For over four decades, Steve Sellers has walked alongside some of the top athletes in the world as a sports chaplain. With a quiet but steadfast presence, his ministering spirit has been with those chasing success from junior hockey rinks in Calgary and Canmore to Olympic ski hills half a world away. 

While his unique vocation has taken him across the globe in spiritual support efforts at American universities, national team training grounds and international competitions, Sellers' story begins in Minnesota, where his own experience as an athlete proved to be the starting ground for his lifelong ministry. 

“My sports background is in cross-country skiing, and on my university ski team and in our division, we were national champions. I wanted to keep skiing, but I had also been really involved with the campus ministries while I was a student, and so I met with the Athletes in Action guy on our campus and asked about combining my skiing with ministry,” he said. 

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This was back in 1985, when Sellers officially joined Athletes in Action, a global Christian sports organization with a mission to develop athletes across faith, life and sport, as a chaplain. Even as an athlete still very much at the top of his game himself, he recalls his vocation toward this specific ministry as being particularly intriguing, and one deeply rooted in faith. 

“ A few circumstances came into my life and pulled me into full-time ministry. I think the main motivating factor for me was that I knew society gives athletes a platform and listens to what they have to say, and I just felt like I wanted to be able to share the greatest message that God's given us, which is forgiveness through His Son and eternal life in Him, and combine that with the esteem of the athlete,” he said.  

Sellers would move to Canada in 1994, where he would go on to work as a pastor at Alpine Christian Church in Canmore, Alta., beginning in 2003. Working bi-vocationally, he kept his chaplaincy role going, now as a sports chaplain for Athletes in Action Canada. 

Over the following decades, Sellers’ approach evolved from primarily evangelism to broader pastoral, spiritual care-driven accompaniment, focusing highly on caring for people's spiritual needs wherever they are in their faith journey. 

Still, it was after his move to Canada and through his work as a chaplain for the Olympic Sports Centre in Calgary and Canmore that Sellers would get the opportunity to accompany athletes at the world’s premier sporting event, the Olympic Games, on multiple occasions (though not the just completed Olympiad). 

It’s been a multi-faceted experience across different Winter Olympics, often in unofficial or unseen capacities due to team accreditation limits. His first role came during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, where he served as a chaplain. In 2002, he travelled to Salt Lake City to serve as a coach before serving in dual roles as both coach and chaplain in 2006 during Torino’s Winter Games. 

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A homecoming for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver saw him return to service strictly as a chaplain before serving as a "stealth" chaplain in Pyeongchang, China, in 2018. 

Hectic yet fulfilling experiences, Sellers once again credits his faith as making it possible to be present for so many athletes on the world’s biggest stages. 

“There were people in Team Canada who wanted me there as a chaplain, but the committee aren’t willing to burn an accreditation on a chaplain as they only have so many accreditations that they can use. What I do recall is getting on the plane to come home from the Olympics in 2018, and a good friend of mine said, ‘Steve, you always find a way.’ I said back to him ‘No, God always makes a way,' ” he said. 

Sellers said overall presence and accompaniment matter most. To be there builds deep trust, even with athletes who are skeptical or antagonistic toward faith, and even in an environment with such high stakes. 

“ One of our speed skaters was one of the best ever in the history of the sport, and I will never forget running into him when he was around 19 and going into his first ever  Olympics. We had a simple, short chat, and I could tell he was nervous, but I told him very plainly, ‘Hey, I'm praying for you.’ I remember he seemed to really appreciate that,” he recalled. 

Those high-intensity moments, often paired with a certain risk of injury or failure, are unique to the world of sports and something Sellers attests chaplains in the field have to be prepared for. Even recently serving as a chaplain for a local junior hockey team, when a player suffered a neck injury from a hit into the boards, Sellers was on-site to support the team, including the player’s brother.

“You just have to learn to be there for those guys in those intense moments, because in a lot of ways, sports bring those moments, and it can shake you up a lot more than life can in some ways,” he said. “These athletes can be in their mid-20s and get to the top of the ladder in their careers and realize it's not what they thought it would be. It could take a businessman until his 50s to make that discovery, so it can be a very intense (environment).” 

Some of these lessons learned first hand have been compiled in Field Guide to Athlete Chaplaincy, a book written by Sellers and published in 2024. Inspired by his reliance on outdated pastor handbooks for weddings and funerals and having realized sports chaplaincy had no equivalent practical guide, his creation is a hands-on, reference-style tool for chaplains globally that runs the gamut of the vocation.  

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As another Olympic Games winds down, Sellers shared what adventure he looks forward to next. With a heart passionate for athletes as strong today as when he first answered his call to service decades ago in Minnesota, he remains open to whatever comes next, committed to service wherever the journey takes him. 

“ You never know what God has in store for you. You can be going down one path and His redirection can bring opportunities your way. When you walk with God, part of that is learning to listen and discern to see what He's doing. For me personally, it's about forging ahead and continuing to have a real heart for the athletes because I want to be a person who meets those many needs while being a mentor for younger sports chaplains,” he said.