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Continue Reading to Learn About the Most Recent Youth Power Group Event
On July 16th, in Brooklyn, NY, the Youth Power Group (YPG) hosted a special event called “Motivated” with a very special guest. Former football player of the University of Miami, the Cleveland Browns tight end, 26-year-old David Njoku. He has been a consistent team player for the Cleveland Browns for the past 5 years. At the Motivated event, Njoku shared his experience as a football player and the success that he’s had throughout his career. Also, he mentioned the struggles he had to face to get to where he is now. All battles he has overcome in the past years have allowed him to become an inspiration today for many youths.
David Njoku – Cleveland Browns
In this special event, Bishop Joshua gave the example of Joseph in the Bible. Joseph also had a dream, like many youths today, but his brothers didn’t believe in his dream. As a matter of fact, they wanted to kill his dream. Just like today, the enemies are not far from us, they’re near us. Some examples are family members, friends at school, and the people in our neighborhood. “In Joseph’s case, his brothers tried to kill him. Just like David had a problem that almost killed his career,” said Bishop Joshua Fonseca during the Motivated event.
David Njoku explained that he started attending The Universal Church in Newark, New Jersey on and off when he was younger with his family. “When you are young you don’t really take it as seriously as you should. You just think okay, it’s a church, we go here on Sundays and go home and play video games,” said Njoku.
Njoku was 20 years old when he first got drafted into the NFL, for the first two seasons everything was going okay for him. On Aug 3, 2017, Njoku injured his back lower lumbar sprain and pulled an unspecified grade 1. This caused him to miss training camp and pre-season practice. In 2019 is when things started taking a turn for the worst. On Sep 16, 2019, he had a head cranial concussion and later a hand wrist fracture (source: Draft Sharks). Due to these injuries, David Njoku was sidelined for some time during the season. After these unexpected injuries, his career started falling apart, and he became one of the most hated men in Cleveland. The fact that he wasn’t able to play caused his team, the Cleveland Browns, to start falling behind. He described in an interview that 2019 was the most difficult year for him, not only physically but mostly mentally. “No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors,” said Njoku at The Universal Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
When he returned to The Universal Church, he mentioned, “My life was a little hectic, my body in terms of my profession. I play football. It wasn’t doing too good. I was thinking maybe I have a year or 2 years left and then retire (from being an NFL player) because the pain was just too much“. Njoku continues by saying, “My legs were hurting so bad, and the first thing that the pastor did was anoint my legs with the Holy Oil“. After that, the pain he felt in his body disappeared.
Njoku shared his testimony
When he saw what God was able to do for his health, he decided to take his relationship with God more seriously. Njoku continued attending The Universal Church and learned more about using his faith, he became a faithful tither. “I started taking God more seriously, I started challenging Him to do things in my life that I didn’t think could be done,” said Njoku. He even participated in the Campaign of Israel, “I choose to give a really strong offering. In terms of my (football) session, so that it can progress. While I was doing it, I was like, well this is a really big number. Am I really sure that I want to do this?” but he decided to put the fear he had aside and go to the Altar and God was able to honor his faith.
From there, God started turning his life around. God was able to heal him physically and this allowed him to get back to doing what he loved which is playing football. Because he learned how to use his faith God was also able to bless his NFL career, “Now I have received a multi-million dollar deal. That is my true testimony!” said David Njoku with a big smile on his face. He received a four-year extension and 56 million dollar contract with the Cleveland Browns.
Just like he was able to see the power of God in his life, you can too! Come to a Universal Church near you or give us a call at 1-888-332-4141 for more information.
Esperança Nicolau
