Minister
George Festus Blamoh and wife, Nudeh Tupee Blamoh
AIA-Liberia Ministry Plan
OVERVIEW
What is Athletes
in Action?
Background:
Athletes in Action-Liberia, is a sports Ministry
of Campus Crusade for Christ International.
While some people are never challenge to do
their best, a sports man is. There is however, a
far greater commitment and far higher goal to
which we Athletes in Action want to challenge
you, the goal of been totally committed to the
greatest person who ever lived (Jesus Christ our
Lord). It is He who has given our lives lasting
hope and meaning that go far deeper than the
enjoyment sports can provide.
Goal:
1Is to minister to and through Sports
people: Outreach/Evangelism; One on One, Small
Group and Mass, Discipleship/Bible Studies and
Mentoring.
2To enhance international good will
through sports
3To help Athletes maximize their
potential.
4To introduce sports people to a personal
faith in Jesus Christ while encouraging them to
grow in their faith through the fellowship of a
local church.
Strategy:
We
reach out, build and Disciple Elite athletes
from the National Soccer Teams (Under-17, 20, 23
& the Senior National Team), Premier Clubs,
First & Second Division Basketball Club Teams
and the National Cycling and Track teams where
they can become part of our Disciplship Chain;
Volunteers, Associate Staff and Full Staff, in
order to make disciples and extend God’s Kingdom
through the platform of Spots.
Vision:
Our
vision is to train, Disciple and transformed
athletes from sports coaching to Whole Life
Coaching (Holistically).
Mission:
Our
mission is to prepare a generation of God’s
people through sports, that will transform our
nation and globe by their life that they live (I
Corinthians 9:25-27).
Objectives:
4To develop Leadership and Life Skills
5To develop Soccer Skills
6To create opportunities for them to use
their skills for the glory of God
7To teach them that the ultimate goal is
Jesus and that we can not reach eternal life
with our strength.
Partners:
We
are currently in partnership with the Liberia
Football Association/CAF Educational Director,
The Ministry of Youth & Sports, and Liberia
Christian Sports Coalition, Churches,
Orphanages, Schools, Universities, Colleges,
Sports Outreach Africa, Northwest Christian
School, Athletes in Action-Holland and REAL
Foundation(Rural Educational And Leadership
Foundation).
In 1822 the American
Colonization Society established Liberia as a
place to send black people who were formerly
enslaved. Other African-Americans, who were
never enslaved, chose to immigrate to Liberia as
well. African-Americans gradually migrated to
the colony and became known as Americo-Liberians,
from whom many present day Liberians trace their
ancestry. On
July 26, 1847, the Americo-Liberian settlers
declared the independence of the Republic of
Liberia. The name Liberia denotes "liberty", but
civil war engulfed Liberia in 1989 and 1999 with
peace finally returning in 2003. Liberia has a
population of 3.5 million people and the
national language is English. 40% of the
population is Christian, 40% follow indigenous
beliefs, and 20% is Muslim.
Fast facts:
Capital - Monrovia
(population 572,000)
Currency - Liberian
dollar
Life Expectancy –
49 years old
Literacy Rate - 58
percent
GDP Per Capita -
$1,000
It is
a beautiful country, but the civil war that
gripped the country from 1989-2003 destroyed
ever fabric of society. There are still 18,000
UN soldiers and personnel occupying the
country. The staples for life are very
expensive and often in short supply. The pump
stations for cars along the roads are just four
poles covered by a palm-branch roof. Gasoline
is sold from galloon jars which are poured into
the vehicles using a home-made funnel. The
daily food is plantains, rice, and fish. Most
of the country relies on gas-powered generators
for their electricity. There is a shortage of
public transportation, and people can wait for
hours just to catch the few taxis available.
Yet
these people are not bitter towards God.
Instead they are seeking to follow Him. It is
as if God has removed the veil from their eyes.
In their need and brokenness God is meet
them. I believe that God is making Liberia an
example for all of Africa and the world as He
brings hope, peace, reconciliation, and joy to a
broken nation.
Overview of Our Work:
In September 2008, we were
able to trained 23 Referees, Coaches and Sports
Administrators at the Conference room of the
Liberia Football Association. in October 2008 we
were also able to trained 75 leaders coming from
Premier Clubs, Schools, Universities, Colleges,
Community Leaders, Ministry of Youth & Sports
and the Liberia Football Association through our
Modules 1-3 Training/Coaching program at the
Temple Outreach Schools in New-Georgia,
Caldwell, where 60 Leaders were qualified for
our Training of Trainers in January 2009 which
brought Leaders from the above institutions
across the nation to be trained as Life
Coaches.
Road 2 Africa Project November 2009
The
Vision
It is
the desire of Athletes in Action Liberia to
empower Athletes (Elites), individuals,
ministries, and churches in Liberia and around
the world to fulfil the Great Commission by
reaching their communities with the
life-changing message of Jesus Christ through
sports and to release them to train others.
We
combine sports with compassion projects to meet
the physical needs of the people. In reaching
the physical needs, doors are opened to share
Jesus and meet the spiritual needs as well.
We want
to work in two ways. One focus will be to
minister to local pastors, church leaders,
Elites & University athletes, youth, community
and government leaders, and individuals through
seminars, forums, meetings, and teachings on
reconciliation, Christian Community Development,
Church Development, Ubabalo, and Sports Ministry
and a soccer tournament. By bringing in experts
who have experience in these issues, we believe
that all of Liberia will be impacted as the
message is spread through radio, newspapers, and
media reports.
The
second focus will be on receiving sports team
from Holland, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The
Holland team will be made up of two team leaders
and eight to ten team members, and will be able
to lead sports clinics in soccer . The sports
activities will be used to encourage fellow
believers and share the gospel as relationships
are built quickly in spite of economic and
cultural barriers. Potential opportunities
include serving an orphanage of 80 children an
hours drive from Monrovia, visiting local
schools, and hosting sports clinics in
neighbourhoods in partnership with local
churches.
Key People
Participating in 2009 Road 2 Africa Project
Dr. Dolphus Weary
Dr. Weary is the President
of Mission Mississippi, a ministry that is
striving to bring racial reconciliation
throughout the US. He is also a nationally know
speaker, author, and authority on reconciliation
and Christian Community Development. He will
come to Liberia with his wife Rosie, who is also
active in community ministry.
Bram
Koerts
Bram
works for Athletes in Action as a part of
National Team, coaching churches in the
Netherlands to develop their own sports
ministries. He is also a certified trainer for
the Institute for Natural Church Development (NCD).
NCD has become a vibrant movement in 70
countries with more than 40,000 churches
world-wide. The focus of NCD is to draw people
closer to the triune God and, as a natural side
effect, to see numerical growth within the
church as a whole.
Jonathan Detweiler
Jonathan works for Athletes
in Action Holland as the Manager of
International Partnerships. He has been
involved in sports ministry for more than 18
years and has travelled to many countries to
train local churches in the development of their
own sports ministries.
George Festus Blamoh
National
Coordinator/Projector Director-Athletes in
Action-Liberia and National Facilitator Ubabalo
Soccer to Whole Life Coaching, a strategy use in
mentoring and developing the Whole person
Wholistically as they grow to become a Life
Coach and an agent of Change in society that
will help fulfill the vision of raising a new
generational Leaders in Liberia and the world.
He is a former National Soccer Team Goal Keeper
of Liberia, Trained and Certificated Life Coach
and also a Trained Leader of African Leadership
Institute for Community Transformation, CapeTown
South Africa with Emphasis in Youth Development
.
Thanks
so much for your prayers toward our just ended
November 13-23 , 2009 Project.
To God
be the glory for His blessings upon our nation
as He use us as instrument to help transform our
broken nation on the platform of sports.
Our plan
is to raise up a new generational leaders that
will leave legacy for the nation and the world.
The Project were very much successful. The
conference was attended by 150 participants;
Pastor, church leaders, Sports Ministries
Leaders, College & Universities Leaders,etc with
Dr. Dolphus Weary, Jonathan Detweiler, Bram
Koerts and I (George Festus Blamoh) serving as
Speakers. We were also able to serve 8
Orphanages, schools, Street Youth and JFK
Hospital with Medical Items, Clothes &
Educational Materials. We were able to meet
with students at AMEU and Lincoln College of
Professional studies.
The one
day soccer tournament brought together 7teams
including Sports Life international from Sierra
Leone, UMC-Roots Premier Club, Liberia All Stars
Team ( Comprise of National Team Players and
Premier Clubs), Jireh Fc, New-Georgia Pirates,
Ambassador in Sports Fc and AIA-Liberia Soccer
Team. During the the tournament tracts were
distributed by Churches and AIA Team as well.
The
Dinner/award was well attended with all of the
invitees being attended with the exception of
the Presidet of Liberia, Her excellency Madam
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who asked the Minister of
Youth & Sports to act on her behalf.
We want
to say thank you for every thing. May God bless
you as we build Movement everywhere for the
Lord’s Kingdom. We want to say thank you to our
AIA-Holland Partner and Dr. & Mrs Weary of the
USA for joining us imparting our nation. We say
many many blessings to you.
Strategy for 2010 & Beyond
There are three areas of
focus in this plan:
1. Evangelism.
To bring the gospel to as many players and
officials in Liberia’s top soccer leagues.
2. Discipleship.
To help these players and officials to grow in
their faith and to live changed lives.
3. Sending. To help the player and
officials to see that God is sending them as
missionaries on the sports field.
After 2010 we trust God that these players will
continue to have ministry wherever God sends
them. To accomplish this, we believe the
following projects will help us.
Projects
As part
of our yearly Project, we will be receiving and
sending teams from our various partnering
Ministries outside of Liberia. Each team will be
made up of team leaders and team members, and
will be able to lead sports clinics in soccer
and other Sports that will be available for the
project. The sports activities will be used to
encourage fellow believers to share the gospel
as relationships are built quickly in spite of
economic and cultural barriers. Potential
opportunities will include
Evangelism:
Sports
and Life Conference (March 2010), High
Profile Soccer team to South Africa (June
6-24, 2010) for the strengthening of the
churches and spreading the gospel on the
platform of Sports during the world cup. AIA/Church
Soccer & Basketball Tournament and Sports
Clinics and Outreach (July 24-August 11,
2010),
(Sports
& Community Development Conference serving
orphanages, visiting local schools, and hosting
sports clinics in neighbourhoods in partnership
with local churches, Premier clubs,
Universities/Colleges Sports Teams.
(November
13-23, 2010
Discipleship:
Total Athletes Training Camps
There are
lot of challenges that athletes go through in
life and the sports career. This training
develop the athletes not only on the sports
field but as well as off the pitch where he/she
will still mantain the attribute and
characteristics if Christianity so that their
life can serve as mentor to those that do not
know the Lord.
Ubabalo Training
The average
age of the youth of Liberia is 16 years.
They need life-mentors. As part of our mission to
raise up a new generational Leaders in Liberia
through the 15 Counties of our nation, we carry
on Leadership and Life Coaching/Training through
our Ubabalo Soccer to Whole Life Coaching
Strategy.Since soccer
provides the best “language” to communicate with
the Liberian youth, the training of
soccer coaches into life coaches will provide
the most efficient transformative impact in
Liberia, and beyond. Ubabalo is a
TeenGames styled strategy that aims to ride on
this fever and bring soccer coaching
opportunities to youth.
Our objective is to transform youth through
whole life coaching. Aspiring young adults will
be identified and trained to coach soccer
skills. Ubabalo uses soccer as a microcosm of
life to instil sound life values. This is the
key to “paradigm shift” soccer coaching into
whole life coaching. Every soccer skill is
related to a value which is taught as part of
the soccer training.
This program focuses on
1.The untapped leadership potential of
youths.
2.Changing the behaviour and attitudes of
the youth so that the effect of HIV / AIDS,
corruption, ethnic/tribal strife, family
struggles and poverty will be minimized.
We have a comprehensive curriculum that will
facilitate coaches and players to develop a
sound value system. The curriculum will capture
every aspect of one’s being. We want to present
a holistic coaching experience, both for the
coach and his players.
Local church partnerships are at the centre of
this program. We facilitate a process in which
the church:
1.Moves outside her walls and become a
change agent in society.
2.Partners with other churches to unite the
body of Christ in a shared pursuit.
3.Turns its attention to the youth to
ensure the future growth of the Kingdom of God
in Liberia, and beyond.
4.Grasps the opportunity to effectively
disciple the youth through the avenues that a
value-based soccer program creates.
As the world is being treated to a spectacular
festival of soccer in 2010, the dream is to see
the world experience a moral regeneration
through a value-based whole life coaching
program and celebrate a renaissance of
leadership with global impact long after the
completion of 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
Each partnering Institution creates a
multiplication effect by identifying 5 coaches
and 5 teams which will give us the opportunity
to train 60 Leaders into Life Coaches with 20
partnering institution from each County . They
can be existing coaches or individuals who
desire to be trained as coaches. The soccer
teams range from 11 to 25 years of age. The
coach must receive Ubabalo Module 1 training in
order to be a values-based life coach. He
continues to meet his team of 18 – 20 youths
bi-weekly for 30 weeks. After a year the players
would have gone through 60 sessions of
leadership and life skills coaching, in addition
to soccer coaching. The first phase of Ubabalo
will be for 5 years.
The Ubabalo training provides cutting edge
knowledge in life coaching, life coaching
skills, and facilitates personal and attitudinal
transformation. Further, the coach receives the
life coaching curriculum which comprises a
soccer coaching manual, and a leadership and
life skills manual. Each soccer skill is linked
with a corresponding value. The soccer skills
are the avenues to the values. The values are
used as avenues to Bible-based discipleship.
The life
coach is to receive 9-days of training in 3
contact sessions per year.
è
Module 1: Introduction to Life Coaching (3 days)
è
10 weeks on-field coaching
è
Module 2: Intermediate Life Coaching (3 days)
è
10 weeks on-field coaching
è
Module 3: Advanced Life Coaching (3 days)
è
10 weeks on-field coaching
Year 1: Introduction of Whole-Life Coaching
8Connecting soccer skills to life skills
9Transforming soccer coach to whole life
coach
Year 2-4: Building Effective Teams,
Understanding Youth Development, Emotional
Intelligence and Personal Leadership
10Finding identity
11Identifying profile, passion, skills,
talents
12Leadership and communication skills
13Comprehension of youth issues
14Management of emotions to facilitate
right thinking
15Regulation of emotions of others to
promote impact in others
Year 5: Emerging as Change Agent
16Facilitation of church & community
development projects through sports & games
17Leadership in discipleship groups
Life
Coaching Curriculum for Players
Our first 20 whole life coaching series comprise
of the following:
Soccer Skill Related
Value Session Name
Short Passing Connectedness
Stay Connected
Long Passing
Service Serve Each Other Into
Greatness
First Touch
Stability Self-Control
Shielding
Respect Guard The Treasure
Shooting
Responsibility It’s Mine
Heading
Courage Reach For Your Goal
Tackling
Courage Live With Courage
Dribbling
Confidence Grab The Moment
Dribbling With Moves Confidence
Timing Is Everything
Running With The Ball
Urgency Reaching Objectives
Goalkeeping
Focus Preparedness
Individual Defending Watchfulness
Protect From Infiltration
Team Defending
Loyalty Appreciating Each
Other
Cohesion
Attacking As A Team
Creativity Creating Space For
Each Other
Strategizing For Success
Shielding
Respect Watch Out!
Long Passing
Service Be sensitive To Others
Long Passing
Service Looking Outwards
Heading
Courage Grasp The Opportunity
Ubabalo
Philosophy and Values
There are 12 key values that characterize
Ubabalo:
1Integrity – All trainers should live a
life of integrity since exemplary living is the
strongest training method.
2Bible-based – We believe that the Bible
is sufficient in teaching us to live a life of
fulfilment and significance.
3Acknowledging the science of sport and
the identity of the sports person – We never
want to exploit athletes for proclamation
purposes, but we want to serve them in a way
that acknowledges their real needs.
4Service – In our training we want to
create servant hearts so that the world-wide-web
of leaders that we develop will be of one heart
and mind.
5Experiential learning – Since
experiential learning fits into the culture of
sport and has also proven to be a very strong
educational tool, we apply this method wherever
possible.
6Partnerships – Since the beauty and the
strength of the Body of Christ is so powerful,
we are always inclusive in an effort to involve
all stakeholders.
7Humility … that leads to service
8Diversity … that leads to understanding
9Interdependence … that leads to
partnerships
10Empowerment/envisioning … that leads to
multiplication
11Creativity … that leads to innovation
12Integrity … that leads to trust
13Passion … that leads to commitment
Sending:
Send players to
churches to help reach the community.
Sending teams to South Africa for the world cup
2010 soccer outreach and to other countries to
share the gospel.
We believe that we can not
achieve this alone as the African Proverb says
“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want
to go far, go together. We all know the fact
that one horse can pull two tons while two
horses can pull twenty four tons (Ecclesiastes
4:9-12). We look forward to your partnership.
George
Festus Blamoh
National
Coordinator
Athletes in Action-Liberia
(Campus Crusade For Christ International)
National Facilitator-Ubabalo
Soccer to Whole Life Coaching
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earth. If you have any questions concerning any of the ministries, visiting
countries, and any other points of interest and questions, direct them to James
Anthony Allen, Email: eblessings@gmail.com.
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