|
For nearly six decades, Coach Dwight Lundeen has used football as more than a game. At Becker High School, the football field became a place to teach character, build relationships, and point young people toward something greater than themselves. Lundeen's purpose in coaching has always been closely connected to The Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Coach Lundeen first encountered FCA while attending St. Cloud State University in the 1960s. He was preparing to become a teacher and coach, and FCA gave him a way to connect his passion for athletics with his faith. A few years after he and his wife, Pam, moved to Becker, MN they started an FCA Huddle at the high school.
More than five decades later, that ministry remains part of the fabric of the Becker community.
The Lundeens opened their home to students for Bible studies, fellowship, and games. They encouraged young people to attend FCA camps and welcomed hundreds of students into their lives over the years. For Dwight and Pam, ministry was never something separate from their home, their school, or their community. It was woven into all of them.
“I would not be putting that time and effort into it if I didn’t think it was having a positive influence in the halls of Becker and ripple effects into our community,” Dwight said in an FCA interview.
That commitment to serving young people extended far beyond their home. For Dwight, the football field became another place where mentorship, faith, and relationships could take root. For 57 years, he has stood on the sidelines at Becker High School, coaching generations of young men through football and life. He built the Becker football program from the ground up, beginning with little equipment, no established tradition, and only a handful of players.
The program eventually grew into one of Minnesota’s most successful. Lundeen has more than 400 victories, four state championships, numerous conference and section titles, and inductions into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and Minnesota Interscholastic Activities Administrators Association halls of fame.
Yet those accomplishments have never been the final measure of success for Coach Lundeen. When people ask about his legacy, he talks about people. “If you’re going to stay in this business of coaching, it’s a tough business, you must understand the purpose of why you’re coaching,” he has said. “If you’re going to put all your hope and joy in the output of a game, it’s going to be very shallow.” His purpose is to impact young people positively. “Show them you really care,” he continued. “It will have more of a lasting impact than any record or winning season ever could.” That philosophy is at the heart of Lundeen’s coaching and his involvement with FCA. The scoreboard matters, but it cannot define the coach, the player, or the purpose behind the work.
“If you’re going to stand at all in any activity, you have to have a clear vision of what your goal is and what your purpose is,” Lundeen said. “The scoreboard can’t define who you are and what you stand for. It’s still a game… just a game.” For Coach Lundeen, football is the platform, his faith is the foundation.
Perhaps the clearest evidence of Coach Lundeen's influence can be found in his own family. His son, Matt, grew up watching FCA become part of everyday life in the Lundeen household. As a child, Matt saw students arriving at his home each week for FCA. He watched his parents invest their time and energy whether five students showed up or 105. “I got to see firsthand the time and energy that my dad and mom put into running the huddle at Becker,” Matt recalled. “They modeled how to sincerely love the kids of Becker. They want nothing more than for every youth in Becker to come to a personal relationship with Jesus. I got to see that.”
Matt’s own high school years in FCA and at FCA camps became deeply formative. Through those experiences he learned how faith could be lived authentically through sports, school, and everyday life.
And through his father, he saw what that faith looked like in action. “My dad’s my hero, my role model,” Matt said. “He always told us, ‘I’m always your dad first and coach second.’”
That example eventually became a blueprint for Matt’s own life.
Today, Matt coaches football and leads the FCA Huddle at Redwood Valley alongside his wife, Amber. Like his father, he has put down deep roots in his community and sees coaching as an opportunity to love and serve young people. The influence has continued from one generation to the next.
Matt’s new book, Success Is Temporary. Impact Is Forever: 57 Years of Influence, tells the story of his father’s coaching career, but its message extends well beyond football. “Football’s the platform of the book, but life is the lesson,” Matt says. That lesson is one Coach Lundeen has lived throughout his career: success can be measured in wins, championships, and records, but impact is measured in lives.
| 
