Hours before the college football world turned its attention to Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes nationally televised game against Colorado State Saturday, Coach Prime texted DeKalb County megachurch Pastor E. Dewey Smith Jr.
He wanted his longtime friend, the senior pastor of House of Hope Atlanta, to pray with him before the game.
“Coach Prime and I have prayed together before each game for the past three years,” said Smith, who first met Sanders when the now-coach was an All Pro with the Atlanta Falcons. The two met about two decades ago when both were on a panel during a religious men’s conference in Washington, D.C.
“We just kind of hit it off got tighter in 2013 and became the best of friends,” said Smith during a telephone interview.
Sanders has posted about their relationship on his social media, calling Smith “my pastor, my brother, my friend.” He has occasionally visited House of Hope church on Flat Shoals Parkway.
Sanders praised Smith as a spiritual coach and said he “loves him to life. God definitely chose him, prepared him and sent him to me.”
Smith’s “words are fire. His words are energizing. His words are challenging. The things that he say, he speaks so much life into desolate situations and tough situations that I’ve gone through privately, he’s kept them private.”
Smith, 53, said he has been praying with Sanders and sometimes the team the three years he was at Jackson State. “It’s been our spiritual ritual since he’s been coaching college football,” said Smith. Sometimes it’s pre-recorded, other times in person.
A video circulating on the internet and social media shows them walking on Colorado’s Folsom Field together before a game. Sanders in a white hoodie and Smith in a dark track suit. It was the first time walking on the field with Sanders before a game.
“He told me he didn’t want to play until our feet touched (the field). We prayed and walked.”
Smith said he supported his friend when blood clots were discovered in Sanders’s leg in 2021. Eventually the Hall of Fame player-turned-coach had to have two toes amputated, as well as both sides of his left calf.
He was going into surgery and doctors “were fearful for his life.” Smith said he flew to Jackson and was in ICU.
It was difficult, he said, to “see my friend weakened and incoherent. Just fighting for his life - literally.
“I shared with him that God spared his life for a reason and for this season,” said Smith. “This is much bigger than football. It’s about beating the odds. It’s about bringing equity and opportunity ... It’s about elevating the playing field so that African American coaches can be successful.”
Sanders has often talked openly of his faith.
And that outward expression, particularly in team meetings or on the field, has rubbed some people the wrong way.
In January, the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent University of Colorado officials a letter raising concerns about the coach’s ”promotion of religion and potential religious coercion through the football program” and references to Christianity.
In the letter, the FFRF said it had been contacted by residents who were concerned players were potentially being pressured to pray during their team meetings.
In response, Colorado’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance met with Sanders and provided guidance on the non-discrimination policies, including guidance on boundaries in which players and coaches may and may not engage in religious expression, according to a letter to the FFRF.
Sanders, the letter said, was very receptive
Group public prayer and the right to do so has been an ongoing controversy with some saying it can promote one religion over others or coerce people to participate.
Smith said he hopes to be at the Buffs upcoming game against Oregon and plans are already in place to be at Colorado’s home game against the University of Southern California Trojans at the end of the month.
A native of Macon and a Morehouse College graduate, Smith has been a pastor for more than three decades, with nearly 20 at House of Hope, which has about 10,000 members at three locations, including Macon and Winston, Ga., along with DeKalb.
Smith is also a recording artist and has produced “The Hope TV Network” in 2020, according to his bio on the church’s website. His first solo project, “God Period” under his record label, received a Stellar Award.
The two talk two to three times a week.
Smith said Sanders “Lives his faith out loud. He really feels God saved his life and gifted him ... All platforms point back to God.”
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