Iglesia Cristiana Bethel in El Paso, Texas received soccer gear last fall as part of their community project request. We were able to send two bags with about 50 lbs, gear including several winter coats and pants, jerseys, shin guards, and several compression shirts and shorts.
Pastor Pablo and Natalie Mata who have helped lead and develop the team for the past few months and they recently shared a few photos and videos with us including the one below. It’s amazing to see the joy on the children’s faces!
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/5505278152112074207.jpg689967Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2026-02-19 00:00:002026-02-12 13:19:41Grace FC El Paso Community Project Update
Soccer Chaplains United Chaplain Greg Aydt took a few minutes, recently to share an update from this past summer’s trip to Peru. You can see the gear we packed out for Saint Patricks Presbyterian from our previous story. Greg shared the following highlights:
A small team from St Patrick Presbyterian Church in Collierville served with Peru Mission in Trujillo, Peru.
The team served in the morning at Geneva School, a distinctly Christian school started by Peru Mission to serve the urban poor in that area by helping with ESL, reading, chapel, and PE.
Also served in their medical clinic and constructing a building for the school
Able to give away all of the soccer gear from SCU’s Community Project
Students from 2nd-10th grade were overjoyed and incredibly grateful to receive different pieces of gear from the US
It was well deserved as they spent most of their week in PE destroying the gringos in soccer
The PE teacher wasn’t sure what to think about these Americans flying all the way to Peru to help out. He was a bit reserved and confused the first day. But as the week went on, he participated more, showed off his soccer skills as a former pro, and was grateful to collaborate with the Americans.
The highlight of the week was to give the PE teacher a Memphis 901 FC jersey signed by the entire mission team from St Patrick.
These gifts to students and teachers were a great way to build a bond of trust and point them, in a very small way, to the far reaching, overwhelming generosity of our God
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Catedral_de_Trujilllo-scaled.jpg14401920Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-11-06 00:00:002025-11-03 09:06:56Pause a Minute to Peruse Peru: An Update
Iglesia Cristiana Bethel in El Paso, Texas is starting a new soccer club as part of the ministry of the church. The club will look to include girls from the ages of 7-11 years old. For many of these girls, they do not have experience playing but they have expressed excitement and a willingness to learn.
Pastor Pablo and Natalie Mata have shared their hopes for seeing this new girls team begin to train, play, and compete in a local league.
We hope to bring them closer to God while they are learning this new skill and grow in favor towards other people, like coaches, teammates, and other club teams. It is a new project for our church, Iglesia Cristiana Bethel, in El Paso. It is part of the work to continue developing to help the community and spread the love of Jesus.
The church is looking forward to utilizing discipleship moments and seeing the discipline that comes from practicing and being a part of a team sport along with the joy that comes from playing soccer. Specifically, they have requested the following to help the team:
Jerseys
Soccer Balls
Goalkeeper gear
Coats/Jackets
Equipment for training
Nets
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/503495104_24029116076723403_2634689441705084898_n-e1760630786698.jpg9401592Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-10-16 00:00:002025-10-16 10:14:07Grace FC El Paso Getting Ready to Kickoff for Fall
Our friend, Wanji, sent us a lovely update from Hope Gitombo in Kenya after distributing some of the soccer jerseys and equipment to the children. Please enjoy the short video below!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/group-of-hope-gitombo-children-by-bidi-house.jpg423800Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-08-28 00:00:002025-09-03 09:14:57Hope Gitombo Community Project Update
Wanjiru Mukunga and I went to Denver Seminary together many, many years ago. Formerly a chaplain with Christian Living Communities, we shared some professional development moments and colleagues throughout the years. In 2017, Wanji (known as Mary to many of her American friends) left the comforts of the US and her job here to return to her native Kenya. While in the States, Wanji had been raising money and working to transform the village of Gitombo. Her work was originally known as Project Adopt A Village (PAAV) – Gitombo; but many other ministries have similar titles. Today, Hope Gitombo has seen massive growth since its beginning in 2014!
In 2014, three students formed the first “class” for the small local school. They met inside of a small shack made of iron sheets. Today, PAAV Gitombo School boasts 222 student learners and 45 teachers and staff who meet in 6 buildings. They’ve recently purchased additional land and now have 2 playing fields with football (soccer) being one of the most popular activities amongst the children.
I met with Wanji this past week and offered here soccer gear to take back with her. The struggle is that the school lacks soccer balls (something that we currently lack as well in our inventory). I did share that we might be able to provide some uniforms.
The children, when they go to play against other villages and other teams, they only wear these very small shirts. They don’t have much. They don’t have much at all. They don’t even look like a team. We would love some jerseys that can make the children feel like a team.
While unable to provide soccer balls at the moment, Soccer Chaplains United, through our Community Project program are able to provide some uniforms and gear for the Gitombo children and some of the adult workers. Below are some photos of what I was able to pull together for Wanji to take back with her in July.
Here is a list of the items we were able to provide on short notice (40 lbs of gear):
Rapids Academy Jerseys: 23
Rapids Shorts: 3
Calf Sleeves: 14
Lime Green GK Kit (shirt/shorts/socks)
Camo Yellow GK Kit (shirt/shorts/socks)
Other shorts: 10
Other shirts: 20
Rain pants: 1
T-shirts (s/s): 11
T-shirts (l/s): 9
Ball pumps: 2
Cones
Hope Gitombo also has a large capital campaign that supporters may be interested to learn about. The students and school have grown so much that a secondary school is now needed to see the student complete high school. You can learn more on the Hope Gitombo website.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/group-of-hope-gitombo-children-by-bidi-house.jpg423800Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-06-19 00:00:002025-06-18 11:30:06Hope Going to Gitombo: Kenyan Village and School Needing Gear
For the recent Community Project Request from Saint Patrick’s as they prepare to head to Peru, we initiated a new process — an online, pictorial catalogue that allows teams to “shop” and “select” gear. And, with all new kinds of processes, there were a few setbacks but this week, I was able to pack out the gear for Peru. Beyond a few technical difficulties with the form and processing, Greg Aydt and the team did fill out a form with a number of item; however, their listed items only equated to one 50 lb. bag! 🤪
In total, we were able to do 2 bags — one 50 lb. and the other 48 lb. The pictures below give a little bit of a sense of some of the items that we were able to fulfill for the team.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Catedral_de_Trujilllo-scaled.jpg14401920Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-06-12 00:00:002025-06-09 16:35:41Packing for Peru: Pluses and Minuses
St Patrick Presbyterian Church in Collierville, TN has been a church committed to the local suburbs in which she is planted. Missions has typically looked like offering money and prayers to those at a distance throughout her first two decades. But, more recently, the church has come to the realization that if we are to be faithful to the full call of God, there should be a launching out across cultures just like the church’s namesake, Saint Patrick of Ireland.
St. Patrick’s current Executive Director, Chris Bolton, spent several years as a missionary in the cities and villages of Peru. His work and heart for the country has translated into a team of some 28 people committing to crossing cultural boundaries with the Gospel to see God at work in Peru, this July. This marks the first time that Saint Patrick’s will do a short-term mission trip in Peru and it is also the first time in Soccer Chaplains United history that we are supporting a trip to Peru!
The team will be based in the coastal city of Trujillo and launch out with Peru Mission to the surrounding villages with whom they have relationships. In these villages, the team will see how God is at work in church plants, in ministries, and in family discipleship. They will be a part of the short term mission work for six days ministering through medicine, construction, ESL, and care. But the team will also look to express ministry through the global game of soccer.
Soccer Chaplains United Chaplain Rev Greg Aydt is part of the team headed to Peru. As Assistant Pastor for Youth at St. Patrick’s, Greg’s inclusion on the trip is a natural fit. Greg’s soccer chaplaincy work this past season has included helping athletes, coaches, and staff transition in the months following the shut-down in operations of local professional team, Memphis 901 FC. As disheartening as the team folding has been, Chaplain Greg has been looking for opportunities for faith and fútbol to coalesce.
I’m especially excited to be hosting local children in soccer camps each morning. With several high school soccer players on our team heading to Peru, we’re hoping to invite the children to play. And this is no small thing; we truly believe for children, play is Kingdom work.
The St Pat’s team is looking to take about 4 bags of gear down with the team and give away jerseys, shorts, soccer balls and more to the children that come out for the soccer camps. The team will leave out July 11 until July 19.
I’ve been able to take soccer gear from work with Soccer Chaplains United in the past to Latin America. And the impact it has on the excitement, enjoyment, and gratitude from the children is powerful. With some gear from SCU this summer, we travel with an eagerness to see how God can use us for His glory in the villages of Peru.
We encourage you to pray for Greg Aydt and the Saint Patrick’s Presbyterian Church team as they prepare for this exciting trip in July!
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-11-at-12.37.20 PM.png11341432Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2025-04-17 00:00:002025-04-14 12:24:29St. Patrick’s Marks a First for Peru
In late June, Sebastian Navarro with Community First Soccer reached out to Tacoma Defiance Chaplain, Jubal McDaniel. Is there any soccer gear that we might be able to give away to the children participating in our youth camps this summer? Earlier this year, Jubal had gone through the process of closing down his own non-profit, Northwest Football Ministries. In previous years, Jubal and Sebastian had connected to mutually serve local communities in the state of Washington through soccer.
Community First Soccer is a soccer non profit 501(c)3 whose main goal is to make soccer accessible to all starting with the underserved communities who need it the most. They host free soccer camps and college showcases. Their mission and aim is to never charge for a soccer camp. They make their camps free and accessible to as many people as possible — a difficult task in the pay-to-play soccer culture that permeates the North American landscape, currently.
There were multiple camps held — Yakima, Quincy, and Sunnyside — all cities across southeast Washington over a period of two weeks in late July. The camps were free to all of the families and helped provide soccer gear, lunches, haircuts, and new friends! Local professionals, like former Seattle Sounder Roman Torres, were on site to coach, encourage, and engage with the kids.
This Community Project fulfillment also marked another “first” of sorts — gear from Jubal in Tacoma, and not Denver. As Soccer Chaplains United continues to grow, so do the opportunities for expanding our abilities to get used soccer gear to other communities through our Community Project program. All totaled, Jubal delivered about 20 bags of gear for CFS to use over the course of the two weeks.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
See the pictures below as the gear was handed out to different children and their families.
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_6762-e1724361737365.jpg281585Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2024-08-29 00:00:002025-01-05 13:30:42Community First Soccer Means Soccer For All
This past week, there has been movement with two different projects and soccer gear fulfillments from our Community Project Program. Read below to learn about each project and the gear we were able to supply.
Liberia — Pappie Jones and Soccer Ambassadors
First, Pappie Jones and Soccer Ambassadors, have patiently been waiting since their request last year (May 2023) as we work to get items shipped to Liberia. With no specific church or mission teams headed to the small, West Africa nation and with a few of our ideas falling through. We finally reached out to Liberian friend, Thomas Fahn, who recommended a shipper in the United States that sends a monthly container. Getting the bags to the shipper is the first step — and Board Chair Cliff Burton had a friend carry two bags filled with gear back to North Carolina. The bags should begin their transatlantic journey in early September. Be sure to check back for an update to this story!
Final fulfillment (100 pounds of gear):
Jerseys – 48
Shorts – 48
Socks – 72
GK sets (shirt, socks, shorts) – 4
Compression shorts – 31
Compression pants – 32
Compression tops – 16
Various shirts/jackets/tops – 62
Ghana — Cherry Creek Pres and Jewels of God Church
Last month, partner church Cherry Creek Presbyterian requested gear to accompany a team that heads out to Ghana in just a few days. With an additional two bags, this team will also take about 100 pounds of gear, albeit it more quickly. With a fresh influx of gear coming from the Colorado Rapids just at the start of the academy season, the Ghana team will have plenty of shorts and uniforms to provide enough to outfit three teams for the children connected to the Jewels of God Church in Accra.
Finally fulfillment includes:
Jerseys – 32
Shorts – 32
Socks – 82
GK sets (shirt, socks, shorts) – 7
Other tops – 33
Warm up tops – 26
Women’s jerseys – 23
Various jersey and short sets – 5
We look forward to hearing updates and reports back on the gear and soccer equipment delivered for the children in these countries.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_6742-scaled.jpg19201440Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2024-08-22 00:00:002024-08-21 10:48:50Soccer Gear Heading to Africa
One of Soccer Chaplains United’s partner churches, Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church (CCPC), will send a short-term mission team to Ghana, next month. The team will be in country for two weeks and work primarily to support several women at a vocational school working to empower women and support their children. The vocational school is part of the vision and work of Pastor Victor Adjei, a former student of Denver Seminary.
The relationship between CCPC and Jewels of God Church in Ghana spans some 18, dynamic years. Founded by Pastor Victor Adjei, the church reflects his passion for bringing the Good News to the people in his native country. He has started 42 different churches in Ghana. What began as a home fellowship Bible study as grown since 1982 and the name reflects the promise of Malachi 3:16-18, where God declares that He is making a people His jewels.
We rely fully on God’s power to accomplish His will for this mission. Our focus is to build relationships with the community and teach about the power of the Holy Spirit in everyday life.
Pastor Adjei, on JOGC’s mission and work in Ghana
CCPC and the team’s work and financial gifts help the church to distribute to Ghanians, many for the first time, their very own Bible. JOGC also provides medical supplies and services to many in need. In addition, a vocational school helps to elevate many young women and single mothers by giving them tools to help do work. The church also seeks to provide shelter and safety for young, vulnerable village girls and to help provide meaningful children’s activities and play.
The team is requesting to take soccer cones, pinnies, nets, balls, and youth-sized jerseys and shorts with them on their upcoming trip.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_0208-scaled.jpg14341920Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2024-07-25 15:30:002024-07-25 15:15:33Partner Church Creek Seeks Gear For Ghana
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
