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Who is Jesus in your life? That was a question that anchored today’s guest through her coaching journey, infertility journey, and life journey. Today I have the incredible opportunity of sitting down and talking with JP Dorn. She is a wife, a mother, and a coach of all coaches. She is currently the head volleyball coach at Vanguard University
J.P and her husband Kris (the Vanguard Beach Volleyball coach) reside in Costa Mesa. A graduate of University of Southern California, with a master of science in kinesiology from California Baptist University. Dorn is originally from Murrieta, where she attended Linfield Christian High School in Temecula. Dorn's volunteer work started nearly two decades ago when she participated in "Athletes in Action" mission trips to places like East Asia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Brazil, as a student. Her coaching career is an extension of who she is. In her first season for the Vanguard Lions, the team finished second in both the regular season and GSAC conference tournaments. During her second campaign, the team finished third in both but made it back to Sioux City with an automatic berth in the NAIA National Championships. They achieved their highest ranking under her guidance at 14th in 2018.
In today’s interview, she talks a lot about calling and purpose, which is huge for me and what we stand for here in the FAM. She says, “I think we put a lot of expectation on the word ‘calling’ and we feel like if we don’t figure it out, we’ve missed a huge piece of God.” Her words and encouragement to us is to, first and foremost, follow the command and the calling that Jesus gave us when he said to love God and to love others.
Our conversation today about her coaching journey goes far beyond coaching. She shares sound wisdom on life in general whether you are an athlete, a coach, a parent, or just a fan of the podcast. No matter where you are or what you are walking through, this episode is for you.
3 key takeaways from this episode:
How to have a purposeful job
JP shares with us today that we can always have purpose if we are doing our work to the glory of God. She also talked about the certainty of how there is purpose in everything that we do in life.
Our calling in life
The Bible talks about our calling and says that we are to love the Lord above everything else and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is our calling. Of course, God gives us other gifts and talents to help others along the way. Coaching, for example, is a calling that the Lord gave me so that I can encourage and teach others about the sport and about Jesus.
What are you putting your anchor in?
Building a firm foundation in Jesus is so important, especially in today’s day and age. JP talks about it and I see on a daily basis, students and athletes who are struggling and we think that comes from a sense of not knowing the Bible. That is why it is so important to be uplifting and loving your neighbor. You could be Jesus to someone else.
Here are all the things mentioned in this episode:
What are you reading/listening to? Kids devotional - Jesus Story Book Bible
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