Jim was born in Sydney, Australia. Growing up in a sports-mad country, he developed a strong interest in sport from a young age. He played cricket, rugby, and golf at a representative level. He was born and raised in a home that respected Jesus. So, sports ministry was not something new to him. He took a few different avenues like teaching and chaplaincy, even as a minister in the Anglican Church in Sydney. However, deep down he knew it was sports ministry, after all. In 1996, he was in Atlanta for the Olympics with AIA. Dayhew was heading to Kansas City as part of his trip, and a pastor friend from Sydney lived in the area and took him to visit FCA’s Support Center. He did not know about FCA back then. Then he built loose connections in the sports ministry world until 2009. It was when he was a full-time teacher that he connected back with the Sports Movement at a conference in Orlando. There he met Chief Field Officer Dan Britton and the late Barry Spofford, who gave him FCA Coach’s and Athlete’s Bibles, and they stayed in touch over the years. Over the time, things were gaining traction, Frude and East Global Divisional SVP Jin Kang were paying attention. They invited him to join them in Abu Dhabi for the International Capacity Conference and meet leaders from around the world. He could see puzzle pieces coming together, but he was still hesitant to jump in full-time. He was in his mid-fifties, at a point in life where he really wanted to be intentional with the choices he made that would shape the remainder of his working years. However, he went in. His drive to make a transformative difference to sport in Australia ultimately led him to FCA. He retired from teaching and took the plunge to come on staff full-time in January 2024.

“Australia is sports mad; it’s a religion. For us, it’s probably an unhealthy obsession, yet we can redeem the goodness of sport in God’s creation, so to try to bring some order from the chaos that sport becomes and be ambassadors for Christ in sport.”

  It’s a daunting task for the solo staff person in the country. But Jim is Savvy and resourceful, and he’s been around long enough to navigate.