Grand Canyon University Athletics
Ex-Lope spreads 'Jesus Won' across sports, GCU
10/6/2026 11:00:00 AM | Baseball, General, Paul Coro, Giving
Former baseball player's apparel line took off in MLB, partners at GCU
Matt Palmer wears his mission on his chest, and now so do athletes at every level nationwide.
The message of Jesus Won emphatically emblazons shirts, hoodies and hats in high schools, professional sports circuits and college athletic programs, such as the Grand Canyon one where Palmer played baseball and now partners with praise.
Twenty-four years ago, a GCU baseball season helped pivot Palmer's life with a marriage that led to his cherished family life and a chaplain who put him back on a faith walk. That path pivoted Palmer from working 14 years for a corporation to serving the kingdom, where his Fellowship of Christian Athletes and team chaplain roles made a T-shirt transformative.
The GCU connection with Jesus Won messaging on Lopes apparel began in 2015 when Kelly Schmidt, FCA's GCU director, designed and began delivering shirts to local colleges. As Palmer's FCA role grew, he partnered with X-treme Apparel president Marc Daus to make FCA and two Jesus Won shirts for fundraising and faith outreach.
Because former GCU teammate David Lopez's brother, Rigo, connected him, Palmer has served nine years with the San Francisco Giants as a team chaplain for spring training and players in rehabilitation or year-round player development. A Texas Rangers chaplain suggested producing the Jesus Won shirt in a team's colors/font, and Palmer delivered 50 each to the Giants and Rangers during 2023 spring training.
"We had zero intentions and zero creative ideas," Palmer said after raising $530,000 for churches, nonprofit organizations and schools with Jesus Won over the past 2 1/2 years. "There was never anything more than providing a tool for people to share their faith."
That seed of kindness became a harvest of love on Sept. 8, 2023, when Rangers outfielder Evan Carter was called up from the minor leagues to join Texas amid its World Series championship run.
Like many other days that summer, Carter wore his Jesus Won shirt to batting practice when Texas' top-rated, 21-year-old prospect emerged from the Globe Life Field dugout for the first time in Arlington. The Rangers, with their 1-million-follower Instagram account, posted the customary series of photos chronicling a highly anticipated prospect arrival with a The Kid is Here caption and Carter pictured smiling in his Jesus Won shirt.
More than 63,000 likes later, the buzz began. About $4,000 of Jesus Won shirts sold that weekend to multiply a common week's sales by 40.
Within a few weeks, Carter was a World Series champion collaborating on a shirt to support Palmer's ministry and Carter's hometown church and high school baseball program in Tennessee. They sold 7,000 after the Rangers won the World Series, raising $35,000 for each organization.
"Our whole mission is really simple," said Palmer, who participated in the Boston Red Sox's Faith and Family Night. It's to start conversations about Jesus through a T-shirt, a hoodie and a hat and point to the Gospel. Somehow, God's given us this business, which is more of a ministry for us. We get to play a small piece of helping fund and fuel different ministries, churches, teams and schools all over the country."
The connections kept coming with other MLB players and Ohio State football players. TreVeyon Henderson, now a New England Patriots running back, wanted to walk into Ohio State training camp with his Buckeyes teammates wearing a version of the shirt. When they did, the TikTok and Instagram posts each received more than 1 million views.
"The heart behind 'Jesus Won' is that He did win," Ohio State star receiver Gee Scott Jr. said on "The Walk" podcast. "He lived a life that I couldn't live. He paid a price that I couldn't pay. And He died a death that I deserved to die. And He did it for me. And He won. He overcame the enemy."
Palmer said the message is based in John 16:33 that Jesus' message to His disciples after the Last Supper: I've told you all this so you may have peace in me. In this life, you will have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome the world.
Indiana Hoosiers were asked about Jesus Won shirts they won during last year's national championship season. Three-time American League MVP Mike Trout wore his short-sleeved Jesus Won hoodie during batting practice each day and for an Apple TV interview in March. New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston called it one of the best gifts he has ever received.
Palmer envisions a kid seeing Seattle Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert wearing his Jesus Won shirt, leading to him finding out how Gilbert's shirts support the African Windmill Project and asks his mother for one.
Shirts are being shipped to each U.S. state, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom with kingdom causes benefiting each time.
"It's all been grassroots, organic and collaborative with athletes," Palmer said. "Really, it's all God's favor because we haven't spent money on marketing and advertising. Let's help, and let's do it with something that has more community impact than cookie dough, candles and gold cards."
With a limited-edition Jesus Won GCU collection, a portion of proceeds support its Grace Grit Glory platform that champions women's sports. Palmer also has been a GCU dad to two former Lopes cross country runners, Braedon and Madelyn. His other child, Ryne, signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins in July.
"Through this initiative, businesses, donors and fans play a direct role in investing in the development, success and overall experience of our women student-athletes as they compete, grow and represent GCU on and off the field of competition," GCU Athletics director of development Jerome Garrison said. "As an alum of GCU men's basketball, this is particularly special since it involves a fellow Lope student-athlete. Matt's vision for his company directly aligns with the mission of Grand Canyon University and GCU Athletics. It excites me to see former Lopes using their talents and business to make a positive impact on the next generation of student-athletes. This partnership reflects the lasting influence of the GCU experience."
Just like his faith walk, Palmer's path to GCU was not direct upon his1997 graduation from nearby Glendale Ironwood High School.
Palmer grew up attending First Southern Baptist Church in Peoria every day of the week. He knew the Bible, and he needed it once he hit his teen years and began following poor peer influences into a party life.
"Even as I wandered through the darkness and desert for the better part of a decade and a half, He still had a plan," Palmer said.
Palmer played catcher for seasons at Scottsdale Community College and one at Southern Colorado before being ready to quit baseball. He returned to the Valley and worked an excruciating summer job as a commercial framer.
His then girlfriend and now wife of 24 years, Tristan, the GCU director of clinical operations in the nursing program, encouraged him to inquire about playing at GCU because he had friends playing for the Lopes. He received a fall ball invitation and earned a roster spot.
and Jessica Drake in 2025
Palmer earned six starts and many pinch-hit chances, including a debut that came so quickly he batted without gloves. After taking the first pitch, Palmer cranked the second one over the left-field wall for a memory as vivid as chasing a 2-2 slider in the dirt on his final college at bat.
"I probably should've slowed down a little bit on the home run because that was the only one I hit all year," Palmer said. "The relationships and the people on the team were great. Baseball didn't work out how I wanted, but it worked out how it was supposed to. Now I'm as involved in the game as I could ask for.'
Palmer's GCU season connected him with longtime team chaplain Brian Beltramo, and the pair became better acquainted in club coaching circles. After meeting with their Bibles for coffee, they began doing it weekly for two years.
"That relationship and God bringing him into my life changed everything for us," said Palmer, 47, who got married during his senior year and entered fatherhood soon after. "I was saved as a kid, but I didn't surrender my life to Jesus until I was 35. Our marriage and our family looked good on the outside. We had the house, the cars, the jobs, but there was something missing. The last 12 years have been 180 degrees different."
After rising into management during a 14-year career with Cox Communications, Palmer left the corporate world to work with FCA for eight years and eventually was its Maricopa County director as the local staff tripled in size.
When he began chaplain work with the Giants in 2018, he said he heard God's voice upon leaving the Scottsdale Stadium clubhouse for the second time.
"I heard God whispering, 'That room you wanted to be in your whole life, I'm putting you in the room. You're just not doing what you thought were going to do,' " Palmer said.
Now, he has relationships with every MLB franchise. Mass orders to go out to a franchise's various affiliates have happened with five organizations.
Jesus Won already had connected with new GCU baseball head coach Steve Bieser at his previous stop, Jacksonville State, and has been a fixture for GCU softball under head coach Shanon Hays.
"God's amazing because he gives me a chance to be an evangelist even though it's not my nature," Palmer said. "You know where I stand, and there's an invitation every time someone sees me wearing a 'Jesus Won' shirt. Whether that's a conversation about what it means or a high five, I can share everything with you that matters to me without having to say anything."
That resonates with GCU student-athletes, many of which became Lopes in part for the university's Christian mission. GCU soccer player Lauren Knox wore the Jesus Won clothing before the launch of one that partners with her team and others on campus.
"It's perfect because Jesus won the ultimate fight on the cross for us, and now we, as his children, get to just go live in that freedom and live as lights reflecting that in everything we do," said Knox, a junior from St. Louis. "We can point everyone to that hope that we have because Jesus sealed our eternity for us on the cross. 'Jesus Won' is perfect, especially for us athletes here at GCU because we want to have victories in our own sports but we know that ultimately it's all just to point more toward heaven and what the ultimate victory is – getting as many people to heaven as we can.
"It's an incredible company, and I absolutely love the Palmers. I'm grateful to represent them."
