GCI Sport

Put Your Faith In Practice

GCI Sport training resources are designed with the Christian sportsperson in mind to strengthen one’s love for God, to train in godliness and to put faith in practice.

Cheryl Baird is a mental health professional with experience in conflict resolution, suicide awareness and prevention, family dynamics, marriage counseling and parenting. She holds a MA in Cl​inical Psychology and is a licensed professional counselor in private practice. Cheryl served as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Wellspring Alliance Church in Wheaton IL for over 20 years. Baird is a board member and consultant for the West Project, a non-profit group whose mission is to listen, learn, love and actively work for the growth and well-being of all people, in and through the powerful avenue of sport.

Cheryl’s three young adult children played collegiate sports. Her daughter Chrissy enjoyed a five-year career playing basketball at UCLA and her youngest Nicole is on a full ride scholarship playing basketball at Belmont University.Baird was an outstanding athlete in her own right playing volleyball at Wheaton College (IL) During her tenure at Wheaton she received All-CCIW honors, All-Midwest Region and All-American honors. Her senior year, she led Wheaton to their first NCAA III National Championship.

Skylar Bareford is the Head Women’s basketball coach at Covenant College. Skylar has coached 5 All-USA South West Division selections, 21 USA South All-Academic honorees and her team won the 2020 USA South Team Sportsmanship Award.Coach Bareford served as Assistant Coach at Greenville University where she helped lead the program to a 77-39 record during her tenure. GU won the NCCAA National Championship in 2017. Sky played collegiate basketball and softball at Gordon College.

Dale Clayton serves as the Vice President of Coaches’ Ministries of Nations of Coaches.  Dale has the most wins of any coach in the history of Carson-Newman basketball. Clayton also served as the President of the Black Coaches Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Dale played collegiate basketball at Milligan University

Valerie Gin and Lead to Serve are co-creators of the GCI Sport resources. Dr. Gin is the Executive Director of the Gordon-Conwell Institute. Val enjoys researching and pushing the boundaries of what is understood about sport. Her unconventional interactive teaching style is creative and challenging, which is one of the reasons why faculty and students selected Gin as the recipient of both the Junior and Senior Distinguished Faculty awards. 

As a coach, Gin led the Gordon College volleyball team to multiple NCAA appearances and earned several New England Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year honors. Along with accruing the most wins in Gordon volleyball and softball history, her 2002 volleyball squad holds the College’s longest winning streak of 29 matches.

Val has written numerous articles, book chapters and two books, Focus on Sport in Ministry and When Girls Became Lions. She served as co-chair of the Sport and Christianity Group and co-wrote the Declaration of Sport and the Christian Life. Gin is also the co-founder and former co-editor of the Journal of the Christian Society of Kinesiology and Leisure Studies and was a Research Fellow at Northeastern University’s Sport and Society.

Coach John Stiegelmeier has been the head football coach of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits for 25 seasons.  He has led his team to the most wins in South Dakota State football history with a .625 winning percentage, 185-111 record. His teams consistently reach the FCS playoffs and have been ranked in the top 25 FCS polls in the last 13 of the last 16 years.