October 22-23, 2025

Birmingham, Alabama

More info coming on the 12th annual Lions Den competition!  Looking forward to seeing you there!

*  2025 APPLICATIONS OPEN.  Apply to present here. *

*  2025 SPONSORSHIPS OPEN.  Register here. *

About the event

Cedarworks, Inc. is looking forward to the 12th annual Lions Den competition on October 22-23, 2025 in Birmingham, AL at Highlands College.

The “Shark Tank” style Main Event features 3-4 business-as-mission companies competing before a live audience and panel of judges, seeking capital, resources, and exposure.

  • The Professional Summit  encompasses all Lions Den activities during the week. This includes a kickoff dinner, speaker, introductions to the competing companies, and structured networking. The day of the Main Event, it includes breakfast, a keynote luncheon, dinner, multiple breakout sessions, the Main Event itself, and additional networking opportunities.
 
  • The Accredited Investor Meeting gives an opportunity for Accredited Investors to go deeper, ask questions, and meet with the presenting companies one-on-one to determine any future partnerships.

Why You Should Come

2025 Schedule
(For Reference)

Wednesday, October 22 – Bham Venue TBD
6:00 – 9:00 PM      Summit Registration & Dinner

Thursday, October 23 – HIGHLANDS COLLEGE
7:00 – 8:00 AM      One-on-One Consults
8:00 – 8:30 AM      Summit Registration, Breakfast
8:30 – 9:00 AM      Main Event Registration
9:00 – 11:00 AM      The Lions Den Main Event
11:15 – 12:30 PM    Summit Breakout Sessions 1
12:30 – 2:00 PM    Summit Keynote Luncheon
2:00 – 4:30 PM      Summit Breakout Sessions 2 +   Accredited Investor Meeting
4:30 – 6:00 PM      Break/Networking/Exhibits
6:00 – 7:45 PM      Summit Wrap Dinner

 

Our Purpose

To ‘Inspire, Educate, and Mobilize’ business professionals to use their time, talents, and other resources to advance God’s Kingdom using Business As Mission (BAM). 

Real Businesses Seeking

Real Investors For Real Impact

The Lions Den® is a Cedarworks,Inc. Event
A group of Birmingham business professionals created The Lions Den® event in 2014 to “Inspire, Educate and Mobilize” people to invest their time, talents, and other resources in the Kingdom through “Business as Mission.” The group created the non-profit Cedarworks, Inc. to produce the event as it encourages a diverse community of participants from around the world and in the Birmingham area. The Lions Den® began to establish itself as a forum for action-oriented professionals coming from across the country to network and collaborate. After multiple requests for more in-depth content, Cedarworks added the Professional Summit to the event. The additional time allows experts to further interact on Business As Mission issues, topics, and case studies.  Other cities followed Birmingham’s lead: Dallas in 2016 and Silicon Valley in 2020. To illustrate the broad appeal, over 600 came to The Lions Den Main Event in 2022, with 10 countries, 159 cities, and 32 states represented. Summit participants enjoyed a series of plenary sessions on the past, present, and future of BAM, as well as a series of smaller breakout session topics and of course, two great dinners, and a lunch with keynote speaker Dwight Nordstrom.

Consider Being A 2025 Sponsor!

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