Vann heeding the call to leave his comfort zone

Dalton Vann is a man with a deep and abiding faith, so it seems fitting that he would use a Bible story to illustrate his seemingly abrupt life change. He chose the story of Jonah, who refused a command from God and wound up swallowed by a whale.

“And when he turned and ran away from God’s word he went through a lot of trouble,” Vann said. “I don’t need God to spit me out of a whale to make me understand ‘just do what I tell you to do.’”

Vann firmly believes that God is turning him in another direction, one that is taking him away from the Summit Christian Academy football program he built from scratch into one of the stronger small-school programs in the metro area. God, Vann believes, is turning him toward the inner city, to do – something.

But whatever that thing is, Vann is certain it’s what he needs to be doing, and he’s certain that’s where he needs to do it.

“I’m really looking forward to doing some work in the city,” Vann said. “I don’t know exactly what that’s going to be yet, but I do know if I let Him take the lead it’s going to work out and it’s going to work out to being even better than where I was at Summit Christian Academy.”

Vann is walking away from nine years at Summit Christian Academy, the last five of which he spent starting and building the Lee’s Summit school’s football program. His faith also played a role in his winding up there.

Before coming to SCA Vann ran the Saints Athletic Club youth basketball program, and one day his team played against one coached by SCA basketball coach and former athletic director Jake Kates. Kates eventually offered him a job coaching junior high basketball. Vann was inclined to turn it down.

“But at the time I had been praying to God to give me a building and had been searching for a building,” Vann said. “And then it just dawned on me Summit Christian Academy has two gyms. So I went back to Jake and asked, ‘Can my club teams practice here? And he said, ‘If it’ll get you here, yes.”’

Vann soon moved up to Kates’ varsity staff, and three years later he began to build a football program. He began with a junior varsity team, and for the first couple of years the Eagles took their lumps. In 2015 SCA had its first winning season, finishing 10-2 with its first Crossroads Conference championship and Class 2 playoff victory. Last fall they went 11-2, won another conference championship, a first-ever district title and reached the Class 2 quarterfinals.

Vann also saw another cherished goal accomplished: lights for the football field, which meant the Eagles could now play their home games on Friday nights instead of Saturday afternoons.

“I was so comfortable,” Vann said. “The hard part was over. I’m rolling now. I’ve won 21 of my last 25 games, and kids at the junior high level are playing football now and the lights are there. And people are talking to me about bringing their kid to Summit Christian Academy to play football. That part was so comfortable and easy. But sometimes that place where you’re comfortable may not be where you’re supposed to be.”

In time it became clear to Vann where he needed to be. A product of the inner city himself, Vann, 51, moved to Lee’s Summit when he was 12 but always kept close ties to family and friends who still lived there. For five years he and his wife, Rhonda, lived in a house his family owns on Meyer Boulevard, just west of Research Medical Center.

“There has always been a desire to be there and help out,” Vann said. “Any African-American male who is 50 years or older pretty much started in the city themselves anyway. If your heart’s not there, there’s something wrong with your ticker, I think.”

And Vann’s heart has been broken by the crime, poverty and myriad other problems that make life hard for inner-city kids. As a short-term goal, he sees using sports “as a vehicle to get to young men and allow them to become the man Christ wants them to be.” He would also like to mentor young coaches someday.

But for now, Vann wants to put all his time and effort into achieving one long-term goal: opening a Christian school in the inner city. He’s already scouting the area for a building and he’s set up a meeting at his church with a group of pastors who want to help make his dream a reality.

“The goal is to get a school founded and started,” Vann said. “Step one is, are we really going to do this? Are we really going after this? My wife and I have talked about it and the prayer that we have had has told us to go get it. God’s going to work and get it done. We have to step out on faith in order to do that.”

Vann, who became an ordained minister last May, expects that faith to drive him as he pursues that goal. Pursuing it will also take him away from coaching, which he knows he’s going to miss especially after having been involved in athletics for so many years.

But he just sees that as part of the sacrifice he’s been asked to make.

“The toughest thing is probably going to be on Friday night, realizing there’s a football game going on and you’re not involved with it,” Vann said. “But at the same time you realize there’s a sacrifice and struggle you go through to get to your dreams. And so I’m willing to step out and struggle and sacrifice.”

This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Vann heeding the call to leave his comfort zone."