Senior center Kal Essenmacher is used to hearing the roar of a crowd while playing for the Liberty University Men’s Division I Hockey team, but in Finland, the real celebration came after he publicly declared his faith in Christ.
In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus told his followers to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. In January 2025, Essenmacher took that command to heart.
First, he got a last-second spot on a mission trip to Nokia and Tampere, Finland, with the disc golf team in late summer 2025. Then he got the opportunity to go to Helsinki with the hockey team six months later.
“Both of them were special in their own different ways,” Essenmacher said. “I was so glad to be able to go with both of these teams.”
Essenmacher spoke highly of Dave Pike, associate pastor at the United Community Church and leader of Operation Mobilization, a Christian ministry that does outreach through sports. Pike has an established relationship with Head Coach Kirk Handy, and the team regularly takes trips to Finland to serve in Pike’s ministry.
Essenmacher said the Finnish locals are quiet and reserved.
After noticing the reticent nature of the Finnish people, Essenmacher and some of his teammates decided it was time for them to make a bold proclamation of faith. He and several other Flames were baptized in the church they served at during the trip.
“The special thing that happened for me over there was I was able to get baptized,” Essenmacher said. “It was so special because during the worship there, you know they were singing in Finnish and all these other different languages and I didn’t know what they were saying, but I knew that they were professing that Jesus is God and that they loved him.”
Pike had baptized many Flames before Essenmacher, but this was the first in-person baptism at Pike’s church. Some of the congregation had never seen a baptism, and this gave them the opportunity to consider it for themselves.
“To be able to do that in front of other people that might not know exactly what that is, it’s another conversation to have with people,” Essenmacher said.
The team members on the trip also played games against some of the Finnish professional hockey teams and prayed with them after playing.
“Whatever happens is in the Lord’s will,” Essenmacher said. “You can’t really script a lot of things.”
Essenmacher plans to return to Finland to continue serving Pike’s church and the Finnish people.
“Our team goes every couple years, so I believe they are going next year,” Essenmacher said. “I want to go back for sure — whether I’m with Liberty or not in the future. It was a really special place to be part of that culture.”
Meadows is a sports reporter for The Liberty Champion.