"Growing up in a Christian home, I always had my family to help encourage me along in my faith. When I came to Purdue, I no longer had my family around. I looked to various organizations and small groups around campus before I found a home with FCA. FCA helped provide a place for me to learn more about God, develop friendships with other Christians, and grow in my faith." 

-Nate Mills, former student and Purdue FCA President

"I am so grateful for God's mercy in my life, and I am thankful that He sent me people like Marty Dittmar. I cannot emphasize enough the impact and encouragement Marty’s faith has brought to mine. Through all of my success and hardships in college and collegiate athletics, FCA and Marty Dittmar have taught me to have one  clear focus... get into the Word and do everything for the Glory of God."

- Mike Conway, former Purdue football player

"I grew up going to church, but was never able to connect the knowledge I had in my head with the need of my heart. I was a "good kid" growing up. I listened to my parents, did well in school, and worked hard enough at my sport to earn a spot on the Purdue Softball Team. Now looking back, I can see that God was setting me up to have an encounter of Faith with Jesus through FCA at Purdue. I was saved at an FCA Leadership Camp in the summer of 2008, and Marty was the reason I went. God used a single email (the only one Marty has ever sent out about an FCA camp as far as I know...God is in the details!), to put me in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to hear the Gospel preached. My eyes were opened and I believed!
FCA has been a time for me to grow in my faith and make life changing commitments based on what I learned from the Word of God. Because of our athletic backgrounds, FCA was a place where I could relate to other Christian athletes around me on multiple levels. I felt comfortable and at home there.
I graduated from Purdue in 2010, and am now coaching the Softball team at Otterbein University in Ohio and working toward a Masters in Teaching. At FCA we are also taught about the importance of the local church, and I have found a great church here where I can continue to grow.  It is amazing to see how my faith has grown since that summer night in 2008. As Paul put it, "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it" (Phil. 3:13), but the guidance, support, and love that I received--and continue to receive--from Marty, Brenda, and the brothers and sisters in Christ I met through FCA help me to keep pressing forward and walk daily with Jesus Christ."

- Liz Allum, former Purdue softball player and softball coach at Otterbein University.

God used my time with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Purdue to build a strong foundation upon which my faith has grown over the last five years. During my time at Purdue, I developed a very strong relationship with Chaplain Marty as we had our morning Bible Studies together each week. Amidst all the stress and pressure of being a student-athlete, FCA is a genuine place of solitude where you can come and fellowship with others that deal with the same obstacles as yourself. I was able to go on mission trips to Haiti and South Africa.  What a great way to share the Gospel and grow in your faith while serving others. I am truly grateful to have been a part of FCA at Purdue.  God used it greatly in my life!

- Adam Wolf, former Purdue football player

I joined Purdue Basketball as a walk-on my Sophomore year. Having been previously cut as a Freshman, I decided I would do two things differently in preparation for the tryout my Sophomore year. (1) I decided to focus on my conditioning and (2) I decided to pray about the tryout every day. God was faithful to me, and I had a much better tryout. Little did I know, but God's plans for me were a much better blessing than simply continuing my basketball career. Having left my parents for Purdue, my Church attendance while on my own was spotty at best as a Freshman. Soon after joining the basketball team, however, I was able to meet a group of people that were instrumental in my development as a Christian and my walk with the Lord. I was able to find common ground with other young athletes through the guidance of Marty Dittmar's leadership and FCA at Purdue. It was an unbelievable blessing to be meeting regularly with brothers and sisters in Christ. I now realize that God not only wanted to give me the gift of continuing my athletic career because He loves to give good things to those who trust and obey Him, but also because He wanted to call me back to a closer walk with Him. In FCA we discussed God's word while sharing our mutual struggles of balancing the demands of academics and Big Ten sports. I was able to grow in fellowship and refocus my priorities. I am so thankful for the blessing of FCA at Purdue. It helped lay the foundation for my continuing walk with Christ and called me to the greater purpose for which I now know I am meant to live. On top of the great gifts God already bestowed upon me, He even blessed me with an athletic scholarship and a Big Ten Championship my senior season. GO BOILERS!  What a truly loving and kind God we have!

- Mark Wohlford, former Purdue basketball player

God did incredible things through FCA and Marty and Brenda Dittmar during my time at Purdue. I came to Purdue as a young man in need of an identity and a direction. At the end of my freshman year I felt a real void in my life and because of this began attending FCA and meeting individually with Marty each week to study the Bible. I grew in knowledge of the Bible and of God throughout my sophomore year, and I completely committed my life to Christ on an FCA mission trip to Haiti at the end of that year. Marty became my spiritual mentor in college, and he also became one of my closest friends. Through his knowledge of God's Word and his heart of service, Marty has guided me and hundreds of other athletes through good times and bad, always there to help us and always willing to encourage us in God's love. FCA became a weekly source of encouragement and strength for me, and I made some of my best friends at FCA. Now playing for the Chicago Bears, I am so grateful for Marty and his ministry, because I can now compete in the NFL as a Christian first, and a football player second. The Lord used Marty to change my life, and I am forever thankful for his and Brenda's ministry to myself and all the other athletes at Purdue.  I hope many students and student athletes will get involved in FCA at Purdue!

- Kyle Adams, Chicago Bears TE and former Purdue football player.

After high school I went to Purdue on a track scholarship and started on a degree in construction management. It was the first time I was out of my parent’s house and able to make my own decisions. I did what many college freshman do. I had a relationship with Christ, but he was NOT my top priority. I was fortunate enough to have a great high school track Coach who called me one day and convince me to check out Purdue’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). He told me if I went, he would take me out to dinner the next time I came home; so, of course, I went. Thankfully I did because this is where I met Purdue’s FCA Chaplain, Marty Dittmar, my next Christian mentor. I started attending FCA weekly and grew stronger in my faith. Eventually, I led small group Bible studies at FCA, found a great church, and went around the globe on two FCA mission trips. While in FCA, I developed great friendships that built me up in my life and faith and still do to this day.  I grew so much through these experiences.  Through God's working in me, I have made a commitment to love and serve Christ in any way I can. 

- Lance Moe, former Purdue Track and Field

Would you like to tell your story of how the Lord used FCA to build and encourage you spiritually while at Purdue? 

Send it to Marty at:

chaplainpu@gmail.com 

It will be posted here.

"For me, living is Christ and dying is gain."

Philippians 1:21

"You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read, and your life is under scrutiny every day. What do others learn from you? Do they see an accurate picture of your God?"

-John MacArthur

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:19,20

"Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me."

-D.L. Moody

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come."

2 Corinthians 5:17

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:19,20