Stories

Curtis Ratzlaff

The chaplains invited me to go deeper by becoming a part of a small group that met weekly. I have really benefited from these regular built-in times during my workweek to remember who God is, what is important and what God is doing in and around me.

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Taylor PRice

CEDE has provided a fresh breath of air during the day in and day out grind that sports ministry can sometimes be. I believe sports ministers are to think like astronauts, asking “How can we get to the moon?” CEDE has allowed me to take my eyes off of the gritty details for a moment, and to shoot for the moon.

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DANIEL MONDRAGON

At that point in my life, the chaplains’ involvement in my life was very important. I was really growing in my relationship with the Lord and the chaplains really helped foster and encourage that in my life.

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Welcome to CEDE Sports

See What’s New In CEDE SPORTS

What We Do

COACH

We come alongside Sports Chaplains and Sports, Rec, and Fitness Leaders in Local Churches to provide strategic insight, focused vision, clarity of next steps, and mobilization into effective action.

CONNECT

We work to creatively connect Chaplains with Chaplains and Sports, Rec, and Fitness leaders in Local Churches with other like-minded leaders for mutual support, encouragement, and sharing of ideas and resources.

RESOURCE

We provide key resources to Sports Chaplaincy and Sports, Rec, and Fitness leaders in Local Churches to equip them for more effective ministry.

Our Values

We are highly committed to the local church as God’s chosen instrument for bringing His redemptive purposes.
Local Church is God’s chosen instrument for bringing about His redemptive purposes (Matt 16:18; 28:18-20;
Christ died for the church and believers are rescued into the Church. Thus discipleship must include the local church. (Eph 1:22-23; 2:11-22; 5:25; 1 Peter 2:9-10)
“Christian growth occurs only when the whole life is shaped by Christian practices in community—including prayer, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, and the public ministry of the Word” (TGC, FD). Therefore, Gospel ministry always points people to the Gospel-Community, The Church.
Relational not just purely proclamation or confrontational ministry
We believe relational ministry is modeled in Scripture. Throughout Scripture, we see ministry being done in the context of relationship (OT covenant community, NT church) and ultimately in the incarnation of Christ (John 1:14)
In relational ministry, we are referring to ministry being done in the context of relationship as opposed to purely proclamation or confrontational approaches to ministry (those these have their biblical place). Our focus is doing ministry in the context of relationships.
All of life integrated into the gospel
The Scriptures of the OT and NT are our ultimate source of authority and we believe it to be the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
The Scriptures are clear, necessary, true, inerrant, infallible and sufficient.
The Scriptures tell the redemptive story of the Triune God throughout history finding its fulfillment in the person and work of Christ (Luke 24). Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration
Ministry finds its power in the Gospel (Romans 1:16; 1 Cor 3:16-18) and work of the Holy Spirit as opposed to moralism or pragmatism.
What we do is based on the Scriptures
Scripture is authoritative, sufficient and necessary (2 Peter 1:3-8; 2 Tim 3:16-17)
Scripture is the ultimate source of truth. (Psalm 1; 19; 119)
Scripture is living and active and a means of God’s grace to us (Heb 4:12)
Every thought (theological, socio-political, psychological, etc) is to be held captive by the word of God (2 Cor 10:4-5). It is the supreme rule for faith and life.
We partner with other ministries and people.
We value partnering within the body of Christ for the mission of Christ in the context of sport.
As image bearers of a creative God
We want to creatively use the resources, people and time God has given us to accomplish the purposes God has given us as a ministry.
Desiring to influence every continent and country
The scope of our ministry’s reach seeks to be the scope of Jesus’ Great Commission:“all nations”
As opposed to addition-focused

WHO WE ARE

Cede Sports, formerly The Sports Outreach Group, was born out of a need to mobilize churches and chaplains into sports ministry built upon relational outreach. Bob Dyar founded the ministry after recognizing a gap which existed with both churches and sports chaplains: the lack of access to relational models of ministry to meet people where they are.

Sports opens the door. To make a long-term impact, however, we must be a part of people’s lives. Our history includes a growing chaplain ministry at Joe Gibbs Racing, new staff and 25 years of growth. In those 25 years, we have worked with thousands of local churches in five continents and sports chaplains in more than 100 countries. We currently have staff and associates in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Along the way, our vision to mobilize churches and chaplains has remained constant. Our hope will always be to see God continue to use the universal language of sports to reach others for his glory.

SEE OUR HISTORY