History of the Sports Prayer Group

The Sports Prayer Group began as an intercessory prayer meeting for the Taekwondo team of Ogun state, as they prepared for the World Open Taekwondo Championship of 2000, in Eindhoven, Holland, and the National Sports Festival of 2000 in Bauchi, Northern Nigeria.

The prayer meetings were at the instance of the state's Taekwondo Association Chairman, Master George Ashiru, who was also at that time an Elder at the Christ Signs & Wonders Evangelical Missions in Lagos, Nigeria.  Members of the team were receiving an unusual joy in the presence of God and boldness for praise performance once on the mat, that it was realised that God was doing something unusual among athletes in the team. After placing creditably at the National Olympics, third place, the team realised that it was by the special anointing of the Holy Spirit that they excelled.

By October 2000, Mr George Ashiru, after receiving divine prompting, began a full fledge ministry under the banner, Sports Prayer Group. The first prayer meeting to be held at the national level, was for the National team of the Nigeria Judo Federation, at the National Stadium in late 2001, and the SPG began to grow in sports events ministry.

Finding that the task of building a ministry requires the Holy Spirit as well as good foundation in the Word of God, Mr Ashiru also enrolled at the Bud Miller course in Biblical Studies, and subsequently also studied with the Online Bible College, Grace Springs Bible College and Samuel Bible Institute, receiving in the process a Bachelor and Masters in Theology degrees. During this period, he was ordained as the Chaplain of the Samuel Bible Institute among other appointments within the local Church.

The Sports Prayer Group was formally launched at the Media centre of the National Stadium, Lagos, in February 2003 during SPG's presentation of the All Africa Games Prayer Initiative. Subsequently, Reverend George Ashiru and other ministers of the SPG were appointed as Chaplains for the All Africa Games in Abuja 2003 where he served as the leader of the prayer team for the All Africa Games..

The SPG has become one of the pioneer and major dedicated Christian sports ministries in Nigeria with it's pioneering accredited certificate courses in sports ministry as well as the planting of several christian fellowships in Nigeria.

On the night of November 6, 2003, the Lord gave instructions to Reverend Ashiru to prepare for an associated nationalistic ministry, in which Christ himself would begin to bless communities who gather and pray to God, in true repentance and re-dedication. The Scripture inspiring this move is Romans 12:1-2, and 2 Chronicles 7:14 and 2 Chronicles 34.

By February and Easter Monday, 2004, Ministers of the Sports Prayer Group gathered to pray for the Church and the new mandate. On October 1, 2004, the Agenda for National Transformation was incepted at the University of Lagos. Subsequently, the Transformation Movement began, with a mandate to intercede for the nation, community by community.

SPG Landmarks

2000 Begun as intercessory ministry in sports
2001 Began discipling christians in sports
2002 Ministered during the EDO 2002 Sports Festival
2002 SPG Ministered during the UI NUGA Games
2003 SPG Launched at National Stadium Lagos
2003 SPG served as Chaplains at Abuja 2003 Games
2004 SPG Begins sports ministry certificate courses
2004 SPG receives Agenda:Transformation mandate

SPG Partners

Evangelist Yomi Osho - UPPER ROOM MINISTRIES
Pastor Bennie Bitter - SPORTS OUTREACH AFRICA
Pastor David Adams - INTERNATIONAL SPORTS COALITION
Pastor Tim Tucker - AMBASSADOR'S IN SPORTS
Pastor Paul Bankole - WIN-WIN ALLIANCE
Mrs Elizabeth Ajanya - BIBLE SOCIETY OF NIGERIA
Pastor Fayokemi Abiona - GLOBAL HARVEST FELLOWSHIP
Minister George Boley - SPORTS PRAYER GROUP, UNITED STATES
Rev. David Smith - HOLY TRINITY, DULWICH HILL, AUSTRALIA 

Sports Ministry Foundations Using Sports Ministry to Reach This Generation John Garner Way back in 1927, the very first issue of Church Administration magazine featured an interesting article inside its front cover. The article carried the title, "The Modern Movement for Better Rural Church Buildings." America was in the midst of prosperity -- not knowing that the Great Depression was just around the corner. Most of the country was rural. There was a new rural prosperity. Travel was becoming easier. Soldiers had returned from the "Great War." Public schools were being built in more rural areas. Churches were doing new rural ministry actions. Indeed, churches were the center of community life -- everything was done there from worship to socials that gathered folks from around the county. The interesting part of that article was contained in section III. The section was entitled: "Some co-ordinate equipment." The listing contains these items: A well-kept church lawn A pastor's home A few acres of land Part for the pastor's use Part for athletic fields Garage containing Ford Car Private light and water system A building for community social life Imagine that! In 1927, it was recommended that a church provide places for athletics and social life. The church was using sports and recreation (socials) to reach people. If it worked then, how much more open to recreation and sports is our culture now? The popular culture today is saturated with both, thanks in large part to the media. The Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series, X-Games, Ironman events, The Final Four in college basketball and the NBA Playoffs capture the imaginations of millions of people in America when they are held. Socially interactive media events like, Survivor, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Big Brother and Real World garner mass audiences of young and old alike. The next day, water cooler conversations often center on what happened the night before. The culture is there. The question is, "How is the church using these tools to reach people?" Or perhaps a better question is, "Will the church see the opportunity to use recreation and sports as ministry tools?" Churches Not Succeeding in Reaching the Culture The fact is that most churches are not reaching the culture. The cold hard facts are that most churches are being ignored by an increasingly non-Christian American culture because people see no relevance of the church to their lives. What they do see relevance in is re-creative leisure that they pursue at break-neck speed and at great cost. Somehow, the church must learn to "capture the imagination" of a world that is passing it by. Recreation and sports ministry offers a non-threatening way of offering a first touch in the lives of all ages. We live in a leisure-oriented, competition-riven and unseeded culture. Not long ago, it was thought that by now people would be working shorter hours and enjoying longer weekends to pursue leisure activities. In fact, just the opposite has come true. People are working longer hours and being more productive as the competition has gotten more fierce in most industries. This makes leisure time a valued commodity. American culture prizes its leisure above almost everything. It is not uncommon for workers to negotiate more time off even if they give up some salary to get it. Time has become more valuable than money. The majority of our culture no longer works for food, shelter, clothing and transportation -- these are givens for most Baby Boomers, GenXers, and Millenials. They work for the "weekend" or time off when they can do what they want to do. They will spend considerable time and money in pursuit of "fun" at the lake, on the golf course, in the woods, going to baseball, football or basketball games or engaging in a hobby that brings a measure of fulfillment to their lives. Literally billions are spent on leisure activities each year. The No. 1 retailer of sporting goods sold 3.9 billion dollars worth of sporting equipment in a recent year -- and they are not even known as a sporting goods company. Leisure is a fact of life in America. It is important to people in all walks of life and all indications point to it growing in the coming years. Competition at the Root of American Culture Competition on the job has led us to become more conscious of productivity. If I am competitive in my job and produce more services or goods, then I often rewarded with more time to use as I see fit. So, the more competitive I can become and the more products or services I produce in a shorter amount of time gives me more time to "spend" doing what I want to do. Being competitive has its rewards. This competition often creeps into the leisure activities we participate in. Little Leagues are now requiring parents to take classes to curb the overly competitive spirit that parents often bring with them to games. Parents are pushing their children to be more competitive, so that they can win a tournament or that coveted scholarship to college. The joy of participation has given way to the pressure of competition. In one instance, fans and players of a losing team physically beat referees at a high school age boys basketball game. The police had to be called to the referee's rescue. How sad it is to hear about the murder of a parent by another parent over a game of hockey. The church needs to be there offering creative alternatives encouraging participation, skill development and fostering a love of sports. Upward Basketball is a shining example of how this can be done and be intentionally evangelistic at the same time. We must seize the arena of competition and make it something that builds lives instead of tearing relationships apart. There is nothing wrong with competition. In fact, it is competition that makes us strive to be better at whatever it is that we are doing. It is how it is handled that makes the difference. The church can and should handle competition in a new way to make a difference. We live in a culture that is unseeded with the Word of God. People in our culture do not know the Word of God, have not read the Word of God and are afraid of the Word of God. Most of you reading this article grew up hearing, memorizing, singing or reading God's Word. The Gen-X population knows practically nothing about it. They have been told in the media that if you read the Bible, you might go off the "deep end." Children are not being taught the wonderful stories and Bible verses that can impress on their hearts the love of God, and the Salvation brought by Jesus Christ. Churches realize this and are trying to teach the Word of God, but families are too busy going to soccer tournaments, or camping, or simply resting to attend Bible study. Parents will get their children to a sports event. Churches must see the opportunity to use sports to teach the Bible at practices and to do evangelism at halftime. It may not be on Sunday, but if we believe the Word of God is alive, and if we believe it will not return void, when or where or how we teach it will not matter. What does matter is that we take the opportunity of interest in sports and recreation and use it to reach an unseeded generation. The use of sports and recreation activities can be an open door to reach this generation. It is a natural. Churches who use these tools and learn to use them effectively are seeing many come to Christ for the first time or come back to Him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was taken from Church Administration, A Magazine for Effectiveness in Ministry.