Thousands of youth nationwide will gather today at their local athletic field to challenge each other to read and live out the Scriptures in their everyday lives in an annual event known as “Fields of Faith.”

The event, organized by Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), is held every second Wednesday in October. Its mission is to see students across America challenge each other to read the Bible. The hour-long gathering, held on school athletic fields and in gymnasiums nationwide, is filled with Scripture reading and personal testimonies.

“The reality is we are losing the spiritual war in America,” the Fields of Faith website states. “There is a movement in our country to remove God from the public square. It is rapidly taking ground and grows more emboldened every day.”

FCA states that part of the problem today is that youth are not reading their Bibles.

“Christian teens are being assaulted by a highly organized pagan culture. Christian teens are not reading the Scriptures; they have no way of fighting back,” it explains. “They are depending on their churches to make them feel good about their faith. Meanwhile, our culture is descending into the same abyss that Josiah had to face.”

But even then, the organization states, youth groups are often filled with multitudes of hip and high-tech resources that distract from the basics: simply seeking God and His righteousness.

“American youth programs are guilty of depending on complex resources for ministry. We have neglected emphasizing the fundamentals of our faith!” it explained. “As one prominent youth pastor said, ‘We are guilty of pursuing an experience for our kids, instead of a growing relationship with a holy God.’”

Gatherings are expected to be held at 450 locations this year, including in Texas, Kentucky, Indiana and North Dakota. In 2013, over 170,000 students participated in the event nationwide.

In Muncie, Indiana, organizers expecting thousands of students to attend, as since 2009, between 2500 and 3200 people have gathered to worship, pray and hear testimonies. The theme for this year’s event is “No More Gray,” as local FCA leader Jeff Mosier wrote in a press release that the focus reflects the “current trend of cultural relativism throughout society [that] is leaving young people unclear, uncertain, foggy and gray about things that should matter.”

“The students on the Fields of Faith team want to encourage their peers to choose not the ‘gray’ any more, but to take bold stands for truth,” he said.

In Jacksboro, Texas, students from the Graham School District will be meeting at Newton Field to hear testimonies and be challenged to live for Christ. Last year, approximately 1,800 youth attended the event.

“I realized this summer that I was worried more about looking good than living right,” shared student Mary Spears in 2013, who spoke of how Matthew 16:24-26 impacted her personal life. “What good is it for everything to be perfect, if gaining these, I might lose sight of what God wants me to be?”

“I can’t wait for this year’s Fields of Faith event,” Garrard, Kentucky football player Justin Sparks told Central Kentucky News. “I love seeing the students in this area come together to worship the one true God. My prayer for this event is that God will be glorified through the event and that a radical change would take place in our area for the gospel.”

Photo: Facebook

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