Athletics: A Ministry of Reconciliation
Jessica Matthews
May 6, 2009
Filed under Profiles, Sports, Top Stories
One wall of Mr. Dana Ridenour’s office features a framed Chicago Cubs and Miami Dolphins uniform. On the other wall hangs a bird’s-eye-view photograph of the Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale campus. And Mr. Ridenour welcomingly sits at his desk in between. In a larger sense, the spatial design of Mr. Ridenour’s office epitomizes his new role as CCA Athletic Director: connecting a deep passion for sports with a driving commitment to pursue the mission of Calvary Chapel in bringing others to Christ.
God has certainly worked through Mr. Ridenour’s past and rooted him here at CCA for a specific purpose in this place and time. In addition to attending UCLA, Ridenour played professional baseball for ten years, and was drafted by the Yankees during the 16th round. Ridenour accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior in June of 1987. A few months later, the team chaplain later informed Ridenour that he could bring his desires to the Lord in prayer, and on one Friday night in 1987, Ridenour asked God to bring him a girlfriend. In was no coincidence that three days later, Ridenour sat in front of his wife-to-be while attending the First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale–a wonderfully precious example of God’s continual direction within Ridenour’s life.
After completing his baseball career, Ridenour spent 14 years in restaurant management, where he learned the “art of leadership.” He has now been a part of the CCA community for seven years, and has three children all enrolled in CCA: Adam (11th), Allison (8th) and Aaron (1st).
Last summer, Ridenour began conversing about working with the CCA Athletics Department, while Coach Michael Yannotta temporarily took over the position of Athletic Director after last year’s director, Pastor Tom Crenshaw, moved from South Florida. God has now provided Ridenour to take over this position, and Ridenour will be combining his superb management experience with his appreciation for the discipline of athletics to summit this next challenge as Athletic Director.
Although the position is demanding and involves managing all 15 or so CCA teams, along with coaches, staff, schedules and the coordination of facilities, Ridenour has been called to a much higher purpose. “It’s a called position–to be a coach and be leader,” Ridenour states, further explaining his calling to “[invest] in the character of the coaches and the athletes” for discipleship, so that when students leave CCA, they will continue to train and teach others.
Ridenour’s purpose is to pursue what he calls the “Ministry of Reconciliation.” He references 2 Corinthians 5, in which verses 18 and 19 state, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
“That Ministry of Reconciliation is what I want to be known for. I want to reconcile others…[and] make sure their relationship with Christ gets back on track,” Ridenour explains. He wants students to understand that they are accountable for the gifts God gives them and desires the athletics department to be a program that is “spiritually set apart, that attracts people to the school so we have an opportunity to bring them to Christ.”
For Ridenour, the practices and games are certainly the means: but the goal is Christ. He even finds similarities between athletics and faith, explaining that the “disciplines required in sports are most related with our relationship to Christ.”
Ridenour has a myriad of encouragers at the school, including Elementary Media Specialist Mrs. Mary Kavanaugh, who told him, “Just remember to start on your knees.” And that is the role of the athletic department: to begin on their knees in prayer, and run onto the field to win–that is, win for Christ’s Kingdom.