THE VISION

The idea for this program grew out of a painful place. Myself and Chandler Coley were talking one day about the difficulty we had finding intentional purpose after we left the world of sports. We weren’t elite athletes by any means, but we both recognized that sports had become such a major part of who we were that it negatively impacted our ability to move forward in life. In the midst of our own wandering through career battles and life changes, we both realized that we had landed in the same career path at the same time: Mental Health Counseling. From that original conversation, The Jordan Initiative was born.

You might be thinking, “But why the name ‘The Jordan Initiative?’” The name was from a biblical story. In the beginning of the Bible, there is a story about the Israelite people leaving their captivity in Egypt. You may have heard of God splitting the Red Sea in two so the Israelites could escape. Well after their escape, the Israelite people wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before coming to the Jordan River. The land that God had promised them was on the other side of the river, but they had no way to make it across. Behind them was the wilderness they had wandered in for decades, so they had a decision to make. Move forward in faith or move backward in comfort. They chose to move forward and met God in the river. God split the Jordan River like he did the Red Sea, and the Israelites walked through.

How does it all connect? Well it’s simple but not easy. So many of us have experienced a similar circumstance. We feel like we are just wandering through life and making no real moves toward something lasting. Often this is because of a life of pain we have endured, a broken family, or fractured community. Whatever has you in that season of wandering is worth understanding and when we can understand we can move forward.

How do we do this? Our mission is to foster authentic conversations in the world of sports and to nurture those conversations to help individuals grow into their potential. We do this through a three step model of self-discovery: Finding an Identity, Uncovering Performance, and Embracing Neediness.

We hope for a world where our identity is not found in the things that the world offers, but instead in a God who designed us for much more. We imagine a place where the damage that has been done to each individual can be cared for and nurtured into a truly beautiful thing. 

The Jordan Initiative is an attempt to give past, present, and future athletes a firm understanding of the realities of their life circumstances. Often sports can be a very beneficial avenue for personal and communal growth, but unless that environment is intentionally authentic, the likelihood of damage is high. The goal of the Jordan Initiative is to create an authentic community within the world of sports and train the individual to take that authentic community further than their athletic careers could ever take them.

Thank you for joining in this journey with us! Welcome to The Jordan Initiative.