Since 1996 Dr. David R. Crandall has led as Director of Olympic Ministry. He worked with a team in an outreach at the Atlanta Olympics. More than 600 people were taken by bus into Atlanta daily from Chattanooga, Tenn., to share the gospel, and in two weeks, they distributed 500,000 booklets to thousands of people from all over the world. Dr. Crandall saw the immense impact as more than 600 people made professions of faith, and the seed for S.E.E. was planted.

“I saw a parallel between Acts Chapter 2 about the day of  Pentecost. The Bible says the whole world was gathered and represented in Jerusalem at that time and people heard the teaching of God’s word in their own language,” said Dr. Crandall. “And I thought, ‘Well that’s what happens at the Olympics.’”

Every four years, thousands of people flood in to watch more than 200 nations compete at the Olympics, and Dr. Crandall’s strategy for reaching them was simple: train outreach volunteers to strike up conversations and share the gospel; equip them with gospel booklets related to that year’s Olympics; and then send these volunteers into the major tourist spots in the Olympic host city.

Another group had been traveling to the FIFA World Cups since 2002. This group, sometimes known as Sports Impact, made it their goal to enjoy some good football (soccer) while sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

In 2014 Sports Impact grew to partner in the work of Olympic Ministries. When Dr. Crandall retired as director, after the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, this group stepped up. At the same time it changed its name to Sports Event Evangelism or S.E.E. for short.

Some of the outreach ministries have included:

• 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games
• 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics
        - Reaching for the Gold
• 2004 Athens Summer Olympics
        - Mars Hill Experience
• 2006 Germany FIFA World Cup
• 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup
• 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
• 2012 London Summer Olympic Games
        - Big Ben Time
• 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup
• 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games
        - Rio 16 Outreach