Meters, Milestones, Ministry
December 18, 2022 | by Taylor Pill
WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Jeremy Fopma turns the final corner of the undulating Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course, and the crowd at NCCAA Nationals urges him down the home stretch.
As if he needed the help.
He surges towards the finish line, leading his closest rival by almost 30 seconds - an unusual gap to see at a national championship. It's the gap of a champion. A gap that separates the svelte Iowan from the rest of the entire field of the National Christian College Athletic Association. A gap that is fitting for a history-maker, symbolizing his dominance at the national level and in the NCCAA history books alike.
The look on Jeremy's face is the same quiet determination that made him get out of bed for all those 5 a.m. workouts with no one watching. The same determination that brought him back from the brink of long-term injury two years prior. The same determination he needed to balance a life of ministry with running. The same determination that stirs the lethal competitor within.
There's no drama with Jeremy - there never has been. His emotions have made way for the steely focus that his elite fitness requires. He's not smiling yet because there's still ground to cover.
Two hundred meters away from the finish. There's no one in sight. The race is his. He hears the cheers but his expression doesn't change.
One hundred meters... the Ozarks echo with applause as Fopma's long strides take him closer and closer to something the NCCAA has never seen: a single runner capturing four consecutive individual titles at Nationals.
History.
Fifty meters... a sense of deja vu fills the crisp morning air because it was on this very ground that, one year prior, the man they call "Flying Fopma" did something previously unseen: a third straight national title.
History.
Forty meters... Fopma glances at the clock to read 25:57 - 10 seconds past the time that won nationals in 2020 - a time that was good enough not only to blow away the NCCAA Division II field in which Jeremy competes but also to beat anyone in Division I by almost a full minute. It was then that a Division II runner had bested the entire Division I field for the first time ever.
History.
Twenty meters... Freshman-year flashbacks of Jeremy winning Nationals come racing back. It seems like yesterday that he ran his 26:38 8K on the difficult trail at College of the Ozarks to beat the field by over a minute. That was Jeremy's third win of the season, and who could have predicted the history that awaited him?
Ten meters...
What everyone sees are effortless strides. A quiet consistency. The tall, confident demeanor of a national champion. And to be sure, Jeremy displays all of that. But what few people see is the man outside of the race course.
For how highly he prioritizes running, few would guess that he has an even higher priority.
* * *
"Open your Bibles to I Corinthians 13..." Jeremy looks across the circle of chairs into the faces of the youth group at Anchor Bible Church in Whitewater, Wisconsin - a ministry where he has served as youth pastor since 2021. During a season in which he prepared to make even more history on the NCCAA national stage, Jeremy has been faithfully preaching the Word of God whenever he was called upon in the local church context. Besides expositing scripture, Jeremy ministers to the teenagers there and oversees activities for youth of all ages, including a Vacation Bible School this past summer.
Because for Jeremy, a life of ministry beats everything.
Even running.
"I spend extra time on Sundays and Wednesdays to be in church - around other believers and grow in my walk with Christ," Jeremy says. "I believe that ministering to others and becoming more like Christ has greater eternal value than training. And because of that, I prioritize church and being around other believers. And I want to grow in my walk with God, so I'm going to be in church and surround myself with those people, and sometimes that means sacrificing training time or opportunities, but eternal things are more important.
"I see the Church and being around other believers as being vital to the Christian life."
Not only is Jeremy actively involved in the local church, but he is also invested in the students around him back at Maranatha. Jeremy was given the leadership role of Dorm Supervisor in Spurgeon Dorm, where he and his wife, Maddy, minister to the dorm residents daily.
Ministry.
That's been the lens through which Jeremy views his very life: ministry. Not only is it bigger than running for him - but it's also the framework through which he views running itself. When all that is taken care of, Jeremy doesn't 'switch off' when he comes to the team's workouts. As team captain, Jeremy models ministry as he seeks to improve himself and whoever is running next to him.
"I reach out to people around me to help them become better runners," Jeremy said. "Because I know that I can't be a better runner without people around me - it's the same idea in the Christian life - if you surround yourself with other believers you'll grow in your walk with Christ. And so early on in my running career, I thought it was a solo effort. But as I've matured in running I realize that I need other people around me. We need to be learning and growing in our understanding of running and putting in the work to get better."
And the ministry doesn't go unnoticed. It's one of the primary ways Jeremy adds value to the team.
"Jeremy is a quiet but strong leader," said head coach John Warnke. "During the past four years at Maranatha, he has grown in his faith by going through the adversity of training injuries and supporting his teammates. He is a kind and compassionate teammate who frequently makes time to talk with teammates about their training and life challenges.
"Throughout all of these endeavors, [Jeremy] is training to be in the ministry," Warnke continued. "Jeremy has been recognized by his peers as influential in matters great and small, being named team captain for the past four years. He exemplifies our core values of perseverance and humility."
You can see it in how Jeremy has learned to support his teammates.
Ministry.
“We are thrilled to have Jeremy as a ‘Sabercat’ not because he has set the standard high in Cross Country, but because of the high standard he has set in life and ministry, and in the type of person he has become," said Maranatha's Athletic Director and NCCAA President, Rob Thompson. "‘Flying Fopma’ will be remembered for setting, breaking, and resetting records right and left, leaving a mark on MBU and the NCCAA that is unparalleled in history and will likely stand for many, many years, if not permanently.
"More importantly, Jeremy will be remembered at MBU and his church because of his testimony. He has demonstrated on and off the course what we desire to see in all of our student-athletes; an unwavering dedication to the sport, and a vibrant, consistent, compassionate, humble, and unwavering dedication to our Lord.
Ministry.
The wins make him a public figure, but his impact is just as profound in his life behind the scenes. Jeremy handles his running career with the same quality that he lives his very life - with quiet and pronounced investment.
* * *
Five meters left... two... one...
The ever-familiar name is etched into the NCCAA record books for the fourth straight year as Jeremy crosses the finish line with a time of 26:08. The gap behind him symbolizes his relentless pursuit of excellence and reminds everyone of a record that will likely never be broken.
With the finish line behind him, Jeremy sees the win in its context - running is his calling, his rigorous pursuit, his area of investment.
But above everything - above the wins, the ups and downs, the rewarding recovery from injuries; above the records, above the history, above the training, and above the accolades; running stands to represent the same thing that Jeremy embodies in the rest of his life:
Ministry.
