Est. 2026 · Augusta, Georgia
Fellowship · Hoops · The Word
Keep going
$500
Per team, minimum
100%
Goes to local schools
4
Games guaranteed
$0
Administrative cut
01 — The Point
A gym full of
young men and
one good reason
Church Jam is a men's basketball tournament for everybody who still has game and nowhere to use it — and the entry fee is the whole ministry.
This is not an AAU circuit and nobody here is chasing a scholarship. It's for the guy who was a problem in high school and never played after, the guy who finished four years of college ball and misses it more than he admits, the guy who runs at the Y on Tuesdays and wants one Saturday that actually counts. Ages 16 and up.
Churches enter a team for $500. Every dollar of that goes to a school in the community, chosen by need, spent on things the school actually names. Nothing is skimmed. The tournament pays for itself through sponsors and the gate.
What happens in between is the part that matters. Four guaranteed games. A meal. One word, spoken plain. Men from congregations across this city in the same gym, on the same day, for the same reason.
And there's no prize money. The winning team's church has its name put on the award, and the gift to the school is made in that church's name — pastor on the floor, principal beside him, the whole gym watching. That's the trophy. A congregation walks out of here known in this community for something a school can point at.
Competitive, not exhibition. Certified officials, a real clock, a real bracket. Former college players are welcome and former professionals can play under a minutes cap, so the level stays high without one roster running away with the day.
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Proverbs 27:17
02 — The Money
Straight from the
gym to the school
Most giving disappears into a general fund. Ours doesn't move through a district office, a grant cycle, or a line item. We ask the school what it needs, and then we go buy it.
01
Schools write in
Any school in the host community can submit a short essay naming what it's short on and who it would serve. Written by a teacher, a counselor, a principal — anyone who sees it daily.
02
We walk the building
A needs assessment on site, in person, with the staff who wrote the letter. Not a form. A conversation and a list, priced out and agreed on together.
03
We buy it ourselves
Church Jam purchases the goods directly and delivers them. The school gets calculators, books, uniforms, instruments — not a check that has to survive three approvals.
$500 in. A school served.
Entry closes when the bracket fills. Send us your church and we'll mail the packet the same week.
03 — What A Team Gets
One entry fee.
All of this.
Four guaranteed games
Pool play into a two-sided bracket. Lose at nine in the morning and you're still playing at three. Nobody takes a Saturday off work to sit down after forty minutes.
Every game on film
Two fixed cameras on every court. Every player leaves with a link he owns — the full game, not a clipped highlight. Send it to whoever you want, or keep it for the group chat. It's yours either way.
Your church's name on the gift
There's no prize money. The award to the school is made in the winning church's name — and the photo at center court is your pastor, the principal, and Church Jam staff. Win, and your congregation is known in this community for something a school can point at.
Men you wouldn't have met
Every team is paired with a pastor or leader from a congregation that isn't theirs. Ten minutes before the first game, ten after the last. The cross-congregation part is the point — a man will hear something from a stranger he's tuned out from his own pulpit for years.
04 — Tournament Day
One long
Saturday
Doors at 7:30, first tip at 8:30. Eighteen-minute running halves, stopped clock in the final two minutes. Everything runs on the clock so the day doesn't unravel by noon.
7:30 AM
Doors open
Check-in at the main entrance. Waivers signed and physicals verified before your team touches a ball. Come cleared and you'll walk straight through.
8:00 AM
Center court opening
Twelve minutes. Prayer, and we name the school receiving the money out loud before a single ball goes up.
8:30 – 12:30
Pool play
Four-team pools, round robin. Three games in, and everybody advances into the bracket regardless of record.
12:30 PM
All courts dark
Every court stops. A meal, one word — fifteen minutes, hard cap — and a testimony from someone who played.
1:30 – 4:15
Bracket play
Championship side and consolation side run at the same time. Everybody keeps playing.
4:30 PM
Championship
One court. Everyone else in the stands. The winning church's name goes on the award — that's what they're actually playing for.
5:15 PM
The presentation
The principal comes to the floor. The award is given to the school in the name of the winning team's church, and the photo is Church Jam staff, that church's pastor, and the principal, together, at center court. This is why we end here and not with the trophy.
05 — Who Plays
Sixteen and up.
That's the whole
eligibility list
No age ceiling, no tryout, no résumé. If you can still get up and down the floor, there's a spot. Most churches cannot field ten men — that's not a reason to stay home, it's the reason we wrote the roster rule the way we did.
Divisions
- OpenAges 16 and up. Anybody who can run. This is the main draw.
- Masters35 and over. Added once we clear enough teams to fill a bracket.
- FormatPool play into a two-sided bracket. Four games guaranteed, win or lose.
- ClockEighteen-minute running halves. Stopped clock inside two minutes.
Rosters
- MinimumSeven players. Not ten.
- AgeSixteen and up. Players under 18 need a parent or guardian on the waiver.
- CommunityUp to three players who don't attend your church. A brother-in-law, a coworker, a neighbor.
- Former prosWelcome, if their last professional season was 10+ years ago. Capped at 10 minutes per game.
- SponsoredA larger church can cover entry for a smaller one. The $500 should never be the reason a team stays home.
- RequiredSigned waiver on file before the first tip.
06 — The Rules
Keeping it
fair and
keeping it hard
The whole point is a real game. Certified officials, a live clock, a bracket that means something. Two rules keep it from tipping over.
Former professionals may play. If your last professional season — overseas, G League, semi-pro, anywhere you were paid to hoop — was more than ten years ago, you're eligible. Inside ten years, you sit this one out.
Capped at ten minutes per game. Former pros are limited to ten total minutes, tracked at the scorer's table. Enough for the gym to see it. Not enough to decide the tournament.
Everybody else plays without restriction. Former college players, former high school players, and men who never played organized ball a day in their lives are all on equal footing at tip.
Declare former pros at registration. Not at the scorer's table on game day. An undeclared former pro is a forfeit for the team, and the team knows that going in — which is exactly why it almost never happens.
Every game is filmed and every player gets the link. Not for recruiters. For you.
07 — Sponsorship
Somebody has
to pay the refs
Entry fees go to the school untouched. That means gym time, officials, the trainer, insurance, film and food come from somewhere else. This is that somewhere else.
$2,500
Presenting
Name on the event, center court floor decal, banner at both entrances, logo on every piece of game film, and the mic at the closing presentation.
$1,000
Division
Your name on a division and its bracket, a courtside banner, a full page in the program, and a logo on all film from that division.
$250
Court
Banner on one court and a line in the program. The tier most small businesses and individual families choose — and the one that adds up fastest.
08 — Give
You don't have
to play to give
Not every church can field a team. Not everybody who cares about these schools owns a pair of sneakers. Give directly — and every dollar lands in a school, exactly the way a team's entry fee does.
Every dollar goes to a local school. Tournament costs are covered separately by sponsors and the gate.
09 — Questions
Answers before
you ask
Yes. Every dollar of team registration is passed through to the receiving school or schools. The tournament's own costs — gym, officials, trainer, insurance, film, food — are covered by sponsorships and the gate, which are accounted for separately.
Say so on the entry form. Larger congregations sponsor entries for smaller ones every cycle. The fee should never be the reason a team stays home.
No. Each roster may include up to three community players who don't attend. That rule exists on purpose — a man who won't walk into a sanctuary will walk into a gym, and that's most of the point.
Any school in the host community submits a short written case describing what it needs and who it serves. Essays are scored against a published rubric, then we do an on-site needs assessment before a dollar is spent.
Yes, if their last professional season was more than ten years ago — that includes overseas, G League, and semi-pro. They're capped at ten minutes per game, tracked at the scorer's table, and must be declared at registration. Anyone whose last paid season was inside ten years is not eligible.
Any man 16 or older with a signed waiver on file. There's no upper age limit and no skill requirement. Players under 18 need a parent or legal guardian to sign. That's the entire list.
Yes. A second team from the same church is allowed if the bracket has room after entry closes. Larger congregations often enter one Open team and one Masters team.
No cash and no prize. The award to the school is presented in the winning team's church name, and the center-court photo is that church's pastor, the school principal, and Church Jam staff. The recognition goes to the congregation. The money goes to the school.
Email us the school name and a contact in the building. We'll send the submission packet directly to them — nominations don't skip the essay, they just get it into the right hands faster.
Put your name on it
Sponsor a court, underwrite the film, or give straight to the schools. Every route ends in the same building.
10 — Leadership
A father and
a son
Church Jam is built by two generations of the same family — one that has spent a career in this city's exam rooms and pulpits, and one that went and got the degree to turn a Saturday into an institution.
Terrence Vandiver, Jr.
BA · MBA, Sports Management
Chief Executive Officer
Church Jam, LLC
Vice Chairman
Church Jam Foundation
Church Jam is his idea. Terrence holds a Master of Business Administration in Sports Management and a conviction that has never really wavered: that sport is one of the few things that will still carry a man somewhere he wasn't planning to go. He builds the tournament so the gospel arrives with it — not bolted on the side of the day, but sitting in the middle of it where nobody can walk past.
Terrence Vandiver, Sr.
B.S. · M.Div. · DMD
Senior Vice President
Church Jam, LLC
Chairman of the Board
Church Jam Foundation
Pastor
Thankful Baptist Church
Dr. Vandiver played quarterback locally at Evans High School and collegiately at Fort Valley State University, and the competitive edge never died. He's not helping build a youth program. He's in it for the same reason a sixteen-year-old would be: something worth driving across town for after a full day of work.
He pastors Thankful Baptist Church in Blythe, and he chairs the Foundation that puts every entry fee into a school.
11 — Voices
What they said
after
Replace these three with real quotes after the first tournament. Until then they're placeholders — don't publish invented testimonials on a ministry page.
“
[Quote from a participating pastor about what the day did for his young men.]
[Pastor Name][Church Name], Augusta
“
[Quote from a principal or teacher at the receiving school about what arrived and what it changed.]
[Principal Name][School Name]
“
[Quote from a player or a parent. This one matters most — keep it in his own words, don't clean it up.]
[Player Name][Grade], [Church or School]
12 — Enter
Bring your team
Tell us who you are and we'll send the packet — waivers, roster form, rules, and the payment link. No money moves until you've seen all of it.