The History of CSO

On a Saturday morning in the spring of 1990, Bob Dyar smiled as he watched his church parking lot fill up as the parents brought their children for their first T-Ball league. Bob wanted to see if God would use sports to help Christ Covenant Church (Charlotte, NC) reach their community for Christ. God had bigger plans in mind, plans of reaching the world through sports!

CSO LAUNCHED
Six years after starting the SOAR ministry at Christ Covenant, Bob Dyar launched Carolina Sports Outreach in 1996 with two aspects of ministry – working with Joe Gibbs Racing and local churches. Carolina Sports Outreach’s work with Joe Gibbs Racing involved providing chaplaincy for the new race team and with local churches by helping those churches start sports ministries.

CAROLINA SPORTS OUTREACH (CSO) EXPANDS TO CHURCH SPORTS OUTREACH (CSO)
Carolina Sports Outreach had an immediate impact in the Carolinas. Bob took the basic principles he had learned at SOAR and began to consult and train other churches to use sports to reach their communities for Christ. Churches throughout the Carolinas began to catch the vision for sports outreach in the local church. As the word of this impact spread, other churches outside of the Carolinas (Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and others) began to invite CSO to come and help them start sports outreach ministries. In 2003, CSO began using the name, Church Sports Outreach, to better reflect the expanding focus of the mission.

LEADERSHIP CENTER LAUNCHED
Through the efforts of CSO, churches with Sports Ministries grew but a problem quickly arose--there were very few trained men and women to lead these Sports Ministries. It was at this time that God brought Bob Schindler to CSO, to start the CSO Leadership Center in Charlotte in the spring of 2005. This center began to develop the next generation of Sports Outreach leaders for local churches.

CSO CHAPLAIN MINISTRY EXPANDS
During this growth, Joe Gibbs Racing also expanded and along with it additional chaplaincy responsibilities. To meet this demand, Debbie Nicholson joined Carolina Sports Outreach part-time in March 2002 as Bob Dyar’s assistant. Brian Martin came on as a chaplain intern in 2004 and became full-time in 2006. Joe Gibbs Racing now has over 400 employees and the ministry of CSO serves as a chaplaincy model among the racing community.

CSO-INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES
By the summer of 2005, God had continued to expand the impact among churches of CSO to the point that Bob Dyar and Bob Schindler found themselves in Asia sharing with church movement leaders the same principles that helped to transform churches in the USA into successful Sports Outreach Ministries. In order to protect the persecuted church, CSO decided to simplify the ministry’s name to CSO.

With this expanding international vision, in early 2006 CSO held conferences in Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya for pastors and church leaders interested in starting sports outreach ministries. In the fall of 2007, CSO further trained church leaders in Vietnam to begin sports outreach ministries and train other church leaders throughout the country.

STAFF EXPANDS TO MEET GROWING WORLDWIDE NEED
In the midst of this expanding vision and opportunity both in the US and internationally, the staff of CSO has also expanded. In 2007, Tim Briggs became CSO’s Director of Technology and Ministry Integration, Maia Siber the Director of Communication, and Charles McGalliard the Assistant Director for CSO International.

Today, from the headquarters in Charlotte, NC, CSO now seeks to support and assist pastors, church leaders, and movement leaders all around the world.

For information about the history of the ministry of CSO, please visit the Resource Center.