[The Cross Movement]

First off, Jw4914, I want to thank you for your kind words and support for what Coach Shearer and his staff are trying to do at Jackson County. I am Coach Shearer's Defensive Coordinator and proud to be, I am a para- professional whose full-time job is Federal Prison Chaplain for some of the nations most violent criminals!

Coach Shearer is my good friend, and dare I say almost like a brother to me. When I aplied for his Defensive Coordinator position, I was coming off three hard years at another school. Coach Shearer's main emphasis in the interview process was not X's and O's, he did not discuss in depth my previous experiences, where I had been, how many championships I had, how many players I helped get to college, he simply shared with me that he made a renewed committment to follow Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savor, and that he wanted to build JCHS football on the foundation of Character and Christ! His main concern was hiring men of great character who could mentor student athletes! He was clear he could find coaches who were brilliant X's and O's guys, but the most important attribute he was looking for was honest and genuine men who wanted lead young men by example! He was clear part of building character is a passion and committment to WIN and COMPETE! Men of character do not tolerate losing and half hearted effort! Our players were not going to get away with laziness, sloppy fundamentals and fear, they were going to be men of character who compete and backdown from no one, this was the mindset becasue when they become men they will have to compete for jobs and take care of thier families and pay bills, not a task for weak men, it requires character, grit and determination to be a responsible man.

This last season he invited every team we played to pray with us after games whether we won or lost, we established an FCA team huddle where 14 young men made committments to follow Christ and hosted an FCA youth rally! We never forced our faith on anyone, we allowed the students to lead and we always respected those who did not want to participate - we merely facilitated a movement of character building and used our positions for something bigger and greater than just coaching. I firmly believe because of Coach Shearer's vision to honor God first, God honored him by leading us to our first winning season in school history and District Coach of the Year honors.

Is Coach Shearer passionate and fiery? You bet, he will fight for his kids, family and coaches 100 percent of the time, that is why those same people will fight for him 100 percent of the time! Has Coach Shearer made mistakes in life? You bet, haven't we all! Lord have mercy on us all, in that case.....right...

Coach Scenters did a great job at Garrard - great man, great coach. My hope and prayer is the young men at Garrard County get a Head Coach like they have had in the past, that will fight for them, love them and get them to believe they can do whatever it is God wants them to do!!! Best Wishes Garrard, praying the best for you!!