Association of Church Sports & Recreation Ministries, Inc.
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About CSRM

CSRM exists to equip local churches to change lives through sports, recreation and fitness ministries.

Our Purpose

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To equip local churches to change lives through sport, recreation and fitness outreach ministries.
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Train, equip and resource local church staff and volunteers, mobilizing them to build bridges in their communities using sport, recreation and leisure activities for the purpose of leading people into a transforming personal relationship with Christ.
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Evangelism through the local church.

Our History

As early as the 1930s, churches began using sports and recreation as a part of their outreach and fellowship ministries. In 1954, the Church Recreation Department was formed in the Baptist Sunday School Board (later known as Lifeway Christian Resources) to assist local church leaders in developing ministries through sports, recreation, and fitness. This department produced and published materials, including a quarterly magazine in 1962. In the middle part of the 1960s, this Board created a Rec Lab conference to train local church leaders in sports and recreation ministries. 

By the 1980s, thousands of local American churches had built athletic or recreational facilities. In addition, there was a growing number of international churches utilizing sport, recreation, and fitness for outreach, discipleship, and church growth.  However, in the 1990s, two independent groups resourcing local church sports, recreation, and fitness ministers (SR&F) changed course and focus.  The Church Recreation Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board was downsizing. At the same time, the International Sports Coalition (ISC)/Sports Outreach America (SOA) decided to focus its energies and emphasis on sports-related, para-ministries leaving a void in resources, workshops, and encouragement for congregational SR&F leaders.  

So it was that in April of 1994, a small group of church sports outreach pastors who had begun to "associate" and communicate came together in Atlanta to catalyze further and unite the local church SR&F community.  Out of this meeting and ongoing relationships, a vision developed to form an organization for the continued support of local church sports ministers and church recreators.  It thus created the National Association of Church Recreation and Sports Ministers (NACRSM), which later changed the name to the Association of Church Sports & Recreation Ministers (CSRM), and officially launched in 1996 with an announcement at the SOA conference.
 
During that 1996 SOA conference,  many of these leaders stayed up late "burning the midnight oil to envision and organize a new organization that understood, and would serve, local church SR&F outreach ministry—putting the organization together.  Following the announcement, this group established a Board of Trustees and obtained a 501c3.  The Internal Revenue Service incorporated the group as the Association of Church Sports and Recreation Ministries in 2003.  Bob Sessoms became the first Board president, and in 1999, the Board appointed Dr. Greg Linville as the first Executive Director.

As other entities continued to focus on empowering sports-related para-ministries, CSRM began filling the local church SR&F outreach ministry void.  It focused on creating resources, developing yearly conferences, connections, consulting, and sports ministry certification that included seminars, workshops, and hours devoted to consulting with local churches and leaders helped to develop sports and recreation ministries. The commitment to include and equip the worldwide church has been a core value of CSRM from its inception. Thus the impact of CSRM goes all around the world.

In 2016, the CSRM Board of Trustees, in conjunction with the staff, envisioned a 10-year "reinvention" of CSRM that emphasized "3 streams of development:" 1) expansion and repositioning of the CSRM staff; 2) resource development; and 3) financial support development.  A significant focus was to secure "next generation" leadership, including naming a new Executive Director.  To that end, they requested Dr. Linville assume a new role as Director of Resource Development to create both a publishing house (Overwhelming Victory Press – OVP) and a recording studio (Overwhelming Victory Flix – OVF). In addition, he would develop the Master's level degree of the AGON Institute of Sports Ministry and oversee the content of the annual REACHgathering.

Since that reinvention, CSRM was led by two other Executive Directors, David Mabry and David Waddell, taking us to the point where Dan Stoffer assumed the position in September 2021. 

Today, this dream is a reality. Each and every day CSRM Staff, Board of Directors and individual members expedite the vision "to equip local churches to change lives through sport" through relationships and resources. CSRM has a rich history of working with local church leaders to use sports, recreation, and fitness as evangelistic and discipleship tools. None of this would happen without the support of incredible donors and volunteers. Please consider helping CSRM continue its calling by clicking Donate below.​
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What We Believe

In God the Father:
  • The eternal Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth

In God the Son including:
  • That Jesus Christ is God's only Son, our Lord
  • That Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit
  • That Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary
  • That Jesus was crucified, He died, and was buried
  • That Jesus was resurrected on the third day
  • That Jesus ascended into heaven, where He sits at God's right hand
  • That Jesus will judge both the living and the dead

In God the Holy Spirit Who:
  • Inspired the writing of the Holy Scriptures
  • Convicts people of sin
  • Indwells, supernaturally empowers, and is the Comforter of all believers
  • The Church Universal is the body of Christ which assembles in local congregations throughout the world
  • All Para-Ministries (including CSRM) exist to plant, enhance and/or  equip local churches for Evangelistic-Disciplemaking
  • All believers share a common fellowship - in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit
  • In the forgiveness of sins through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ
  • In the resurrection of the body of believers and eternal life
  • Our faith is based on our belief that the Bible is God's inspired, inerrant Word
  • The Church should be focused on the Great Commission while living out the Great Commandments
  • Local Church Sport, Recreation and Fitness Ministries are the most Strategically-Relevant & Efficiently-Effective strategy for accomplishing the Great Commission
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© Copyright 2022  |  The Association of Church Sports and Recreation Ministries  |  All rights reserved. | PO Box 9110 Canton, Ohio 44711
​Website partially sponsored by:
Author David Waddell | www.davidwaddell.biz and
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  • International Ministries
  • Partner
  • Certification
  • Our Strategy
  • Digital Library
  • About
    • Blog
    • Leadership
    • FAQs
    • Contact
    • Leedy Scholarship Fund
    • Policies, Terms & Conditions
  • Donate
  • Store
    • CSRM Store
    • J316 Ministries Store
    • CSRM Merch Store
  • Login