott said of his 31 years in education and on the court, “was the interaction. The personal part became just as important, and I enjoyed that just as much, as the coaching.”

On the court, Scott’s teams only had two losing seasons since 2009 and won 12 District titles (10 at Jackson and two at Notre Dame). However, he is now taking a more measured approach – though just as passionate – toward winning over people to The Word of God, as he did basketball games.

“I’m not saying that winning and losing didn’t matter,” Scott said. “But it didn’t matter as much (later in my career) as maybe I thought it did before. That was a sign that I was ready to do something different.”

In replacing Litzelfelner, who will be recognized with a (secret) celebration today from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Montgomery Bank Conference Center in Jackson, Scott is having to build ON to all of the activities that the organization has been orchestrating through the years, not REBUILD the already successful organization.

“My job,” Scott explained, “is to take what Mike has done, and he’s done a great job building what we have, and can we add to it?

“We’d like to keep growing.”

Back to the beginning

Scott has come full circle in life.

As a student at Fox High School, Scott thought very hard about attending a seminary post-graduation, though his mother dreamed of her son being an engineer due to his love for math. He caught the coaching bug and pursued that endeavor.

“My pastor told me that ‘If God wants you to go into ministry,’” Scott recalled, “’He won’t just let this go.’”

The Lord didn’t necessarily “Let this go” with Scott, He just postponed this path for 30-some years.

“My pastor has passed away,” Scott said. “But I’d like to go back and tell him ‘Hey, I think you were right.’ God did want me to do something in ministry, it just wasn’t now. It’s going to be in 31 years.”

Diversity is the key

Just as he did in education and coaching, Scott has prepared himself well to work with student-athletes, coaches, and administrators from all walks of religion.

“He grew up attending a Free Will Baptist Church, before starting his teaching career at Poplar Bluff (where he first worked with the FCA) and attending a Southern Baptist Church.

He later coached and taught at Notre Dame High School, where he tried to learn about Catholicism as much as his students did.

“I learned that I didn’t know anything (about Catholicism),” Scott said. “I had been around Catholics all of my life, but I didn’t know anything. I asked them ‘Hey, what do you guys believe?’”

Scott, his wife, Jana (who also recently retired from teaching at Jackson Schools), and their three kids have also attended a Methodist Church, and are now attending a non-denominational church, which is ideal because the FCA is a non-denominational organization.

“My church background,” Scott emphasized, “has not been just one thing.”

Construction underway

One of the areas that Scott would like to “build on” is constructing a full-time staff in order to grow the participants.

He works with Josh Mills, who is the Area Director in the Poplar Bluff and Dexter areas, while Mike Vipperman oversees the Malden area.

Scott has a vision of hiring another representative to handle the Cape Girardeau and north areas, while he also would like to have a full-time representative on the Southeast Missouri State campus.

Aside from growing the staff, which, in turn, can grow the impact throughout the region, Scott is keeping his game plan simple to start with.

“The funny thing is,” Scott said, “there is nothing (dramatically) different that we’re going to do. We just need to keep doing it. It is sort of like in coaching where there is no magic thing. We just need to do the basics, but do them better than anybody else, and then keep getting better at those things.”

For more information on the organization, visit the Southeast Missouri FCA homepage on Facebook or www.semofca.org.