Purpose

and
Promise-Driven Life

By

PRINCE & ESTHER OBASI-IKE

Mustard Seed Publications

Nairobi, Kenya

i
 PURPOSE AND PROMISE-DRIVEN LIFE

Copyright 2012

By
Prince & Esther Obasi-ike

ISBN 978-9966-21-298-6

Publishers:

Mustard Seed Publications

P. O. Box 102247-00101 Nairobi, Kenya
Email: prince.ike31@gmail.com OR estherobasike@gmail.com
Telephone +254-720-917-241/+254720575151/+254202514202

Printed in Nairobi Kenya

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

or used without the written permission of the publisher, with the
exception of brief excerpts in magazines, articles, reviews etc.

All Scriptures quotations are from the King James Version of the
Bible, except otherwise stated.

Reprinted 2013

ii
 Dedication
This book is dedicated to all comrades in the mission fields all
over the world who are committed to the Great Commission

iii
iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ................................................................................ iii

Acknowledgement ................................................................... vi
Foreword .................................................................................. viii
Introduction ............................................................................. xi
Chapter 1 Connecting the past to the future .......................... 1
Chapter 2 The Mandate .......................................................... 15
Chapter 3 Breaking the fallow ground .................................... 21
Chapter 4 Early challenges and the Grace of God ................ 29
Chapter 5 The power of articulate vision ................................ 37
Chapter 6 Setting the stage for Eastern Africa Region work .. 54
Chapter 7 Mission strategy into other nations ....................... 69
Chapter 8 Giant strides into nations ....................................... 76
Chapter 9 Mission outside Eastern Africa .............................. 117
Chapter 10 Two are better than one ......................................... 124
Chapter 11 Thinking holistically ................................................ 139
Chapter 12 Media /Education ministries .................................. 147
Chapter 13 Church planting and national acceptance ............ 155
Chapter 14 Mistakes in mission ............................................... 170
Chapter 15 Going Forward ....................................................... 200
Epilogue ................................................................................... 212
References Cited ..................................................................... 214
About the Authors ................................................................... 222

v
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In this life, nobody becomes somebody without selfless and sacrificial
contributions of others. For us to be where we are today, it has taken
the love, care and help of many. It is practically impossible to mention
everyone by name.

We want to acknowledge the role of Pastor S. A. Adeloye in launching

us into our path in destiny. We want to thank Daddy and Mummy J.
O. A. Akindele whom the Lord used severally to assist us in no small
measure to lift so many financial burdens from us. Our gratitude goes
to Daddy and Mummy E. A. Adeboye for their fatherly and motherly
love with exemplary leadership. We have learnt a lot from you Daddy
and Mummy GO.

We want to appreciate all our brethren who have worked with us

and contributed toward our success over the years. Special mention
to Solution Family workers and ministers of the RCCG Kenya. You
are a great source of inspiration to us in your dedication to God and
love for us.

We appreciate the part played by Dr. A. Kalu who took a lot of

his time to make invaluable inputs into this book. We thank Mr. J.
Agunda who edited a great deal of this book. Dr. George Renner, we
appreciate your having to find time, out of your tight schedule while
in your home country USA, to read through this book and for writing
the foreword of this book. Thank you sir for your kind words.

Our journey from Nairobi South C to Solution Centre has been

bolstered by many financial and spiritual pillars used by God to move
His work forward at various points. Notable among them, though the
list is not conclusive, and not in any particular order, are as follows:
The Wakos, Wanalos, Braides, Makinwas, Langats, T. Adeboyes, K.
Adeyemos, Enes, Kokus, Ikomis, F. Baloguns, Effiongs, Olayinkas,
and Rapuodas.

vi
We cannot forget the immense sacrifices of our children Favour and
Goodnews. Many times as I embarked from one mission journey to
another, our son Favour would ask, dad, you are traveling again?.
We appreciate you our boys.

Others are the Mukasas, K. Baloguns, Kalus, Mashas, Enangs,

Wellingtons, Gitaris, Olagbegis, Morafas, Joules, Sangs, Jumas,
Omoyeles, Oyeyinkas, Osimes, Agonmuonsos, Oguntoyinbos, etc. At
the right time, if God permits, we shall write about all these people
and others not mentioned here, particularly in respect of the Solution
Centre, whom God used in various ways to get us to where we are
today. Our God shall bless you all. We love you.

vii
 FOREWORD
On 12th November 1995, 15 people gathered to worship Jesus in a
small borrowed venue in Nairobi. This marked the beginning of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God in East Africa. This book con-
tains the story of a great work of God. It is a story about the ways of
the Holy Spirit as he seeks and saves lost people. This is The Acts of
the Apostles chapter 29.

I urge you to read this book and let the Spirit speak to your heart.
This is a celebration of the mighty deeds of God!

The RCCG is on the cutting edge of the Kingdom of God. And the
story must be told. Pastor Prince writes: The zeal to cover and save
the world for Christ is a great engine that drives the RCCG bus.
If you want to open your heart to a fresh work of the Spirit, start
by reading this account of the powerful Nigeria-based denomination
whose mission includes the vision: we will plant churches within
five minutes walking distance in every city and town of developing
countries and within five minutes driving distance in every city and
town of developed countries.
In the Church today we need real heroes. The world constantly sings
the praises of self-centred and trivial celebrities. But as followers
of Jesus, we need examples of lives which are totally devoted to Je-
sus and His mission. Pastor Prince and Pastor Esther are true heroes
from the perspective of heaven. I urge you to read the story of their
lives. I promise that you will be inspired to deeper devotion to Gods
Kingdom.
In 2012, we know Prince and Esther as powerful leaders of a great
work of God in Eastern Africa and beyond. But as you read this story,
you will quickly realize that they are an ordinary couple. They
did not start out at the high level of spiritual prowess where they are
functioning today. I mention this because we can easily see great
servants of God and somehow think they are simply born into a sort
viii
of spiritual royalty. We can decide, Im just not made of the same
stuff as them. But thats why you need to read this thrilling account.
Its the story of real people who are fully devoted to God. Pastor
Prince will tell us of a promise that he made to God as a small boy
who was experiencing great hardship. God can use you also to do
great things for his GLORY.
Pastor Prince will share his personal story in this book. You will read
of his early life as a victim of injustice at the hands of a polygamous
father. You will discover a secret of spiritual achievement as you read
how he turns his anger into a deep passion to seek justice and help
the poor to prosper. He never forgot his promiseand neither did
God.
The path to spiritual effectiveness has not been smooth or easy.
You will read about a season of financial brokenness which was a
catalyst to his making a sincere PROMISE to serve God. Each time
Prince encountered difficulty or seeming disaster, God transformed
the crisis into an opportunity for deepening devotion. Read how the
miracle of healing of the firstborn son in early 1994 resulted in his
becoming totally committed to Gods service.
Today we think of the RCCG in Kenya as a strong and effective
church doing great exploits for Jesus. We see a powerful mission
movement that is changing the world. But how did it all begin? For
all of us who are struggling with the challenges of stepping out in
faith and launching a new initiative for Gods Kingdom, this is a story
we must read. When Prince received the commission to begin the
RCCG in Kenya in 1995, pastor Prince had little money, no building,
no members, no elders, no legal standing in Kenya. But he had a clear
assignment from God.
You will read of crises, challenges, opposition and set-backs. And
through it all, you will discover how God uses hard times to grow the
faith of his servants
This is a book about how the Holy Spirit is working today to bring
people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to salvation
through Christ Jesus. Its an inspiring story of missions. But it is not
theory or abstract theology.

ix
These two faith-filled pastors LIVE these teachings and have done so
with joy and faithfulness for decades. This is Truth verified by LIFE.
I am pleased to recommend this book to you. I am privileged to count
Pastor Prince and Pastor Esther as friends and fellow-workers in the
Gospel. They are people of integrity and genuine faith. Get to know
them and follow their courageous example.
George Renner, PhD
Director, Doctor of Ministry Programme
Africa International University
Nairobi -Kenya

x
 INTRODUCTION
Life experiences have a way of bringing us to Gods purpose for our
lives. In those experiences, many times, we make promises either to
God, whose purpose we live our lives to fulfill, or even to man, who
has a part in our destiny. What is disturbing, however, is the fact that
many people, after making promises to God, turn away from the
ultimate fulfilment.

Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, in the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 1,

is a typical example of a woman whose experiences led her to make
a promise to God.

And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou

wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and
remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give
unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto
the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor
come upon his head (1Sam.1:11).

This was Hannahs promise to God in the time of her desperation.

The experience of her barrenness and the insults and humiliation she
suffered at the hands of her co-wife led her to the promise she made
to God. On the other hand, God would later need a man, a priest, a
prophet and a judge in place of Eli, the high priest. God answered
Hannahs prayer for a male child. She did not forget her promise.

And, after weaning him, she took him up with her, with
three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of
wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in
Shiloh: and the child was young. And they slew a bullock,
and brought the child to Eli. And she said, Oh my Lord,
as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by
thee here, praying unto the LORD. For this child I prayed;
and the LORD hath given me my petition, which I asked of
him: Therefore, also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as
he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped
the LORD there (1Samuel 1:24-28).
xi
Samuel would later fulfill the purposes of God in Israel.
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did
let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from
Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established
to be a prophet of the LORD (1Sa 3:19-20).

My purpose in life was defined by the injustice and deprivation I

experienced as a small boy. The experience elicited a promise from
me, a promise to lead a life that would positively change the lives of
the deprived or less privileged people, a promise to fight against all
forms of injustice. You will read in this book about the events that led
to the promise and my purpose in life. In retrospect, I find no better
way of fulfilling this promise than becoming a missionary purpose
meeting promise in holy union.

Whenever I pray for deprived people or people under the attack of

satanic forces, I do so convinced that the Devil has no right to oppress
anybody he did not create. I believe that every attack of Satan against
anybody is an act of injustice. This is why, in keeping with my promise
to God, I attack the Devil with the grace God has given me in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The God of Purpose and Promise is the Great Provider and also the
God of platforms. He never fails to provide a platform or vehicle for
every genuine child of God to fulfill promises made in righteousness
and truth. In order to fulfill your purpose and promise in life, there
is a need to prayerfully locate your God-ordained platform. In our
case, God provided the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG),
a ministry deeply involved in a global mission for Christ, as our
platform.
In fulfilling purpose and promise using the RCCG platform which
God graciously provided us, I have pursued a singular principle:
Leaving it better than I met it! The essence of my life and ministry is
encapsulated in this maxim: Wherever we go and whoever we meet
in this life, we should do everything possible to see that we add value
to that place or person before leaving. If we cannot make it better,
by all means we should not make it worse. This is my teaching,
principle and common practise in life.
Prince Obasi-ike
xii
Do you know that we serve the God of purpose and promise? The
power of purpose and promise is such an irresistible force that it
cannot be explained by any mortal. If any man or woman has achieved
any greatness, it is because these two forces (purpose and promise)
were at work in such a life. God has a purpose for you, but youve
got to access it through promise. Promise is one fundamental door to
purpose.

Mine was a journey that started as soon as I gave my life to Jesus

Christ in 1984. I loved to see families enjoy unity, peace, love, joy
and prosperity. I wanted to see every woman happily married with
children. I loved to see and hear about people, especially women,
succeeding in every aspect of life. As a young single Christian lady,
this desire and passion made me undertake periodic fasting and
prayer for barren women, asking God to give each a child. Every
time I heard the good news of a barren woman who had conceived
and delivered a child, I would jump and dance, praising God for His
goodness. This I did, irrespective of whether I knew the woman or
not. Somehow, I believed that my small prayer would have added to
Gods decision to answer the womans prayer.

Few years after my conversion, in 1987, I was elected the leader

of the Sisters Fellowship of the Christian Union of the Institute
of Management and Technology, Enugu, in then Anambra State,
Nigeria. Did I know that the God of purpose was preparing me for
future leadership in ministry? No. Purpose was made clear at about
5:00 am on 23rd February 1990, during my compulsory one-year
National Youth Service in Gombe, Bauchi State of Nigeria. At this
time and place, as I meditated during my quiet time, I encountered
the Lord in what I can only describe as a time when purpose married
promise. The full story can be found under womens ministry in this
book. From that day to date, my life and ministry have been defined
and shaped by purpose and promise.

Has God given you a purpose in life? Are you asking or wondering
how the purpose shall be established? How can that purpose possibly
come to pass? Where and when shall that purpose come to pass?
Ask no more for this book is loaded with more answers than your
questions.

xiii
As you read this book, I pray that the force of purpose and promise
will drive you into an indissoluble marriage with destiny in Jesus
name. Receive the key of promise to access your purpose.

Esther Obasi-ike

xiv
 Chapter 1
CONNECTING THE PAST TO THE FUTURE
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before
you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a
prophet to the nations (Jer.1:5 NKJV)

The call to missionary work and the mission field came long before I
joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). As a young
boy of about 12, an incident occurred that remains very vivid in my
memory. There was a very wealthy man in my village, who died at
the age of 56. His family members, other relatives and well-wishers,
wept bitterly. Some boys, about my age then, gathered at a village
square to discuss the man, his wealth and character.

As we reflected on the mans life, I said to my colleagues that the

most regrettable thing about the man was that with all the money he
had; there was nobody outside his family that anyone could say he
had ever assisted or raised in life. I then added, If God will enable
me to become rich and He allows me to reach the age of 56, I will see
to it that the poor around me are helped to go to school to become
somebody in life.

I had a childhood friend living with one of the wives of this rich man
and he was very bright but could not go to secondary school because
he was an orphan and nobody could pay his fees. I wondered why
this rich man could not take this orphan to school. So, as a small boy
I desired to be rich and help others that would not be as privileged as
me. With this burden in my heart, when I entered secondary school
and it became fashionable for every student to choose a nickname, I
chose to be called Young Millionaire.

1
At 52, as I am writing this book, some of my colleagues still call me
Millionaire. I had such a passion to live and better other peoples
lives. This was the clearest indication that I would be a missionary in
life, even though at that time I would not call it so.
My experience of denial, deprivation and social injustice was not
limited to my agony over the plight of my friend. Before I turned
10, I experienced firsthand injustice, maltreatment and wickedness
in my fathers house. My father married many other women after my
mother, who was his first wife. That was the tradition though! The
problem however was that he maltreated my mother so badly that
I was emotionally and psychologically traumatized as a young boy.

My mother had only three children living, all male and no female; I
am the last born. The other wives had sons and daughters. In those
days, it was abnormal for any child to go to church on Christmas
Day without new clothes. In his wicked ingenuity, my father never
ceased to look for ways of hurting my mother, thereby hurting her
children. Close to Christmas Day he would announce his decision not
to buy new clothes or shoes for the boys. Of course this means that
the children of the woman who had no daughters, my mother, got no
Christmas present.

Year after year, whenever I heard this odious announcement, I would

relapse into my weeping enterprise. Although my mother would
always deploy all her skills to console me, I would not be persuaded
and she would end up crying, not for herself but for the hatred
and injustices meted out to her and her children. Not only that, my
mother would never rest until she had given me new clothes for every
Christmas. With the assistance of my eldest brother, who is 12 years
older and was in secondary school at that time, my mother would
make sure that I wore new clothes on Christmas Day. Sometimes,
my eldest brother would save money as a student and buy Christmas
clothes for me in order to spare our mother the drudgery associated
with getting the money to buy me Christmas clothes. His efforts
helped me to see the other (better) side of life. Though a student, he
made sure that I was not denied what my age mates were privileged
to have my brother was and is love personified.

2
My father would also discriminate against me when it came to school
uniform and books. He would tell us that the girls are the only ones
he would take care of their uniform and books. I can still recall
vividly that the only time my father bought some things for me as
contribution towards my education in life was in primary one. Before
my father died I led him to Christ and he later regarded me as his
favourite child. Thank God for Jesus.

With my experiences of injustice and wickedness, I decided that I

would study law in the university. This was, so that I could defend
people who are unjustly treated. So, from a young age, two goals drove
me on: to become a millionaire so as to help the poor; and to become
a lawyer so as to fight against injustices. To date one of the things I
hate with a passion is injustice and inhumane treatment of anybody.
Unfortunately, even in the church today, where the central theme and
operational focus ought to be justice, we see the opposite in many
places. In many places, the way people are treated is a factor of who
they are, where they are from and what they can give; irrespective of
how they got what they are giving. Many leaders in the church today
have forgotten the wise counsel of Lucado:

You see, if there was anything that Jesus wanted everyone

to understand, it was this: A person is worth something
simply because he is a person. That is why he treated
people like he did (Lucado 1986:17).
Treating people on the basis of affluence, tribe or what you hope to
gain from them is not a practice that can be found in Christ, who is
our example and hero. Nepotism should not be mentioned among
true Christians. Jesus defines his mission statement:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has

anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent
Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
those who are oppressed. (Luke 4:18, NKJV).

This is what I believe we have been called to do service above self

by His grace and to the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

3
But to what extent are we doing these things? Now does the fact that
many people are not seeking to fulfill this scripture mean that we
should allow the status quo to remain in or outside the Church? My
answer is NO. I am eternally guided by the immortal words of Covey:
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing. (Covey 2004:7). It is expected that wherever a child of God
sees evil, being the light and salt of the earth, he or she should expose
and/or counter such evil.

SALVATION STORY

In 1982, God graciously saved me when through His mercy; He

brought me to a place and point in time and in life when I had no
reason to keep running away from Him anymore. As a young
secondary schoolboy I loved to associate with a group of people who
were referred to as the SUs, meaning the Scripture Union people.
They were saved Christians, whose character I admired. They were
usually humble and respected people and demonstrated love for
others.

I could not, however, join them or become born again because I felt they
were not doing well in their academic work. And having experienced
two bitter failures in my primary school days I did not wish to go
through that again. So, while some of them were my friends I could
not join them because I did not want to be entangled with anything
that would hinder my academic success. What an irony of imagination
that being born again is an impediment to academic excellence! Then
God arranged that I should go to the Federal Polytechnic Bida in
Niger State, Nigeria, just for two years so that I could see what could
change my mind and perception about Christians.

Within my first three months on this campus, there was a graduation

ceremony and the then President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari,
was the guest of honour. As they called out names for awards for
excellence both at diploma and Higher National Diploma levels from
department to department, I kept hearing shouts of, Praise, Praise,
Praise the Lord.. I knew that those people were the born-again
Christians who were known to congregate in classrooms to sing,

4
clap and dance while other students were reading. When the overall
best student with a distinction was called out and all went wild with
dance and clapping of hands, I knew he was one of them. This was in
December 1981. This experience resulted in my complete paradigm
shift regarding born-again Christians.

Having seen that true Christians could actually do well academically

I had no reason to keep away from this group. I truly loved their way
of life. So, by March 1982, when someone knocked on my door and
asked if he could come in and share the good news of Jesus Christ, my
roommate and I happily welcomed him. I do not recall most of the
things he shared with us that day but one was clear: God had shown
me the previous year that Christians could do well academically,
and through that experience, He helped me to make up my mind
to repent of all my sins and receive Christ as my Lord and saviour.
After his talk the brother asked for my decision and I told him I was
ready to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and saviour. This brother
was William Oloyede, whom God would later use in 2002 (20 years
after my salvation) to help me launch the RCCG in the Republic of
the Seychelles.

In those days, I was studying Banking and Finance and had high hopes
of working in a bank and making good money when I graduated.
Although I was studying banking and finance, I still wanted to go
and read law, which I had applied for to the university but I was not
given an admission. Not long after my salvation, God began to unveil
to me what would be happening in my life and through me in the
years ahead. He made it clear that I was not going to practise banking
but would serve Him full-time. He revealed this to me in a dream and
from time to time through the inner voice. At some point, a brother
in the fellowship, who was also my friend, Sunday Uloh, told me that
God revealed to him in a dream that I would later serve Him full-
time. I told him that I had heard same from God several times, but
how that would be, I had no idea. As time went on, I began to get
more and more revelations from God on what He would want me to
do. I documented every revelation.

5
The choice of who to marry had to be factored into the calling. I
believed a sister well-grounded in the faith would be the right or
ideal person to marry.

I left the Federal Polytechnic Bida after two years to do a compulsory

one-year industrial attachment. When I was through, God led me to
seek admission to the famous Institute of Management and Technology
(IMT), Enugu, then in Anambra State. It was here that I met the sister,
who later became my wife. I served as the Bible Study secretary of
the Christian Union on the campus. When the Lord showed me in
a vision who my wife was going to be, I had a problem accepting
that it came from Him. I saw this sister as a person, who was always
laughing and taking nothing with the seriousness it deserved.

God used my prayer partner, Bro. Herbert Acholonu, to convince me

to go ahead and propose marriage to this sister, saying that if the
Lord had chosen her for me, knowing very well His calling upon my
life, the same God was capable of making her fit into my calling. This
sister is Nkemdilim Esther Achusi. This is my wife (Pastor Esther
Nkemdilim OBASI-IKE), whom I married on 6th February 1993, after
close to nine years of waiting to get her YES, as well as the consent
of her parents and siblings. This is one of the reasons I call her MY
PRECIOUS.

God has made her surpass all my expectations from a wife. The truth
is that after the Godhead, my wifes life, calling and passion for God
and His people, particularly women, is a major factor in the success
in ministry or mission that I may have attained. And I know without
any doubt that many more blessings from the Lord God Almighty
await her in this life and the eternity that is coming.

PREPARATION FOR MINISTRY WORK AND LEADERSHIP

After my salvation, God used my father in the Lord, Bro. William

Oloyede, to follow me up properly. He encouraged me to maintain
fellowship with believers wherever I went. Proving the authenticity of
the gospel of Christ was paramount to me, if I would carry the message

6
of the cross everywhere. At that early stage of my Christianity I had
seen visions and spectacular dreams, which God brought to pass.

However, the biggest proof in my life of the reality of the gospel

happened after a man of God, the Rev. (Dr). Uma Ukpai of Nigeria,
came to Federal Polytechnic Bida and preached on Gods Power.
He touched on divine healing and divine health. On divine healing,
he said God could heal any sick person without the application of
any drugs but by mere faith and prayer. He preached so powerfully
that I decided to give it a try. In those days, my mother had made
us understand that malaria was our family sickness and true to that
claim of ownership, almost on a monthly basis, one of us would fall
sick with the fever. She taught us how to prepare local herbs to cure
malaria. But after Dr. Ukpais message, I decided I would never use
any medication again.

So it was that barely six months after salvation I fell sick with malaria
again. I made up my mind not to prepare the local herb or go to the
campus hospital for treatment. The fever went from bad to worse.
Many brethren came to visit me in my room and prayed for me. I kept
calling on God to prove that the preacher had spoken the truth, which
I believed. My eyes turned yellow and at some point I did not even
have the strength to get up from my bed, and my voice was hardly
audible.

It was a bad experience and it looked as if I was going to die, but

I held on to God. Then it happened that one night, God gave me
an unusual sleep of comfort and by the time He woke me up in the
morning, there was no trace of sickness. Although I had become
terribly emaciated, I was able to go to the school dining hall, ate very
well and resumed my lectures. Thirty years later, there has been no
trace of malaria in my life. God destroyed the malaria title deed or
certificate of occupancy or ownership in my life.

When I left Bida for Enugu to join the Institute of Management and
Technology (IMT), my first leadership experience as a Christian was
when I was elected the Bible Study secretary of the Christian Union
in 1985. In 1986, after graduation and during my National Youth

7
Service Corps (NYSC), I was elected the Evangelism, Visitation
and Counselling Secretary of the Lagos State Christian Corpers
Fellowship. God used all these elective positions to prepare me for
spiritual leadership.

The Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom, chose the RCCG as the
platform or vehicle through which to launch my family to our life-time
missionary mandate. As will be expected of every platform or vehicle
with which any mandate is to be fulfilled, constant maintenance is
required to avoid a breakdown or damage. God has been so gracious
to us.

JOINING THE RCCG AND EARLY WORK

My attempt to join the RCCG Ladipo Oluwole earlier, under the

leadership of Pastor Tunde Bakare, did not materialize because I was
told I would have to undergo water baptism for the second time. I
had been water baptized in another Pentecostal Church (Living Faith
Church aka Winners Chapel) in Kaduna, Nigeria, in 1985. I argued
that our Lord Jesus Christ died and resurrected once and for all times
and this is what baptism by immersion symbolizes. Since I had been
water baptized by immersion after my conversion, biblically speaking,
there was no provision for a second baptism. When we failed to agree,
I refused to join the church. As a young man who had gotten saved
on the campus and also began to be a leader in fellowships what I
wanted to do and follow was only what could be proven in the Bible.

In 1989, Esther, who was then my fiance, was still studying at IMT,
Enugu, and visited me in Lagos for the very first time. Since that was
her first visit after we started our courtship, my friends and I gave her
a red-carpet welcome. My business was flourishing, so I could easily
afford a return air ticket for her. My pastor then and his wife gave her
a fantastic welcome party in their home. It was a Saturday. The next
day I took my fiance to my church and there was a guest minister,
who happened to be our former vice-president at the Christian Union
IMT, Enugu, when I was the Bible Study secretary.

8
In this church I was one of the ministers. The service was powerful
and the guest minister did justice to the word of God. Every aspect
of the worship appeared right. However, soon after the service, my
fiance told me that she wouldnt want that to be the church we would
settle in to serve God because her spirit questioned the integrity of the
senior pastor. I responded by telling her that only the day before, she
had eaten and drank at their home happily and now she was seeing
something different. She insisted that as the pastor took to the podium
to give a charge before inviting the guest minister, she had discerned
that he had integrity problem.

She was later proved right because not long after her visit there were
scandals pointing to the lack of integrity of the pastor. The ministers
and elders did thorough investigations and it was established that
he was guilty. It was a very painful and unfortunate scenario, which
eventually led to the closing down of the church. While the church
was still struggling to survive I decided to leave and shop for another
one.

As I kept searching for a new church to settle in, some unforgettably

bitter events happened to me. Let me take you back a bit into my
work and business life. During my National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) programme in Lagos State, I had spearheaded some projects,
which included mobilization of funds from both fellow corps
members and senior friends, which I used to buy childrens playing
equipment such as slings, rollers, and a bouncing castle. I then hired
a truck to transport these to an orphanage on Victoria Island, Lagos.
I also mobilized some fellow corps members, mostly those who had
studied engineering to install the playing gadgets at the home.

The management of the Home was happy and wrote to the NYSC
Secretariat to thank them for the project I executed with fellow
NYSC members. On the day of our NYSC passing-out parade and
ceremonies, I was called out and presented with the NYSC Merit
Award by the then Governor of Lagos State, Commodore Mike
Akhigbe. The governor then offered me automatic employment with
the Lagos State Government. I worked as an Internal Revenue Tax
auditor. The work, which was done in companies operating within
Lagos State to ascertain their compliance with the PAYE (pay as you
9
earn) and company taxes, gave me a huge exposure to top people
in the Nigerian business circles. I did my work judiciously, but also
used the opportunity to make business connections.

While I was working for the government, I was also doing private
supplies and construction work. I registered two companies: Ejiobi
Agro Allied Industries Ltd and Okenkem (derived from my name
Okechukwu and my wifes Nkemdilim) Business Ventures Ltd.
Within a short time, my dream of becoming a millionaire was being
realized. Unfortunately I started giving little time to the things of
God. I bought a car and buses to do transport business. I became so
preoccupied with helping brothers and sisters in Christ with their
financial problems at the detriment of my closer work with God. I
was no longer thinking of mission but was happy to attend any
gatherings where money was raised for missionaries and would
make my donations.

By 1989, I decided to resign from the government to do business full-

time. I thought that by so doing I would have more time for God, but
I was wrong. While my house was always full of people who needed
help, I was losing focus on Gods calling. Then came this business
opportunity that involved millions, in which I partnered with a man
I thought, was genuine. In the process, he stole all the money. I had
borrowed money from other people to do the business and now,
everything was gone. My car was seized in exchange for part of the
debt I owed. And the buses were sold to settle other debts. The Agro
Allied Industry, which was located in Akwa Ibom State, was also
closed down. I began life at below zero. I was devastated and lost my
morale for service and fellowship. My fiance, on learning of the loss I
had suffered and my state of mind, came to see me. She travelled from
school by night bus that would arrive in Lagos the next day. I did not
know she was coming and so seeing and hearing her consoling words
and assurances, restored hope in me.

The man who stole the money ran away and could not be found.
Severally, I went to his house but never saw him. Every time I went
there I was told one story or the other. At a point one of his security
officers threatened my life. I decided to let it go. Not quite four
months after he ran away with the money, I saw his picture on a full
10
page obituary announcement in one of the national daily newspaper.
He was a dead man. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36). I do not know
what killed him but his death is a lesson for all.

My fiance stayed in a neighbours house and the next day was a

Sunday, but I had no money for us to take public transport to church.
She had come with twenty Nigerian naira (about two USA dollars),
which we had used to buy food with few coins left. I thought of the
nearest Pentecostal Church to my house at Ogba Estate, Ikeja, and it
was the RCCG Ladipo Oluwole that came to my mind. We decided to
go there and worship. I had been going to Ladipo Oluwole from time
to time to worship while Pastor Odeyemi and Pastor Dave Okunade
were in charge.

There was a guest minister who, through word of knowledge, said

there was a young man at the service who had just lost virtually
everything he had but that God had said he should keep the faith
and there would be a restoration of all. This described me perfectly,
as this was my situation. In addition, my fiance fell in love with the
orderliness, sanity and moderation in the service. After the service,
she told me that she felt we should settle in this church eventually. She
returned to school while I continued worshipping in different places,
including the RCCG, while still trusting God for proper direction.
It was at this time that I asked God to restore me financially with a
promise that I would serve him full-time. My commitment to God
began to be restored as I started spending more time in fellowship
with God and the brethren.

I finally joined the RCCG in 1989, but was not committed until 1990,
after my fiance had finished her National Youth Service Corps
programme in Gombe, then in Bauchi State. When she came to Lagos,
we attended a Sunday service at the RCCG Ladipo Oluwole and the
pastor announced that those who were called into the deliverance
ministry should see him after the service. When the service ended, my
fiance said I should go and see the pastor. I told her I had not been
called into the deliverance ministry as the announcement required. I
reiterated that God had called me into the ministry of reconciliation,
which deliverance is a part of. She insisted that I see the pastor.
11
When I met the pastor in his office, I told him that I had not been called
into the deliverance ministry, but that in my days in college, when our
seniors in the fellowship had graduated and left the campus, handing
over leadership of the Christian Union to us, we ended up doing what
they used to do. This included ministering deliverance to the captives
of the evil one. I also told him about my ministry background. This
was Pastor Samuel Ayodele Adeloye. He simply smiled and told me
he understood the point I was making but that he would like us to
start the deliverance ministry of the RCCG immediately to meet the
needs of the brethren. This is how the Deliverance Ministry in the
RCCG Ikeja family was started. Other brethren were also involved.

I got so occupied with this that I did not have any time to look
elsewhere. After constituting the Deliverance Ministry, Pastor Ayo
Adeloye later set up the Army of Intercessors, which I was mandated
to lead. By this time the church had moved to ACME Road, Ogba,
Ikeja, Lagos, although the senior pastor still had his office at Ladipo
Oluwole. He decided that I should be joining him every Sunday by
6.00am to pray in his office until 7am. We would then pray with the
other workers from 7am to 8am. In those days, I did not have a car (the
price of dragging feet when God calls), so I would use the notorious
Okada (motorcycle taxi) to ensure I was not late for our 6am prayer
meeting in the Ladipo Oluwole office.

When the RCCG Ikeja family headquarters moved to ACME Road,

Ikeja, the parish was named Dominion Sanctuary. We were part of
the team that moved to the new parish. From that time, the Lord
occupied my life with Prayer Deliverance and Intercession. By the
grace of God, I used to travel distances of about 400km on rough
roads to pray and minister deliverance even to a single family and
return to Lagos. All parishes within the Ikeja family were required to
bring their prospective workers to me for deliverance prayers before
they could be commissioned. In the process, the Lord asked me to
start a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY. I approached my pastor and shared it
with him, and he gave me his blessing.

The Solemn Assembly was used by God to do so many things in the

lives of many people. It was the first of its kind as I had never heard
12
about such a meeting before. It was a well-disciplined prayer meeting
that no latecomer was allowed into. It focused on calling people back
to God in full repentance and dedication. The meeting, on the last
Saturday of the month, would start by 7.00am and end at 10.00am.
Many times, in preparation for the meeting, I would take the army
of intercessors to the Redemption Camp, of the RCCG, Kilometre 46,
on the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way for a contact 10 or 12 (10 or 12
hours of prayer time uninterrupted by anyone but alone with God)
meeting.

I can still recall one of the great miracles of God in the solemn assembly
meetings. We were praying, when a young boy was rushed into the
church. It was clear he was under a spell of death. He looked very bad.
The mother, who brought him in, was crying as she looked at her son
whose name I learnt was Kola, and who was under a severe attack. I
called on the leaders and the brethren to join in the spiritual warfare
to deliver him from the spell of death. As the boy lay on the ground,
I remembered what Elisha did to the son of the woman of Shunem
and quickly stretched my body through his and called on God, while
the brethren prayed. Miraculously, the Lord revived him. Today,
this boy has graduated from university and got married. There were
many testimonies of barren women conceiving and having babies,
deliverances from satanic bondages and oppression, divine healings
and breakthroughs. Glory to our God!

By March 1994 I had answered the call to full-time ministry with

God. My total surrender was not on a platter of gold; rather it was
in response to a life and death battle during the birth of our first son
and what happened thereafter, from 25th December 1993 to February
1994. The episode that ended the procrastination happened when I
went to seek the face of God in prayer and fasting at the Redemption
Camp, while my wife and son were at the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital (LUTH). He was in the ICU and the doctors were not sure of
what the outcome would be.

As days passed and there was no sign of hope from the doctors, who
seemed not to know what to do to stop the pus exuding from my
sons head. He had been injured in the process of his delivery as the
medics attempted forceps delivery. I decided to go to the Redemption
13
Camp for three days and three nights, fasting and praying to seek the
face of God on the matter with a promise to my wife that when I
return, we would go home with our son. On the first night, the Lord
appeared to me in a dream. I saw the head of our son Favour with the
big opening that the doctors had said when the pus stopped coming
out, they would do plastic surgery to fill up. But in the dream, a very
big hand, whose size I could not easily describe, pushed in something
that looked like sawdust and filled the hole. He said to me, Go to
the hospital and take your child home for I have healed him, and
added, THIS IS WHAT I SAID I WANT TO USE YOU TO DO FOR
OTHERS. (See my book: PREPARE FOR BATTLES).

With this, I settled the subject of full-time ministry, with effect from
April 3rd 1994. At that time, Dominion Sanctuary was still not properly
set up for an office, as it was a warehouse when the church bought
it. I did not consult the pastor and I did not apply to the church for
employment. I simply began to report to Dominion Sanctuary every
day for duty. The surprising thing is that on the very first day, as God
had instructed me, four people came to the church separately for me
to pray for them.

When I asked them why they had come there since that was not the
church office as neither staff nor a minister were there, since Ladipo
Oluwole, was still the administrative office, they told me they had
heard something or a voice saying to them, Go there and meet my
servant and I will use him to deliver you. One said he was passing by
when he heard a voice say to him, Enter and I will help you through
my servant there. With all these I knew I was on the right path. It
was several months after I had started reporting for duty at the RCCG
Dominion Sanctuary that Pastor Adeloye came to know about it and
called to encourage me.

From April 1994 to October 1995, I was neither paid by the church
nor employed by her. God employed me and I enjoyed my work,
and the testimonies that were being shared by people on what God
was doing in their lives through answers to prayers continued to be
my motivation. From time to time my pastor would call and give me
some money as assistance.

14
 Chapter 2
THE MANDATE
By 1995, the momentum to take the RCCG to other nations of the
world was building up greatly. The Ikeja family, as she was popularly
called, being the first born of the model parishes of the RCCG, was at
the forefront of this mandate.

THE MISSION TO KENYA

Let my wife share her dream on the movement out of Nigeria as

missionaries and what followed.

I have, like other people, had dreams in my life, but there are some
I can never forget. What I am about to recount happens to be one of
those unforgettable dreams.

One night, in August 1995, I had a dream that I had been posted by
our pastor to another African country, with the mandate to pioneer
the mission of The Redeemed Christian Church of God. I was not told
which country it was. The assignment was to assess the place for three
months and come back with a report. If the land was good, I would
take my husband and son along for the mission. Every arrangement
had been concluded with the church accountant. When I eventually
went to see the accountant, I found an empty chair, but with somebody
invisible talking with me. He said he would not release the money I
needed for the mission.

15
Every effort I made to have him release the money for the trip failed.
And I watched the plane take off. My spirit was aggrieved. I, therefore,
turned to this invisible and very arrogant man and told him he had
no right to stop the work of God. He was an enemy of the work. I told
him he was sitting on money that was not his; and that if he did not
repent he would never prosper. At this point, I suddenly woke up. I
never saw the mans face but we were communicating. I had no idea
who he was, but the truth was that he was an enemy of our mission,
sitting right there in the church.

I realized it was around 3.00am, when I woke my husband up and

shared this dream with him. I suggested to him that since this was a
spiritual battle, we must take the issue seriously in our prayers. My
confusion about the dream was that if there was to be any transfer, it
had to be my husband and not me. He was the one to go and examine
the new station for three months and come back for our son and me.
We kept all these within us, as we prayed.

Later, my husband felt a great need to seek Gods face through fasting
and prayers before receiving the transfer letter to move to a new
parish in Lagos, as was being rumoured. He asked for permission
from our pastor to go somewhere and seek Gods face on a certain
issue for three days. That was granted. He went to our Redemption
Camp, where he waited on the Lord in absolute fasting and prayer for
three days and three nights.

On his return, he told me to get ready to move because the Lord

had spoken to him about our transfer to another African country to
pioneer the RCCG mission there. In fact, the Lord confirmed to him
everything I had seen in my dream but still did not reveal the country.
That settled our anxiety and the fact that we were not going to a new
parish in Ikeja, Lagos, as was being rumoured. We were sure Gods
counsel would prevail.

A few days later, our church was involved in a funds drive for missions.
Pastor E.A Adeboye, the General Overseer (Daddy GO) of the church,
was the special guest and the Lord enabled him to raise some millions
of naira. He made it clear that the money should be used for foreign
missions. That was the genesis of God setting us on the right path.
According to our pastor, when he attended the 10th anniversary of the
16
RCCG Kenya in 2005, he had looked at all his ministers to see the one
who was rugged enough for a virgin ground and the only person he
could see was my husband. So, he invited my husband and a pastor
from another parish to his office and asked them to get ready to go
to Kenya and start the RCCG there. One would eventually stay in
Kenya while the other would return to Nigeria. On the basis of what
God had told us, we knew that my husband would remain (Obasi-
Ike, 2006: 84-86)

The Kenyan mission was conceived by Pastor S. A. Adeloye after

the General Overseer talked about the country many times. Pastor
Adeloye would report later that from the time he read a newspaper
article about Kenya, he had desired that work should start there.
Around September 1995, an announcement was made in church for
anyone with a contact of a relative, friend, etc., in Kenya to see the
pastor after service. Sister Elizabeth Okeniyi (Mrs.) went to see the
pastor. Mrs. Okeniyi happened to be my wifes evangelism partner.
Both used to witness to people around our neighbourhood. She
informed the pastor that she was a Kenyan married to a Nigerian.

She also happened to be the younger sister of the then Attorney-

General of the Republic of Kenya, Hon. Amos Wako (MP). She was
informed of the churchs plan to launch into Kenya and promised
to get in touch with the AG and her other brothers in Nairobi. After
she contacted her family in Kenya, it was decided that her younger
brother should host the missionaries, due to the proximity of his
house to the people, the city centre and the public transport system.
While this was going on, Pastor Adeloye was making up his mind on
who to send to Kenya. His choice was obvious in spite of my major
role in the whole Ikeja family as the one in charge of Deliverance
Ministry and the Army of Intercessors. He said he needed to send a
rugged and hard-fighting fellow, who could withstand any pressure
and achieve success in the mission at whatever cost. If he was right in
his choice, history will judge.

The truth, however, is that God was simply using Pastor Adeloye to
launch me and my family into His call upon our lives that He had
told me about many years before I came to live in Lagos and joined
the RCCG. I am grateful to Pastor Adeloye and the RCCG for being
17
the vessels used by God to launch my family into His destiny path for
our lives purpose and promise.

In preparation for the mission, he called me and Pastor Ademola

Farinu, who was then in charge of the Garden of Peace Parish, Surulere,
Lagos, and informed us that we would be going to Kenya to start the
work and after three months, one of us would return home. God had
revealed to us and we knew that I would be the one to remain. In fact,
both families had begun to make jokes on who would remain. Pastor
Farinus wife argued that since they had more children she was sure
that her husband would come back because it would be cheaper to
keep us in the field than them.

With every arrangement in place, or so to say, Pastor Adeloye told us

to go to ACME on Wednesday, 18th October 1995 so that we could go
with him to the Redemption Camp to see the General Overseer for
prayers and release to the Mission Field - KENYA. When we met with
Daddy GO at his house, he said we were on a journey to make history
because we were going to be the pioneers and founders of the RCCG
in Kenya. He added that as the General Overseer, no matter how big
the church might become in future, it would never be said that he
started it. He said: It will be on record that you started the RCCG
in Kenya. After a few more words of counsel, he laid his hands upon
us and prayed, committing us into Gods hands, as we went on this
great assignment. We went home and prepared for the journey on
October 20th, 1995 -- A JOURNEY TO A NATION WE HAD NEVER
BEEN TO BEFORE.

WELCOME TO KENYA

Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world (Mt 28:19-20
American Standard Version)

On Friday, 20th October, we boarded an Ethiopian Airlines direct

flight to Nairobi for the RCCG Kenya Mission, which would later

18
become the RCCG Eastern Africa Region Mission. The flight that
carried us from Lagos landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi at about 6.45am on October 21st 1995. Since
we did not know who would be at the airport to pick us up, we had to
look out for placard(s) with our names, as we had been told in Nigeria.
We saw one carried by a little girl with the inscription, PASTORS
ADEMOLA AND PRINCE, WELCOME TO KENYA! The little girl
(Alice Wako), we later found out, was the daughter of our hosts, Mr.
/Mrs.. Lester Wako. She was at the airport with her mother, Mrs..
Gladys Wako, her younger brother Daniel and another person, to
receive us as their father had gone to a mens retreat of their church.

From the airport, we were taken to the Wakos house at Ruby Estate,
Nairobi South C, where we were welcomed the KENYAN WAY.
It was house No. 92. Not long after we arrived, their friends and
relatives, who had been told that some pastors were coming from
Nigeria to start a church, came to the house to welcome us. Among
them was Sister Mary Wanalo, now Pastor Mary Wanalo, the pastor
in-charge of the RCCG Jubilee Family Christian Centre in Naperville,
Illinois, USA.

Later that day, Mr. Lester Wako returned from his retreat. We had an
opportunity to share with as many as came to see us, our plan to start
the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Kenya. After Lester heard
us again and again, his comment was that it would be interesting to
see how a church gets started, as he had never witnessed one before.

Lester and Gladys were such wonderful a couple that we felt so much
at home, with their laughter, jokes and open-mindedness. There was
no idle moment in that home. Almost at all times, they wanted us to
put something (chakula) into our mouths. If it was not the normal
eating time, it would be tea time, which was always accompanied
with cake and/or peanuts. Again, when any visitor arrived we were
expected to partake of whatever refreshment the guest was offered.
It was so serious that we literally had to beg them to leave us without
food because we needed to seek Gods face in prayer and absolute
fasting.

19
Amazingly, in the evening of the first day that we started the absolute
fasting and prayers, we were told to go and eat our food that had
already been set on the table for us. This was after we had indicated
that for some days they should excuse us from food. They could not
imagine that we wanted to go without food for some days. We did
our best to make them understand that we didnt want to eat so that
we could seek Gods direction and help in the assignment given to us
but they insisted we should not starve to death in their house.

The pressure was so much that we told ourselves that since we were
strangers here and did not know the culture of the people yet, to avoid
offending them, we should break our fast that evening and adopt
a new approach to our waiting on God in prayer and fasting. The
new approach was to start and continue with our morning devotion
(quiet time) while the couple left for work with our food laid on the
table, but we would not eat until they came back in the evenings.
That approach worked for us although they could not understand
why we should subject ourselves to such hardship. One thing was
certain though, which was the fact that we could not start the RCCG
in Kenya without seeking the face of God with fasting and prayers for
His direction and favour in our assignment.

20
 Chapter 3
BREAKING THE FALLOW GROUND
Here we were in a new environment. We had to get to know the place.
What does the law of our host nation say about starting a church?
Where do we start from? One thing we were sure of was that we were
on assignment and the assignment we would perform one step at a
time.

FAMILIARIZATION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT /

SPIRITUAL MAPPING

The first three weeks of our mission to Kenya were basically used
to do some spiritual mapping. For the first three Sundays, we
attended services in different churches to see how they were doing
ministry and from there determine areas the RCCG would need to
complement the existing work of the Pentecostal churches in Kenya.
In the meantime, at our hosts house in Ruby Estate, we had started
ministering to several people who heard of our presence and came to
us for counseling and prayers. These people were mainly the relatives
of Lester (the Wakos), Gladys (the Makindus) and their friends. We
soon began estate evangelism (person- to- person witnessing for
Christ), which we learnt was not common in Kenya then. With the
fruits of the evangelism we began house fellowship or home cell in
our hosts house, which basically served as a medium for us to interact
with people and pray for their needs. God was on top of our work as
He promptly answered the prayers that we made on behalf of those
who came to us. We also started to organize Holy Ghost baptism
prayers and God was filling the people with His Spirit.

21
THE BEGINNING OF OFFICIAL RCCG SERVICE IN KENYA

From November 1st 1995 we began our search for a hall for fellowship.
Every hall we saw was too expensive, bearing in mind that we had
come with only US$2000, part of which was to be used to secure a
mission house. Unknown to the church at home in Nigeria, what we
paid for a typical house as rent in Nigeria for a year would pay for
only one month in Kenya and the initial payment was usually three
months rent plus one months refundable deposit. So, the money
we had could just pay the rent. An average house would go for
about $500 a month. Halls went for between $60 and $150 per three-
hour meeting. God helped us and we were able to get a place at the
Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) guest house on Muhoho
Avenue, also in Nairobi South C. We hired a makeshift hall for our

weekly meetings. It was a one-sided open hall where they used to

store broken chairs, tables, beds, etc. The management of the YMCA
was kind enough to allow us to move the broken items to one corner
to enable us to set up for our service. The space could barely seat 40
people. We could hardly squeeze in 40 chairs. Of course, with our
little money this is all we could afford.

22
We held our first Sunday service in the YMCA Guest House on 12th
November 1995. The brother we had detailed to register the people
who attended the first Sunday service of the RCCG in Kenya took
the count but did not record it. About 15 people, including children,
attended. On the next Sunday, 19th November 1995, there were 22
adults and seven children. Our offering for that day was seven
hundred and eighty five Kenya shillings (Kshs 785), equivalent then
to US$14. On 26th November, there were 23 adults and five children
in attendance. By 3rd December, we had 24 adults and 10 children.
The church continued to grow. True to our earlier joke I was asked to
remain while Pastor Farinu returned home. Pastor Ademola Farinu
returned to Nigeria on 5th December 1995 after spending one month
and 15 days in Kenya.

In December 1995, God helped me to secure a mission house at the

KMA (Kenya Medical Association) Estate at Nairobi South C. This
was No. 56, a corner house, which we would later maximize usage of
by converting it into a church.

LEGALITY OF RCCG OPERATIONS IN KENYA

We could not possibly start operations without either being registered

or covered by a registered church. Such an operation would be illegal.
So, before we started, we had to approach Bro. Lesters church to give
us cover, which they promptly agreed to do. It was on the basis of this
that we were able to start our services at the YMCA. The first attack
from the enemy was the withdrawal of the cover by the other church
barely two weeks later. We were simply told that circumstances
beyond their control had made them decide not to continue. With no
cover from any established church we decided to continue under the
invisible cover of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were told that it was risky,
as we could be picked up at any time by law enforcement agents. We
decided to put our trust in God while we sought a new cover. With
Pastor Farinu back in Nigeria, I was going to be the only one to suffer
the consequences if the security agents found out that I was operating
a church illegally. It was not easy, but I soldiered on.

23
Our General Overseer in Nigeria had given us the name of Bishop
Gerry Kibarabara, whom he had met some years back at a Full Gospel
Businessmens Fellowship Convention in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. We
began looking for him but had not located him by the time Pastor
Farinu returned to Nigeria. By January 1996, I was able to meet Bishop
(Dr.) Kibarabara, the founder and General Overseer of the Gospel
Assembly of Kenya, who was very good and promptly offered us
the cover until the RCCG became registered. With the cover from his
church, we were able to operate without fear of possible arrest.

On 2nd January 1996, however, I submitted an application for the

registration of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Kenya
at the office of the Registrar of Companies and Societies. We had
earlier been told that the government had stopped the registration
of new churches but my documents were accepted. I could not use
a lawyer because the legal fees required were simply unaffordable.
The least a lawyer asked me to pay was eight thousand five hundred
Kenya shillings (about US$152). With the little knowledge I had got
when I registered business companies in Nigeria, I was able to put
the necessary documents together and file the application. In this
application for registration, I was designated as the chairman, Lester
Wako, the secretary and Mary Wanalo, the treasurer.

24
FAMILY REUNION

With Pastor Farinu gone, I became very lonely as my wife and

son, Favour, were still in Nigeria. This situation left me unsettled.
I therefore requested that my wife and son be sent over to join me
in Kenya. I made this request repeatedly but the pastor kept saying
they were looking for the money. At some point I was totally fed up
and thought of going back to Nigeria, but my wife kept encouraging
me, saying that all shall be well. The story of how my wife and son
eventually joined me in Kenya is best told by my wife. The following
is what my wife has to say.

It was January 1996, which was the peak of armed robberies and
assassinations in Lagos. Satan and his agents were out to steal, kill
and destroy lives. This barbaric behaviour did not spare anyone, be
they Christians or not. Because of this evil wind, Daddy GO, declared
a hundred days fasting and prayer for all Christians. In the process
of fasting and prayer, I had a dream. In my dream, I saw our church
conducting a funeral service for one of our beloved brothers, who had
been killed by armed robbers. It was such an emotional funeral, with
wailing and weeping. The widow was in deep mourning and anguish.
Suddenly I woke up, and behold, it was a dream. I was terribly
disturbed. It was more real than a dream to me. Prior to this dream,
our church had lost a wonderful sister through an armed robbery
attack. This sister was Cecilia who stood by our family all through
my delivery challenge of our first son and the aftermath. She was shot
dead right in their home fellowship centre. Her death traumatized
me so much that in my cry and prayer, I asked God two questions.
First, where was the gift of revelation in the church? Second, what
could probably be wrong with the church that He did not give us
information of the pending danger so that we could pray and avert
it? I pleaded with Him not to hide things from me anymore. With
this dream I knew God was saying something so I prayed fervently
against it. I had no courage to share this dream with our parish head,
Pastor Biodun Coker. However, I shared it with a sister, who insisted
I must tell our pastor about the dream. I did not reveal the name of
the family that was involved in the dream to the sister.

25
Taking the sisters advice, I went to Pastor Coker and shared my
dream with him. I told him the whole story, including the name of
the family involved. By Sunday, the pastor had called an emergency
meeting for all the workers and was emphatic that it was compulsory.
He shared part of the dream in full wisdom without disclosing my
name or the name of the family I had seen in my dream. He led the
workers in a serious session of intercession. Both the husband and
wife I had seen in my dream were in attendance.

The next day was a Monday, I was in church to see the pastor to
know the position with the arrangement for me and our son to join
my husband in Kenya. Before I could enter the office I heard a woman
calling my name. Behold, it was the sister I had seen in my dream.
She ran towards me jumping up and down, asking me to help her
thank God for divine protection last night. She narrated how armed
robbers had broken into their home at night, targeting to shoot dead
her husband. How he escaped death was a miracle. I told her: Let us
go and see the pastor. That was where she was told the whole story
of my dream and family deliverance. She could not believe what she
heard. With great joy, she went back home to tell the story to her
husband. It was victory at last for our church that we did not bury
another member.

The family, in appreciation of what God had done for them through
me, supported the church by contributing part of the money needed
for our relocation to Kenya. In addition, they visited me at home and
gave me a 50kg bag of rice, some tubers of yam and money. This was
help from heaven because we were in dire need, since nothing was
forthcoming. I had been working as an assistant manager - treasury
in Debeacon Finance Company Ltd. on Allen Avenue Ikeja Lagos.
But due to the collapse of finance companies in Nigeria, I lost my job.
Therefore, there was no income for the family. At the same time, my
husband in the mission field was struggling to survive so we could
not help each other. Our son and I finally arrived in Nairobi on 27th
January 1996. What a joy it was to be together again!

Lessons abound in our experiences. Firstly, churches deploying

people to the mission field should do everything possible to take the
family as a unit. In case of any obvious reason why part of the family
26
should remain behind for a while, where the spouse of the missionary
is not working, the church should ensure the family left behind is
well supported, especially by providing basic needs. This will help
the missionary in the field to concentrate on the assignment without
worrying so much about those left behind. For young families, the
period between deployment of one of the family member to the
mission field and the reunion with the other members of his or her
family should be very short.

The joy of seeing my wife and two-year- old son re-energized me to

face the work and challenges, which were beginning to mount. By
the time they arrived, I had moved to the mission house, where we
had only one bed and a six-seat dining table, which for months, our
guests would sit on. I bought some utensils but got the bulk from
Lester and Gladys Wako, including plates, spoons, pots, etc. My wife
had thought it wise to transport most of our household items from
Nigeria, including a gas cooker and fridge. The arrival of the items
was of tremendous help. We used most of the items, including the gas
cooker for more than 14 years. Our dining table, which was bought
in 1995 and the sofa set in 1996, served us until March 2012, when the
Parish Council of the Church decided to replace them with new sets.
God bless them.

GOD RAISED EARLY HELPERS FOR THE WORK

With my family now with me, God raised help for us. Notable among
them were our host, Bro. /Sis. Wako, who gave us free access to their
home, where we could collect whatever we needed. From their house
for the first time in my life, I learnt how to use a computer. Sister Mary
Wanalo was brought by God from the onset. On our arrival, she went
to meet her pastor, Ambrose, at the Parklands Baptist Church and
asked to be released to join us. Pastor Ambrose promptly released
her. Her car was used to take us around. Because we did not bring
any music equipment and could not afford to buy some, she brought
her keyboard, played and led worship in all our services. Sister (Mrs..)
Alice Wako was another wonderful helper in arranging certain things
27
for the church from her office. She typed the Constitution of the RCCG
and other documents, which we submitted for registration at the
Attorney- Generals Office in Sheria House, Nairobi. She got us our
first Post Office Box in Kenya, which we later lost when it was due
for payment because we could not raise the annual rental fee of one
thousand four hundred Kenya shillings (twenty five United States
dollars). These helpers would later increase to include Bro. Clement
Braide (a diplomat), Mr./Mrs.. Paul/Florence Langat (the husband
working in the Office of the President), Sister (Mrs..) Jobi Makinwa
(UN staff) and Mrs.. Bosede Adeboye (a businesswoman). The Lord
will reward every one of them accordingly.

OFFICIAL DEDICATION AND INAUGURATION OF THE

RCCG KENYA

A date was set for our GO to come to Nairobi for the official
inauguration of the church. Sunday, 17th March 1996 was the date
chosen. Pastors S. A. Adeloye, Ademola Farinu and Brown Oyitso
arrived in Kenya from Nigeria before the GO. We held a meeting to
agree on the modalities and where the inaugural service would take
place. It was agreed that we hastily prepare a venue at the corner
of our mission house because the YMCA hall was not good enough.
Within five days, we had put up a worship place with iron sheet (zinc)
rejects (we could not afford good quality iron sheets for both roofing
and walling). It was manageable.

On Sunday, 17th March 1996, a day after the GOs arrival, the church
was inaugurated and dedicated to the Lord. Over 130 people attended.
By Monday, 18th March, we held an inaugural dinner at Hotel Inter-
Continental Nairobi. The dinner was well attended and the GO
ministered. With the official inauguration over, our attention shifted
to growing the church, which now had an average membership of
56 people. Many programmes were initiated. I started a prayer
school, followed by monthly Solemn Assembly Prayer meetings at
the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). My wife had
started the Good Womens meeting shortly before the church was
inaugurated. She also started a childrens club, which was run every
Saturday. All these programmes were part of the avenues God used
to increase the church attendance.
28
 Chapter 4
EARLY CHALLENGES AND THE GRACE OF GOD
Pioneering mission work is obviously challenging. Financial
challenges, accommodation challenges, legal challenges and all that.
We faced them in their numbers

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Not long after the inauguration of the RCCG Kenya, Pastor S. A.

Adeloye was transferred from the Dominion Sanctuary, popularly
known as ACME. Within a very short time there were several other
changes in the leadership of the ACME church, which seriously
affected the Kenyan mission. One such consequence was a fax that
came sometime in 1996 late at night, while we were asleep. As soon
as we heard the sound of an incoming fax, we had great expectations
and were sure that good news had finally arrived. Oh, we were
very wrong! Contrary to our expectations, the fax was to inform us
that with effect from the following month, there would be no more
financial support from the home parish. This meant that we should
from then fund the work from Kenya. We had barely enjoyed this
support of six hundred dollars for eight months, which basically was
paying the house rent of Kenya shillings twenty two thousand (Kshs
22,000) or $400 a month plus another US$200, for our family upkeep.

The fax was devastating because we were not in a position to pay

even half of our monthly rent let alone run the church and support my
family. Sleep went out of our eyes. We wished the Langat family had
not donated that fax machine to the church. At least there would have
been no way for the church to communicate with us that night. We
could have slept and woken up in peace. We had none to complain

29
to and decided to call on our God in prayer, asking Him for help
AND HE DID NOT FAIL US. God began to use some of the church
members to buy food for us, while others contributed money for our
rent. To increase support for my family, we began to buy and sell
gospel music tapes and later my wife sold Nigerian-styled dresses
and womens undergarments. She did not do this for long because
some people bought and did not pay and some members left the
church to avoid being reminded or called upon to pay their debts.

I can recall one particular incident, involving the wife of a politician,

who came to our house with her husband to be prayed for by the
GO. She was our member. She found my wife wearing a beautiful
Nigerian outfit, the kind worn when important guests are around.
The woman liked the dress and requested my wife to sell it to her.
My wife was hesitant because she had very few clothes. After much
pressure from the woman she sold it to her at five thousand shillings.
She said she had no money on her but promised to pay later. Days,
weeks and months passed. My wife tried calling her but each time she
gave flimsy excuses. From the day she took the dress she never came
to church, never called my wife and never paid for it. We would not
even recognize her today if we ever met her.

In order to avoid losing people or my wife going through such an

experience again, she stopped buying and selling items. We had also
tried out Christian home videos club, which people would register for
with a little money as members and borrow movies to watch at home.
It was not long before almost all the VHS movies got lost because
those who borrowed did not return them. This marked the end of
our business. Things were really tough for us, but we soldiered on,
looking unto Jesus only. There can be no true worship of God without
sacrifice or suffering. True worship will always require some level of
sacrifice. It was Gandhi, who in his teaching on the seven things that
will destroy a man, mentioned: Worship without sacrifice. (Covey,
2004:79). For our worship to be genuine we cannot afford doing so
without genuine sacrifices.

There are lessons to be learned from these experiences especially

for all mission-oriented churches. The sending church should have
a mission policy including policy on financial support and the
30
duration. This should be determined by the location of the mission
field in the context of the cost of living. This is because each mission
field is unique. If it were not that God helped us a great deal and we
were so sure of our purpose and promise, what we went through was
enough for us to pack our bags and go back home. Such a mission
policy should have inbuilt flexibility that could accommodate some
peculiar fields especially mission fields that may take longer a time
to stand on their own. In addition this written policy should be well-
communicated to the missionary before he or she sets out to the field
so that he or she is prepared. A sudden withdrawal of support can
cripple a missionary mentally and ruin the work. While the place
of faith in mission work cannot be overlooked, proper preparation
and information should also not be taken for granted. This mission
policy should ensure that commitments to missionaries already in the
field are not compromised in situations of changes in leadership. The
missionaries should not become victims of leadership changes; there
should be an entrenched system of continuity.

THREAT FROM KMA ESTATE RESIDENTS

With the church having moved from the YMCA to the KMA Estate,
we soon began to receive complaints from some neighbours that we
were disturbing them with our noise. Someone went to the City
Council of Nairobi to report us. The City Council, wrote us a letter
stating that we should not disturb the peace of our neighbourhood.
The truth then was that we had nowhere else to go because we could
not afford to hire a hall. We kept on presenting our plight to God,
asking him to safeguard us.

Then one day, a meeting was called by the residents and landlords.
The church and I were the agenda. They asked me when I was going
to remove the church from the estate. I told them frankly that I did
not know but that we would move whenever God wanted us to. I
answered them this way because I could not tell them we had no
money. One of the men was so upset with my answer that with
horrible anger said I must remove the church in a week if I did not
want to face dire consequences. I was almost afraid, knowing that
I was only a stranger without even a residence permit to stay and

31
the church was not even registered. Faith in God, who brought us to
Kenya, sustained us. I told my wife about the outcome of the meeting
and we prayed that God would preserve us and His young church.
To this day, I do not know what happened, but within the seven days
the man who issued the threat was dead. I dont know what killed
him, but at least with his death, the neighbours did not trouble us
again. A few of them even became members of our church.

As we were enjoying the peace another challenge came up. This time
it was the national disaster from the El Nino rains of 1997. Our estate
was terribly affected, as cars at times could not drive through the
big floods or literally swam through. Our members who had no cars
would be brought to church on handcarts at a fee. Church attendance
began to dwindle and we sensed that if something did not happen
we might lose more members. This forced us to begin to search for a
venue outside the mission house.

LOSS OF PREGNANCY AND MY WIFES HEALTH

CHALLENGE

In September 1996 my wife lost a pregnancy of about seven months.

When it threatened to abort it was very late at night and we had no
car to take her to hospital. At the same time there was no money. But
when I saw the situation worsening, as the water sack had broken,
I called a neighbour to assist us with her car. Thanks to God that
although it was a very late night call, she picked up her phone and
in a few minutes was in our house. As we left for the hospital, we
called Lester and Gladys Wako. They came to the hospital a few
minutes after we got there. They used their Visa card to secure my
wifes admission and treatment started. My wife stayed in hospital
for about two weeks but unfortunately the baby did not make it.

The loss of the baby still remains a mystery to us. This was because,
according to my wife, one night after she was given an injection she
went into labour and delivered a baby girl, who was said to be well
alive. The baby was taken away by a nurse and my wife thought she
took her to an incubator. A few minutes later the nurse came back
to inform my wife that the baby had died, with no explanation.

32
What an agony this was! This was to be the beginning of my wifes
health challenges. Only God knows the kind of injection the nurse
had administered before she went into labour. This injection almost
paralyzed her right leg. She could no longer walk or stand on her
own! The pain was unbearable. What a way to leave a hospital, with
no baby and a leg problem. We borrowed some money to settle the
hospital bill (for the rest of how my wife was miraculously healed,
read her book titled From Grass to Grace).

After that incident I asked our church to send me a man to join us

in Kenya to fortify our prayers in the mission field. Pastor Abiodun
Coker, who was then the pastor in charge, promptly sent Pastor
Israel Monye, who took over from me as the leader of the Army of
Intercessors in Dominion Sanctuary when I left Nigeria.

THE REGISTRATION OF RCCG IN KENYA

After submitting the application to have the RCCG registered in

Kenya, we continued to monitor the progress. As we made enquiries,
a very top government officer told us that it was only the President
that could authorize the registration of any church then. Since getting
to the President, His Excellency Daniel arap Moi, was not an easy task,
our informant also hinted to us that three men of God could arrange
for us to have our GO, Pastor E. A. Adeboye, meet the President when
he would come in March 1996 for the inauguration. Of the three men
of God, I knew one was not going to assist us. So I opted to try my first
option, Pastor Dennis White, of Christ is the Answer Ministries. The
man of God received me very well in his office at the NPC (Nairobi
Pentecostal Church), Valley Road. I had to introduce myself to him as
we had never met before.

I told him about the RCCG, which, he said, he had never heard about
before. Now, to my reason for going to him; I told him my General
Overseer would be coming soon and we would want him to meet
with the President. I told him that I had been reliably informed that
he could arrange such a meeting. Pastor White was such a sincere
man. He told me something like, My brother, Prince, you see I am
meeting you for the first time, and also hearing about your church for

33
the first time and your General Overseer I do not know who he is; and
on this note it is not practicable for me to take him to State House to
see the President when he comes. I agreed with him totally, thanked
him and left his office.

At this point only one man was left among the three names I had been
given. There was a sister by the name Edith, who had started attending
the womens meetings (Bible Study). We learnt she knew very closely
the man of God. We approached Sister Edith and she promptly took
it up. She first went with my wife and when an appointment was
secured to meet with the man in his office, I went with my wife to
see him. The first meeting with this old man of God, Bishop Ezekiel
Birech of the Africa Inland Church, was memorable. He was over
80. When he heard of how the RCCG was going to the nations of
the world to plant churches he was so happy and got very interested
in our mission. When we told him that our General Overseer was
coming and we would wish to have an audience with His Excellency
President arap Moi, the man of God agreed to arrange a meeting.

And true to his promise, on Monday, 18th March 1996, the GO was
at the State House with Bishop Birech to meet the President. Of
course, the General Overseer, having been briefed on the pending
registration of the RCCG and being a wise man, did not miss the
moment. Attorney-General Wako was also there. After the meeting,
the GO told us that the President became more welcoming when
he (Pastor Adeboye) reminded him of his address (speech) given in
1979 or so, to the All Africa Conference of Churches meeting held in
Nairobi, when he was Vice-President.

The President was excited to know that the GO was at that meeting.
In the ensuing friendly atmosphere, the GO asked the President if it
would be okay for the Redeemed Christian Church of God to operate
in Kenya, to which he responded, Why not, as long as the focus is
to spread the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Attorney-
General Wako being present, it simply communicated to him that
the RCCG had been given approval by the President to be registered
under the Societies Act. We give thanks to God for this manifestation
of His grace. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) was
registered in Kenya in August 1996.
34
Armed with the registration certificate I had to apply for my residence
permit, which came through in December 1996. Before this, I had to
leave Kenya before the expiration of six months from the date of my
last entry to avoid violating the immigration law.

After registration, I got reliable information that a certain bishop was

trying to persuade the President to deregister the RCCG. I learnt he
had given the President reasons why. According to a reliable source,
this bishop had had an unpleasant experience with a church from
Nigeria. On our own, we continued to pray that God would not allow
this since we had done nothing wrong. On another occasion he was
heard still telling the President to act, and we decided to inform the
GO.

The GOs response was that we should pay the bishop a visit and he
promised to continue praying for us. We contacted the bishops office
to know when he would be in town. We did not book any appointment
but since we had been told the day he would be in the office, I asked
two Kenyan ministers in the church to accompany me. That visit paid
off. I briefed him on our activities and how we had even penetrated
Turkana, a very dry area that many churches would not go to. He
35
was happy with our progress and told us how some people had been
saying that we should not operate under the existing name and that
he told them to leave us alone. He said he could not fight us because
we were his own brethren. At the end of the meeting, he asked me to
pray for him and we all knelt down and prayed together. That settled
the matter. Thank God for the wisdom of the General Overseer.

36
 Chapter 5
THE POWER OF ARTICULATE VISION

The vision of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is well

articulated. It is also communicated to members in such a way that
those who are truly committed run with the vision. In almost all the
print of the RCCG you will see the VISION and MISSION statements
of the church:
1. To make heaven
2. To take as many people as possible with us
3. To have a member of the RCCG in every family of all nations
4. To accomplish No.1 above, holiness will be our lifestyle
5. To accomplish No. 2 and 3 above, we will plant churches
within five minutes walking distance in every city and town
in developing countries and within five minutes driving
distance in every city and town of developed countries.
6. We will pursue these objectives until every nation in the world
is reached for Christ.

Those who aspire to serve and grow in Christ are told during
WORKERS IN TRAINING PROGRAMME of the church that as a
commissioned worker (leader) in the church, if you relocate to any
place in the world where the Redeemed Christian Church of God
does not exist, you should start one. Every committed worker carries
this mandate and bears it in mind wherever he or she goes. As a
committed worker and minister in the church these mandates define
my operations and strategies for church growth.

When a vision is well articulated it enables willing drivers to drive

it with ease. It is difficult to see any committed RCCG member who
is not moved or driven by the vision. The zeal to cover and save the

37
world for Christ is a great engine that drives the RCCG bus. To stay
in a place for long without opening a branch of the church is very
abnormal for a committed RCCG person. We are always looking out
for a new place to launch for Christ.

BRANCHING OUT WITHIN KENYA

With the RCCG marking its first anniversary in Kenya, I began to

think of opening parishes elsewhere even though we were financially
handicapped. I had been introduced to a Christian brother by the name
John Lodepe Nakara, from Turkana by the Rev. Gilbert Okoronkwo,
who was with the AEA (African Evangelical Association) earlier in
the year. He was doing a programme at Daystar University, Nairobi.
We shared fellowship together for some time, and in the process, he
told me of the area he came from and asked if we could take the RCCG
there. After hearing about the plight of his people I became overly
interested. The picture painted was one of impoverished and less
privileged people. My promise to God as a small boy began to ring
like a bell. I told him I would be most delighted to go to his place and
start the RCCG there. He offered to get in touch with a pastor from
his area to come and see me. I told him to ask this pastor to get money
from anywhere and travel to Nairobi, promising to pay his transport
and other costs when he comes. This was done, and by October 1996,
he came to Nairobi and we met at our KMA Estate house.

He was Pastor Daniel Loli. I took about two weeks to do a crash

programme, taking him through the RCCG Believers Class
studies and Workers in Training discipleship programmes. He was
commissioned as a worker in our Sunday service and sent back to
Lodwar, Turkana District, in northwestern Kenya. He was told to
go and mobilize people for house fellowship in readiness for the
churchs opening. He went and did exactly that. He was such a
dynamic Christian brother with a great passion for the salvation of
his people. On December 13th 1996, we started the first parish of the
RCCG outside Nairobi. From that moment, the church in Turkana
began to grow and spread. Getting a hall for a church service was a
problem because such a facility was nonexistent in Lodwar Town or
any other place in the region. We began in a small warehouse where

38
locally made handcrafts were stored and sold. God made me to see
with the eyes of the spirit, great prospects for the church in Turkana,
not in terms of money, but in terms of souls to be won into Gods
Kingdom.

Early in January 1997, I planned my first visit to Turkana. I arranged

to go with an indigene to communicate with his people on my behalf
or interpret for me. The link person to the Turkana mission, Bro.
John Nakara, was called upon and agreed to go with me. On Friday,
January 24, 1997, we set off by night bus (Stage Coach Express),
which left Nairobi at 9.07pm for Kitale, where we took a mini bus to
Lodwar. We got to Kitale at about 5.00am. The mini bus left Kitale at
around 9.15am. On our way, we had a tyre burst, but the driver did
not have a spare wheel. We waited there until another bus came and
our driver borrowed his spare wheel. Because the journey had lasted
longer than anticipated, when we got to a small town where there
was a public phone, I asked the driver to stop so that I could call my
wife. I got her on phone and told her that we were still on the road,
but nothing to worry about. We finally reached Lodwar, on Saturday,
25th January 1997 by 6.13pm and got a warm welcome from people,
who had been waiting for us at the bus station since noon. They were
led by Pastor Daniel Loli.

This less-privileged community reminded me of my promise to God

about 25 years ago. I immediately fell in love with these impoverished
people. At night, because of the unbearable heat, which I had
never witnessed before in my life, I could not sleep until I soaked
my sleeping gown in water, which, though lukewarm, helped to
reduce the heat. On Sunday, the 26th of January 1997, the RCCG in
Lodwar was officially dedicated to the Lord. My sermon that day
was titled, THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU. I took the Bible text from
1Kings 17:8-16. We sang praises to God and danced together to the
glory of God. At some point I took the traditional drum from one of
the worshippers and beat it, as we all danced. There were 78 people,
including children. At about 2:00am, on Monday, 27th January, I left
Lodwar in the company of John Nakara.

After the visit to Lodwar I saw a great need for a piece of land for
the church but I wondered where the money would come from?
39
Pastor Daniel Loli had taken me to see a piece of land going for
forty thousand Kenya shillings (about seven hundred and thirty-five
United States dollars). I told the brethren to pray to God to make
the money available for us to buy the land, even as we would also
continue to pray in Nairobi.

INTEGRITY AND FRUGALITY LESSON FROM THE

GENERAL OVERSEER

In 1997, the General Overseer visited us to see the progress of the

church. That visit will remain in our memory forever. Mrs.. Jobi
Makinwa had offered to pay for his accommodation at the five-star
Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi. The GO was told to order anything
he wanted from the hotel and not bother about payment. One day,
when we went to see him, he told us he had asked at the hotel the cost
of a 35cl bottle of Coke and they told him it was Kshs70 ($1.26). He
later checked in the shops outside the hotel and found the price to be
Kshs 10 ($0.18). He then asked us to buy it from outside and take it to
him in the hotel. This attitude spoke volumes to my wife and I. The
lesson we learnt from this will remain with us throughout our lives.

During the same visit, Mrs. Bosede Adeboye, whom God had been
using to assist my family in many ways, went with her husband to
see the GO. We thought they went for their personal reasons but later
learnt that in the course of their discussions, they had told the GO how
we had been suffering and that without a car in Nairobi, one could
not work effectively. When we learnt that they talked to the GO about
us, we were not happy because we felt it could be seen as though we
had sent them, but it turned out that God had actually used them to
do so. After they left the GO, he picked up a newspaper and looked at
the advertised car prices. Before he left Kenya, he called me and gave
me US$6,000 for a mission car and $1,000 for my familys upkeep. It
was a joyous moment. As I reflected on this with my wife, we were
stunned that the GO had this kind of money and yet he preferred that
a bottle of coke be bought for him from outside his hotel just because
of a price difference of sixty Kenya shillings. This was pure integrity
and frugality. I wish all ministers of God will learn and practice this

40
level of integrity. I ordered for a Toyota Camry from Japan a few
weeks later. This is how the first mission car was acquired.

FIRST RCCG LANDED PROPERTY IN KENYA

After the GO had left Kenya, the Lodwar pastor got in touch with me.
He spoke about the need to buy land for them. Since the church could
not afford it, I discussed with my wife what we could do to help. We
agreed to use the money the GO had given to our family to buy the
Lodwar land at a cost of US$700. This is how the RCCG got her first
landed property in Kenya. It was a huge sacrifice for my family, but
we thank God we did it. We then had to construct a makeshift worship
hall on the land using mostly local materials and iron sheets. This was
done without delay using the balance of $300 plus few contributions.
From that moment, the church in Turkana began to look more and
more promising.

Integrity is a core value for any tangible and sustainable success in

ministry and life, generally. From time to time, my wife and I would
ask our congregation to witness against us in the words of Prophet
Samuel,

Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD,

and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? Or whose
ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have
I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe
to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you
(1Samuel 12:3).

Each time we asked this question we allowed the congregation to

respond but they would echo, You have not cheated us. We did not
ask this question for asking sake. We did sincerely ask the question
and if anyone could prove we had deceived or cheated them, we were
ready to repent and restore. We do not claim to be perfect in all things
but cheating or deception is not part of us.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already

perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
41
 count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before
(Philippians 3:12-13).

Our prayer always is that Gods testimony about us would surpass

mans testimony. When the people you lead cannot in truth point an
accusing finger at you, give thanks to God for that is the grace and
mercy of God upon your life.

MORE CHALLENGES AND NEW PARISHES

In the same year, 1997, Pastor Farinu thought it wise to send a

missionary to me from his Garden of Peace Parish, Surulere, Lagos,
so that we could start a new parish in Nairobi. This was Pastor Dele
Akanle. On 13th April 1997, I was at the Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport to receive Pastor Akanle and his wife Pastor Toyin. But only
Pastor Dele arrived and I learnt there had been no seat for her on the
plane. She came on 15th April. The couple stayed with us until 21st
May 1997, when we got a house for them in the Donholm area in the
Eastlands. It would also serve as the RCCG Garden of Peace venue.
As they relocated, they started a house fellowship and together
with some of our workers that we gave them, the church started.
The inaugural service of the RCCG Garden of Peace took place on
Sunday, 13th July 1997. I ministered on, UNDERSTANDING THE
BEGINNING, taking my texts from Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 60:22 and Job
8:7. God has to be at the centre of anything that begins with success
and posterity in mind. This parish was fully funded by the sending
church.

Within a short time after the RCCG in Lodwar moved to her own
worship place, the church began to grow rapidly. In the same year the
Lodwar church was able to open a second parish and from thence the
RCCG began to expand in Turkana. But for us, things became hard
and some three elders called me to a meeting and told me they had
decided to task themselves every month and raise some money for my
family. I thanked them very much from my heart, but asked them to
put the money in the offering for us to use it to run the church instead
42
of giving it to me. The offer was something I could have jumped at
but did not. I did not want a situation whereby, in future, someone
would say that if it were not for him we would not have survived in
Kenya. We preferred to look up to God for help than people tasking
themselves monthly for my familys upkeep.

Within this period, an incident that was an embarrassment to me

occurred. It was time to pay the mission house rent and the landlord
phoned to inform me he was coming for the money. Thank God
the money was available that day. By the time he arrived, I was on
top of the church roof, repairing leaking sections in preparation for
the Sunday service the following day. Because we had used reject
iron sheets to build the church, worshippers were always rained on
whenever rain fell. I was not told that he was around. When I came
down, our house-help told me that the landlord had come and left.
She had told him that I was not around. I felt so bad, wondering
in my heart what the man would be thinking as I had told him to
come for the rent. I imagined that he might have thought I had run
away. Later that evening I called him and apologized, explaining that
I was on the church roof repairing leaking portions when he came.
He was such a wonderful landlord, full of understanding. We had a
great relationship with him such that when we needed to relocate he
insisted that we should not because we took good care of his house.
According to him, we were leaving the house better than we found
it. We explained to him the reason why we needed to move, which
was to stay closer to where we were having our daily lunch-hour
fellowship on Mbagathi Way. After much persuasion he allowed us
to go on the condition that we would get him a good tenant like us.
We gave him one we thought was good, but we were wrong.

Having used the mission house as the church since March 1996, we
felt the need to move to a location where it would be easier for more
people to get to know us. It was also our desire to give the KMA Estate
residents a break from the weekly joyful and godly noises that came
with our services. We applied to Daystar University, Valley Road
Campus, for permission to hire their hall for our Sunday services. My
Precious followed up with them until they agreed, but they made us
to sign that this would just be for three months. We were allowed to

43
use their hall from the beginning of October to the end of December
1996. At the beginning of January 1997, we had not secured a new
venue so we went back to the mission house. We held the first two
Sunday worship services in the New Year at the mission house before
we secured a new venue.

In December, we had applied to the Nairobi University to allow us to

hire one of their halls for our services. We were still waiting to hear
from them by January 1997. We then heard that the CID Training
School in South C had a big hall. We mandated brethren to go for
that also. Through the concerted efforts of my wife and Sister Gladys,
the church secured the CID hall. It was announced to the brethren
on Sunday, 12th January that the following Sunday, 19th, January,
we would be holding our services in the CID hall, while mid-week
meetings would still take place at No. 56 KMA Estate. There were
80 people in church on that day. On the 19th, we had our first service
in the CID hall. Within the week we got a letter from the university
informing us that approval had been given for us to use one of their
lecture halls for our Sunday services. I told the brethren that we
would open a new parish at the Police Pavilion even as we continued
to use the university hall. The police hall environment was secluded
and it appeared many people did not want to go there to worship.

44
Since we had a letter approving the Nairobi University hall for use,
we announced to the brethren that from next Sunday, we would be
holding our service in Room ED 213. The first was held on Sunday 26th
January 1997 and we paid the university Kshs5,000 for that day, from
8.00am to 2.00pm. I had travelled to Lodwar to see the newly birthed
church. When I enquired about how the service went, I was told that
the same university building was hosting other churches. On Sunday,
2nd February, I attended the service there and saw it for myself. We
did not find it funny. In the same building, there were four other
churches meeting in different lecture halls. We felt that people who
might want to join us in our worship service might find it difficult to
locate us in the building and could end up going to a different church.
Secondly, after service on that first day, a car belonging to one of our
church members was broken into at the parking lot and his valuables
stolen. With these two experiences we decided not to hold services
there anymore.

It was fully back to South C and the Police Pavilion would be the place
of our Sunday services for some time to come. We used the hall until
1st June 1997, when we hosted Bro. Gbile Akanni, who ministered to
the church on the topic: MR. ZACCHAEUS, taking his text from Luke
45
19:1-5 and Romans 3:23. He used the text to illustrate how all human
beings had become short due to sin and as a result many are trying to
use any methods to get to God. Jesus Christ, our Lord, who called Mr.
Zacchaeus to come down to Him, is still calling everyone to come to
Him if we ever wish to be restored to the image of God. Within the
week, we were called and told that orders from above had decreed
that the Police Pavilion should no longer be hired for religious
activity. This news threw us off balance. There was no option but
to again move back to the mission house at the KMA Estate. This
challenge was becoming unbearable both for us and our members.
Any time the church was about to pick up membership this venue
problem would take us backwards. It reached a point that whenever
my wife quoted, And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose, (Rom.8:28), members would whisper to each other that
we were about to move to another venue. Interestingly, they were
always right. They came to church one Sunday not certain of where
the next Sunday service would be. Some of them found it difficult to
invite their friends and relatives because of this instability.

From Sunday, 8th June, to the end of the month, we used the mission
house as our Sunday service venue. All the members were mobilized
to go out in search of a new venue. By the grace of God we got Silver
Springs Hotels Silvermine Hall, as our new venue for our Sunday
services. Our last Sunday service at the mission house took place on
29th June 1997. It was announced to the brethren that Silver Springs
Hotel would now be our venue for Sundays. We made handbills and
mobilized brethren to go and give out the fliers, inviting people to
worship with us at the hotel from Sunday, 6th July 1997. The hotel
would charge us ten thousand Kenya shillings (US$180) per service,
which was very high but it later paid off. Come Sunday, 6th July
1997, we held our service at Silver Springs Hotel. It was a new dawn
altogether. There were 141 people at the service, which was our highest
Sunday attendance ever. The hotel would allow us to use the hall
on Sundays only. So, for our mid-week meetings we needed another
venue. We got Ngong Hills Hotel on Ngong Road. On Sundays, we
were at Silver Springs Hotel, and on Tuesdays, at Ngong Hills Hotel.
The Ngong Hills Hotel venue could not accommodate us for long so
we began another search for a midweek service venue.
46
We had started a lunch-hour fellowship in Anderson Hall at
Mbagathi Hospital. This is a government property, which served
as nursery school. The chairs were too small, as they were made
for nursery school children. Some big-sized members could not fit
in the chairs. The place was also very dirty and always smelling. It
was very frustrating but we soared on. Every day, from Monday
to Friday, we preached there from 12.30 to 2pm. Our audience was
mainly market women, men and some office workers. Even though
it was a very tough assignment it paid off, as some of the people who
joined us from that fellowship are today ordained ministers in the
RCCG Kenya. A beloved sister, who has been living with my family
for over 12 years, joined us from this fellowship. She is Deaconess
Esther Atieno. Deaconess Lucy Mulatyia, a pharmacist, used to have
her pharmaceutical store around that area. With time, her husband
and the children also became members of the RCCG. There are others
whom we have posted to other parishes as ministers and workers.
The Lord used the lunch-hour fellowship to grow the church, as souls
were regularly saved during the meetings.

47
With our exit from Ngong Hills Hotel, we had no option but to
request the management of Anderson Hall to allow us use the same
venue for our Tuesday Digging Deep. They were prompt in accepting
our request. But the majority of our people, especially the few elite,
did not like it. The environment was not secure because of street
boys. With pressure from our members, we began yet another search
for a new venue. Our next point of call was our sitting room in our
newly rented house on Kindaruma Road off Ngong Road. So, it was
back to mission house although this time it was only for the Tuesday
Digging Deep, as the Lord graciously kept us at Silver Springs Hotel
for Sunday services.

The lunch-hour fellowship having been a success, we decided to start

a new programme called Morning Glory in the city centre. This was an
early morning devotion conducted to usher people who work in the
Central Business District into the presence of God from whence they
would receive grace for the days work. We hired Swara Restaurant
on Tom Mboya Street. It was a one-hour service, starting from 6.30am
to 7.30am every working day. It was a highly demanding service.
My wife and I led the service most of the time. From time to time,
Pastor Tillarh Mukasa, who was in charge of our Life Gate Parish
in the city centre, would lead it. Today, Pastor Mukasa is in-charge
48
of the RCCG Solution Centre in Stockholm, Sweden. We carried our
equipment (music/PA systems) every morning for the service and by
noon, took the same to the lunch-hour fellowship venue. The services
were very rewarding and highly beneficial in terms of popularizing
the church and getting more members. But this was taking too much
from us as well as affecting our private early morning devotion. With
my frequent travel for missions and my wife also being pregnant
with our second born, we could not sustain the Morning Glory, so we
discontinued it in early 2000.

Prior to the Morning Glory, we held a weekly programme, Turning

Point. This was at Eureka Hotel in the city centre. The greatest
challenge was carrying the music/PA systems to the fifth floor using
the staircase. The programme did not last long. However, it achieved
its purpose because God used it to touch lives. One of such lives is
that of Pastor Jimmy Okeoma. Today, he is the pastor in-charge of our
Dominion parish Nairobi.

As the church in Nairobi was picking up, we also launched into

Kisumu. In March 22nd, 1998 following a successful crusade held in
Kisumu, Nyanza Province, from 19th to 21st March 1998, we opened
The Kingdom Power Parish of the RCCG, with Pastor Onyeka
Ezebuike, a missionary, in charge. Pastor Daniel Loli was at the same
time moving with speed to open several other branches of the RCCG
in Turkana. I literally had to ask him to slow down because we needed
resources to take care of every new parish opened.

FROM SILVER SPRINGS HOTEL TO KIRICHWA ROAD,

KILIMANI

Holding our Sunday services in one place and other meetings in

different places was not helping the church to stabilize in growth.
We, therefore, decided to look for a rental property with a compound
and good space, where we could put up a temporary structure and
use it for all our services. We asked many people to help us search for
a suitable place. God used Pastor Peter Kamau, who was a member
of our lunch-hour fellowship to get us a place on Kirichwa Road at
Kilimani, Nairobi. As we planned to move to Kirichwa Road, there
49
was one dissenting voice. This woman vehemently opposed the move
because of her personal interest, but she could not dissuade us. In
September 1998, the Assistant General Overseer (Missions), Pastor J.
O. A. Akindele (Daddy Akindele), was visiting the church and heard
us discussing the relocation plan. He advised us to waste no further
time. Brethren were told to contribute money to enable us to put up
a temporary structure for worship. What we got was not enough to
build the temporary structure but we still moved. We gave ourselves
October 4th 1998 as the day we would start worshipping at the new
place irrespective of its condition. There were several benefits in the
new venue. The rent we were asked to pay monthly was Kshs30,000
which was Kshs 10,000 cheaper than what we paid Silver Springs
Hotel monthly. It would also afford the church an administrative
office as well as host all our services etc.

As we contemplated on this move I was also prayerfully thinking

about the name to call the parish. A common practice in the RCCG is
that every parish has a brand name that identifies it. All along from
KMA estate we have been called Salvation Centre. Several names
were coming to my mind but eventually I settled for Redemption
Sanctuary. On 4th October 1998, the church had her first service on
Kirichwa Road, off Argwings Kodhek Road. We held the service in an
open roof. Interestingly, on that day, it rained on us a bit. The brethren
brought an umbrella to cover me as I was preaching but I declined
because others were being rained on. We comforted ourselves and
called it showers of blessing from God.

The church moving to this new location, where we had, for the first
time, a place we could call an office, was such a milestone. From this
time, the church began to have steady growth. People, who wanted to
see us for counselling, prayers or for any other thing, could now come
to the office instead of going to our home. The new venue enabled us
to start holding all the meetings as a church that we could not hold
before. The womens meetings also began to gather momentum and
God was using this fellowship to bring people to the church.

By 1999 my wife had started the Redeemed Christian Bible College

(RCBC) at the same venue. This location afforded us an opportunity
to start many new things. Apart from the RCBC, I started THE
50
COMMANDOS prayer squad. I also reintroduced the monthly Solemn
Assembly meeting, which I had stopped because we could not afford
renting venues to host it. Everybody in the church was encouraged
to evangelize for Christ. At some point I asked all the brethren who
had no jobs to register in the office and commit themselves to coming
to the church three times a week to go out for evangelism. They were
given bus fare and a little pocket money, sometimes from my own
pocket. Many of them signed for it and through the programme, God
was saving more souls and adding them to the church. Some of these
brethren also began to get gainful employment.

OUR SONS SCHOOL FEES

As the work continued to pick up on Kirichwa Road, there was the

challenge of paying our son Favours school fees, which was Kshs
9,000 ($147) per term. In every challenge we faced, God always
showed up in one way or the other. My wife has the details of how
God showed up so let her tell the remarkable story.

Sometime in 1999, while my husband was away in Nigeria for a

mission, as I sat in our sitting room one morning, I heard an inner
voice say to me, Remove your son from the local school and put him
in a school that runs the British curriculum. I thought I did not hear
well because as at this time we were struggling to pay his fees in one
of the mission schools in Nairobi. How could God be telling me to
take him to a British school that was far more expensive? However,
the inner voice was so strong that I shared it with my younger brother
Chizoba Ernest Achusi, who was staying with us. He advised that we
first find out how much such schools charged and discuss this with
my husband on his return.

I went around schools and the cheapest was about $400 per term. Oh
my God! Was it God who had spoken to me or the devil who was
determined to expose us to public ridicule? We had not paid $147,
how could we pay $400? But you know what? The voice was getting
stronger within me. I resolved to ask my husband to allow us go that
way. On his return, I shared my story with him. His response was
51
not a surprise to me. I had expected it. He said, Please, Precious,
we have enough challenges. I dont want more. How can God tell
you to take Favour to a school where the fee is $400 when the same
God knows we have been struggling to pay $147? I said to him, I
heard Him well. All I wanted from you is permission to go ahead.
He asked me where the first term fees would come from. I told him
my brother and I would pay. He said it was not paying the first term
fees that mattered, but continuity. But if you insist, go ahead and my
hands are not there. I thanked him and went ahead to change the
boys school and that term, my brother and I paid the fees.

Not long after that, my husband was again out of the country. One
Sunday morning at the RCCG Redemption Sanctuary, during the
Search the Scripture time (Sunday school), a man walked into the
church to join us in the days worship service. I had no clue who he
was. He was like any other worshipper. I had prepared a sermon on
the topic: The God of pleasant surprises. From Search the Scripture
the main worship began. During my sermon, I gave a prophetic
word, which was that before the end of that day the Lord would have
surprised so many of the congregants and people echoed, amen!
Immediately after I gave that word, the Spirit of God whispered to me
that, that message was for me. I quickly told the congregation that the
message I had just given was meant for me and not them. And what
would you expect from the members? They shouted the message was
for them also. Anyway, the service continued and ended well.

After the service, the stranger came to my office and introduced

himself as Prof. Dele Olowu, a pastor of the RCCG in the Netherlands.
He highly commended my zeal and sermon presentation. He asked
for our phone number and I gave him, after which he left for his hotel.
At night he called and asked me to brief him on some of our mission
challenges but I told him that it would be better for that to be done
by my husband because I did not have all the details. He then asked
me to tell my husband to get in touch with him through his email
address.

On my husbands return, I gave him the information, but he was not

excited because in the past, he had written so many proposals and
never received any acknowledgement. He told me he was not ready

52
for another proposal for financial assistance. But I encouraged him
to try one more time. Eventually, he wrote the report on our mission
efforts and challenges with some proposals and emailed it to Prof.
Olowu.
In January 2000, we heard that Daddy GO had prophesied that
someone would receive good news very soon. I literally woke up
every morning expecting good news from any corner. True to that
prophecy, it was not long before my husband received an email
from Prof. Olowu, indicating that the RCCG Mission Board in the
Netherlands had committed itself to supporting our sons education
with a donation of $467 a term and another $200 to support the
mission work in Turkana. They sent the $467 for school fees and $200
for Turkana together. The money was paid directly into the RCCG
bank account from where the school fees were paid and the Turkana
support sent. It was a big burden lifted because as school fees were
being increased in every new class we paid the difference after the
$467. They did this faithfully for years until close to the middle of our
sons secondary school, when the Africa Mission Canada took over
for about two years.

God is not a liar. Whatever he says he will do, he will do. Prof. Olowu,
for his part, proved that proposals could get both acknowledgement
and response. God will surely reward every one of them abundantly.

53
 Chapter 6
SETTING THE STAGE FOR EASTERN AFRICA
REGION WORK
My serving God full-time in the RCCG was simply answering His
call. I was not looking for employment. This is why from the onset, I
had simply reported to duty. The platform for the fulfillment of Gods
call and the promise I had made to Him became the RCCG. When I
was leaving Nigeria for Kenya, I was not given any letter and I did
not ask for one because I simply answered Gods call. How much
money would be sent to me on a monthly basis was not discussed
and I did not ask, either. It is always important for every missionary
to know who called him or her. There are missionaries who are called
by God and there are those who have been employed and sent to the
mission field. Of the latter, salaries and other benefits are discussed
and agreed. This was not the case with us because we are primarily
called by God for this purpose.

In setting us up for launching out to other countries around Kenya,

God orchestrated three things: my appointment as Regional
Coordinator for East Africa; birth of Solution Centre Parish as Eastern
Africa Regional Headquarters; and the practical mission work among
the Turkanas of Northwestern Kenya.

MY APPOINTMENT AS THE EAST AFRICAN REGIONAL

COORDINATOR OF RCCG
In September 1998, during a visit by Daddy Akindele, he brought
me a letter from Daddy GO, which informed me that I had been
appointed the Regional Coordinator of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God East Africa. The countries I was asked to cover were
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, and
54
Djibouti. This was the first official RCCG letter to me. At the time,
we already had an RCCG presence (established) in Kenya, Ethiopia,
Uganda and Tanzania, but the church had not yet entered Burundi,
Rwanda, Djibouti and Somalia. By the grace of God, I would later
add the Seychelles and Sudan to the list. God helped me to establish
the RCCG in those countries. You will read more about this in the
chapters ahead. There may be one or two lessons that you can learn,
particularly, if you are involved in cross-cultural missions and church
planting.

55
With this added mandate, it meant more money would be required
to cover those countries. It meant we would have to do more through
prayers and labour to bring more people to the church that would
support the work financially. But I did not give much thought to how
the work would be financed. First, I was still young (39), with the
energy to go the extra mile. I loved to take up challenges. Secondly,
the call was and remains Gods, and if He has a hand in it, He will
provide by and by.

The need to keep the family going financially kept increasing. The
church was hardly breaking even every month because of financial
demands from the existing parishes in Kenya, except the Garden
of Peace that was supported from Nigeria. The Church Council in
Nairobi agreed to be giving me five thousand Kenya shillings (Kshs
5,000), an equivalent of $74.62 as a monthly stipend. They wanted to
give more but because we needed money to run church operations,
I told them not to. From 1996 to 1998 it was Kshs 2,500 per month.
After one year of the churchs stay in Kirichwa Road, I allowed
the council to increase the support to Kshs 10,000 per month. You
may wonder how I coped with my family. It was never easy but we
encouraged ourselves in the Lord, and God used many people to
support us. There were months, for example, in February 1999, when
we did not have any money to pay the few staff we had. On March 1st
1999, we could only pay every employee half of the February salary.
From 2002 to 2005, it was Kshs 20,000. We have come a long way. The
council always ensured that the mission house (my familys official
residence) was paid for as well as water and electricity bills. Thus far
has the Lord our God helped us.

In July 1999, the General Overseer visited the church with his wife,
Pastor Folu Adeboye, fondly referred to as Mummy GO. I had made
arrangements for them to see the President of Kenya during this visit.
This time it was the Attorney-General that did it. On 23rd of July, the
General Overseer, his wife and I were at State House, Nairobi, to pay
His Excellency President Daniel Arap Moi a courtesy call. Attorney-
General Wako was also at the meeting. It was my first visit to State
House. But there would be many more by personal invitation from the
President on the occasions of Kenyas Jamhuri (Republic), Mashujaa
(Heroes) and Madaraka (Independence) days.
56
 THE BIRTH OF SOLUTION CENTRE, NAIROBI

That the Redeemed Christian Church of God had operated in Kenya

for over five years without her own landed property in the City of
Nairobi was a major source of concern. I decided to form a committee
both to raise money for land as well as find a land we could buy.
The committee immediately began work. The members were Bro. Oti
Ikomi (chairman), Pastor (Mrs.) Florence Langat, Pastor Chibuzo Ene,
Mrs.. Elizabeth Masha, Pastor Idoronyen Enang, Pastor Akpaka Kalu,
and Pastor Kola Olayinka. Many properties were identified but the
money required could only be dreamed about. In 2000, I wrote to
Daddy GO, requesting financial assistance to buy property for the
church in Nairobi. The least cost Kshs15,000,000 ($258,620). When
I went for our annual convention in August 2001, I was informed
that the GO had approved $50,000 for the land purchase. After the
convention, I went to the accounts department where I was given a
note instructing the bank to give me Nigerian naira equivalent to fifty
thousand United States dollars. I rushed straight to a forex bureau de
change, where I changed the cash into dollars. I carried the money in
cash to Nairobi with a lot of drama.

Keeping such a huge amount of cash for a whole weekend was a risky
venture. I knew that if it got lost or was stolen very few people would
believe I did not have a hand in its disappearance. The first challenge
was keeping it safe in Lagos for a night at a time when insecurity was
a major problem. I decided to keep the money under the mattress on
the bed on which my wife and I slept that night. Carrying the money
to the airport in a briefcase was another issue. I decided to wear
clothes in which I would put the money in different parts, including
socks. This was done and there was no problem.

We arrived in Nairobi safely. I made sure that nobody apart from my

wife knew that I had returned with money from Nigeria on Friday
night when banks were closed and would not open until Monday.
But just in case somebody might have known, I decided to hide the
money in the most unusual safe a dustbin with litter. But I also
made sure that nobody took the waste out to the dumpsite. Has God
not chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise?

57
(ICor. 1:27). Thank God, the money was safe until Monday, when it
was banked into the churchs dollar account. When the dollar was
finally changed into Kenya shillings, we got three million and fifty
thousand (Kshs 3,050,000).

In the last quarter of 2001, we finally located a piece of land on

Mbagathi Way, Nairobi, measuring 1.345 acres. God used Pastor Mike
Kutswa to find the land for us. After the Lunch-Hour Fellowship one
afternoon, he took me to see the property. As soon as I saw it, my heart
rejoiced. I gave thanks to God right there, prayed and decreed that no
one else, but the RCCG would buy the land. A meeting was arranged
between the seller and me in my office. I told him the church would
want to buy the land and he said he was willing to sell it to us. I asked
him how much he would sell the land for and he said Kshs 10,000,000.
I told him the church would wish to buy it at Kshs 2,000,000. He
said: It appears it is not land that you want to buy, Pastor? We did
not agree on that day. In our next meeting, he came down to Kshs
7,000000, while I moved up to Kshs 2,500,000, but we still did not
agree. It was not until our third meeting when we eventually agreed
on the price of Kshs 3,200,000. This amount excluded the Stamp Duty
and legal fees the church would pay.

From this point we engaged a lawyer, who dealt directly with the
sellers lawyer. He had made me accept the only ground for that price,
which was that we pay 12.5% as deposit instead of the mandatory
deposit of 10% to enable the necessary verification, searches, and
transfers etc. to commence. In December 2001, I had travelled to
Nigeria for our Holy Ghost Congress, when my wife called to inform
me that the building committee had met and asked her to tell me that
due to a development somewhere in Kenya, they were of the view
that we suspend any attempt to buy the property to avoid creating
any problem. I asked what development had given rise to such
advice. She said there was a case of a man who bought a property
with somebodys grave on it and dug it up to build, hence a court
case. Again, they said this land and the entire area was a cemetery
until around 1950, when the government degazetted it as a burial
place. I was firm in my reply, which I told her to communicate to
the committee. I told my wife to tell them that I had said, even if
every dead body is brought and buried or dropped on that piece of
58
land, it will still be where we will buy and nothing can change my
position on this. I could not imagine how a land that we were getting
so cheaply in such a strategic place and within the money that we had
at hand, could be thrown away because of fear.

After I had made my stand known to my wife on the land issue, I

found myself engaged in a very interesting communication with the
Lord. The summary of the conversation was that the Lord commended
my stand after hearing why I took such a hard stance. Of course, I
had told the Lord that I believed wherever His presence is found is
the best of places. That no evil power can survive His presence and
since we would be operating with Him, whatsoever that is evil in the
whole vicinity will have to give way. He then told me that He would
do great things on that ground. He said people would come from
faraway places and receive answers to their prayers and solutions to
their problems. He said it would be a house of prayer for His people.
He told me that as I lead the people to reverence Him in obedience
and lifestyle of Christ, our backbone must be His word and prayer.

When the committee members got my message they knew I was not
going to change so they played along. In June 2002, when Daddy
Akindele visited, the church ministers went to the ground to lay the
foundation stone in all the corners of the land. During the praise and
worship before the laying of the foundation stones, as we stood on the
ground, I heard the Lord say again to me, This ground is a solution
centre. There were also words of prophecy by Mrs. Rosemary
Wellington, one of our ministers, to the effect that the land would be
a wellspring reaching out to thirsty lives. On that day, I announced to
the brethren during the foundation stone laying ceremony that, that
ground and parish shall be called the RCCG Solution Centre.

Today, there is no doubt that it is, indeed, a Solution Centre. People

come from far and near to seek Gods help on their issues and God
pleasantly surprises many of them with the solutions they yearn for.
Thanks to our God, we did not miss the God-given opportunity. Ten
years after the land was bought at Kshs 3.2 million ($52,459) another
piece of land next to it, (half the size of ours) was being sold for Kshs.
80 million or US$958,084 at the current exchange rate.

59
The movement to Solution Centre as our regional headquarters and
a place of worship was almost by force. Since we did not have the
money to start building anything elaborate on the land, I decided
that we would move there, anyhow. The committee had managed to
raise nearly Kshs. 1,000,000 million out of which we paid the stamp
duty of Kshs. 249,666, legal fees of Kshs. 90,000 and Kshs. 150,000
to make up for the sale amount of Kshs. 3.20 million from the Kshs.
3.050 million we got from the GO. The Inter-regional Workers and
Ministers Conference for Eastern Africa, Southern Africa Region I
and Region 2 were slated for Nairobi in November 2002. I told the
brethren that Solution Centre would host the conference. There was
no building yet and no place for people to go if they felt pressed and
no electricity either. So, we started work from every angle, using the
balance of the money raised by the committee.

For the purpose of the ministers conference a new committee was

set up. Dr. (Mrs.) Abi Gitari was picked as the chairperson. Some
brethren donated money for this purpose. Dr Gitari, who has several
times supported our mission work, gave us money, with which
we bought a 10kva power generator. She also gave more for the
building construction. We agreed to use steel to lay the foundation
of the building. It cost a lot but that was a better idea, given the
circumstances. By the time the conference came we had managed to
roof 80% of the about 450-seat auditorium. The sides were covered with
iron sheets and the floor made manageable. During the conference,
it rained heavily and we were exposed to the elements but that did
not stop God from visiting us. By December, I told the church at the
Redemption Sanctuary on Kirichwa Road that come January 2003,
some people would go with us to start the Solution Centre Parish on
our land. On 31st December 2002, we held the crossover vigil into 2003
at the site. I divided the commissioned workers of the church into two
and we went with half, while half remained at Redemption. Some 35
workers went with us to Solution Centre. My Precious (wife), who
had been the Parish Pastor of Redemption Sanctuary, handed over to
Dr. Akpaka Kalu.

The first Sunday service at Solution Centre was held on 5th January
2003. It was attended by 75 people, including the workers and children.
We immediately mobilized the workers and started evangelism
60
around the area. On 12th January, we held the second service and
84 people attended -- 22 children, 25 men and 37 women. On 19th
January, our number rose to 97, and on the last Sunday of January,
they were 132 people. This was a number that we had struggled to
reach and occasionally surpassed when we were at Redemption.
Our God kept on encouraging us, with souls saved and new people
joining the church. One significant aspect of this Solution Centre is
the fact that with an attendance well over 1,000 people, more than
98% are indigenous (Kenyans). The fruit of church planting cannot be
quantified. Solution Centre has evolved from far; thanks and glory to
our God.

MISSION WORK AMONG THE TURKANAS

The people that walked in darkness have seen a

great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow
of death, upon them hath the light shined (Isa.9:2).

Many great works may have been done in Kenya and other Eastern
African countries but the one that gives me the most joy is what God
used us to do among the Turkana people. The Turkanas live in the
northwestern Kenya, with Lodwar as their district headquarters. The
area is arid and semi-arid, and very hot. When I made my first visit to
Turkana in early 1997 and saw the people I considered as the poorest
of the poor, my heart went out for them. They were arguably the most
impoverished ethnic group in Kenya. I fell in love with them and my
passion for Christ immensely increased. I desired immediately to ever
work with them to bring about change in their lives. This, of course,
was in keeping with the promise I made to God as a small boy.

On that first visit, I asked the beloved Pastor Daniel Loli (now
deceased) several questions about his people and the area. He told
me so much about their predicaments. One was the reason for the
dryness. According to him, most times it rained only once a year. I
told him and the brethren that were with him that we had to change
that through prayers to our God, whom I know, love them. We are
able, by the grace of God, to testify today that the situation of raining
only one day in a year is a thing of the past. God promptly responded
to our prayers and changed that.
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The late Pastor Loli loved his people so much that he wanted the
RCCG to cover the whole vast land (villages) of Turkana. God
strategically brought him our way for the work he was set to do
among his people. Pastor Loli was selfless. One time, in 1999, all our
pastors in Turkana came to Nairobi for a conference. Before their
departure I had brought for them shoes, trousers, shirts of different
sizes and shapes, to be shared amongst them. I specifically had him
in mind for some of the shirts. I suddenly stumbled into where they
were sharing the items and I saw him asking the other brethren to
take whatever they wanted and they were picking one after the other,
including what I had intended for him. I asked him: What about
you? And he replied, Daddy, let them take, after them if anything
remains, I will take it.

He was a true leader and lover of his people. By the time he went to
be with the Lord, he had raised up another leader, Pastor John Lowoi,
who has been in charge of our mission in Turkana District ever since.

By the time we entered Turkana in December 1996, many people

went almost completely naked, both male and female. They would
come to church almost naked, yet they would sing, clap and dance for
Jesus our Lord in the temperatures far above forty degrees centigrade.
Today, by the grace of God, people are clothed because apart from the
church so many non-governmental agencies such as World Vision,
Share International, etc., are operating in the area. By the grace of
God, from Solution Centre, the RCCG Regional Headquarters we
have been able, to buy land and build churches. The biggest land we
bought is a 50-acre piece in Lodwar that I envisage will be used by
the church for projects that will impact the lives of people the more
for our Lord Jesus. We have baptized many believers in Turkana. By
2010, the RCCG had become a dominant Pentecostal church in the
whole of Turkana District, with 26 parishes. Our God has changed
many lives for good ever since.

Let my wife share some of her experiences of the mission in Turkana.

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My first mission to Turkana will forever remain memorable. It was
in early 1998 that I went to Lodwar with Pastor Toyin Akanle. Our
intriguing experience started with the journey itself. Lodwar is a
journey of over 12 hours, covering a distance of about 700km from
Nairobi. On the journey, after we changed the bus in Kitale, the new
one had a tyre burst as a result of the intense heat in the area. All
the passengers disembarked. Pastor Toyin and I were already having
headaches because of the rough road and the long journey and now
we were in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, we did
not speak the local language and could, therefore, not understand
what the people were saying. But thanks to God not very long after,
help came through another bus and our vehicle was up and running
again. We had left Nairobi about 8:00pm the previous day and got to
Lodwar at around 3:00pm the next day. What a journey!

On arrival, the brethren were there in large numbers to give us a warm

welcome. However, the headache I had could not allow me to enjoy
the warm welcome fully. We were so exhausted that all we needed
to do was rest, but the brethren stayed on. The accommodation we
checked into was another interesting experience. The fan was blowing
hot air and the tap water was almost as hot as boiling water. I mean,
it was a serious matter. After we gave the brethren some of the gifts
we had carried, we expected them to leave but we were told they
had organized a revival meeting for that evening and a crowd had
gathered waiting for us. We were not amused! How could you have
fixed a meeting on the day we were arriving after such a long and
tiring journey? Of course, we were ignorant because most of them by
then had never travelled outside their area; they had no idea about
the distance between Nairobi and Lodwar. In fact, we were told they
would tell visitors from Nairobi to greet Kenyans when they returned
home. After much pressure, we went for the revival meeting. God
helped us to minister. I preached and souls were saved.

The next day, I was to minister at Nadapal, a village 35km from

Lodwar. The only means of transport was by motorcycle and the
road was sandy. I was taken by a motorcyclist to Nadapal as Pastor
Toyin remained in Lodwar to minister at the morning programme. At
Nadapal I saw our church made of mud and a thatched roof. It was

63
in the middle of a desert but serving the community. The only other
church was a Roman Catholic Church. Despite the appearance, I was
so glad that the RCCG was there. I was ushered into the church that
could sit an average of 50 people. The congregants were very poor,
old-looking men and women with some of them literally naked, with
a tiny string piece of clothing to cover their private parts. Other parts
of their bodies were bare, including the womens breasts. I needed
God more than ever before to help me minister to them that day. I did
some of my preaching looking up to the ceiling.

After my message, as usual, I asked the people to consider giving their

lives to Christ. To my amazement, two of those who indicated their
willingness to surrender their lives to Christ were a man and a woman
who were almost naked. I thought they did not understand what I had
said, so I asked Pastor Loli to explain it to them very well. He assured
me that they understood very well but I said he should still explain
again. After speaking with them, he confirmed to me that they were
ready to surrender their lives to Christ. I was filled with joy as I led all
of them to Christ. There was a young lady, who cried uncontrollably.
I enquired why the weeping and I was told her husband had chased
her out of her matrimonial home because she could not give birth. As
I thought about this young ladys plight, my bowel of compassion
was moved and I made a declaration that by that time next year she
would not have only returned to her husband, but would also have
given birth, and the church said Amen. We concluded our service and
went back to Lodwar, where we continued with our programme until
Sunday evening. With our mission concluded successfully, we left for
Nairobi and the God of mission took us back safely.

Two years later. I took a team of one man and one woman to Lodwar
for a womens conference. In my team were the late Pastor Beth
Rapouda and Bro Enoch Matte. On the first day, the church was
packed to capacity and interestingly they were both men and women
in attendance. As the testimony was going on, one man came out to
give his testimony and as he shared, the church was electrified with
clapping and shouts of Halleluyah. People were standing to give God
glory. I had no idea what the man was saying. But the interpretation
came on time. Bro Enoch explained to me the testimony.

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The man introduced himself. He was the old, poor and naked man,
who got saved at Nadapal two years earlier. When he heard I was in
Lodwar he said to himself whether this was a womens meeting or
not he must attend. He trekked from Nadapal to Lodwar just to share
his testimony. By this time he was the leader of the elders fellowship
at RCCG Nadapal. I could not believe what I was hearing because this
man looked between 15-20 years younger than the old man I led to
Christ in Nadapal. Oh my goodness, sin and poverty are relatives.
There was no way I would have known that this was the same man
that came to church almost naked but was now well-dressed up and
looking so young and handsome.

Then came a woman in a flowered gown with a beautiful headscarf.

As she shared her testimony, the place went wild with claps and
shouts. Again, my interpreter was at hand to help out. Believe it
or not, this was the old, poor, naked woman I had led to Christ in
Nadapal. Oh my God! That day I had a glimpse of what the scripture
says about the great joy in heaven over one sinner that turns to Jesus.
Our rejoicing was a duplicate copy of heavens rejoicing. This woman
looked over 15 years younger, was well-dressed and was the leader
of the RCCG womens group in Nadapal.

As we were celebrating the transformation and blessings, they

brought to me the young lady I had prayed for. She did not only
return to her husbands home, but had also got a baby girl. They
brought the baby and asked me to pray for the child, who was about
a year old. We could not thank God enough for such manifestation
of His grace and favour upon his children. We praised, danced, sang
and rejoiced. Indeed, salvation is the grace of God made manifest in
His love towards us. When a man encounters the light of salvation,
he becomes totally a different person and the beauty of God begins
to show forth in such lives. Salvation is real and Gods grace is a
beautifier. It renews and restores our youth like that of the eagles.
Not many years later, that man slept in the Lord. Oh, what could have
happened to his soul if we did not go to Nadapal! Dear reader, let us
work for the master while it is day for the night is coming when no
man shall work.

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In March 2000, from a very small illness, I believed, Pastor Daniel Loli
passed on to glory. It was a very painful death for me. He had called
to inform me that he was not feeling well. In my characteristic style,
I told him to recover fast and get back to Gods assignment. He said
Amen! I added that he needed to be well to be able to do the work
God had assigned him among his people - the Turkanas. We prayed
together on the phone. He had gone to the district hospital in Lodwar
to collect medication. The next thing I heard was that he had passed
on. I was broken-hearted. He loved his people and I loved him for
that and for his commitment to Christ.

I thought of what to do to help his wife and the young children left
behind and there was hardly any tangible thing I could do. I contacted
the authorities to see if any financial assistance could be given to his
family but nothing came. It pained my heart that we could do nothing
to appreciate the labour of this brother among us, but I never ceased
to encourage his wife while praying that God would send them help.
Pastor Lolis death made me think deeper about the future of these
impoverished people of Turkana, particularly the pastors and their
families. It was while in this deep thought that a brother in the church
came to talk to me about his insurance companys packages. I had no
doubt that God had sent him. I immediately took up the challenge to
insure the full pastors who had been with us for some time. I chose the
INCOME BUILDING PLAN. It was a plan whereby premiums were
paid in the account of the policy holder for a period of fifteen years
after which the money begins to grow with no more premiums paid. If
for any reason the policy holder dies before the maturity date, the sum
assured shall be paid to the surviving relatives. I immediately bought
this insurance for those who qualified and added more in the process
of time. This idea is in keeping with my promise to God concerning
the poor. There are several other things we have been doing to help
those in the poverty-stricken areas of Turkana and others, which I
need not mention lest it appears as if I am blowing my own trumpet.

In 2008, a beloved servant of God, Pastor (Mrs.) Funmi Obilana,

then a Zonal Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God,

66
Philadelphia, USA, came to visit us apparently to fulfill a promise
she had made many years back. I had told her I would not be visiting
her and the church she is leading in Philadelphia until she visited us
in Kenya. I had planned that within the few days she would be with
us, we would visit the famous Maasai Mara. Since my wife hadnt
been there, too, it would be an opportunity for both of them to see the
animals in their natural habitats. I later changed my mind and told
her that I would rather have us visit Turkana District for her to see the
work our God had been doing among those people. She agreed and
we went. A plane took us to Lokichoggio, an airstrip that the United
Nations had built to serve as a base for their relief food and other
operations in South Sudan. We hired a cab from there that took us
to Kakuma and Lodwar and then back to Lokichoggio after we had
spent a night in Lodwar.

On our way back to Lokichoggio the next day, we saw a little boy
of about 10 standing by the roadside with a plastic bottle of about
1.5 litres waving down our cab. Pastor Obilana asked me what the
boy was communicating and I explained to her. By that time we had
passed so she asked the driver to stop and reverse, which he did. I told
her that I had forgotten that when in Loki or Lodwar we should buy
bottled water for the people. I then told her how while travelling by
road from Nairobi, Daddy Akindele and I used to stock our car with
water to be given to the people, as we travelled to Lodwar, Kakuma
and Lokichoggio. We had leftover water from two bottles we had
drunk from. Pastor Obilana asked if it was alright to give the boy that
water, I said to her, Why not? She came out of the car and gave the
boy the water. The boy was visibly elated. God used that incident to
create a burden in Pastor Obilanas heart. She promised that on her
return to the US she would mobilize brethren in her parish to raise
funds to sink a borehole for the community in Turkana.

True to her promise, she went back and raised money for a borehole.
Pastor John Lowoi was asked to pick a deserving community for
whom we would sink the borehole to give water to the people.
He and his people chose Katulenyeng near Kalokol, where Lake
Turkana is located. By the grace of God, the project was completed
and commissioned on 20th May 2009, with Pastor Obilana present.
The water in Katulenyeng, we were told, would serve about 20,000
67
people, covering about eight villages. The total cost of this borehole
project was nearly $25,000. The people were asked to use some of the
water to grow vegetables. The church provided some seedlings for a
pilot project, which did not do quite well probably because the people
needed some training in farming.

In 2009, African Mission Canada also sank another borehole in the

Kapuus area, which is about 50km from Lodwar. This project was
spearheaded by Pastor Moji Olagbegi, the head of the African Mission
North America Canada.

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 Chapter 7
MISSION STRATEGY INTO OTHER NATIONS
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His
brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful
High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people (Heb.2:17).

Mission is primarily about people. With my appointment as the

Regional Pastor for the Eastern Africa Region I had to first start with
prayers to God for guidance. I took a map and located all the countries
I had been given to cover. From that moment, meeting people from
the nations was of a great importance to me. I made enquiries in the
church to find out if there were people from the other countries I had
been assigned, particularly Rwanda, Burundi, and Djibouti. Somalia
being a war-torn country would have to wait until their war was over.

GOING THERE BEFORE SENDING A MISSIONARY

One of the fundamental decisions I made was that before anybody,
who was not from a country we want to launch into, could be sent
to do mission work there, I had to first travel and assess the place
and know some basic things so as to know who to recommend or
send. The choice of who was to be sent to a particular country was
very important, as this, to a large extent, would determine the success
or failure of such a mission field. For any mission field to take off
effectively, I believed there would always be need for the right person
on the ground to anchor the work.

JESUS CHRIST THE CENTRE OF OUR MESSAGE

Another key strategy I adopted was to make the gospel of Jesus
Christ the centre of our message and to avoid any attempt to impose

69
our Nigerian culture on the nations we had been sent to reach
for Christ. I refused songs that sounded Nigerian or in a Nigerian
language. When some worship leaders, hoping to excite me, raised
Nigerian choruses I would pick up the microphone and tell them
to sing songs either in Kiswahili or any other local languages. And
if the song was in English I would want them to sing it the way
Kenyans sing it with their own accent. This was very necessary in
the early years to avoid branding us the Nigerian church. I believe
missionaries should work to raise leaders from the local community,
who are able to communicate the gospel of Christ to their own people.
A successful cross-cultural mission is one that incarnates the gospel
among the recipients. Contextualization of the gospel is vital in cross-
cultural missions. This guarantees longevity of the mission work and
makes the gospel relevant to the receiving culture. In John, Chapter
1:14, we read, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth. Jesus came into the world as
man and lived among men and they saw His glory. In a cross-cultural
mission the central message must be the word becoming flesh. The
word of God has to take the form that should be understood by the
hearers. It is upon this premise that RCCG Eastern Africa was largely
built. Although there were some Nigerians in the church, I chose to
largely use locals who had been trained to start and head branches.

RAISING INDIGENOUS MINISTERS

I once had a Nigerian diplomat, who was an ordained assistant pastor
of the RCCG that I had to send to serve under a deacon. I, however,
explained to him that I would want him to be a father to the Kenyan
minister in-charge and advise him whenever necessary so that he
could learn and become more effective. I believe mission mandate
should be geared towards making disciples of Christ in the nations
and using them to reach their own people for Christ.

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,

an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came
to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the
Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught
diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism
of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue:

70
 whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him
unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia,
the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him:
who, when he was come, helped them much which had
believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews
and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was
Christ (Acts 18:24-28)

A close reading of the above scripture will reveal that Apollos became
more effective in ministry because of his encounter with Aquila and
Priscilla. This approach greatly worked in Kenya, the Seychelles and
Ethiopia, where indigenous ministers by far outnumber those from
the founding nation. This does not mean that in some circumstances
we should not use a foreigner to head a branch of the church. There is
a place for this but emphasis has to be on raising local people.

The ability to speak the language of the hosts is always a plus to the
work. It really works like a miracle. On my first trip to the Seychelles
in 2001, I visited and worshipped in a Pentecostal church. They sang
one song that I love so much, in Creole. After the service, I asked
someone to write it down for me in Creole, which was done. I practised
singing it in Creole until I mastered it. By the time the RCCG was
inaugurating her first branch in September 2002, I sang the Creole
song and everyone was elated and the people were so welcoming to
the church.

A missionary should know that the people of the nation he or she is

sent to reach for Christ, have their own way of doing things and no
attempt should be made to suggest that such way is inferior to those
in the missionarys country. Whatever practices that are not sin per
se, but also not beneficial to the people of a country a missionary is
sent to, has to be carefully and wisely approached with a view to
bringing about the desired change. Christian communities usually
resist any attempt to tell them in their own country that it is not done
that way. Some would tell the people of the nation they had gone
to reach for Christ something like, In our place it is not done that
way. The missionary should not forget that he is no longer in his

71
own country and so does not need to bring his or her own culture
into anothers. However poor or inferior you may think a people is,
they will rise and greatly oppose you if you suggest that your own
country or people are better. Some of our missionaries made these
blunders and could not go far with their work in those nations. No
earthly culture is supra-cultural because culture is a product of the
fallen nature of mankind. It is only the culture of the Kingdom of God
that is supra-cultural.

THE BIRTH OF THE RCCG IN UGANDA

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is

come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8)

The vision and mission statement of the RCCG is very clear and always
rings a bell in the ear of every committed member of the church. As
a result of this properly articulated vision and mission, even though
I was only sent to Kenya to start the RCCG, it was obvious to me that
neighbouring countries would have to be reached. In the RCCG one
of the things every worker is made to understand very well before
being commissioned is that if a worker goes to a place where there is
no fellowship or church he or she should promptly start one. This is
borne out of the mission mandate to plant churches in all the nations
of the world within short walking or driving distances, depending on
the level of development in the area. With this in mind every meeting
or friendship with anybody from any nation has to be treated as
important and valuable.

During our early days at the YMCA, there was this Ugandan brother,
who lodged at the hostel and attended our meetings (Sunday services
and Digging Deep or Bible Study). Before he went back to Kampala I
took his address and told him I would be going to Uganda one of these
days. He promised to assist whenever the time came for us to open
the RCCG in Uganda. His name was Richard Oba. After Bro. Oba
returned to Uganda in March, I decided to visit. My first visit was on
2nd July 1996. I went by Akamba Bus Services. The journey was quite

72
an experience but the Lord took me there safely after about 12 hours
on the road. Of course, I had told Bro. Oba to look for the cheapest
accommodation, which he did since we hardly had any money. He
introduced me to his pastor, who asked me to minister in his church
on 3rd July 1996, before I returned to Kenya the next day (4th). The
ministration that day in Kampala produced an amazing testimony.

A couple who had full-blown AIDS, but who I believe also moved
God by their action (deed) received miracles. I was able to know this
not instantly but by my second visit between 4th and 6th of November
1996. The man was completely healed of the sickness after we called
on God during the July visit, when they privately came to see me for
prayers. He was with a doctors report confirming the same. His wife,
however, was still HIV-positive but I prayed with them and assured
them that the God, who had healed the husband, would do the same
for the wife. After the November visit I did not go back and so do not
know whether God eventually healed the wife as well. Part of their
testimony was that God had also given them a house free of charge
after the July meeting. Meanwhile, part of their cry when they met me
for prayers was that they could not pay full house rent and had been
evicted by the landlord. This sick couple brought and gave to me as
prophets offering, the incomplete rent amount (Ugandan shillings),
which had been rejected by the landlord. They moved me almost to
tears. If I had money I would have given it to them to go and pay their
rent. I did not have money but was able to pray for them and used
the money they gave me to sort out other people who came to ask for
prayers that God may bless them financially for certain needs. I used
their money to meet other peoples financial needs and God turned
around to provide them with a house free of rent.

During my November 1996 visit, I decided to go round with Bro. Oba

to look for a place where we could start the RCCG in Uganda. He
took me to several areas after which I decided on Ntinda in Kampala.
Pastor Israel Monye, who was already with me in Nairobi, is the one
I thought of sending to Uganda instead of him returning to Nigeria
after staying with us for about three months. When I returned from
Uganda, I shared my idea with Pastor Monye, who did not object but
had to first talk with his wife Pastor Olubunmi Monye.

73
Pastors Israel and Bunmi agreed that they should answer the call
to become missionaries. I communicated with Pastor Biodun Coker
in Nigeria, who also bought the idea promptly. In November 1996,
during the first anniversary of the RCCG in Kenya, the General
Overseer came and with him was Pastor Coker. Daddy GO was told
of the plan to launch into Uganda and he was happy about it. He gave
us some money to support the vision. By November 29th, we went to
Uganda with Pastor Israel Monye. We were able to pay for a venue
at Ntinda and he remained behind after we held the first (evening)
fellowship on 1st December 1996 with candle light. I returned to
Kenya on the 3rd of December. Pastor Monye from that time took up
the challenge of growing the RCCG in Uganda. Bro. Oba and few
others God brought were very helpful and supportive. God will bless
every one of them.

The work in Uganda was never easy. Pastor Monye endured his fair
share of suffering for the sake of the gospel. Many times he complained
to me about how difficult things were for him and family, as help
was coming from nowhere. Since I had passed through a similar
experience, I was always able, by Gods grace, to encourage him and
whenever it was within my ability I sent him what I could. We always
encouraged ourselves in the Lord. In those days the extent to which
a missionary suffered financially or had fundamental needs met was
largely determined by the parish, area or state that sent him. Because
there was no centralized policy on missions then, an incoming
pastor after church transfers might not be passionate enough about
the mission and as a result would not overly commit himself. This
normally would affect the missionary in the field. Over the years
things have reasonably changed as there is now a Mission Policy and
a Central Mission Board charged with the responsibility of ensuring
that the lives of missionaries and the mission field are improved.

Painfully for us, by 2006, after Pastor Israel had made giant strides
in Uganda, he went to be with the Lord. His death came not long
after God had helped him to complete the Dominion Sanctuary at
Kanyanya, Kampala. He left his widow (Pastor Olubunmi Monye) and
three children to continue with the work there. And they truly have
been doing so to the glory of God. Pastor Israel was a great comrade

74
in the mission field, who never wanted to fail in any assignment. He
died of colon cancer, which was not detected early enough. A call to
mission is never and must never be seen or taken to mean a call to a
jamboree. However, it is important that every opportunity should be
seized to encourage missionaries in the field.

With the passing to glory of the founding missionary of the RCCG

Uganda, I wrote to the General Overseer, recommending that Pastor
Babatunde Yesufu, who had been in Uganda for some years as the
RCCG missionary in charge of Victory Centre at Namuwongo, also
in Kampala, be made the country coordinator. The General Overseer
did appoint and designate Pastor Yesufu as the country coordinator.

75
 Chapter 8
GIANT STRIDES INTO NATIONS
The year 2000 marked several events and preparations for a greater
RCCG presence in the Eastern Africa. First, there was a sister in the
church, a Rwandese student in Kenya that told me about her pastor in
Kigali, who would be visiting Kenya soon. I told her that I would wish
to meet him. The pastor eventually came and we played host to him
in our mission house. This was Pastor Steven Gashumba, the founder
and senior pastor of Rwanda for Jesus Revival Centre, Kigali. I asked
him about the ministry in Rwanda following the horrible genocide of
1994. He answered me and I shared what I could with him about the
RCCG and told him of my plan to visit Rwanda. He welcomed the
idea and promised to help in whichever way possible when the time
came. We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses before he
departed.

In the same year a brother, who was a member of the church and had
gone through our Workers-in-Training programme, approached me.
He was from Burundi but was living in Kenya as a refugee due to the
civil war in his country. He told me he wanted to go back to his country
and start RCCG Burundi. I took note but decided that we should first
try him in Kenya. We took him through additional training with the
hope of sending him in future and he did quite well in the training.
We eventually sent him, but he was a great disappointment.

In December 2000 I travelled for our annual Holy Ghost Congress

in Nigeria and while there I met a brother, who was in the campus
fellowship in my days at Federal Polytechnic, Bida. As we asked each
other about some of our brethren of those years, he told me that my
father in the Lord, William Oloyede (who God used to birth me into
His Kingdom) was living and working in the Seychelles. He said in
76
his own words, The country is near you in Kenya. He gave me Bro
Williams phone number. On my return from Nigeria, I called Brother
William in January 2001 and spoke with him. It was a pleasant
reunion albeit on phone. I told him I would be visiting the Seychelles
the following month, February 2001, by the grace of God, to explore
the possibility of starting the RCCG in the island nation. Remember,
the Republic of the Seychelles was not in the list of the countries I had
been asked to explore, penetrate and start RCCG but it was within the
well-articulated vision and mission statement of the church.

MISSION TO THE SEYCHELLES

Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall
be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river,
the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your
coast be (Deut.11:24).

After agreeing with Bro. William Oloyede (now ordained pastor

in the RCCG) concerning my scheduled visit to the Seychelles,
arrangements were made and a ticket bought for me to travel with
Kenya Airways on 15th February 2001. The path to success of any great
work is always found in the story behind it. The Seychelles mission is
a typical example.

On the 15th of February 2001, the Kenya Airways flight landed at the
Mahe Airport, Victoria, Republic of the Seychelles, at about 1.30am.
My brother William Oloyede was at the airport to receive me that
early in the morning. This was my first visit to the Seychelles. From
the airport I was driven straight to his house at Fishermans Cove
Estate, Mahe Island. His wife, Sister Blessing, and the children were
on hand to welcome me. I spent the first day indoors, praying. In the
evening, when William and the wife returned from work, we talked
generally concerning the ministry and other things. It was then that
I shared with them my full vision concerning the Seychelles, with
regard to starting a branch of the RCCG. They welcomed the idea but
also briefed me about the possible challenges we might face so that I
could present them in prayer to our God.

77
They also informed me of the presence of a medical doctor by the
name Dr. Moses Ayoade from Nigeria, who happened to be an
ordained assistant pastor in the RCCG. I told them I would wish to
meet him too. Dr. Ayoade was as then living in Praslin Island of the
Seychelles. They told me that he was committed and ministering at
the Pentecostal Church just as they were. Bro William took me to
meet him. It was an hour-long journey through the ocean using their
Cat-Coco mini ship. I needed to establish contact with a Seychellois
pastor, whose name and phone number I had been given in Nairobi. I
was able to get in touch with Pastor Edgar DOffay of Christ Holiness
Church, who welcomed me with open arms. I did not hide from him
my mission to the Seychelles but shared with him about the Redeemed
Christian Church of God. He shared his views with me concerning
my mission. He also requested that I preach in his service on Sunday,
25th of February 2001, which I agreed to do.

As I was taken around Mahe the Lord, by His spirit, began to open
my eyes to many things about the nation. I decided that I would take
up hotel accommodation for one night in Victoria (Capital City) so
that I would be able to move around at night to do a prayer walk in
the city to possess the nation for Christ. When I made enquiries about
the rates of the closest hotels to the city centre, they quoted the kind
of money I could not afford. The idea was not shelved but modified.
After I had determined when the city taxis stop work at night and how
much I would be charged from the city to Fishermans Cove Estate,
I set a date that I stayed in Victoria City until it was dark. At night
I removed my shoes and did a prayer walk around the city, starting
from their Independence building (Square) to others, declaring the
Lordship of Jesus Christ over the nation and the establishment of the
RCCG in the Seychelles with open doors of Gods favour. When I was
done with my prayer walk, I went back to put on my shoes and hired
a taxi that dropped me back at my hosts house. On Sunday, the 18th
of February, I followed my father in the Lord William Oloyede and
his family to worship at the Pentecostal Church of the Seychelles. It
was at this service that I learnt my first Creole language words and
song, I Senyer. (He is Lord).

As I moved around, I saw a nation that is naturally beautiful- the

handiwork of God. I saw that the females were beautiful and their
78
men handsome and generally loveable, but I also saw the, indecent
dressing of some of the young ladies. I did a check through, asking
questions about the moral standard in the place and I was given the
answer. I said to myself, could this be the kind of thing the ten out of
the twelve spies that Moses sent to go and search the land of Canaan
and bring back a report, saw? And they told him, We came unto the
land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and
honey; and this is the fruit of it(Num. 13:27).

... the land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that
eateth up the inhabitants thereof ... (Num.13:32). My first thought
was that the ten elders who brought the bad report saw the men and
even reported that they were of great stature so how come they said
the land eats the inhabitants thereof? Why is it that the land had not
eaten those men whom they still saw alive? Anyway I had gotten a
strong message from the Spirit of God and immediately set two main
conditions for the choice of the missionary to be sent to the Seychelles.
(1) The fellow MUST be married; (2) Even when condition number
one is met, the person MUST not have sexual weakness. These two
conditions were not negotiable.

On Sunday, the 25th of February, I was taken to Pastor Edgars church,

where I preached on, CHECKING THE HEAVENS OVER YOUR
HEAD. I made it a teaching session and I saw that the message was
reaching deeply into the people. By the time I made the altar call, over
20 people came out to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
I was delighted and gave thanks to God for this experience. I had
also observed during this visit that as I stopped and talked to people
about Christ, they were generally receptive to the gospel and many of
them were getting saved. By the time I left, on Monday 26th February
2001, I was convinced that God would use the RCCG greatly in the
Seychelles.

On 17th of May 2001, I was back in the Seychelles, this time, to take
the step higher by seeing how we could have our application for
registration submitted to the relevant authority. I had met with Dr
Ayoade on the first visit, and he promised to give whatever support he
could but would not leave the church where he had been ministering

79
since he came to the Seychelles to avoid any wrangling. I assured him
that that was alright by me.

One day, as I was walking on the streets of Victoria, a lady saw me

and greeted me nicely and said I was welcome again to the Seychelles.
When I asked who she was, she then told me she was a member of
the church where I had preached the last time I was around. She
then went ahead to tell me what I preached about and how she was
blessed. God used this lady to communicate to me again concerning
the minister (missionary) that we would send to the Seychelles. So,
another condition came up from that encounter, which is that the
person must have a flair for teaching as opposed to being merely a
preacher. I had also been told how expensive the country was and
that the government would not give anybody a permit to stay in the
Seychelles just to be a missionary and from the Pentecostal circles,
for that matter. As a result I said the person must be a professional,
who though a missionary, could take up employment with the
government. This would entitle the person to accommodation from
the government and so save the church house rent for the missionary.

Having been told that it might be difficult for us to get the RCCG
registered in the Seychelles I began to look for any other way out. I was
introduced to a pastor, who after discussing my mission, expressed
his willingness to let us have his church and then later change the
name to the RCCG. I saw this development as a positive one but
we would first have to put it to God in prayer. Bro. William also
introduced me to Engineer Ojo, who was working in the Seychelles
and ministering with the Deeper Life Bible Church, whose registration
in the Seychelles he had played a great role. After I shared with him,
God used him to greatly encourage me, as he also gave us advice
on how to go about the issue. I had resolved that before I left the
Seychelles to return to Kenya our application for registration must be
with the Registrar-General, Seychelles. Williams and I put our heads
together and agreed to fill the registration form and allocate officers
of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as:
1. PRINCE OKECHUKWU OBASI-IKE CHAIRMAN
(PASTOR)
2. WILLIAM OLOYEDE SECRETARY

80
 3. BLESSING OLOYEDE (MRS) ASSISTANT SECRETARY
4. DR. MOSES AYOADE TREASURER

When William and I took the application to the Registrar-Generals

Office, we were pleasantly welcomed by the Registrar-General
himself, who told us that he graduated from the University of Ibadan
in Nigeria. This contact was divine and it gave us hope that we would
be registered. I left the Seychelles for Nairobi on 24th of May 2001. Not
long after I returned, I got a call from William, informing me that the
RCCG had been registered in the Seychelles and he had the certificate.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Seychelles was registered
on 23rd May 2001. I was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude to our
God. To Him alone I ascribe all the glory.

81
Before we got the RCCG missionary stationed in the Seychelles, all
the legal documentation had to be filed as per the law of the land.
Brother Williams ensured that we were not found on the wrong side
of the law by filing all necessary documents with the government
ministry. See our email correspondences.

SUBMISSION OF ASSOCIATION RETURNS

01/23/02 11:38am
Less info
William Oloyede <williamoloyede@yahoo.com>
To:
princeobasike@minister.com

I am writing to inform you that, as per the registration letter, we are

expected to file on or before 31st January of each year, the list of officers of
our Association. I have been waiting with the hope that everything would
have taken shape before the end of January. However, in view of the slow
processing of Sister Ronkes issue, I have decided to draft the letter to be
submitted for your vetting in order to meet the deadline.

1. I suggest we retain the present list to avoid unnecessary complications

that might arise from new names. When things have taken proper shape
and before we proceed on vacation/end of contract, we can update
2. I suggest alongside, that you still print a copy and sign against your name
and/or with possible changes you may wish and send by post. If it arrives
here on time, it will give us room to consider appropriate alternatives. In
addition to the amended copy, you can also sign another copy as it was
originally submitted i.e. those on the present list, in this letter, making
two different options.
3. It will be necessary for us to begin to make provision for accommodation
(rent) in case, she is given local contract. As an update, she has been told
that her paper is being processed and we are trusting God that very soon,
she will be invited and will commence work this very term.
4. Concerning our friend, I am of the opinion that efforts should be made
to reach him (probably at the Prayer Seminar) and discuss every detail
about the affiliation. I am also suggesting that a MoU (Memorandum of
Understanding) is drafted for his consideration. Until he finally signs a
document, I do not see him as very serious with the arrangement.

82
On receipt of this email, I called Brother William and told him
to go ahead and use the old officers list and submit the necessary
documents to the registrars office.

With the church now registered, it was time for me to look for funding
in Nigeria and the missionary to be sent. I asked myself which friend
among the State Pastors could I contact and throw this challenge to.
I settled for Pastor Johnson Funso Odesola, who was then the State
Pastor for Ogun State. I presented to him the qualities of the person
that we must send to the Seychelles. He said he would pray and search
for the right person. He later told me that he had got someone who
fitted into what I was looking for, but though not yet married, he was
engaged. I told him the person had to be married and they quickly
arranged for the marriage ceremony. By November 2001 they had
been wedded and were ready for the mission. Pastor Odesola gave
me the missionarys name as Pastor Tunji Olasunkanmi, who was a
veterinary doctor, and his wife Ronke Olasunkanmi, a geologist.

On 8th November 2001, I went back to the Seychelles to see if we

could start meeting as a house fellowship. We did hold a fellowship,
which, of course, could not continue without the missionary being on
ground. I returned to Kenya on 15th November 2001. Bro William held
forth for us in many ways. By the time the RCCG was expected to file
its annual report with the government before the 31st of January, as
required by law, it was Bro William that saw to it that we filed what
we had to after sending me documents by DHL in Nairobi to sign and
return to him for submission. He was able to beat the deadline.

Find below an email copy sent to the registrars office.

83
SUBMISSION OF ASSOCIATION RETURNS
01/23/02 11:38 AM

William Oloyede <williamoloyede@yahoo.com>

To:
princeobasike@minister.com

Dear Sir,

LIST OF OFFICERS & AUDITED ACCOUNTS

In accordance with Section 12 of the Registration of Association Act, I wish

to submit to the Registrar, the names of the following officers of the above
named association for your record.

1. Prince O. Obasi-ike - Chairman (Pastor)

2. William Oloyede - Secretary
3. Blessing Oloyede - Assistant Secretary
4. Dr. Moses O. Ayoade - Treasurer

Please note that our signatures remain unchanged.

As regards our audited accounts, I wish to inform you that our association
only engaged in skeletal activities in 2001 and as result no revenue was
generated and no expenses were incurred. The association hopes to commence
full activities in the course of year 2002.

William Oloyede

After my communication with Pastor Odesola, we immediately

requested for the CVs and papers of the missionary and his wife, which
Bro William helped to submit to the relevant government institutions.
Pastor Olasunkanmi first arrived in Nairobi and stayed in our house.
As Bro. William monitored the developments in terms of job offer, a
time came when it appeared Mrs.. Olasunkanmi would get the job
first, so Bro. William requested that she should go to the Seychelles
because they had called him to enquire about her but she was still
in Nigeria. Mrs.. Olasunkanmi arrived in Kenya on 16th December
2001. Her husband could not immediately move to the Seychelles for
84
strategic reasons and to avoid a situation whereby he would get there
and his visa expires with nothing firm yet. She eventually moved
down to the Seychelles on 19th December 2011, while her husband
remained behind in Nairobi. It reached a point when we decided
that since the job offer had not yet been given to either of them that
Pastor Tunji should eventually travel to the Seychelles and join the
wife in the New Year 2002. After about three months with us, he
finally left for the Seychelles on 6th February 2002. Dr. Moses Ayaode
accommodated them.

During my previous visits, I had met with Bro. Derek Johnstone,

who had a commercial vehicle with which he took me around. He
introduced me to his son-in-law, Randolph Camille. With Pastor
Olasunkanmi on the ground I encouraged him to start a fellowship
since brethren like Derek and Randolph had already informed me
that they were ready to join the RCCG as soon as the church begins.
On Saturday, 23rd March 2002, the first Bible Study was organized and
EIGHT PEOPLE attended. On the 18th of May 2002, Daddy Akindele
and I were in the Seychelles to dedicate the RCCG Seychelles Bible
Study Fellowship. This was done in the house of Dr. Moses Ayoade.
Pastor Olasunkanmi and his wife and the Oloyedes took up the
challenge from there. Through the grace of God, he was also able to
secure a job as an expatriate, which entitled him to accommodation
from the government. Things worked out the way, by Gods grace, I
had envisaged.

Pastor Olasunkanmi, having run the fellowship for some time and
with more and more attending, it was time to launch a full RCCG in the
Seychelles. Before this, I had made three trips, two in 2001 and one in
2002. With the inauguration date fixed for 22nd September, it was time
for my wife to visit the Seychelles for the first time. My Precious and
I, on 19th September 2002, left Kenya for the Seychelles. To the glory
of God, the RCCG Seychelles inaugural Sunday Service took place on
22nd September 2002, and over 120 attended with many souls saved. I
named the parish Celebration Centre during the inauguration.

Not long after Pastor Olasunkanmi arrived and settled down in

the Seychelles, Pastor Odesola was transferred out of Ogun State,
where he was the State Pastor. With the departure of Pastor Odesola,
85
funding the Seychelles Mission became a challenge. There were
several concerns but I continued to assure Pastor Olasunkanmi that
God would not abandon His work in the Seychelles. God did not
disappoint at all.

Pastor Olasunkanmi without any doubt was the right person for the
mission. At the breaking of the region into three, Seychelles was zoned
to Eastern Africa Region one with Pastor Peter Amenkhienan as the
Pastor in-charge of the region. By the time of handing Seychelles over
to him on 30th January 2011, there were already six parishes of the
RCCG and each had a Seychellois as Pastor in-charge. Though thy
beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase
(Job 8:7). The beginning of the Seychelles mission was small but
today the story has changed. Thanks be to God. Derek who arguably
is the first RCCG member in the Seychelles is now a parish pastor in
charge of the RCCG Praise Temple.

MISSION TO RWANDA

The launch of RCCG Seychelles was going hand in hand with that of
Rwanda. Having established contact with Rwandese Pastor Steven
Gashumba in Nairobi, it was now time for me to go to Kigali. By the
time I was to go, a pastor in Nigeria (Gabriel), who I used to minister
with in Dominion Sanctuary, Ikeja, told me of a brother working with
the UN in Kigali. He gave me his name as Bro. Patrick Udeh as well
as his phone number. Being my first time, I wanted to go with the
contact of a citizen of Rwanda, who speaks both French and English.
But I quickly established contact with Bro. Udeh. Below is my email
communication to Bro. Patrick Udeh.

I AM COMING SIR

04/12/01 04:40 PM
Less info
prince okechukwu obasike <princeobasike@minister.com>
To:
udeh@un.org

86
Dear Sir,

Greetings of the Lords goodness.

By the grace of God I shall be arriving Kigali on Monday morning
around 8.30 by Kenya Airways. Hope to see you then Sir. I shall be
wearing Igbo traditional dress.

God bless,

Pastor Prince

On 16th April 2001, I boarded a Kenya Airways flight and landed in

Kigali for the first time. I was cordially welcomed by Pastor Gashumba
as well as Bro. Patrick Udeh, who was working with the UN. I had
useful discussions with Pastor Gashumba and our own Bro. Udeh.
Pastor Gashumba gave me his assistant pastor, Paddy, who helped to
take me round as I went finding out about the cost of living, how much
a hall if any or hotel would charge if we were to hire it for our church
meetings. No hall was available for anyone to hire so I concentrated
on hotels. As we were making plans to launch into these nations, I
had made it clear that no parish starting in any country under my
jurisdiction would go through what we experienced in Kenya. I had
been convinced that starting in a good venue as opposed to any kind
of place helps the work to pick up faster.

Since there was no hall available for hire, I went to several hotels and
finally settled for Mille Collin Hotel in Kigali. I negotiated the price for
their hall usage every Sunday and Tuesday at US$400 a month. They
told me, however, that there could be some Sundays that we might
not be able to use the place because of government functions. Hotel
Mille Collin was famous because of what happened there during the
Rwanda genocide of 1994. What I could not comprehend was how
the church would not hold service on certain Sundays just because
there would be a government function. What was uppermost in my
heart was for the church to start. After that we would see how to cross
any bridge that we got to. Brother Udeh accommodated me in his
house for the period I stayed in Rwanda. By the time I was leaving, on
20th of April 2001, I had gathered the necessary information I needed
for proper planning.
87
When I returned to Nairobi, I spoke with Pastor Olalekan Aruna,
who was rounding up his Masters degree programme at the Nairobi
Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. Before he came to do
his Masters degree, he was the principal of the RCCG School of
Missions, Ede, Nigeria. I told him I would wish him to consider going
to Rwanda as a pioneer missionary instead of returning to Nigeria
after his graduation in July 2001. He discussed it with his wife and
both of them agreed to take up the challenge of planting the RCCG
in Rwanda. He, however, said he would need to consult Pastor E.
Odeyemi, who was then the State Pastor for the Headquarter State
in Nigeria. After graduating, he left his family in Nairobi and went
to Nigeria to meet Pastor E. Odeyemi and share with him the cost
estimates. I promised that the Eastern Africa Region would give
assistance from time to time but the major burden of the work in
Rwanda would have to be borne by a stronger partner with a good
financial base. Pastor Odeyemi agreed to the proposal and also to
have the Headquarter State adopt the Rwanda mission and fund it.

With everything now set for the launch, I communicated with Pastor
Gashumba and Bro. Patrick Udeh by email that the time had now
come for us to launch the RCCG in the nation of Rwanda. Find below
our email communications.

__________________ Reply Separator ___________________________

Subject: THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Author: Prince Okechukwu Obasi-ike <princeobasike@minister.com> at
Internet
Date: 4/23/01 3:28am

Dearly beloved Bro. Patrick,

This is just to express my sincere gratitude to you and your wife for taking
such a wonderful good care of me in my first ever visit to the nation of
Rwanda. Thank you so much, Sir. The Lord my God whose business brought
me to Rwanda shall surely reward you with good blessings.

I arrived in Nairobi Kenya safely and on time. My wife sincerely passes her
appreciation to you and your wife.
88
Now that the survey has been made, I need to encourage and request that
you all get prepared for the take-off of the planting of RCCG in Rwanda. It
is always a great record to have someones name mentioned in the History
of Church planting. The Bible reminds us of people like Aquila and Priscilia.
Your knowledge of French language will be of immense advantage to the
Church.

When exactly are you travelling for your sports? I am somehow feeling that
it will be necessary that we find out what is it Lubona or so Hotel will charge
us for a month if they give us their facility (hall) to use on Sundays 8am to
7.30pm given room for a possible evening service and then Thursdays for
Digging Deep (Bible study) and Faith Clinic (prayers) 5.30pm to 7.30pm).
Bear in mind that for the same programmes and timings Hotel Mille Colline
will charge us $600 per month.

It may be that if you get theirs cheaper or the same we may opt for that at the
initial time.

Thanks and please pass our love to Ette Bassey and the wife and, of course,
the rest of the brethren.

Yours in His Royal Service,

Pastor Prince obasi-ike.

NOW THE TIME HAS COME

09/17/01 07:47 PM
Less info
prince okechukwu obasike <princeobasike@minister.com>
To: udeh@un.org

My dear brother,

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I greet you. It has been quite some time
since we communicated to each other. I could not write you earlier than
now because I was making sure that everything is set before I write to you.
Meanwhile, how is your family? I presume that your wife and children are
back in Nigeria or have they finally joined you? My regards to them!

After my survey of Rwanda and precisely Kigali, I decided under God that
89
we should launch the Church well-prepared all-round. By the grace of God
we are ready now and we are coming to Kigali in the first week of October
2001. I am coming with Pastor Lekan Aruna, who just finished his Masters
degree with the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. He is a
suitable material for Rwanda.
When we arrive, we would kindly request that we put up in your place for a
few days as we look around for a suitable accommodation. In fact, it will be
good if there is any one you know that you can use to get us a three-bedroom
apartment (flat) or bungalow in a very accessible place.

Please let me also know whether we can send something like a Yamaha
keyboard in your name so that you help us collect it as a UN staff. Single or
two items here in Kenya for UN or diplomatic staff are usually duty free. If
you have such benefit there, is it possible for us to use it?

Ill wait for your usual quick response. Send my love to Ette Bassey and the
family.

God bless you.

Yours in Gods Royal Service,

Pastor Prince Obasi-Ike

Re: NOW THE TIME HAS COME

09/20/01 10:52am
Less info
Patrick Udeh <udeh@un.org>
To: princeobasike@minister.com

How is your family? I have just gone to see a house and unfortunately the
house is furnished and the person says it is $400 dollars. I told him to think
of $300 dollars and he said he was going to ask the owner of the house. I am
waiting for his reply. I will go and check another house tomorrow. House is
not a problem but the location and sometimes when they see that you are not
a Rwandese they want to increase the amount. I will get you the feedback as
I get them.
Remain blessed.
Patrick Udeh.
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Re: DATE OF OUR COMING
10/02/01 06:01 PM
Less info
Patrick Udeh <udeh@un.org>
To: princeobasike@minister.com

No problem, I will pick you up at the airport.

Pat

From: Prince Okechukwu Obasiike

To: gashumba@hotmail.com

Subject: IT IS TIME FOR US TO COME TO RWANDA

Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 23:36:01 +0800

Beloved Brother and Fellow soldier,

In the love of Christ our Saviour I greet you. I am sure you will be wondering
what happened that I did not communicate with you as quickly as I had
promised. I am sorry for the long delay. Actually by the time I returned from
Kigali last time I took a deep cost estimate of what is required and then came
to the conclusion that it would be difficult for me to return back as quickly
as promised. Also because I needed to be firm on when you should expect me
back and such decision was not easy for me due to the cost effect. This is what
delayed my writing to you. Again coupled with the increasing pressure of
work and travels I could not immediately resolve what to do next. Thanks be
to God for all these are now past.

By the grace of God we are now ready, so expect me in the first week of
October if the Lord permits.

Let me use this time to thank you sincerely for the great assistance you gave
to me when I came the first time. You demonstrated a great deal of brotherly
love. My God will reward you greatly.

Till I see you again, stay blessed in Jesus name

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Yours Brother in Him
PRINCE OBASI-IKE

-----Original Message-----

From: Steven Gashumba

Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 14:31:54 +0200
To: princeobasike@minister.com
Subject: Re: IT IS TIME FOR US TO COME TO RWANDA
Dear Bro. Prince,

It was good to hear from you again, I hope that all is well? Its also good to
hear that you are coming back to our country, although I am in UK at the
moment, I will be back in Rwanda in November.

Otherwise you are welcome in our Country, keep on serving Him with fire,
zeal and never allow anything to disturb your vision.

Thanks.
Pr. Steven
From: Prince Okechukwu Obasiike
To: gashumba@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: IT IS TIME FOR US TO COME TO RWANDA
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 19:09:31 +0800

Dear Pastor Steve,

Greetings in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ. I am glad I can reply to
you now. I am sorry for the delay. I am writing to you from Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania.

I did travel to your country as promised and have since returned. I, however,
left one of my pastors there. He is called Pastor Lekan Aruna. Pastor Paddy,
your assistant, has been of tremendous assistance to us. We are, however,
missing you greatly. November is so far away. There are issues that you are
supposed to help us handle, which Pastor Paddy cannot as a foreigner like us.

We hope you are having a good time there? God bless you.

92
What about your travel to Nigeria for the Holy Ghost Congress? Let me
know your plans concerning it. The programme holds from 13th to 15th
December 2001.

The blessings of God be with you now and always.

Yours in Him,
Pastor Prince

Re: IT IS TIME FOR US TO COME TO RWANDA

10/17/01 03:19 PM
Less info
Steven Gashumba <gashumba@hotmail.com>
To: princeobasike@minster.com
Prince, you are a radical man, you are serious with Gods work, your
motives are pure, your eyes are seeing and you are a blessing to Nations
I am sorry I missed your arrival but they told me. I am sure we shall meet
not many days from now.

Concerning the conference, I would have liked so much to attend that great
conference and get challenged to see, hear and do what Ive never seen. But
the transport [ticket] When God provides I will go with you.

STEVEN,

October 3rd 2001 was set as the day I would return to Rwanda and
this time with Pastor Aruna for the start of the RCCG in Rwanda, the
Headquarter State in Nigeria, having given some money to Pastor
Aruna for the work. Bro. Patrick was informed of our time of arrival
on Kenya Airways. In Nairobi, we had bought some public address
systems and music equipment, which the Eastern Africa Regional
headquarters contributed. We carried the items along with us.
Patrick was at the airport to receive us and he hosted us in his house.
I returned to Kenya on 5th October 2001, leaving behind Pastor Aruna.
He would later come to Kenya to collect his family. Below is some of
the email communication towards the commencement of RCCG in
Rwanda.

93
-----Original Message-----

From: Olalekan Aruna <olarunam@yahoo.com>

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 01:55:08 -0800 (PST)
To: prince okechukwu obasike
princeobasike@minister.com>
Subject: Re: Fw: Letter to Rwanda

Dear Sir,

Greetings in Jesus name. How was the Holy Ghost congress? I am sure
you are alright. I am sending this mail to inform you that the process of
our registration is still on. I was in the Mayors Office today, 18 Dec, and
he sent some delegates with us to visit the place of worship for approval. I
also made an enquiry at the immigration concerning the aftermath of our
registration, and I was told that after we are fully registered, we need to
have a residence permit, which includes a work permit .There is a need for
us to pay the following amount of money.1.residence visa per person per
year 220USD, for me and my wife, it will cost 440USD.2. We also need to
pay to the Government of Rwanda what they call caution fee of 700USD per
person, which is refundable any time on leaving Rwanda. The total amount
of money is 1,840USD. I have confirmed this procedure from Pastor Balogun
of Deeper life Church. All foreigners are subject to this. God bless you.

Prince Okechukwu Obasiike <princeobasike@minister.com>

wrote:

Beloved Pastor Aruna,

Greetings of His love to you! Thank you for your mail.

In Seychelles after I called and spoke with you I tried to get Lagos for some
days without success. When I wanted to let you know about how far my
efforts have been it became impossible for me to get you again. In the end I
gave up the efforts.

During the day I wrote to Pastor Steve but could not send it because they
took power. I have, however, saved it in Word. By tomorrow I will send it to
him by the grace of God.
94
My driver will be at the airport to receive you on Monday. I will still be in
Turkana District by then. I shall likely be returning on Tuesday.

Greet everyone for me.

Yours in His Holy Service,

Prince Obasiike
-----Original Message-----

From: Olalekan Aruna <olarunam@yahoo.com>

Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 07:25:38 -0800 (PST)
To: Prince Okechukwu Obasi-ike
princeobasike@minister.com
Subject: Re: Fw: Letter to Rwanda

Dear Sir.

This is to tell you that we are still expecting your reply concerning Pastor
Steves journey to Nigeria for the Holy Ghost congress in December
2001. I also want to inform you that I will now be coming to Nairobi on
Monday, 26 November 2001.This is necessary because I want to get some
hand bills printed, and to help my wife with the packing. Pastor Steve is
anxious to hear from you so that he will be able to plan his schedule of work.

Please Sir, send the driver to the airport on the 26 November. The
flight will take off at 8am and arrive Nairobi at 10.10am.I will be expecting
your reply. God bless you sir.
Aruna

Prince Okechukwu Obasi-ike

princeobasike@minister.com> wrote:

Beloved Pastor Aruna,

Thank you for your mail. I had really longed to hear from you.

When I get to Seychelles I will try and call you from there on Friday this
week. By today, I think Pastor Steve should be returning to Kigali and I
believe he will be more useful in all. Please, tell him that I am trying to see
95
how he could possibly make the Holy Ghost Congress this December. If it
does not quite work out this time then let him be prepared to attend the 50th
Anniversary Convention. We will pay for his ticket since he has shown great
interest to attend the meeting. We will do this to encourage more assistance
from them for the work there.

The procedures for registration appear very serious and contrary to what
they had told me. Well, consider which of the projects will be the cheapest
and take such as what the church will do for the people. Maternity or school
could be. Meanwhile, when Pastor Steve comes back, let him arrange for a
cover for our initial takeoff.

What about the warehouse you said was for rent or sale? Well, if Milles Collin
Hotel people have changed their mind, I still believe that God has another
better place for us. Have you approached Hotel Lubona or so? Patrick knows
about it. What about the possibility of the Local Government giving us land,
which will include a place for the project? May the Lord be your help as you
exploit all possibilities!

As touching the man Henry, I have already told him not to resign because
we must get somewhere there before we can know whether he can follow. But
the issue you have raised now is another thing.

Greet Brother Patrick for me. Meanwhile let the house fellowship continue
since you have seen that they require names of existing members of the
fellowship for us to be registered. One way of getting such people is through
home fellowship or prayer group. I believe that the Government cannot stop
prayer group meetings.

The Lord is your strength and grace. We are all fine.

Stay blessed.

Yours in His Royal Service,

Pastor Prince

Pastor Aruna, now with his family and with the assistance of other
brethren such as Pastor Balogun, the pastor in-charge of the Rwanda

96
Deeper Life Christian Bible Church work, settled down for the work.
My job was now to pray for him, his family and the work as well
as give all the necessary encouragement to him as he pioneered the
work of the RCCG in Rwanda. Daddy Akindele, during his 2002
tour of Eastern Africa Region went with me to officially dedicate the
RCCG Rwanda Mission to God. This was done on 19th May 2002. I
made sure I maintained regular visits to Rwanda and gave whatever
necessary support I could for the work to progress. By the time of the
restructuring and subdivision of the Eastern Africa into three regions,
Rwanda was zoned to region two which falls under my docket as the
Pastor in-charge, and had three parishes in existence.

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia and Tanzania were countries that had RCCG presence by

the time I was made the Regional Coordinator. Professor Dele Olowu
started the church in Addis Ababa in 1996 while he was working
there. By the time he was leaving Ethiopia, Pastor Paul Awede was
brought in from the headquarters in Nigeria as a missionary. He
became the country coordinator. My first visit to Addis Ababa was on
12th March 2000. There were five parishes (branches) of the RCCG in
Ethiopia. While Pastor Awedes headquarters parish in Bole, Addis
Ababa, was not looking too good, there was another parish started
by a Nigerian diplomat. They held their services in a very decent
hotel in Addis Ababa. This parish was attracting good followership.
One was more classical in outlook, while the other was modern and
flamboyant. There were some internal differences between these two
parishes. By the time the diplomat returned to Nigeria and Pastor
Awede also went back because his permit was not renewed, we had
to devise a means to unite the two parishes.

Pastor John Imoudu had been sent from Abuja to take over the parish
the diplomat started, while Pastor Negash (Ethiopian) was in-charge
of the headquarters parish. On October 25th 2002 I travelled with
Daddy Akindele to Addis Ababa as part of his Eastern Africa mission
tour. The General Overseer had instructed that differences between
the two parishes be resolved during this visit. A meeting of all the
parish pastors and church officials was held. We resolved that the

97
two parishes should merge under the name Unity Parish. Pastor John
Imoudu was made the country coordinator with an Ethiopian as his
assistant. With this, order returned to the church and the mission
work had some focus. With this new dispensation there was a need to
reconstitute the board of the church in Ethiopia. This became another
thorn in the flesh of church unity and progress.

When they could not handle it themselves I had to travel to

Ethiopia and held a meeting with all the leaders. In that meeting it
was resolved that the assistant country coordinator, who also was
the chairman of the board (an Ethiopian), as was constitutionally
required and his wife, who was the treasurer, could not both serve
in those capacities. The reason was because in signing any cheque
the mandatory signature was that of the chairman and any other
board member. To avoid a situation whereby he could sign with his
wife, I objected to her being the board treasurer. This was purely
based on transparency and not suspicion. The wife was asked to step
down as the treasurer even though still a member of the board. The
Chairman did not want that to happen but I insisted that she hands
over that portfolio. From that time he refused to cooperate and later
resigned. It was crisis time again for the church, as the chairman had
custody of all the documents which he took a long time to surrender.
Meanwhile, Pastor John Imoudu soldiered on and the church grew
to ten parishes across Ethiopia. When it was time for Pastor Imoudu
to renew his residence permit, it became impossible and as a result
we had to plan for his exit. Years later the ex-chairman who had left
rejoined the church.

Pastor Imoudu returned back to Nigeria because his permit was not
renewed. Before then, I asked Pastor Imoudu to hand over to an
expatriate, Dr. Samuel I. Kalu, who was then an ordained assistant
pastor, as we waited for Abuja to send another missionary. Not too
long after, Dr. Kalu was transferred out of Ethiopia, so I asked him to
hand over to Deacon Muyiwa, who was also an expatriate. Abuja sent
another missionary, Pastor Ayobami Oladapo, as Deacon Muyiwa
also exited Ethiopia. By the time Pastor Ayobami took over as the
country co-ordinator, the number of Parishes had reduced to four.

98
Ethiopia was a very challenging mission, particularly for the
Nigerian missionaries. Few local ministers always looked for ways
of frustrating the Nigerians through refusal to renew permits.
God gave Pastor Ayobami Oladapo wisdom that enabled him to
secure his permit to stay in Ethiopia. He outwitted those who had
masterminded the frustration of previous missionaries. During his
tenure as the country coordinator, we also devised a means by which
the Ethiopian pastors could begin to be employed not by the RCCG
Ethiopia, but by the regional headquarters in Nairobi so that they,
too, could be transferred to other countries as missionaries. This was
at the instance of Pastor Ayobami. It was a nice idea and I welcomed
it. We had started implementing this policy before the Eastern Africa
Region of the RCCG was divided into three in 2010. This policy was
highly welcomed by the Ethiopian brethren. The salaries of those
who qualified for the first phase were being paid from the regional
headquarters. Because Pastor Ayobami could not be frustrated out of
Ethiopia, the church was able to stabilize and strategize for growth.
The church under Pastor Ayobami had grown to 15 parishes in 2010.

TANZANIA MISSION

And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men
of this generation? And to what are they like? They are like
unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to
another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have
not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept
(Luke 7:31-32).

The RCCG mission in Tanzania is one that cannot be described easily.

It has been a mission with many faces, yet it is difficult to place it. So
much efforts and money have been put into the Tanzanian mission
yet there is nothing to show for all the resources expended there.
Tanzania still refuses to accept the mission.

In 1997, Pastor Ayo Adesola, of the Apapa Family of the RCCG, started
The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Pastor Adesola used the opportunity of his wife, who was on official
transfer from the Nigerian branch of Citibank N.A. to the Tanzanian

99
branch. Within the short time his wife stayed in Tanzania, his parish
in Nigeria, Canaan Land Parish in Victoria Island, mobilized and sent
a missionary to Dar es Salaam after his wife had started the church.
As was common with the Apapa Family of the RCCG, within a short
time, the young church was already attracting huge membership.
Apapa, in those days, unlike the Ikeja Family then, had a flair for
excellence. While the Ikeja Family would start a church in any kind
of place, Apapa would always spend money and get good places that
the top class in any society would not hesitate to attend a worship
service.

With a proper and top class beginning, the church grew so fast that it
became the envy of others in Dar es Salaam. As was common in East
Africa then, any church that grew too fast was normally accused of
one thing or the other. In Tanzania, they accused the church of some
unfounded things. They wondered how a young church could grow
so fast that it had top-class equipment and the missionary was already
driving a car within a short time of operation. So many other things
happened which led to the cancellation of the RCCG registration in
Tanzania and the eviction of the missionary. It was all due to the
jealousy of some Tanzanian church ministers I learnt.

As the missionary was sent packing and by this time Pastor Adesolas
wife had gone back to Nigeria, I had to devise a means to rescue the
mission. With the departure of the missionary pastor, the flock got
scattered. I decided that the person to rescue the work had to come
from East Africa and one who spoke Kiswahili very well. None but
Pastor Mary Wanalo, who has been with us from the inception of the
church in Kenya, could fit in perfectly. I approached her and requested
that she goes to Tanzania. She prayerfully considered the challenge
and agreed to go. So, we sent Pastor Wanalo to Dar es Salaam. All
these plans were in consultation with Pastor Ayo Adesola in Nigeria,
who still had to send the bulk of the finances needed from his parish
(branch) in Victoria Island. As at that time, there was not much we
could do financially from the Regional Headquarters in Nairobi.

Pastor Wanalo arrived in Tanzania and within a short time she

started reviving the church, as some old members were contacted
by phone. She took delivery of some of the church property in the

100
hands of individuals, including a Toyota Camry saloon car, chairs,
office equipment, etc. As she made progress in her assignment I
visited her and encouraged her. This experiment did not last long,
as Pastor Mary soon won the American Green Card lottery. She had
barely spent five months in Dar es Salaam when this happened and
she had to relocate to the United States of America. I looked again
into the church in Nairobi to find who to send to Tanzania to take
over from her. A young man by the name Edgar Kago, a Kenyan,
who had shown great signs of commitment to the Lord since he was
commissioned as a worker at the RCCG Redemption Sanctuary, was
chosen to replace Pastor Mary. Before she left, Brother Kago was sent
in. He tried to continue from where Pastor Mary had left but could
not quite fit in properly. As I continued to monitor his progress in
Tanzania I realized that commitment alone was not enough.

A missionary must be firm and positively aggressive for any

meaningful achievements and progress to be made. Brother Kago
was neither firm nor decisive. Instead of him giving direction on
where the church should be headed, he allowed a few members to
dictate. It was not long after Bro. Kago arrived that a member of the
church convinced him to be taking the church car to his house. After a
short while, this member took the car and ran away. Tanzanian Police
could not help us. Within a short time, Kago lost every property of
the church that had been handed over to him. By the time we recalled
him to Kenya, there was nothing left, including the fellowship. He
was not a thief, neither was he a bad brother, but he did not just have
the guts as a leader.

By the time Pastor Mary left, Canaan Land Parish of the RCCG, where
Pastor Ayo Adesola was the Senior Pastor, washed its hands off the
Tanzanian mission. It was now entirely in the hands of the Eastern
Africa Region. After Brother Kago was recalled, he remained briefly
in the RCCG and quit. While Pastor Mary was in Tanzania I had
visited and paid a lawyer to pursue the issue of RCCG registration.
Later, the lawyer told me that the registration was not going through
but did not give me the reason why. He suggested I give him another
name. Upon this request, I gave him the name Christ the Redeemers
Ministries. I told him that after registration, we would change the
name back to the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The lawyer, one

101
Mr. Paul, was paid a deposit of four hundred United States dollars for
processing and part of his legal fees. He later asked for an additional
payment and we gave him one hundred and fifty dollars. For years,
he continued to say he was pursuing it. As this book is being written,
nothing has been forthcoming from the advocate.

We gave ourselves a break of about a year and decided to re-launch

the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Tanzania. Some ministers
of the RCCG had been posted by their organizations to work in
Tanzania. They were Bro. Adesina Adesanya, Bro. Femi Amorin and
Bro. Oshodi Mustaff. Led by Brother Adesanya, the Lord used them
to restart another vibrant RCCG fellowship. While the fellowship was
holding in Dar es Salaam, another one was opened at Moshi, near
Mount Kilimanjaro. Brother Oshodi ran the Moshi fellowship.

These brethren and their families worked hard to revive the RCCG
in Tanzania. As we were making arrangements to inaugurate a full-
fledged church after the visit of Daddy Akindele to Tanzania with me
in 2002, Bro. Adesanya called to inform me that due to reorganization
in his company, he and Bro. Oshodi would be leaving Tanzania soon.
This was another devastating blow to the mission. By the time they
left, there was none who could continue with the fellowships as Bro.
Femi, who worked with another company, also left shortly.

In 2004, I decided to make another move into Tanzania, but this time
in another place away from Dar es Salaam. Arusha was our target.
I visited in 2004 for the first time to assess the place. On my return,
I talked to my then personal assistant, Pastor Paul Henya, and told
him about my desire to restart the RCCG in Tanzania, but this time
in Arusha Town. I asked if he would like to take up the challenge.
I gave him time to pray about it and give me his reply. He came to
me after some days and said he would go if I promised to always
pray to God to help him. I gave him my promise and we set the
date. We decided that two people would eventually have to go to
Arusha from Kenya. The brother that would join Henya later was
Bro. Titus Masinde. When Pastor Henya got to Arusha he first stayed
briefly in a hotel before he got a house that would serve as a mission
house for the church. As he had been properly briefed he sought a
registered church that would give us a cover to operate. The bishop of

102
a Pentecostal Church agreed to give us the cover on condition that we
would be paying a certain amount of money in United States dollars
every month. Part of the condition for the payment was that he would
facilitate the registration of the Christ the Redeemers Ministries also
known as the RCCG. I had to travel to Arusha to meet the bishop. I
negotiated downwards what we would pay him monthly or annually
for covering and helping to have our ministry registered.

Pastor Henya left Nairobi for Arusha on 29th August 2004, and by the
next day he was already looking for a venue. He had not quite settled
down when he began to face all kinds of challenges. Though from
Kenya, which I thought would be an advantage; I realized I had been
wrong. Some Tanzanian policemen would constantly harass him.
Because he did not have a permit to reside in Tanzania, which should
normally not be a problem for an East African, as long as his visa does
not expire, police kept pursuing him. When they did not find him,
they got Bro. Titus and put him in the cells. Pastor Henya resigned
after eleven months and came back to Kenya. After Bro. Titus was
released from police custody, the conditions became unbearable, so
he also had to resign and came back.

I still did not give up on Tanzania. We made a quick arrangement and

sent another brother. Deacon Alfred Ochieng was our next missionary
to Tanzania. He went in June 2006 and stayed until 2010. The church
did not quite pick up as I would have loved it to, but Ochieng did his
best to pursue the registration, though we did not go any far. While
Alfred was in Arusha, I decided that my then personal assistant, who
has his roots in Tanzania, should go to Dar es Salam and start another
branch in the capital. This was Jehoshaphat Nyari.

He was full of zeal and had started organizing crusades and prayer
meetings. By this time we had a mission board in the regional
headquarters, which determined his accommodation and stipend.
Jehoshaphats newly wedded wife, Caroline, who was working
in a good company, decided to resign and join her husband in the
Tanzania field. Both of them were raring to go, but due to financial
challenges in the regional headquarters in Nairobi, we delayed a
little. Every month we were spending close to US$1,000 on the Dar es
Salaam work alone. I had gone to negotiate rates for a very good hotel

103
hall in the city centre and we were about to pay to relocate the church
there when the reorganization of the RCCG Eastern Africa took place
in 2010 and Tanzania fell under Eastern Africa Region 1 with Pastor
Amenkhienan as the Pastor in-charge.

We have piped unto Tanzania but she has refused to dance. We have
mourned unto her and she has refused to weep. What then shall be
done next? I believe that the church should not surrender in her effort
to capture Tanzania. It will, however, require dedicated prayers for
the nation, better financial muscle and a diehard missionary.

MISSION TO BURUNDI

For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there
are many adverseries (1 Cor 16:9)

Every country we have launched into has its own peculiarities and
lessons to learn. In 1999, we had a Burundi brother named Jean Petit,
who together with his family worshipped with us at Redemption
Sanctuary, Nairobi. We took him through our discipleship instruction
in Believers Class and Workers-in-Training classes. He went through
them and was commissioned as a worker. Sometime in 2000 he
approached me and expressed his desire to go to Burundi and start
a branch of the RCCG in Bujumbura the capital. I welcomed his idea
and so we began the preparations.

By 2001, we had decided to send him to spy the land and bring
us words regarding the peace or war in Bujumbura. The nation
of Burundi has been engulfed in civil war for some years but we
heard that peace was now returning and Bujumbura was habitable
again, with refugees coming back home. The estimated cost of the
trip, including fare, hotel accommodation, food and maintenance
allowances was made and the church gave the money to Jean Petit,
who went to Bujumbura.

He returned after two weeks with a report that Bujumbura had

become peaceful and that he had actually started a fellowship. We
were quite excited with the report and more so, the fact that the RCCG
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fellowship had already started. We quickly gathered money and sent
him back after having a meeting with him and his wife. We were not
going to send him or use him if his wife was not in support of the idea
and in agreement with our terms. We promised to be giving the wife
a monthly allowance that would help her take care of the children as
her husband pioneered RCCG work in Burundi.

Brother Jean Petit was sent back to Burundi. He was specifically

instructed to go and remain there for the next three months and
keep in constant communication with my office with updates. He
had barely spent a month when we found him in Nairobi. He had
returned without informing us. He came back with news too good to
believe. Attendance in the new church was already over 150 adults.
He said someone had given the church about five acres of land free
in Bujumbura to build an RCCG sanctuary. He came to collect about
US$12,000 to start the construction. We asked him for the evidence
of the land, but he could not produce any proof. We asked for the
contact details of the donor and he did not give us. He told us the
woman was a committed member of the church that was barely one
month old. Everything looked too good to be true. We did not believe
his story but however told him to go back and wait for me to go there
first and see the property as well as the person who gave us with a
view to ascertain the truth.

We gave him some money to return to Burundi with a promise

that he will soon see me in Burundi as soon as God makes money
available. That was the last we heard from or saw Jean Petit. His wife,
who had a baby, later came to tell us that Jean Petit, after the first
visit to Bujumbura, never went back. She told us that he had eloped
with another woman, while he deceived the church. He had hoped
to collect US$12,000 from us and run away with it. This was another
hard lesson. This first attempt to start the church in Burundi failed.

Not withstanding this setback, we were by no means giving up

hope on Burundi. In late 2003, another Burundian brother, who had
worshipped with us at Redemption Sanctuary and undergone some
training, came to my office and told me he was returning to Burundi
since the war was over. I told him the RCCG would be there soon.
He said he was delighted to hear that. I prayed for him and he left. In
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2004, this brother by the name, Thiery, visited Nairobi and told me he
had started a small fellowship in Burundi for the RCCG. I encouraged
him to continue with a promise that we would soon go and assess the
situation there. There were several other visits by Thiery, until 2006,
when I decided to send my personal assistant then, Brother Philip
Kioko, to Burundi to see the church Thiery said he had started. Philip
went and brought back a good report.

Thiery then sought support to register the RCCG in Burundi but I

asked him to wait. I had not vetted him, therefore I had to avoid a
situation where he would be given the go ahead to register the RCCG
and later turn it into his own property. To follow up immediately on
Kiokos visit and findings we decided to start giving financial support
to Thiery. By 24th of March 2006, I made my first missionary visit to
Bujumbura. The state of the nation and the Church of God generally
created some urgency in my spirit for us to start some vibrant work
in Burundi. While on this first visit I decided to wait on the Lord with
prayer and fasting for the days I was there. I called on the Almighty
God to do an amazing turn around to the economy and people of
Burundi with the body of Christ playing a key role. I returned to
Kenya on 27th March 2006 after spending three days in Burundi. I
made other visits on 7th of June 2006 and on 11th of October 2006.

From the very first visit to Burundi, I began to seek for any RCCG
province in Nigeria that would sponsor the Burundi mission. One
of such was Rivers State Province 2. The Provincial Pastor then was
Pastor Belemina Obunge. He passed through Nairobi to one of the
mission fields his province was sponsoring, and I used the opportunity
to share with him what I had seen in Burundi and the need to send
a minister from Nigeria to spearhead the mission there. He showed
delight and promised me that they would look at it and see what they
could do. However, he asked me to get an estimate of what it would
take to maintain a missionary there and all the other costs, including
rental of a place of worship. By August 2006 I had the estimate ready
and during our annual RCCG convention in Nigeria I gave it to him
and he promised to get back to me, which he did. The province would
be ready to send a missionary from Nigeria by the first quarter of next
year. Meanwhile, they had decided to take over the monthly support

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we had been giving to Thiery.

On 11th October 2006, Pastor Obunge and I went to Burundi. He

came with money from his province with which we bought a PA
system and musical instruments for the Burundi mission. It was
during this visit that we informed the brethren that we were going to
send a missionary to work with them. We left Burundi on the 12th of
October 2006. The brethren were excited about having a missionary
from Nigeria. Thiery was told that he should not worry as he would
continue receiving financial support from the church.

I told Thiery of our plan to sponsor him to school so that he could

upgrade his knowledge and his whole being. He welcomed the
idea. He was told to find a school in Bujumbura for admission from
January 2007. Two more people were given the same privilege and
they all started school in January 2007. Education is a key factor in
gospel evangelism. So, helping to educate and empower people
academically was part of our approach to the mission in Burundi.

FIRST RCCG MISSIONARY TO BURUNDI

After all the necessary arrangements had been made, Pastor Obunge
called me from Nigeria to inform me that he would be arriving in
Nairobi with the missionary on 14th March 2007 by Kenya Airways.
He arrived with Pastor Samson Alao at the JKIA on the 14th of
March. We played host to them in our mission house at Amboseli
Gardens, Lavington, Nairobi. On 16th of March, the three of us left for
Burundi. Before this day, some of the brethren in Burundi had been
communicating with me about threats from Thiery, after it dawned
on him that a missionary was coming. I tried to calm them down.

Before we arrived in Burundi in March 2007, Thiery was reported to

have claimed that fire broke out in his house and burnt the public
address system as well as the music equipment. The brethren in the
church said he had lied because from their own investigations, it
had been established that he had carried away the items before the
fire burnt only a small portion of the house. The Burundi brethren
reported the matter to the police, who immediately arrested Thiery.
On the 16th of March 2007 Pastor Obunge, Pastor Alao and I arrived in
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Bujumbura. We checked into Hotel Amahoro in the city centre.
We had an urgent meeting at the hotel with the church officials who
had received us at the airport. Thiery was said to have been threatening
that the missionary would not be allowed to settle in Burundi and
that anyone supporting him would be killed. We called Thiery to the
meeting, but it was obvious from his look that he was against us. At
night, Thiery had made phone calls to Bro. David and Bro Edward
and threatened them and me. When we got wind of that we arranged
for their conversation to be recorded the next day, unknown to Thiery.
The recorded threats from Thiery were reported to the NATIONAL
SECURITY OFFICE about 8pm. He was apprehended and later
warned never to interfere with the church and its officials. Thiery was
immediately dropped as an official of the church. The brethren were
also asked to leave him to his conscience and not pursue the case of
the equipment allegedly destroyed by a fire.

With the missionary on the ground and later joined by his wife,
Precious Olamide Alao, the RCCG Mission in Burundi began to take
shape but registration had to be done properly with the government.
Rivers Province 2 has continued to sponsor the RCCG Burundi even
after Pastor Obunge was transferred.

MISSION TO SUDAN

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you
walk through the fire, you shall not be burnt; neither shall
the flame kindle upon you. (Isaiah 43:2 NKJV)

In 2005, the then country coordinator of Uganda, Pastor Israel Monye,

informed me of a Sudanese in the Dominion Sanctuary, Kampala,
who wanted to return home following the signing of the Naivasha
Agreement or Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the
Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement
(SPLM). He told me that the brother whose name was given as Joshua,
would like to start a branch of the RCCG in South Sudan. I told him
that would be fine provided he was first taken through the Believers
Class and Workers in-Training programmes. These programmes are

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designed to give every believer a good foundation as a Christian and
prepare them for leadership and service to God. By 2006, this brother
was said to have already relocated to South Sudan. On his arrival, he
started the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Torit, the capital of
Eastern Equatorial State.

In November 2006, I was informed that Joshua had started the

RCCG in South Sudan. I arranged to visit Sudan by early 2007 after
establishing contact with Brother Joshua in Torit. I was informed
there was no way of getting to Torit except by road. My informants
also told me that the road was very bad and could be dangerous at
times because of renegade SPLM rebels, who were dissatisfied with
one thing or another and were still in the bush. From time to time,
they attacked people travelling by road.

A NEW PARISH OF RCCG IN KAPUETA, SOUTH SUDAN

In 2006, as the South Sudanese continued to return to their country,

the RCCG Turkana District Coordinator, Pastor John Lowoi, called
to inform me that one of the brothers, who had been commissioned
as a worker in our RCCG Parish at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, had
decided to go back home. He enquired from me if this brother could
start a fellowship in Kapueta. It was a good idea, so I approved it and
immediately told him to prepare spiritually and mentally the brother,
whose name was Wilson Odero. Kapueta, being about 116km from
Lokichogio, the boundary town between Kenya and Sudan in the
South, I asked them to arrange to visit and assess what it would take
for us to start a church there. This was done.

Immediately, I directed that a carpenter be contracted to make benches

in Lokichogio to be transported to Kapueta. Pastor Tito Matirani, in
charge of our Lokichogio Parish, was then asked to supervise the
making of the benches and to take delivery when they were ready.
Bro. Odero, who had already returned to his country, was informed
to collect the benches. The church hired a mini truck to transport the
benches to Kapueta. With the benches now taken down to Kapueta
the church began.

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FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY TO SUDAN

With two parishes already established in Sudan, it was time for me

to visit. This visit would afford me the opportunity to see the nation
and determine how to strategize for more effective work. In early
February 2007, my visa to South Sudan was secured and 8th February
2007 set as the day I would go to Sudan. Pastor Matirani was asked to
look for a good 4-Wheel Drive car that we could hire to travel to and
from Torit. Odero was also asked to be at the border town of Nadapal
to wait for us on 8th February 2007. An email was sent to Bro. Joshua
in Torit, informing him that we would be arriving there the same day.
Very early in the morning of 8th February 2007, I boarded an ALS
plane to Lokichoggio. The 4-Wheel Drive car I had asked to be hired
with the driver and some brethren were there to receive me. Pastor
Matirani had prepared to travel with me. As we began our journey
on the Kenyan side after all necessary documentation had been done
by immigration officials, we were told that our journey had to be
cancelled due to slight skirmishes between a senior Sudanese Army
officer and Kenyan Police or Army. The Kenyans said they were
concerned over our safety. Many other people who were travelling to
Sudan were also stopped. But after waiting for a while, we were told
to continue with our journey.

On crossing the border, we found Bro. Wilson Odero already waiting

for us. On completing all the immigration documentation, Wilson
boarded our vehicle and began to direct us from there. We had barely
gone thirty kilometers into Sudan, when we had a tyre burst that was
so bad that it was irreparable. The spare tyre was fixed and our journey
continued. About twenty minutes later, we had another tyre burst
but we now had no spare wheel. This happened in a forested area
with no sign of any human being. The journey had been committed to
Gods charge before we began and now our car was grounded. I was
told the area was dangerous. We began to pray, waiting and hoping
that God would send us any kind of help that would take us to any
nearby town or village where I could buy at least one tyre.

The road was almost empty with no vehicle or human being passing.

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After waiting for close to one hour a lorry came. We stopped the lorry,
which had a few people sitting on goods. We appealed to the driver
to take three of us to where we could find tyre to buy. He was kind
enough and asked us to jump onto the lorry. So the driver of the car,
Bro. Wilson (who understands the Sudanese language) and I jumped
into the open lorry as darkness was approaching. We left only Pastor
Matirani to look after the car until we returned.

The lorry dropped us off in a place I later came to learn was Kapueta.
God helped us and we managed to find only one tyre and a tube
of the size of our car, which I bought. To fix the tube and tyre onto
the wheel became a problem as the dealer tried, in vain. Night was
setting in, yet we were still going to look for a vehicle that would
take us to where the car was. With the vulcanizer still struggling, my
concern was more about Matirani, but I trusted that God would keep
him safe.

As we were still there, lo and behold, the car we had left behind came
towards where we were with another 4-Wheel vehicle ahead of it.
I saw Matirani behind the steering and when he stopped I asked
him what happened and when did he learn how to drive. He told
me the Norwegians, who had been doing humanitarian work and
road refurbishing in the area, saw him and decided to help. Since
their vehicle had the same size of wheel as ours, they fixed their spare
wheel on our own vehicle to get him out of the danger zone. On his
driving, he asked if I had forgotten that when he was our security
guard (askari) in the church office I had paid for him to go for driving
instruction. Thank God I did. The Norwegians allowed us to keep
their wheel until the following morning.

The village had no hotel for us to spend the night in, but God was
gracious to us as we were eventually given a place (thatched roof,
mud house) in the compound of the Africa Inland Church, Kapueta,
to sleep in. The pastor and his family were so kind and showed us
true Christian love. Very early in the morning, before dawn, we had
to draw water from a well and took our bathe in the open. When it
was dawn, we went to the compound of the Norway Relief Agency,
where they helped to fix the tyre I had bought.

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Without a spare wheel, we continued our journey to Torit, after a
brief stopover at our church in Kapueta where I admonished the few
members that could gather that morning. We gave them some money
to buy food and share amongst themselves. From that moment, we
drove to Torit, a journey of about four hours and finally back to
Lokichogio, Kenya, with no spare tyre, - THE AMAZING GRACE
OF GOD.

At Torit, we were received by Bro. Joshua and a few church members.

We held a meeting with church leaders. At night, we had a service
at the church venue, which was the magistrates court at Torit. We
passed the night at Torit. In the morning I held more meetings with
the brethren in Torit. In the process of those meetings I observed
that Joshua would have to be trained for the pastoral assignment. I
told him that I would want him to come to Nairobi and attend our
Bible College (Redeemed Christian Bible College) fully sponsored, so
that he could do the work better. While in Nairobi, I assured him,
his family would be supported financially on a monthly basis and
he would also be receiving allowances. He agreed to go to Nairobi
for training. I then told him that during the period of absence (nine
months) I would send a missionary from Kenya to take charge of the
church until he returned. He accepted my offer.

I was given a list of what the church in Torit would require, which
included a power generator, public address systems and music
equipment. When we returned to Kenya, I briefed the brethren about
our experiences in Sudan and the urgent needs there. The church
immediately organized food and clothes donations. We bought the
generator and the PA system and some music instruments, which were
sent to Torit. Meanwhile, we were preparing a Kenyan missionary to
serve in Torit when Joshua would be in Nairobi attending our Bible
College, as agreed. Bro. Duncan Kimeu would go and take over.
Before that date, a report came from Torit that the generator had gone
missing in mysterious circumstances. We planned a replacement.

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 FIRST VISIT TO JUBA

The capital of any country or state is usually our first target. As a

result, I planned to travel to Juba, the capital of South Sudan to see
how a missionary could be sent there. A Christian brother whom I
expected should know better about missions turned out to be the
opposite when I told him I was planning to start the RCCG in Sudan.
He was working then with the United Nations at Juba. When I told
him of our plan to launch the RCCG in Juba, he tried to discourage
me. He told me that the people in Juba, and, indeed, South Sudan,
did not understand English at all. He advised that before sending a
missionary there I should first ensure that the person goes to school
for two years to learn Arabic or a local language. I said to myself,
the missionaries that came from Europe to Africa to evangelize,
which school did they go to, to learn African languages before they
came? I concluded that this man probably did not want us to send a
missionary to Juba, which might require him to help in ways he was
not prepared to. I convinced myself that the Kings business demands
urgency. I would go ahead and send a missionary. But I had to travel
to Juba first. In my first chat with him about Juba, he had mentioned
the name of a hotel where people who travelled to Juba after the war
mostly stayed THE BROS HOTEL.

On 13th April 2007, I travelled to Juba by air to see things for myself.
By 11.35am, the Lord landed me safely and I hired a taxi to the BROS
HOTEL (a container with makeshift rooms) where I paid US$155 a
night and from there went around the town. I tried to gather as much
information as I could about the place. I did not get in touch with the
brother since he had shown he was not in support of the mission.

RCCGS FIRST MISSIONARY TO SUDAN

To launch the church in Juba, we needed a missionary who had been

tested since the environment after decades of war in Sudan was very
harsh. A missionary, who had been called by God and accepted the
call, would be most suitable. God had recently brought to Solution
Centre, Pastor Caesar Udihirinwa and his family. Pastor Caesar had
served with us in the 1990s in Kenya and gone to Liberia as an RCCG

113
missionary. This was before the civil war ended. God used him
greatly there until the work was well established and he relocated
to Nigeria before returning to Kenya. I approached him and told
him of my desire to send him to Sudan as the RCCG missionary.
He welcomed the idea and I informed the mission board. He was
promptly briefed; the church would be giving him a monthly stipend
and pay for his accommodation. He discussed with his wife A/Pastor
Prudence and she was agreeable too. His wife and children would
remain in Nairobi, as he served in Sudan.

All the necessary preparations and documentations were made and a

date set for Pastor Caesar to move to Juba. We arranged for a Mission
Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane to take him to Lokichogio from
where he would go by road to Juba. The idea was for him to have a
feel of the nation God had sent him to minister His love to. On 17th
June 2007, Pastor Caesar set out for the Juba mission. The MAF plane
delayed and by the time it reached Lokichogio, it was not possible for
him to get transport to Sudan. The MAF officials decided to fly him to
Juba that day. He arrived in Juba on the 17th of June 2007 and began
his work.

REGISTRATION OF THE RCCG IN SUDAN

During my first visit, in February 2007, I had told Brother Joshua and
the leaders at the Torit church to immediately pursue the registration
of the RCCG in Sudan to give us a legal backing. I gave them the
money I was told it would cost us to get registered (about US$500).
By 8th of May 2007, the church had been registered. When a copy was
sent to me I found out that they had registered it as an NGO, which I
immediately objected to. I asked the brethren to ascertain if there was
no better way of registering the church.

Nothing was done about a possible new registration until Pastor

Caesar Udihirinwa got to Juba in June 2007. Among the major
things he was to pursue on his arrival was a better registration. As
Pastor Caesar was settling down, he initiated the move for proper
registration of the RCCG. By June 16th 2008, the church was registered
by the Government of Southern Sudan as a faith-based organization.

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 1982 when Pastor Prince got saved

Pastor Esther standing left fetching water at Berekuta

Mission field CAPRO Ministries Nigeria in 1990
 Pastor Prince first from left with the engineers working at
the Motherless babies home Victoria Island 1987 -
His NYSC award winning project

Pastor Esthers first visit to Lagos in 1989 arriving at the airport

 Pastor Prince & Pastor Esther at
their wedding on 6th February 1993
Pastor Prince first from Right above, in Lodwar 1997 beating
the local drum during praise and worship to God

On 5th October 1998 with no roof

 On 5th October 1998 with no roof

At State House Nairobi 1999, From left are Hon. Amos Wako
(Attorney General Rep. of Kenya); Pastor E.A. Adeboye (General
Overseer of R.C.C.G); His Excellency President Daniel T. Arap Moi
(President of the Republic of Kenya); Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye
(Wife of the General Overseer); Pastor Prince O. Obasi-ike (Eastern
Africa Regional Coordinator of R.C.C.G)
Pastor Esther with the RCBC first batch 1999 students inside their
iron sheet class room

Pastor Daniel Loli centre with Pastor John Lowoi 2nd left giving
special number during 1999 conference
 Pastor Prince baptising a convert at River Takwel Turkana

RCCG Jimaa, Ethiopia 2001 seated from right is Pastor Prince,

(The Regional Co-ordinator) center is Pastor J.A.O. Akindele (AGO
Missions) Pastor John Imoudu (National Co-ordinator Ethiopia)
standing are some members of the church in Jimaa
RCCG Lodwar in 1999

RCCG Lodwar in 2010

 The foundation stone laying with Daddy Akindele
2002 at Solution Centre

Pastors Prince & Esther at the inaugural service of RCCG

Seychelles 22 September 2002
 First Sunday service in Solution Centre Jan 5th 2003 Pastor C. Ene
on Suit, Late Pastor Beth Rapuoda, Pastor Francis Lanya and others

Pastor Prince laying Foundation stone of the Administra-

tive block RCCG Solution Centre - 2003
 The General Overseer cuts the tape to mark the opening of
the administrative block of RCCG Solution Centre 2004

The Regional Pastor 2nd right with the country co-ordinators

at a retreat at NEGST 2004
From left: Pst. Aruna - Rwanda, The late Pst. Israel - Uganda, Pst.
John Imoudu- Ethiopia and Pst. Tunji (1st right) - Seychelles
Daddy and Mummy GO at Solution Centre administra-
tion block in 2004

First visit to Malaysia: Pastor Prince between Bob and Pst

Aloy Iguegbe, his wife and daughter, Sister Devi, Pastor
Clement and Pastor Kelechi in 2004
 Pastor Prince checking into Corus hotel, Kuala Lumpur in
preparation for the night prayer-walk and declarations 2004

Pastor Tito Matirani and Bro. Wilson Odero sitting on benches

ready to be transported to Kapueta South Sudan 2007
Pastor Prince with brother Joshua infront of the magistrates court
Torit Eastern Equitorial State South Sudan where RCCG first
started services in Sudan 2006

Pastor Prince standing in front of his hotel room in

Torit South Sudan 2007
Pastor Esther ministering the word of God in Kibera
Crusade - 2008

Pastor Esther caring for the needy in holistic

ministry in Kibera slum - 2008
 Daddy Akindele cutting the tape to declare open Solution Centre
500 seating capacity auditorium 2005 before it was extended in 2008

Pastor Prince with Pastor Derek and some members of his Parish
RCCG Praise Temple, Seychelles - 2010
 RCCG Registration as NGO in Sudan

RCCG Registration as Faith Based Organisation

115
 MAJOR SETBACK AVERTED

Arrangements were concluded to send the missionary to Torit so that

Bro. Joshua could come to Nairobi for training. Pastor Caesar was first
sent from Juba to Torit to see the church and Bro. Joshua the minister
in-charge. In Nairobi, Bro. Duncan Kimeu, the missionary the church
had agreed to send to Torit secured all the necessary documents for
his journey, by 12th of February 2008. Duncan left Nairobi on 13th
February and arrived in Torit on 15th February 2008. He travelled by
road as we could not secure MAF plane to Lokichogio for him.

Bro. Kimeu met a very hostile Bro. Joshua, who reportedly threatened
even to kill him if he did not leave Torit. He said he was not going
to hand over the church to Duncan and was not going to attend any
school or undergo any training in Nairobi. When I heard about this I
immediately called Pastor Caesar in Juba and asked him to travel to
Torit and ensure there was no trouble in the church. Pastor Caesar
travelled to Torit and met with Joshua and some church leaders.
For the safety of Duncan, I directed that the matter be reported to
the police. This was done and the law enforcement agency took the
necessary action. I called and spoke with Brother Joshua, but he was
adamant. We consulted at the headquarters in Nairobi and agreed
that Kimeu should return to Kenya. Also, we agreed that we leave
Joshua with the church. Wilson Odero in Kapueta aligned with Joshua
in Torit so we left the Parish for them. Since it was not safe to start
afresh in Torit, Duncan returned to Nairobi on 21st February 2008.

With Pastor Caesar already in Juba, an arrangement was made to

locate a new town where we might still send Brother Kimeu. A new
town called Yei was identified and by May 6th 2008, we sent Kimeu
back to Sudan. He landed in Juba and stayed with Pastor Caesar for
a few days before the duo travelled to Yei on 10th of May. This is how
the RCCGs second parish in Sudan was opened. From Yei, the next
branch of the RCCG was opened at Borr in 2009. With the help of the
RCCG Headquarters in Nigeria, two landed properties were bought
for the church in Juba. The Eastern Africa Regional Headquarters
Nairobi bought the RCCG land in Yei.

When the former Eastern Africa region that I coordinated was split
into three regions in August 2010 with some countries brought in,
Sudan was zoned to region 3 with Pastor Tosin Macauley as the
pastor in-charge. As at that time there were four branches of RCCG.
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 Chapter 9
MISSION OUTSIDE EASTERN AFRICA
The vision of the RCCG to go to all the nations of the world and
establish presence for the glory of God has always been my driving
force. Any one I knew closely anywhere that the RCCG does not yet
exist remained an asset in my attempt to play my part, however small,
in the fulfilment of the church goal. By Gods grace we played some
roles in the mission in Malaysia, Sweden and Switzerland.

MALAYSIA

In Kenya, there was this brother in the church who had successfully
completed his workers-in-training programme and was commissioned
at the Redemption Sanctuary. He gained admission to a university in
Malaysia. As he was leaving for Malaysia I told him to keep in touch
and he did exactly so when he got there. This was in August 2000.
This brothers name is Bob Omole.

In 2004, I felt it was time to make a move into Malaysia. I contacted

Bro. Bob and told him of my plan to visit Malaysia and start the RCCG
there. I asked him to send me invitation letter being a student. He
informed his Malaysian pastor that his pastor in Kenya was planning
a visit. He told me they were excited about the news. Pastor Samuel
agreed to send me an invitation letter. When the letter came I went
to the Malaysian Consulate in Nairobi for a visa. I was told they had
not yet started issuing visas. They advised me to send my passport
and other documents to Dubai, where the visa would be issued. I
immediately sent my application by courier (DHL) to someone I
knew in Dubai and asked him to help me submit my particulars to
the Malaysian Embassy. This was promptly done.

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It took three weeks for me to get back my passport with the visa. I
prepaid for the DHL courier that brought back my passport. I got
my passport on 15th December 2004. In the night on the same day,
my wife dropped me at the JKIA, where I boarded a Kenya Airways
flight, KQ230, to Bangkok, Thailand. From Bangkok I took a Thai
Airways flight, TG417, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We took off at
4.15pm Bangkok time and by 7.08pm Kuala Lumpur time we landed
in Malaysia. Bangkok is one hour behind Kuala Lumpur. Bro. Bob,
Pastor Sam, the pastors wife and daughter were at the airport to
receive me. After all the pleasantries I was driven to INTII College,
Nilai, where Bro. Bob was schooling and working as well. I lodged at
the University Guest House Apartment. Nilai is about one-and-a-half
hours drive from Kuala Lumpur.

I used the first two days of the visit to pray and ask several questions
about Malaysia, bearing in mind my mission. By Sunday, I was taken
to Gospel Light House, Nilai, and I preached at the service. There
were 15 people. I was told that students, mostly international, who
made up the bulk of members of the church, were on vacation. I had
been told by one Sister Devi, a Malaysian, that there was a church in
Kuala Lumpur pastured by a Nigerian. I asked them to take me there
after service that Sunday. Sister Devi informed me that the church
held its own service late in the afternoon every Sunday

On the evening of Sunday, 19th December 2004, Sister Devi, Bro. Bob
and I travelled in her car to Kuala Lumpur. When we got there, their
service had just ended. I sought and got audience with the senior
pastor, who, on hearing that I was from the RCCG, immediately asked
all his ministers to come together for me to pray with them. This I
did and afterwards interacted briefly with him before we returned
to Nilai. Before leaving, I had taken his phone number and email
address. He was Pastor Aloysius Iguegbe and the name of the church
is Ministry in Christian Faith (MICF). He is the General Overseer of
the ministry. We got back to Nilai about 11pm.

On Monday, 20th December, I asked Bob and Devi to find out which
hotel was cheap and close to the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers in the

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city centre. They contacted somebody, who I learnt was a Christian,
who got me a hotel at the staff rate after he was told about my mission.
I had only one mission - spending a night in Kuala Lumpur so as
to afford me the opportunity to walk and pray at night, declaring
the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the city and nation as well as the
planting and multiplication of the RCCG in Malaysia. On Tuesday,
21st I hired a taxi that took Bob and I to Kuala Lumpur. With the
address I was given, the taxi was able to locate the hotel. It was Corus
Hotel near KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). I paid the special staff
price of US$42 on BB (Bed and Breakfast) basis.

After I checked in, Bro Bob returned to Nilai, while I used the
daylight to master how I would walk and pray through the streets
at night. About 9pm, the grace of God was with me. So I went out
for the prayer walk through the Twin Towers and adjoining roads
and made my prayers unto God concerning the city and nation as
well as the establishment of the RCCG in Malaysia. I went back to
my hotel room around midnight. The next morning, I went to the
streets to evangelize for Christ. Surprisingly, any time I walked close
to anybody they had a suspicious look and hardly did anybody listen
even to my greeting (salutation). But one young man I thought was in
his mid-twenties was kind enough to listen to me very keenly. When
I finished preaching to him, he asked some questions. He told me he
was satisfied with my answers. When I asked him to give his life to
Christ, he told me that he believed I was a good man and would not
want to put me in trouble. When I asked what he meant by that, he
said that if he gave his life to Christ, according to the law of the land,
the preacher would be arrested and jailed for converting a person
from another religion to Christianity. I told him that should not be
his headache but mine but he insisted he would not want to cause
me harm. He finally did not surrender to Jesus but I trusted the Lord
who allowed him to listen to me keenly would finish the work He had
started in him.

I took another taxi that afternoon and returned to INTII College,

Nilai. I rejoiced and gave thanks to God that I was able to do what he
had led me to do in Kuala Lumpur. All glory to God alone. Having

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accomplished my mission I informed my host that we would soon
start the RCCG in Malaysia. I tried to find out if Bro. Bob would be
keen to do that, but he said it would not be possible. On 23rd December
I left Malaysia for Bangkok, from where I connected a KQ flight that
arrived Nairobi on 24th December. Thanks be to God for journey
mercies.

Back in Nairobi, I maintained constant touch with Pastor Iguegbe

in Kuala Lumpur. On the 15th of April 2006, I was back in Malaysia
for a four-day visit. I had communicated with Pastor (Mrs..) Margret
Bankole at the RCCG International Office, at the headquarters in
Nigeria, concerning the opening in Malaysia. She later informed me
that Pastor Emmanuel Kalejaiye, who was then the Provincial Pastor
of Lagos Province 11, was interested in the Malaysia mission. I got in
touch with Pastor Kalejaiye, whose province later sponsored my trip
to Malaysia, on 15th April 2006. I had agreed with Pastor Kalejaiye
that I could go ahead and start the church while his province would
take it over from there.

When I got to Malaysia, I informed Pastor Iguegbe that I wanted the

RCCG to start. During this trip he organized a special programme in
which I was the guest speaker. I found out that the MICF headquarters
church had a membership of about 300 people. I got to know that
some of the people were members of the RCCG when they were
in Nigeria. They came one after the other to greet me. Before the
programme ended I asked Pastor Iguegbe if he could give me one
or two of his trusted ministers to help start the RCCG, as Nigeria
prepared a missionary that would come and take over.

The man of God had the heart of Christ. He quickly agreed and
volunteered his minister in charge of prayers, Pastor Kelechi Ndeka,
and a Malaysian, Bro. Mike. Before I left I had informed those who
said they belonged to the RCCG in Nigeria that the RCCG Malaysia
would be starting soon. During my private discussion with Pastor
Kelechi, he asked me several questions after I briefed him on what
I would want him to do. I told him that he would be free to return
to the MICF once our missionary arrived. Pastor Kalejaiye had sent

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some money from Nigeria to enable them to hire a place for the RCCG
fellowship. This is how the RCCG started her fellowship in Malaysia.

Not long after that visit, Pastor Kalejaiye sent his passport and other
documents to Nairobi for me to arrange for his Malaysian visa,
which was then being issued in Nairobi. I got the visa for him and
sent his passport back to him in Nigeria. He later went to Malaysia
and was able to reorganize and send someone to take over. Pastor
Kelechi returned to the MICF. In September 2006, Lagos Province 3,
with Pastor Oyitso Brown, as Provincial Pastor, sent Pastor George
Nwaruh to Malaysia to anchor their mission in Malaysia.

By 2011, to the glory of God, Pastor Nwaruh informed me that there

were already 28 parishes of the RCCG located across Malaysia. This
growth was led by Pastor Nwaruh, in charge of Malaysia 1 and Pastor
Ephraim Andrew Aaron, Malaysia 2. Our God is unbeatable. Only
He knows where he is taking the RCCG in Malaysia to. I have made
several more visits to Malaysia since the inception of the RCCG.

SWEDEN

The history of the RCCG in Sweden is not the focus of this section of
the book. The aim is simply to highlight how God has used us to make
our contribution towards the continuity of the RCCG in Stockholm.

In September 2004, Pastor Tillarh Mukasa, who was first the pastor in-
charge of Life Gate Parish and later our Garden of Peace Parish, both
in Nairobi, relocated with his family to Sweden for further education.
While there he was made the pastor in-charge of the RCCG Grace
Connection Parish in Uppsala. I was privileged to visit and minister
with them in Uppsala. In 2008, he informed me that the RCCG pastor
in-charge of the Stockholm parish had quit and converted the church
into his personal ministry. I told him to arrange to hand over the
Uppsala church to another person and move to Stockholm to start
another parish in the capital. He accepted.

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I contacted Pastor Olowu, the Regional Pastor of the RCCG Mainland
Europe, and told him of our plan. He told me to go ahead. Pastor
Mukasa handed over the Uppsala branch and moved down to
Stockholm, where he located a venue for the parish. We organized
from the Eastern Africa Regional headquarters, Solution Centre,
Nairobi, and sent him some money to facilitate the birth of the RCCG
Solution Centre, Stockholm. In November 2009, the RCCG Solution
Centre Stockholm started. Pastor Tillarh and his wife Lydia have
been running with the vision ever since. Thanks to our God.

My wife played a part in the establishment of RCCG Geneva. Hear

her.

SWITZERLAND

Pastor Jobi Makinwas family had relocated from Kenya to France.

They lived in a border town near Geneva. Her husband was working
in Geneva. From time to time, Pastor Jobi kept complaining to me
how she was missing our fellowship. She said she had attended some
churches but was never satisfied spiritually. Because her house was
near Geneva, she attended the service there. One time she called me
and requested that I should consider going over to her place to start
the RCCG.

I was happy to take up this challenge. She made the necessary

arrangements and in 1999, I travelled to France via Geneva. It was
a great time of re-union for both of us. She invited a good number
of people for the first fellowship, which took place in her house. On
this day, I commissioned the RCCG house fellowship. Some of the
attendees drove from Geneva to attend the meeting. I shared the word
of God with the people. It was a great meeting. I then commissioned
Pastor Jobi to continue with the fellowship. They continued with it.

As the fellowship became stable, Pastor Jobi discussed with me the

possibility of sending a full-time pastor to take charge of the work.
I laughed because in Kenya we were struggling to finance the work.

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How could we send and support work in France from Kenya? I
discussed with my husband, who suggested that Pastor Jobi talks
to Pastor Pitan Adeboye, who then was in charge of RCCG Lagos
Province 2. Pastor Jobi did exactly that and help came. Pastor Pitan
Adeboye sent a pastor from Lagos. Pastor Jobi hosted the new pastor
for months in her house and the home fellowship was later relocated
to Geneva and became a parish of the RCCG. This was the very first
RCCG in Geneva.

In 2001, I was invited back for the inauguration of the church and this
time Daddy GO was there to officially launch it.

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 Chapter 10
TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had shut them up? (Deut. 32:30)

Recalling my elder sisters moving speech during my husbands 50th

birthday celebration, in January 2010, Sis Oby Eruchalu summarized
our roles in Gods divine assignment. According to her, Pastor Prince
planted and Pastor Esther watered but God gave the increase and
Pastor Prince will continue to plant while Pastor Esther will continue
to water and God will continue to give increase. Apostle Paul clearly
states in 1 Cor.3:5-8;

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by

whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that
watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and
every man shall receive his own reward according to his
own labour.

Indeed, Pastor Prince planted and still does, and I only watered
and still do. Therefore, both the planter and the one who waters are
nothing. It is only God who gave the increase and still does. To Him
alone be all the glory forever and ever- Amen!!!

With the above background, my section will be more of a report than

book writing. I will not want to divert the attention of this book from
church planting to other issues. I will only highlight a few things
God has used His gift upon my life to achieve in enhancing the work

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of the RCCG mission in Kenya. In the fullness of time, with Gods
permission, I will publish a book with more detailed information.

The story of RCCG Kenya cannot be complete without referring to

some of the contributions made towards the spiritual and numerical
growth of the church through the womens ministry, Power in the
Word media ministry and The Redeemed Christian Bible College.

WOMENS MINISTRY

My Divine Commission

I have a divine commission to minister to the poor and the needy,

especially women. I received this commission around 5:00am on 23rd
February 1990 through an open vision at my home as I prayed on my
knees in Gombe, in the then Bauchi state of Nigeria. I was in Gombe in
fulfillment of the compulsory national youth service for all Nigerians
who have graduated from tertiary institutions.

As I prayed on my knees, the Lord opened my eyes to three categories

of women. Firstly, I was shown a group of skinny, hungry, emaciated
and impoverished women gazing hopelessly. Secondly, I saw a
group of widows with their hands lifted up to the heavens, weeping
and calling on God to vindicate them of their adversaries. The third
scene was a group of needy believers with their hands on their jaws
looking miserable, wounded, heart-broken and absolutely hopeless.
The sight of the three groups of women moved me to tears and I wept
uncontrollably physically; I was so broken by the situations of these
women that I asked like Saul of Tarsus, Lord what will you have me
do? I heard a still voice said to me I am sending you to them In
response I resorted to praying fervently for the women.

As soon as I ended my prayers, I heard a knock on my door. On

opening the door, I saw to my consternation, two blind beggars at
my door pleading for help. On seeing them, I wondered how on
earth they ended up at my door, at the home of an ordinary Youth
Corper earning only a monthly allowance of two hundred and fifty
naira (equivalent of 6 US dollars in 1990); from where do I get help

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for them? As I wondered at my plight, an inner voice whispered to
me, this is an examination; how far will you go for the poor and the
needy? God is sending you to the hurting world. How far will you
go to help? I was immediately convicted and convinced that God
was setting me up for ministry to the poor and helpless women of the
world. I gave some money to the beggars. That was the launching
pad of my passion and ministry to the poor and needy, especially
women.

Prior to the above call, I had been ministering to women in different

capacities until I arrived in Kenya in 1996 where vision and purpose
became clear; In Kenya it became obvious that my divine call to
minister to poor women was urgently needed. This led to my women
empowerment meetings in fulfillment of the promise I made to God
while in Gombe.

The Good Womens fellowship is an arm of the RCCG under the

leadership of our Mother in Israel, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye. The
Kenyan chapter of this fellowship started in March 1996, after I joined
my husband. Our son Favour and I arrived in Kenya on 27 January
1996 and in March of the same year; we launched the womens
ministry. For me, the womens ministry has always been a key focus
in the Kingdom of God.

The fellowship started with a few women and we were meeting at

the church in our compound. Initially, every Friday, I taught them
about the various characters in the Bible. We started with the Book
of Nehemiah to intimate them with the need to keep focused, take up
leadership responsibilities, and to rebuild the old waste places. Next
was the Book of Ruth aimed at building their faith, commitment and
total allegiance to Christ, who is our kinsman Redeemer.

However, as we progressed, it became obvious that we needed to

take the gospel to the market place; hence our approach became more
evangelistic and we started meeting once every month. In every
meeting, God saved souls. Some are still with us and some are now
ordained ministers in the RCCG. It was through the womens ministry
that Pastor (Mrs.) Florence Langat joined the RCCG. Together with
her family, she has been a tremendous blessing to RCCG Kenya.
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Later, in order to reach out to more people, members volunteered
to host the meeting once every month in their homes. The reason
behind this was to attract both the middle and high-class people into
the Kingdom of God as well as the church. Did this strategy work?
Definitely, it did. Through our womens meetings, several women of
all classes gave their lives to Christ and gradually joined the church.
Within a short period, the news of what God was doing in our
womens meetings began to spread.

With this growth, peoples houses became too small for us and so we
decided to hire venues. First, was Eureka Hotel in the city centre but
just after three outreaches, it also became too small for us. Second,
was Silver Springs Hotel, but due to the cost we did not stay there
for long. Third was the Kenya Polytechnic, and finally, in October
1998, we settled in our church-rented site at Redemption Sanctuary,
Kirichwa Road, Nairobi. Our monthly outreach continued on
Kirichwa Road until 2003, when the church moved to our permanent
site now popularly known as Solution Centre on Mbagathi Way.

In Solution Centre, the attendance of women at our outreaches

dropped from about 250 in Redemption Sanctuary to between 50 and
100 women. This was largely because we were in a new environment,
an unpopular site, a bushy and abandoned territory. The drop
in attendance was of great concern to me and so I started praying
seriously for God to intervene and send more women to the meetings.
We were providing food and drinks, yet the women would not come
in great numbers. This scenario continued until July 2004, when the
GO visited and spoke prophetically about the future of the RCCG
Kenya. It would take only someone with spiritual insight and faith
in God to believe the prophecy. According to him, one day, kings,
presidents, government officials and other very important people
would be workers in RCCG Kenya. I did not take the prophecy lightly
and held unto it desperately waiting for its fulfilment. For me, each
new day was an opportunity for the fulfilment of that prophecy as we
diligently prayed and worked towards its manifestation.

Sometime in 2005 I had an open vision. I was sitting at home when

the Lord appeared to me in the form of a play-let. In scene one, we
had invited a well-known man of God from Nigeria to minister in one
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of our church meetings. During the meeting, many people attended
and were very hungry for the word of God. After a while, Scene One
went and Scene Two appeared showing another meeting and this
time it was womens meeting. I saw so many people literally running
into the church to secure seats before meeting began. Women arrived
way ahead of time just to secure seats inside the church. The church
was full. I did not see any preacher in that meeting. It was the crowd
and I. Shortly after that, Scene Two passed. Then came Scene Three,
showing another meeting of the church where the entire church
and compound were filled with human beings that no space could
contain people. Others opted to climb the trees within and outside the
church environs just to have a glimpse of what God was doing in the
church. The sight could be better described by the story of Jesus and
Zacchaeus in Luke Chapter 19: 1-5, which says:

And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was
the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for
the press, because he was little of stature.
And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to
see him: for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw
him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come
down; for today I must abide at thy house.

My emphasis is on Verse 3- And he sought to see Jesus who he was;

and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

For the press Zacchaeus could not see Jesus, so he climbed a tree.
That scene showed a press of people struggling to sight what was
happening in the church but because of the crowd some made trees
their sanctuary.

After Scene Three, I was dumbfounded by such an awesome and

amazing move of God in our time. I was speechless for a while and
did not see any more scenes. I summoned courage and asked the
Lord what this could mean and instantly I had an impression within
my spirit that, This will come to pass in your time. The vision

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was a mixture of joy and fear. Joy because the church was about to
experience an unusual move of the Holy Spirit and fear because I am
in the centre of all these, which call for a huge sacrifice. For days I
kept pondering and praying over this vision until I could no longer
keep it to myself. According to Habakkuk Chapter 2:2-3;

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision,
and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth
it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the
end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it;
because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

I opted to share the vision first with my husband and later with three
of our then women leaders. I asked them to kindly join me in prayers
so that this vision would come to pass. How would this vision come
to pass and when? By Gods grace, I began to ask God what I must
do to ensure this vision came to pass. How would about 50 to 100
women suddenly turn into a crowd? How does a congregation of 300
become a church where people will be climbing trees to get a glimpse
of the programme going on? To be very candid, this did not make
much sense to me and also looked impossible.

Looking at the majority of the women in Kenya, their lives could be

best described as battered, scattered and shattered. At that time, it
was the norm for a woman to commit suicide due to the pressures of
life. I mean, that was a normal occurrence, which we had to deal with.
Some attempted suicide but because of the mercy of God did not
die and ended up in my office, while others attended our womens
meeting, as the last outreach before they planned to take their own
lives but were arrested by the hand of God.

I quite recall one woman who paid an unusual visit to the church
while I was away. She did not know I was not in the office on that
particular day. She wanted to donate all her children to me before
taking her own life. On arrival, she met one of our ministers and she
asked about me. She was told I was not around and as the story had
it, she was devastated. This woman felt her world had come to a close.
Realizing the depth of her agony, the minister tried to find out what
the problem was but she was not ready to disclose. She opted to wait
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until I arrived but was told they were not expecting me in the office
that day. I had another engagement somewhere else. At that point she
narrated her life story to the minister and wrote me a letter, which she
asked the minister to give me. In her letter, she listed all the names
of her children, asking me to, please; take care of them because she
could no longer handle the weight of her problems.

She was determined to depart from this world through suicide.

Thanks be to God that for no reason the minister read my letter
because it was not in an envelope. Immediately she went after the
woman and counselled her. With her counselling and prayers the
womans hope was restored and I was told she left the church better
than she had come.

This is just one of the many painful stories we hear daily, see and
handle among the people, especially the womenfolk. During my
counselling sessions with them, I hear so much of their pains, fears,
guilt, confusion, discouragement, frustrations and hopelessness,
which propel me to seek God the more on how best to impact the
lives of these precious women.

As I kept on studying the scriptures, I started connecting the life of

Queen Esther of the Bible to the lives of these women. God can raise
anyone from nobody to somebody. Being a slave, Esther had so many
limitations like the women around us, but her faith in God made all
the difference in her life and destiny. Based on this background, I
felt a great need to call this meeting the Queen Esthers Generation
with just one aim in mind, that God would make stars out of these
wounded women. That despite what the society may have labelled
these women; they must fulfill their God-given purposes.

The scripture says in 1 Samuel 25:25,

Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even
Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and
folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young
men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
Nabal meant foolishness and he actually died of foolishness.

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In Esther, Chapter 2, Verse 7, we read,
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncles
daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the
maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her
father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
The name given to Esther by her parents was Hadassah, which means
a myrtle. A myrtle is an evergreen shrub that has glossy aromatic
foliage and white flowers followed by purple-black oval berries.
Looking at her Hebrew name, one sees a beginning of a journey to
impact others through her aroma. The shrub is ever green which
indicates a life full of live and fruitfulness. The aromatic foliage gives
pleasant savour, which attracts others. This could refer to 2Cor. 2:15,
which says, For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them
that are saved, and in them that perish. Hadassah was prophetically
named for her purpose in life.

While in Persia she acquired a higher name Esther. The name Esther
literally means a star. How could a slave girl suddenly be named a
star in a foreign land? The way of God is past finding out. True to that
prophetic name she later became a queen and a star. Therefore, we
keep praying and believing that out of these downtrodden daughters
of Zion in Kenya and other parts of the world, the Lord will raise the
Esthers of our time. Thus far the Lord has done great wonders in the
lives of so many of these wonderful women.

I am glad to let you know that as I write this, scenes one and two of
the vision I shared earlier have come to pass. The man of God from
Nigeria ministered in our church in 2006. During his ministrations,
he stopped twice in the middle of his sermon, turned to the ministers
and asked two questions, How did I come here and who brought
me here? On the second day of the meeting, again in the middle of
his sermon he paused and asked exactly the same questions, How
did I come here and who brought me here? This time, he went a bit
further to explain why he had asked those questions. According to
him, he was scheduled to be in the USA on a mission, but here he was
with his wife in Kenya. He could not understand what was going
on. When his wife went to the podium to minister, she repeated her
husbands question and added that my husband must be powerful
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to have convinced her husband to honour this invitation. Little did
they know that it was the power of vision in operation! God had
orchestrated every step and purpose.

On the second day of the meeting when the man of God asked his
questions and was waiting for someone to help him with an answer,
I felt I should stand up and share my vision with him. However, I
felt the Holy Spirit restraining me from speaking at that time. I felt I
might be misunderstood by some people, especially having some of
our senior pastors in the meeting. I thought within me, I dont want
to appear as if I am the only one God speaks to. The vision was too
real but I chose not to speak at that time.

After the meeting, my husband and I went to their hotel room and
I requested to share my vision with him. I explained everything to
the man of God. He was amazed at the workings of the Holy Spirit.
He was glad that finally they got the answers to their questions. I
went on my knees and he laid his hands on my head, prophesied
and passionately prayed for me. This is one man that is so busy that
getting him to come for a programme within a short time could be
termed impossible. However, in our case the Lord did it because God
was involved.

Ever before God gave me the open vision my husband had requested
him to, please, consider coming to minister in our church but there
was no conclusive commitment made. However, after I shared with
my husband the vision God gave me about this man of God, he
was determined to get him over and it came to pass within a very
short time and without any stress. This man of God is Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor. He is the founder and General Overseer of Word of Life
Bible Church International, with its headquarters in Warri, Nigeria.
After his meeting with us, the Lord began to add to our church. With
much prayer, fasting, love and commitment from our women, the
numbers began to increase. Twice we extended our church building
to accommodate more people and any lateness to the start of the
womens meeting meant they would be waiting outside the sanctuary.

Due to the huge crowd this monthly event attracts, we were renting
tents for the overflow because the 700-seater auditorium proved
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inadequate time and again. I had to build a permanent overflow
structure and together with the female ministers, I took the bull
by the horns and hired a contractor by faith. During the May 2007
meeting, I announced to the audience that one way or the other,
Junes meeting would witness a permanent overflow structure. For a
500-seater overflow, the initial stage of construction was estimated at
over 500,000 Kenyan shillings (about $8,000).

On May 19th 2007, when we paid the contractor the first installment
of Kshs100,000, with a promise that by faith the outstanding amount
would be paid later, he told me that he would not want to engage in
a contract done by faith. But I assured him that one way or the other;
the work would not be stopped for even one day, and so the project
began.

In the same month, Mummy GO was on her mission tour to East

Africa and I shared with her the vision and passion for an extension
of the auditorium. I requested her to pray for Gods intervention
financially so that before the next womens meeting scheduled for
June 2nd 2007, the overflow structure would have been completed.
In an amusing way she said that I was stylishly asking her to also
contribute financially and not just pray. I laughed without knowing
that, indeed, my laughter would turn out to be like that of Sarah. She
prayed passionately for the project. What hit me most was when she
mentioned the story of Elisha and the sons of the prophet in 2Kings
6:1-7. The sons of the prophets came to Elisha with one problem the
place where they dwelt was too small for them; hence they needed
expansion. As I heard her mention this scripture in her prayers, I
knew that the case was settled.

To the glory of God, the following day, she gave me four thousand
United States dollars ($4,000) contribution towards the extension
project. Our God is, indeed, very faithful the Lord was already
making a way for us, even in preparation for the big meeting themed,
The Lord will make a Way. By the grace of God, all except the
flooring and roof gutters were completed on the morning of June 2nd
2007; the day of the womens meeting. By 1 pm, the scheduled time
for the meeting, the 700-seater old auditorium was filled to capacity.
By 2pm, the new auditorium extension, which comfortably sits 500,

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was also full. As the meeting progressed, another 700 worshippers
had to sit out in the open throughout the meeting, but with the screen
mounted outside, none missed out on the divine visitation.

Of a truth God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of
man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or
hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?(Numbers23:19).
Has God promised you anything? Hold onto that dream, vision,
trance or words for in the process or fullness of time, God will bring
it to pass.

In 2008, the General Overseer again visited the church in Eastern

Africa. The meeting was held at the RCCG Solution Centre. When
I went to see him for a personal prayer, I asked him to, please, pray
for me on just one issue. He asked me as gently as ever, what that
one issue was. I said, Daddy, God has shown me a task that is much
bigger than I am. I am afraid, Dad, I am afraid of the price to be paid
to realize this vision. Please, ask God to give me the grace to pay the
price. That was my only prayer request. Daddy put his hand on my
head and said exactly that prayer for me. Since then, God has been
giving me grace here and there to multi-task and also paying some
prices for His assignment upon my life.

Since then, our womens meeting has become a beacon of hope for the
hopeless, a light to the Gentile and a city set on a hill, which cannot
be hidden. Women travel from different parts of Kenya to attend this
one-day monthly meeting and God saves many souls and lives are
transformed. Some women come hours before the meeting time just to
secure a seat inside the auditorium. Interestingly, in all our womens
meetings men show up, too, and God is blessing them. Sometimes
they share their testimonies in our meetings. To God alone belongs
all the glory.

In 2010, the church went through an unbelievable tremor. I call the

episode a tsunami. So many things happened that would have had
this meeting closed. But thanks be to God for his timely rescue. So
many years ago, some people had advised me to take the womens
meeting to the Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi, so that we could
open it up to a wider community. First, we were struggling with
limited space in our church. Second, some women might never go to
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church but would go to an interdenominational meeting. I saw some
sense in the peoples advice but due to my selfishness and addiction
to the RCCG, I refused to take the meeting to the stadium. I was selfish
in my motive. I continuously said to the people publicly, I wanted
everybody in Kenya to know where the RCCG was located. Therefore,
I would never remove the meeting from our church. In my mind, this
could mean losing membership or locking the door of publicity for
the church. This meeting was one clear way of publicizing our church.

Every pleading from women, especially one of our assistant pastors,

fell on deaf ears. Again and again, I told the women I would not
relocate the meeting from the church ground. As the space kept
getting smaller and smaller, my husband once told me that he was
not ready to break down the sanctuary again. The church needed
space for parking and other activities. I was determined not to get the
programme out of the church.

But when the church faced the 2010 tsunami, some vulnerable
members were persuaded by certain individuals to withdraw from
the womens meeting. I can never forget the meeting of 3 October
2010. I was in the USA to minister at a womens conference, while
a guest minister stood in for me in Nairobi. While there, I got a call
from Pastor Florence Langat and she was almost crying; her voice
was the voice of pain and agony. I asked her how the meeting had
gone. Her report pierced through my heart like a poisoned arrow. My
friend told me that the meeting was the worst ever. The environment
had been more of a funeral than an outreach, she said. A ground that
welcomed women from all over Kenya, giving them hope and joy,
had been deserted. From over 1,500, they were just about 700 women.
The meeting unusually closed earlier than normal. It was a mixture of
stories of deep pain.

Despite my disappointment and frustration I still needed to act the

leader that I am. I encouraged my friend so much on the phone and
promised her that all shall be well. After I bade her good night (Kenya
time), right in the room where I was staying, I looked up into the hills
and told the Lord, my help would only come from Him. How will a
ministry born out of travail for about 14 years suddenly be said to be
no more? What a pain!
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At this time, my husband, who was in Nigeria, called me to know
if I had heard about how the meeting had gone. I narrated the story
to him. Oh, he was such an encouragement to me. He spoke to me
what I needed to hear. His words were like medicine to my bones. I
summoned strength and like David started encouraging myself in the
Lord. I was in the USA to bless women; therefore, I could not afford
to entertain any discouragement or distress. The Lord was on time to
help me.

I went back to my Bethel, where I saw the Lord, where I heard His
voice, where He acted the play-let, where I had the impression of what
He was set to do in the lives of women. I wept before Him, reminded
Him of His promise to me and asked Him, What must I do Father?
He did not disappoint. As I cried to Him, He said to me, Take the
meeting to the market place. He reminded me of the parable Jesus
told in Matthew 22:1-14 about a certain man who invited his friends
to a wedding. On the D-day, his friends did not show up. Getting
frustrated, the man ordered his servants;

Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but

they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall
find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered
together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and
the wedding was furnished with guests.

The Lord said to me those who are sick would always look for a
physician and Jesus came for the sick. He came for the wounded. The
son of man came to seek them that are lost. Go to the roads and the
needy will find you. Those who will not come have no need, therefore
are not the focus for the hour.
How will this be? I knew it was time to step out by faith to Nyayo
Stadium. How do I hire the hall, how do I get the public address
system for such an outdoor meeting, how do we handle logistics? I
thought to myself. We needed chairs, outdoor equipment, etc. Oh my
God, what a challenge!

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From the monthly offering, the women had bought a 59-seater bus
for the church. As a result, our account was not very buoyant. What
a challenging and unprepared transition! I had so many fears. Who
would attend, how would it go? I went back to my closet to plead
with the Lord for help. Again, I knew my help would only come from
the Lord.

As I thought and prayed, the November meeting was not too far.
I decided to ask my friend, the Rev. Kathy Kiuna, of JCC (Jubilee
Christian Church), to come over to Macedonia and help us. What a
friend in deed! The Rev. Kiuna played the role of a friend, indeed.
She started marketing our meeting on Citizen TV and Family TV. She
kept announcing in all her meetings that come 6th November 2010, all
roads would lead to the RCCG Solution Centre. Whether you believe
it or not, there is the God who hears the prayers of the broken-hearted.

I returned from the USA and Kathy and I met in her office. It was
a closed-door meeting, highly emotional, but by far rewarding. We
talked, wept and prayed. On 6th November, our church was filled to
capacity with women. The entire compound was full of women. Some
who could not get space either inside the church or in the compound
had no choice but to go back home.

After the meeting, a traffic jam kept people in one spot for more than
one hour. The Rev Kiuna called to inform me that since she left my
office she had been in the traffic on our church road for one full hour.
There was no movement. That became the first ever meeting when
women came and returned home because they could not get a place
to either sit or stand in the church. This is the God I am talking about.
Is there anything too hard for Him? (Genesis 18:14)

A few days later, I held a meeting with my team and shared with them
my Nyayo Stadium plan. Everyone was excited. They believed that
would be the genesis of a dream I had shared with them during the
September 2010 Queen Esthers Generation outreach. My team went
to Nyayo to ask for the venue and amazingly, the manager turned out
to be one of my fans. She was so happy to meet me in person and in
few minutes the deal was sealed. We got it for a year. We gave the
initial deposit and promised to pay the rest per usage. We ordered
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outdoor equipment from Dubai and we got all that were needed for a
start. God used some women to buy 1,000 chairs. Women were ready
to face this challenge.
The Lord gave me faithful supporters. I kept getting calls, emails and
text messages from women assuring me of their prayers and support.
Some women grouped themselves and started fasting and praying
for me. They were too wonderful to forget. I pray that in your times
of perils and trials of life, which at one time or the other will certainly
come to all humans, the Lord will stand by you and will never leave
you without a hope. He will raise for you destiny helpers. This
great support strengthened me as we launched the Nyayo Stadium
meetings on 1st January 2011.

Ladies and gentlemen, we serve the ever faithful God. Despite the
fact that it was the very first day of the year, when most people had
travelled and others would prefer to have time out with their families,
and it was our first meeting at that venue, the meeting recorded an
attendance of 2,050, with many giving their lives to Christ. Since then,
God has been manifesting incredible signs and doing wonders in our
midst.

On every first Saturday of the month, women from all tribes, tongues,
walks of life and denominations gather at the stadium to seek Gods
face in true worship. In every meeting, the Lord Jesus heals, delivers,
gives hope to the hopeless and saves souls. God has given so many
women jobs, husbands, babies, joy, etc. Marriages are being restored,
family foundations are re-laid on Jesus, poverty is gradually becoming
a thing of the past, relationships are being healed and lives are being
dramatically transformed. God is keeping His promises to the Queen
Esthers. Our stars are shinning and according to Proverb 4:18 will be
getting better until the perfect day.

We are eagerly waiting for the fulfilment of scene three. He is faithful.

Over time, God has given more visions and dreams, which will be
shared at the appointed time. As the womens meeting continues
to make impact all over the nation of Kenya, more visions started
coming on how best to serve our community. We ventured into
empowerment programmes.

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 Chapter 11
THINKING HOLISTICALLY
Our church neighbours the Kibera slums, said to be the largest in
Africa. Behind the stories of these Kibera dwellers lies poverty. Most
of them can barely afford daily meals. Their lives run in circles with the
same stories of never having enough to make a living. These realties
created a big burden in my heart and in an attempt to respond to
them, I initiated three empowerment programmes. The first involved
mobilizing some of the church members to create an Empowerment
Fund. I was the first to give money for this project and a few others
followed suit, as we opened an account called, Empowerment
Fund. This was aimed at assisting church members with small-scale
businesses. Some members borrowed and never repaid the money. In
addition, many of the businesses collapsed or never really took off.
Therefore, there was more money going out than coming in; and the
account had to be closed.

Secondly, I approached one of our ministers, Deacon Kelvin Balogun,

who was a senior manager at Coca- Cola, requesting him to see how
his organization could help with economic empowerment of our
members. Graciously, he accepted and they set up six small-scale
businesses for six different church members with a promise for further
expansion after assessing the progress in six months. Unfortunately,
five of the projects collapsed and that which appeared to be succeeding
at some point led to the woman getting pregnant out of wedlock and
disappearing from the church. What is the interpretation of economic
empowerment for this woman? In addition, on the five projects that
failed, what went wrong yet they did not need any financial support,
they had been given everything necessary for the start-up.
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Finally, the third strategy was to move away from financial support to
skill acquisition. I constituted a womens empowerment committee.
From the offerings of the women, the committee bought five sewing
machines and materials for tailoring. Our goal was to equip these
women with skills for tailoring and handicraft. The ultimate aim was
that on completion, we would help to establish a strong tailoring
and crafts centre for them. The committee hired a tailor to train the
women.

At some point, the African Mission Canada (Help Support Ministry of

RCCG under our mother, Pastor (Mrs..) Folu Adeboye), took over the
responsibility of paying the tailor. On completion, out of the fifteen
that started, nine graduated and made the uniforms of our choir for
the Eastern African Convention in April 2008. Our plan was to set up
a Cooperative Skill Empowerment centre, where they could work
together to further their skills and benefit from it.

However, all the nine women wanted to be supported individually

or to be established individually, which we believe would have led to
lack of accountability like the two previous projects. When we refused
to support them on an individual basis, they did not follow up any
other avenues and have not utilized their skills to date. Consequently,
we concluded that without a doubt, there must be an underlying
problem.

As a result, I began to ask myself questions such as: What could

possibly be the problem with these women? Why would anybody
prefer to live on hand-outs or aid rather than being economically
independent? Did we use the right methods in addressing these
matters? What more can be done to address this problem of
poverty? In search of answers to these questions I decided that for
my Doctorate Dissertation, I would research on understanding the
poverty perspectives of Kibera women. In doing the literature review
I came across a book titled, Portfolios of the Poor by Daryl Collins
and Co. In the book, the authors highlighted some of the works of
Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus on poverty alleviation. I was
dazed at the success of his microfinance bank, Grameen, as a means of

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fighting poverty in Bangladesh. In 2006, Yunus won the Nobel Peace
Prize for his success in fighting poverty. His story motivated me
into searching for an answer via a Savings and Credit Co-operative
Society (SACCO).

I made two important consultations on this. One of my consultations

was with Annie Mumbi Muchiri, a lawyer and also a member of our
church. I discovered that Annie knows so much about SACCOs that
we did not waste much time in forming a committee to spearhead
the registration of a SACCO. To God be all the glory, Maendeleo
Savings and Credit Co-operative Society Limited was registered on
30th April 2010. This SACCO is currently receiving savings and giving
out loans to members. Most of the members are from our church, but
membership is open to other people.

Queen Esthers meeting has embraced community development and

empowerment programmes aimed at alleviating poverty among
the people as well as giving a holistic approach to mission. This is
done under Maendeleo SACCO and Queen Esthers Welfare Group
(QEWG). The Queen Esthers Welfare Group is part of our vision
to equip people, especially women, with skills and education. My
passion is to see every sister maximizing her potential and being
relevant in Gods kingdom. Over the years, some of Gods children
have been surviving on handouts and this is what, we say, must come
to an end. Sometime in January 2010, I put together a small group of
13 leaders (12 women and 1 man). Our mandate was to come up with
ideas and strategies on how to further assist the needy in our midst.
This was successfully done, resulting in the adoption of the following
programmes:

THE LAW AND JUSTICE PROGRAMME/MEDICAL

SERVICES

The law and justice programme is run by the RCCG lawyers

fellowship, which comprises five female lawyers with vast knowledge
in various fields. The vision of the programme is to ensure there is
full enjoyment of legal and human rights by all. The objective of the
project is to increase access to justice to the RCCG members and the

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community, at large, and build the capacity of the community on
legal and human rights.

The lawyers fellowship holds free legal aid clinics on a monthly

basis in the church premises. The free legal aid clinics are held on
every second Sunday of the month, which is our mission Sunday.
The clients are attended to on a one-to-one basis. Among the services
offered are: Legal advice, counselling, referral to organizations that
offer free litigation services and negotiating affordable legal fees for
clients. The free legal aid clinics are also offered to those in prison
through the visitation ministry.

Through this project, the lawyers fellowship creates awareness

and sensitizes the community on their legal and human rights
by providing updated information on the existing and upcoming
legislations. Community sensitization is done through public forums.

We hold periodical camps where medical services are provided free

of charge. Medical camps make health care services physically and
economically accessible to the inhabitants of the Kibera slums. The
services offered include early screening, provision of medicine and
check-ups.

EDUCATION
The objective of the education programme is to increase accessibility
to education by needy children. The Queen Esthers Welfare Group
offers scholarships to needy children, for example, orphans and other
vulnerable youngsters. The funds are sourced from the members of
this group. We contribute to this project and sometimes a few well-
wishers offer to pay fees for the needy.

We started a small kitchenette that brings us small tokens from the

sales. Currently, the project is sponsoring students in secondary
and primary schools. One of the students being sponsored is an
ex-prisoner, who had been jailed for killing. In one of our prison
visitations I had led her to Christ and not long after that she was
pardoned and released. She is now a member of the RCCG Solution

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Centre. The Regional office under my husband has been actively
involved in holistic ministry.

REGIONAL SUPPORT IN HOLISTIC MINISTRY

In all my operations in the eastern Africa, I was constantly reminded
of my promise as I moved around and interacted with the poor and
the poorest of the poor. So while the gospel of Christ, which brings
salvation, was in my one hand, in the other hand was His gospel of
charity and goodwill towards all. As I moved through some interior
areas in the region, I have been deeply touched by the charity work
of the Roman Catholic Church. Many times I was convinced that the
Pentecostal Churches were not representing Christ effectively in the
area of charity. The little that we, the Pentecostals do is trumpeted
around so much. But the Catholic Church is hardly heard talking
about what its congregations are doing in poor communities across
the world.

While the Catholics may need to learn from the Pentecostals the
place and operations of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of souls, the
latter need to learn from the former the gospel of charity. Distancing
ourselves from the others does not help. During my Masters Degree
programme at the Africa International University I came to realize
that there are lots of things we need to learn from the mainstream
churches and vice versa.

Sometime in 1999 I had travelled to Lodwar and Pastor Loli asked

me to visit our newly established parish in a place called Kalakol.
In those days there might be only one vehicle (pickup van) going
and coming from there in a day. I agreed and we joined the available
transport. On getting there, the church quickly organized a service
for me to share fellowship and prayer with them. By the time the
service was over, there was no vehicle to take me back to Lodwar and
there was also no hotel in case I decided to spend the night there. The
pastor suggested that I go and see the Catholic priest in that village.
That courtesy call changed a lot of my perceptions about Catholics.
The Reverend Father from the Western world, on seeing me, was

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so happy and he told me it gave him much pleasure to see another
Christian group coming into the village to do some work among the
people for God. He then recounted what they had been doing. They
had opened a school for the community, a maternity hospital and
dispensary. They were also sponsoring locals in various secondary
schools and running a food programme, whereby certain items that
would help balance the diet of the people were given free of charge
to them.

I had time to pray with him and thanked God for what was being
done. I saw the RCCG going into that community as a move to
complement their efforts, basically in reaching out to the people for
the salvation of their souls. After sharing that fellowship, he asked
how I planned to go back to Lodwar since there was no transport
available that time. I told him I had no idea but was looking up to
God. This Reverend Father got into his room, dressed up and offered
to take me in his own van to Lodwar, over one hours drive on a very
rough road. If this is not true Christian brotherhood I dont know
what you will term it. There is a very strong need for a paradigm
shift among the Pentecostal Christian followerships. After attending
the Famous Haggai Institute programme for Advanced Leadership
in Hawaii, USA, as well as my Masters Degree programme on
pastoral studies at the African International University, I underwent
a complete paradigm shift.

In March 2010, I had a similar experience in the Comoros. I went with

Pastor Adeyanju Nureni, who was then in charge of the RCCG Delta
Province 2 Warri, Nigeria. Our mission was to spy the island and see
how we could start the RCCG there. In the whole island of Moroni the
capital, we were shocked to hear that there was not a single church
apart from a small Roman Catholic Church, which was running a
hospital. The doctor doubled as the priest. We told the taxi driver
who was taking us around to take us to see the doctor. Here again, the
Catholic priest was glad to see us and to hear of our mission.

He gave us a brief history of the country and the struggle to have a

church established there. He took us around the hospital compound
where the church also was. Interestingly, the government had made

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it compulsory for the church to build a mosque within the hospital
so that Muslims who went to the hospital could have a place to pray.
So, the church and mosque were in the same compound. I learnt a
lot from this as we make all efforts to reach people for Christ. The
Catholic priest was to be our point man into the country until the
RCCG reorganization in August 2010. We regarded ourselves as
brothers in Christ.

Now, concerning the involvement of the Regional Office in

humanitarian work, I do not intend to blow our own trumpet here.
Suffice it to say a very good number of people have been assisted to
become who they dreamed of becoming in a number of ways through
financial support and advisory roles. A major area we have assisted is
in educational sponsorship. Many students have been given both full
and partial scholarships at different levels of education.

There is, however, one particular case of full scholarship that I would
like to mention. Sometime in 2009, a young lady walked into my
office and asked to be prayed for to get a job. I asked her what kind of
job she was looking for. She told me she was seeking employment as
a house-help. I asked her what academic certificate she had and she
said, Kenya Primary School Certificate. Looking at her age I thought
she should still be in school instead of working as a house-help. I
asked her why she couldnt continue with her education, which would
guarantee her a future with better paying job. She then told me how
brilliant she was in school and the good results she got in her primary
school exam, but because her poor father and mother could not pay
for her secondary school education, she had no option but to drop
out. On hearing her story, I felt the church should do something for
her if truly she had the good results she claimed. Instead of praying
for her to get a house-helps job I asked her to go to her upcountry
home and bring her certificate. I gave her fare for this.

After about four days she returned with the certificate, confirming
her claim. Immediately I called a secondary school principal, who
was one of the ordained ministers in the RCCG and enquired if the
girl could be admitted. Since she had stayed out of school for some
years, the principal told me that her options were limited but it was

145
not impossible. I then asked her to leave a photocopy of her certificate
at the regional office. Her plight was discussed by the regional board
and we agreed to send her back to school. She is already three years
into her secondary school education. She is a happy girl and was
recently made the School Captain.

The criteria for choosing who to sponsor is always those who have
nobody to help them after a proper investigation has been carried out
to determine the truth. Those whose parents or relatives could only
do little, are also supported with the balance. We also seek those who
are bright and determined to go to school or learn a trade but have
no one to help them. The church under my leadership, by the grace of
God, is fully committed to this goal.

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 Chapter 12
MEDIA /EDUCATION MINISTRIES
Our media ministry popularly known as Power in the Word is
another dynamic programme that the Lord has been using to market
his word and his church. It was in July 2005 that the Lord spoke to me
to start this ministry. It was after a Holy Communion service at RCCG
Solution Centre that I came back home very exhausted. My husband
was out of the country; and I had ministered during the morning and
evening services. I ate and slept. Around 3:00am, I woke up with a
stomach ache and diarrhoea. Since my desire was to have a sound
sleep, I was not amused at all. When I came out of the washroom, I
told God that I needed a good rest. Interestingly the response I got
was that He was behind the stomach problem because He needed to
chat with me. I sat on the bed, and we began chatting. He said to me
the time had come for many to hear the undiluted word of God from
me. There are so many souls ready for salvation and they needed to
be harvested outside the church boundaries. I got worried a bit as I
asked Him, how? I got the most shocking response. He said to me
through media evangelism.

Since I gave my life to Christ in 1984, my passion has been evangelism.

My ultimate joy comes when I see someone give his or her life to
Christ. I talk about Jesus anytime, to anyone and in any place. As an
undergraduate student, I used to coach sisters in the Christian Union
fellowship on outdoor evangelism. I would take them out for bus
evangelism. We would go in school buses shuttling from one campus
to another, preaching to fellow students. While in a plane, I would
speak to any passenger next to me. In Kenya I have preached in buses,
market places and anywhere. I have done all kinds of evangelism but
not media evangelism. I told the Lord to let us not go further with our
discussion because I did not see the possibility. That has never been
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my desire or prayer. I am not a TV fan so I hardly watch preachers
on TV. I rarely listened to radio outside news and so I did not see
where that was coming from. It had never crossed my mind that one
day I would preach on TV or radio. For me that discussion was not
necessary. In any case, even if the Lord forced me into that I had no
money for such a venture and I was so sure the church would not buy
the idea. My husbands passion was to see the RCCG planted in every
corner of Kenya, so talking to him about media evangelism would
amount to wasting my time and energy. I said to the Lord, Now I
beg to go back to sleep. And so I slept.

Not long after, the stomachache began more intensely. I literally

rushed back to the washroom. This time around, I stayed there as
if it was my sitting room. When I was done, I went back to bed but
God had not gone to sleep because He does not sleep. In less than five
minutes, I was back in the washroom. After the business there, I now
sat down and asked God, Please, what is this? He said to me that
our discussion was not over until He got the answer from me.- Here
I am use me, He will not give me sound sleep. Of course, I did not
need a counsellor to tell me what to answer Him. Quickly I said to
my God, Here I am, use me. I said it so that I could go to sleep. I was
seeing morning fast approaching. Truly, He gave me sleep.

In the morning, during my quiet time, I enquired from the Lord,

how we could do this soul winning business? I did not get any clear
instruction from the Lord. Then a thought came to my mind. I said
to myself that I should call my immediate younger brother Chizoba
Achusi, who lives in the USA and seek his opinion. He is a beautiful
child of God. I shared with him everything that had transpired
between God and I. He was so encouraging. He asked me how
much it would cost to minister on radio. I told him I had no clue. He
advised me to get all the details, and God would take care of the rest.
He became the very first person to pledge some amount of money
towards this vision.

Following our discussion, I called HOPE FM, a Christian radio station

that had started not long before then. When I spoke with the then
manager expressing my intention, he told me about their concerns
on allowing African preachers to air their programmes through the

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station. I understood very well his fears. Nevertheless, he promised
to get back to me. Also, he gave me an estimate of what it may cost
us to air a 30-minute programme. When I heard the cost, if not that I
know the voice of my Father, I would have said the devil spoke to me
that night. I told God, Over to you! I was on my own sleeping and
you brought me this problem. Please go ahead and solve it.

The next day, a family friend and sister in Christ, and her children
were in Nairobi en-route to London, when she visited our home, and
we discussed briefly some issues about her walk with God. As they
were going, she requested that the following day, I should take our
son to where they were staying to play with hers. As I was going
to drop off our son, I contemplated sharing my vision with her, but
since it is not in my character to solicit for financial help, I did not
know how to go about it. I decided not to talk about it with her.

When we met, she asked me if I had just a few minutes to spare with
her because there was a serious concern she needed to share with me.
Although I was heading to work, I decided to give her a few minutes.
Her concern was solely on her walk with God and her passion for
evangelism and prayer, which were going down since she left our
church for another country. She narrated how in her parish, nobody
cared for soul winning. The pastor was more interested in maintaining
the status quo than in winning souls. As part of the ministerial team
she had tried introducing changes but was resisted. It was a parish of
who is who in the society, and so they were contented. Her decision
was to leave the denomination entirely for another church.

I listened carefully to her desire to see souls won into the kingdom and
the Lord helped me to counsel her on what to do. I told her to delete
entirely the idea of leaving the church from her options. I encouraged
her to appreciate that constructive change was better received when
it comes from within than from without. She needed just a little more
patience with her pastor and with prayers and love; soon they would
buy into her zeal.

Her greatest fear was that she must not lose the fire she had caught
in RCCG Solution Centre. She had got saved in one of our womens
meetings and was now an ordained minister of God. At the point of

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getting saved and joining the church she already was a top career
woman with a doctorate in law. This woman is Dr. (Mrs..) Abi Gitari.

When I listened to the zeal for God in the heart of this woman, the
Lord helped me to give her godly counsel. In addition, I mentioned
to her that it was interesting to note that she had so much desire to
see souls brought into the kingdom but her environment was not
encouraging her to do so. And here I was looking for who would
sponsor my media evangelism, where the environment was breeding
souls for Christ. Quickly she jumped at my story and asked how
could she help? I mentioned to her that I was yet to sign a contract
with the radio station but I gave her the cost of the programme.

Immediately, she offered to pay for six months broadcasts. I thought

I did not hear her well. I asked her whether she was joking about this,
but she insisted I should go immediately and sign the contract. That
was on a Wednesday. Well, I left her place wondering if I should
believe her or not. I did not want to get myself involved in any form
of financial embarrassment. My parents had brought us up to shun
borrowing. Debt is a scarce word in my familys vocabulary. I was,
therefore, not ready to preach the gospel on credit. I also said to
myself, even the radio station has not accepted to sign a contract with
us, so I had a good reason not to bother myself.

On arrival at my office, I tuned my radio to HOPE FM and amazingly,

David, the then station manager, was on a live show. One of the
listeners posed a question to the manager, Why doesnt your radio
station air messages from local pastors? You only air messages from
ministers of God from the West. We need to hear our own local pastors
because being fellow Africans we can connect with their experiences
and challenges. These Western pastors do not fully understand our
issues here.

You cant imagine the managers response. It came like thunderbolt to

me. The manager said, Dont worry, we are about to sign a contract
with Pastor Esther Obasi-ike. Very soon, she will be ministering to
you people on this radio station. I could not believe what I heard.
That was when I became sure; this was God sending me on this
errand. I could not wait for him to finish his show.

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As soon as the show was over, I called HOPE FM and spoke with
David. We agreed to sign the contract for the next one year and we
did.

Another worry came up. I would be collecting two months and

six months payments from my younger brother and Dr Gitari,
respectively. The money would cover up to eight months. What
happens to the remaining four months before I quickly get out of the
media? I thought God was sending me just to preach may be for a
couple of months or at most for one year on radio. To ensure that I
didnt get into problems after eight months, I prayerfully decided to
get some individuals to partner with me in this venture. I took a date
in August and the venue was Silver Springs Hotel.

Through a phone call, I invited these friends to join me for dinner

at the hotel. I did not tell any of them the agenda of the meeting.
Graciously, they all turned up for the meeting where we had dinner
and I shared my vision with them. Some of them thought it was a
surprise party to mark my 40th birthday, but that was far from the
agenda. I was set to launch the plan of God for humanity. Some of the
people present at the dinner were Pastor/Mrs. Chibuzo Ene, Pastor
(Mrs.) Florence Langat, Deacon/Mrs. Kelvin Balogun, Deacon Dapo
Oguntoyinbo, Dr. (Mrs..) Abi Gitari, Pastor/Mrs. James Abilla, Pastor
Japheth Agumbi, Bro/Sis Sina Daramola, Deacon/Mrs. Lampe
Omoyele, etc.

My key scripture reference that night was Psalm 68:11, which says,
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that
published it. My emphasis was on the need for each one of us
to play our roles in publishing the word of God. In a short while,
everyone made a commitment to be part of this great vision. We all
agreed that for easy management, there was a need to separate the
administration of the media programme from that of the church. The
reason being that since the project would be solely funded by friends
and well-wishers we did not want to mix up church finances with the
media funds.

For this to be effected we needed to open an account for this purpose

and this meant an organization had to be registered first. After the

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meeting we went ahead and registered Power in the Word. That was in
2005. Since its inception nobody has earned any stipend, honorarium
or gift from it. The fund has been used solely for preaching the gospel.

Power in the Word has transformed people, families, communities

and the nation at large and is now also listened to online from across
the globe. This programme has brought so much joy and advancement
in the Kingdom of God. In 2009, a Steadman poll rated our 8:00am
-8:30am Sunday weekly radio programme on HOPE FM, as having
the highest number of listeners.

As we took the step of faith, the Lord enlarged our coast by helping
us to sign contracts with other media houses. For two years, we aired
our church programmes on KBC TV every Saturday morning and this
was a great opportunity for us to also air the sermons of our General
Overseer, Pastor E. Adeboye both on the radio and on national
television. These messages were tremendous blessings to many. At a
stage we stopped the TV programmes while we continued with the
radio programmes.

Later, we signed a contract with Bibilia Husema Radio, where we

broadcast every Wednesday. Over a period of time, God brought in
more partners both from within and outside the RCCG. The Lord will
surely reward them all. When there was not enough money to pay
for the programmes, God used Daddy GO to pay for three months of
broadcasts. We are continuing to look up to God for help. As long as
God gives the grace we shall continue to publish his word until He
returns.

Recently, Truth FM, which is one of the leading Christian radio stations
in Kenya, invited me to host a live show every Thursday from noon
to 2pm as a forum to discuss the real issues facing the society. Even
though my schedule was very tight I saw this as an opportunity to
reach out to the society at large and, therefore, accepted the request.
The programme has started.

REDEEMED CHRISTIAN BIBLE COLLEGE (RCBC)

While in Nigeria, I lectured at the RCBC, Acme, Ikeja, Lagos satellite
campus. I was teaching Pnuematology. After I joined my husband
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in Kenya, I saw a great need for every minister of God to be trained
in Theology. So many ministers were zealous but lacked the skilful
application of the word of God. I began trusting God to make a way
for us to start an arm of RCBC in Kenya. I contacted Pastor Tosin
Macauley, the then regional coordinator for the RCCG in southern
Africa and she agreed to send me the school materials to enable us
to start.

We invited her over and we discussed on how we could begin.

Eventually, with God helping us, the school started in 1999 with thirty
two students. Because there was no lecturer to help, my husband
taught Demonology and I taught most of the courses and others were
taught using tapes. Do not bother asking me what that meant. It was a
task and-a-half. But Gods grace was sufficient. We managed to impact
the students in our own little way and on June 24th, 2000, twenty five
of them graduated with a Diploma in Theology. From the graduates,
we selected a few that performed well to assist me with the teaching.
We started enrolling new students for the 2000 academic year. Bro
Enoch Matte became our registrar.

In August 2001, I attended the annual RCCG convention in Lagos.

I had the privilege of sharing the school updates with Pastor J.
Bolariwa, now the principal of RCBC. He was very happy with what
God was doing with us and he advised me to consider furthering my
education in theology. After he shared with me reasons why I should
move forward, I was motivated and that pushed me into applying
for my Masters course at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School
of Theology (NEGST), now the Africa International University (AIU).

I was late with my application but the Lord made a way and I got the
admission. My going to the AIU was a great advantage in sharpening
my theological perceptions. There, I met with great men and women
of God and to God be the glory, some of them joined our RCBC faculty.
Their coming into RCBC made so much difference in our content. By
2004, I graduated from the AIU with Master of Arts in Missions.

After we relocated to Solution Centre and the school moved, Bro

Enoch was left at Redemption Sanctuary to assist the parish pastor.
Not long after that, he resigned from the church. With his exit, I began
again to do both the job of campus coordinator and registrar.
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In 2003, we asked Assistant Pastor Kennedy Butiko, the then church
accountant, to also take over the role of registrar. Since the inception
of the school, every one of us has served as a volunteer. As my
responsibility and that of Kennedy began to increase, it became obvious
that the school needed to employ someone on a permanent basis. In
2007, Assistant Pastor Joe Asuquo was employed as the registrar. He
became the first paid staff member of the college. During the handover
of some countries to Region one on 30th January 2011, RCBC was part
of what was handed over to Pastor Peter Amenkhienan.

At every stage of birthing any new vision, hell was always let loose
but for every delivery God sent the earth to help us. And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed
up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth-- (Re 12:16).
We have seen the Lords goodness, His mercies and compassion in
the land of the living.

I sincerely thank all the great men and women the Lord brought our
way to help us make an impact in mission. The ever faithful God will
reward them abundantly. They are like the mighty men of David,
who broke through the garrison of Philistines to give him the water of
Bethlehem to drink. Like David I am very careful and mindful of their
passion, risks and love in this adventure. And I can say like David,

Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not

this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their
lives? Therefore, he would not drink it. These things did
these three mighty men.(2Samuel23:17).

Consequently I pour this water back to the Lord. I pour back the glory
to Him for no one takes this honour to himself or herself.
As a means of further enhancing access to education, in February
2008, I started the Redeemers Kindergarten with five children. To
the glory of God, the school now has grown to the primary level and
is now called Redeemers Academy.

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 Chapter 13
CHURCH PLANTING AND NATIONAL
ACCEPTANCE
Planting a church is not any different from starting a business the
Christian way. Church planting is a Kingdom business, and like
every other business, a church that is planted and nurtured yields
dividends both here on earth and in eternity.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO START A CHURCH?

Some people have this wrong notion about starting a church. They
believe that one needs to hold indoor or outdoor crusades to be able to
start a church. While this is possible, but in real sense the real church
will eventually start with an individuals effort. As a person who has
been involved in planting or starting churches in many places in Africa
and overseas, I can emphatically say that what you basically need to
start a church are: 1. GOD 2. PURPOSE AND DETERMINATION 3.
CHALLENGES 4. PEOPLE and 5. PRAYER. You must have noticed
that there is no mention of money or a place (venue). It does not mean
that they are not necessary. However, they are not the most important
things that you need to start a church. A church can be started in any
location. Money, or the lack of it, will come under challenges to be
faced in efforts to grow the church.

GOD
The number one need that anybody who wants to start a church must
have is God. John 15:5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing (NKJV) If our Lord Jesus said without Him we
can do nothing it then means no one can start the real church without
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Him. Psalms 24:1 states,
The earth is the Lords, and all its fullness, the world and
those who dwell therein. (NKJV). Also, The heavens are
Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness,
You have founded them. (Psalm 89:11).
These scriptures tell us the plain truth. If you want to start a church,
you will need a place, you will also need money. Since the whole
earth is the Lords, it means you need the owner of the place who
would also supply. It should be noted that the church you start on His
earth and your very self, belong to God.

It is important that every person understands that although human

beings are heads of churches, there should be no illusion as to who
the real owner is. Whether somebody or an organization sent you
to start a church or you started one yourself, it belongs to God and
not you or the one who sent you. I have occasionally heard people
say, My church or He is the owner of the church, referring to
a leader of the organization. This cannot be farther from the truth.
Jesus, speaking in Mt 16:18, said: And I say also unto thee, that thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. This scripture clearly defines who
owns the church, and He is also the builder of His church. Everything
is Gods and so you need to consult and allow Him to lead you in
your quest to start a church.

The call is for us to partner with Him in building His kingdom and
not our own empires. Many churches that started on a good footing
and were built for the Lord are now building empires for themselves.
The leadership of the church must never be taken away from the
Lord, who owns it. As human beings, we all make mistakes but God
does not. Therefore, only He must have the final say concerning His
church. Our genuine appeal at all times should be, ...Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?(Acts 9:6)

PURPOSE AND DETERMINATION

To start a church, you should have your purpose or goal properly

defined. In other words, what is driving you to start that church? If
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that purpose is outside your love for God and mankind, you have
missed it and you may not venture into it. Even if you claim that God
called you and sent you to start one, if you dont love God to the extent
that you want to do what will please Him and you dont genuinely
love to see people turn from the wrong side of life (destruction) back
to God for an assured real life both now and in eternity; it is most
likely that you are being driven by ulterior motives. Therefore, you
have no business starting a church.

Starting a church is the opposite of what Satan would want to see

anybody do and as a result there will be opposition to such a move.
This is where determination comes in. You must be determined to
pursue your goal of starting the church irrespective of opposition and
contradicting factors. You may never be able to start a church and
grow the same except you are determined not to abandon your goal.
One of the most challenging assignments in life is to start and run a
church successfully.

A fainthearted person will not be able to do so. You need to be a

person of great courage because not only will Satan fight you, but
human beings will also threaten you with all manner of things. They
will say so many untrue things about you, but knowing who called
you, you must be resolute about doing what you were called to do.
Along the way, many of your trusted allies might also abandon or
turn against you. Do not be surprised when this happens; it is part of
the process of your reaching your goal.

NEED FOR CHALLENGES

Not many people would consider challenges as part of what they

must be prepared for in order to grow a church. People dont usually
go looking for challenges so as to start a church. Yes, you do not need
to look for any but many will come. You should adequately prepare
your mind and whole being for challenges. They are very necessary if
you are planning to start and grow a formidable church to the glory
of God. Challenges, when overcome, attest to the existence of God
and authenticate the fact that one has been sent by God.

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The testimonies you accumulate while encountering challenges and
overcoming them go a long way in building the faith and confidence
of others who may be coming behind or are already encountering the
same. Jesus, having seen that Peter would become the leader of the
Church after his departure, warned as well as encouraged him with
the words,
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32).
God does not allow us to go through challenges in vain. For every
challenge He allows in your life, watch out for the end result. It is
either for your benefit or the benefit of others.

Challenges come in different forms and faces. You need them for
your tomorrows testimony after victory. It was Davids challenge of
facing a lion and a bear that gave him the credentials to face Goliath.
King Saul would not have allowed the youthful David to go and face
Goliath (1 Sam.17) but for the testimony of David, which has to do
with an experience of a serious challenge in the past which the living
God of Israel helped him to overcome. Saul would have considered
that if he allowed the young David to go against Goliath in a fight and
he (David) was eventually killed by Goliath the whole of Israel would
regard him as a murderer and a wicked king. How could a young boy
who had never been enlisted and trained in a national army be sent
to fight a man that was not just a warrior, but has so been from his
youth? (1 Sam.17:33).

I have been privileged to listen to so many ministers of the gospel

sharing their challenges, pains and desperate situations. Some
were really serious and demanded drastic and immediate action.
Interestingly, these people have called on God in prayers to change
their painful experiences but the situations still remain as they were.
Has God turned his back on His own in such a situation? The answer
is definitely NO. When we read that Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man
sharpeneth the countenance of his friend (Prov. 27:17), many do not
understand this scripture fully. Among other things, this scripture
indicates that challenges will sharpen, toughen and make a man that

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successfully goes through challenges to become more useful and
productive.

The sufferings we experience as we serve God are never in vain. There

are many people who come to Christ and serve Him throughout just
because they saw our dedication to God even in the midst of suffering
with Christ.

If it is true that a picture paints a thousand words, then

there was a Roman centurion who got a dictionary full.
All he did was to see Jesus suffer. He never heard him
preach, or saw him heal or followed him through the
crowds. He never witnessed him still the wind; he only
witnessed the way he died. But that was all it took to cause
this weatherworn soldier to take a giant step in faith.
Surely this was a righteous man. ... Serenity in suffering
is a stirring testimony. Anybody can preach a sermon on a
mount surrounded by daisies. But only one with a gut full
of faith can live a sermon on a mountain of pain. (Lucado
1986:53)

The reality is that there is a place for suffering if you are truly a
follower of Jesus Christ. However, nobody has been designated to a
life of consistent suffering. Things do change for the better. When that
change comes, God expects you to enjoy it with your eyes still focused
on the cross as you serve Him. God did not designate anybody to move
from one place of suffering to another. Sure, wilderness experience
awaits every Christian, but it is not meant to be a lifetime experience.
The children of Israel went into the wilderness but finally passed on
to the Promised Land. Faithful children of God are not supposed to
die in the wilderness. You will also pass to your own promised land
as you serve God with sincerity of heart in Jesus name!

PEOPLE
To call for or to hold periodic programmes or meetings, anointing
and or charisma may just be enough to bring a large crowd together.
To plant and grow a church, you will need more than just charisma
and anointing. You will need to have love for people and be someone
that is friendly. Above all, you will need favour from God that you
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will replicate in the people of the place you have gone to plant the
church. The most important person in the church that is being planted
is you, the visionary. After you is another person who has come to
join you in order for you to actualize the vision. Many people are of
the opinion that if you want to start a church you have to organize a
crusade where many are invited and from them you will have people
to be used to start the church. I have never been a proponent of this
idea. What has effectively worked for us in the mission field is starting
a church with one or two individuals.

When we were about to open the first Kisumu branch of the RCCG,
the pastor I had decided to send to spearhead it, told me he would
want us to hold a big crusade after which we would commence
the church services. I told him that had not been my way but if he
believed it would help then we should go ahead and plan for the
crusade. We hired the Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground in the town
centre. We bought and printed T-shirts for the occasion, which we
gave free to the people to popularize the crusade. This was in 1998.
The crusade was held and we regarded it as a huge success because
many people turned up in all the days and many also answered the
altar call, repented of their sins and received Christ as their Lord and
Saviour. The place where we were starting the branch of the RCCG
was announced to them many times. When the day came, only a
handful was present. After a little while not one person among those
who came as a result of the crusade remained in the church.

As the vision carrier, you must convince yourself that as a salesman

you have a very good product to sell, which is the gospel of Christ.
Look for one or two persons to introduce your product to. If you
succeed in getting one person through the grace of God, you acquaint
yourself with him or her and begin prayer meetings and sharing
the word with such a fellow. As God begins to answer your prayers
for such a person, the fellow will gladly invite some other person(s)
through your encouragement.

Through interactive Bible Study, the persons eyes will begin to open
to see the truth. Meanwhile, you still continue to reach out to other
people with your product (the gospel of Christ). God, who owns the
work and has commissioned you, will be adding more and more
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people to you. Loving the people and sacrificing for them in prayer,
fasting, visitation and any other areas will not only point them to
Christ Jesus, but will also communicate to them that you are a true
minister and follower of God. Those people will begin to discuss you
with other people and as a result more and more people will come,
get converted and join the church. This does not in any way condemn
outdoor meetings.

Because people have been formed differently before they join the
church you have started, you will notice that some will be coming
with different ideas they would want you to adopt. You need not
forget that you are the one with the original vision, therefore, you
may not accept just anything from people because you want to appear
good and accommodative. If you are not careful you will realize very
late that your vision has been hijacked and substituted.

PRAYER
Many people admit that we cannot achieve anything without God.
But how do we get God involved? The major area of involving God
is through prayer. You pray before you start, you pray while starting,
you pray after you have started and you continue to pray even after
you have finished. Praying after you have finished helps you to keep
intact your connection with the work God has used you to do.

Prayer produces effects that last longer than the one praying. I shared
earlier on how I checked into Corus Hotel in Kuala Lumpur so that
I could go out at night and do a prayer-walk in the city centre. It
was to get God involved in the RCCG work that would start there
in future. It was for the prosperity of the work when it started. That
there are already 28 branches of the RCCG in Malaysia in a space of
six years points to the significance of prayer in starting a church. I am
not the one doing the work in Malaysia, but other brethren are doing
it for the glory of God. However, there is no doubt that the few hours
in a night prayer walk with a proclamation to the honour of God is
contributing to what the brethren are seeing.

In 1994, when the Solid Rock Parish of the RCCG in Ojodu, Ikeja,
Lagos, Nigeria, was about to start, Pastor Adeloye, who was the

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pastor in-charge of the Ikeja Family, asked me to mobilize prayers
and even hold a prayer vigil for the parish that was about to start. As
minister in charge of Prayer and Deliverance, I did as he directed. We
were involved in constant prayers and twice I mobilized the prayer
department members and held prayer vigils at the venue where Solid
Rock started. To the glory of God, that parish has continued to wax
stronger and stronger since it was started.

William E. Allen, in his book, THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS OF

RELIGION, said John Knox the Scottish reformer was a mighty man
of prayer. Here is an example of how he prayed, O Lord, give me
Scotland, or I die! After a time of stillness, again the cry, O Lord
give me Scotland, or I die! Once more, deep silence. Then again the
cry with more intense-pathos, O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!.
God gave him Scotland. Prayer is key for any lasting success that we
desire to have in ministry or any other work. Whenever people are
not dedicatedly involved in prayers, all actions will be flesh-based.
Employ sacrificial prayer tactics whether in church planting or any
other assignment and watch God do His wonders.

My wife is not so much of a church planter but God has used her to
plant two of our parishes in Nairobi and she has been instrumental
in helping some parishes start off and some big churches in Nairobi
consult her on matters of church planting. She brings into church
planting a few workable strategies. Hear her out:

The place and role of the laity in mission cannot be overlooked.

The Pauline method of church planting still remains one of the
most effective methods. Paul used professionals to start churches.
The advantage of this is that it brings into the church a crop of
professionals, who when filled and led by the spirit of God, may
bring professionalism into the ministry.

I chose to involve the Holy Spirit factor in this because if care is not
taken one risk of using professionals who are not led by the Spirit of
God for church planting is the tendency for them to run the church

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just the way they run their organizations. In this case, the church
becomes secularized with the Holy Spirit locked out of the whole
management and this can be dangerous.

One strategy that is helping the RCCG to grow churches all over the
world is the ability to use both full-time and part-time ministers.
In 2001, the Lord enabled us to plant Victory Sanctuary Parish in
Nairobi South B. I posted a Nigerian diplomat, a widow by the name
Mrs Folake Balogun, to head the church. The Lord used her greatly to
establish the work. Not long after, her diplomatic assignment ended.
Before she returned to Nigeria, I appointed Pastor Chibuzo Ene to
take over the parish in 2003. He was then the managing director of
Neptune. He still pastors the parish and it is growing.

In 2008, when I had the urge to plant a parish of our church in

Lavington, where we reside, I went prayerfully looking for a venue
and God eventually helped me to locate one near our home. Then the
problem of who to post there to start the work was an issue. I invited
one of our Nigerian pastors ministering at Solution Centre, Professor
Banji Oyeyinka, for a chat. I informed him of my vision for a church in
Lavington and my intention to have him head that parish. I advised
he consult with his wife and get back to me. He consented, and on
Sunday 20th April 2008, we birthed this parish and officially sent
out about 12 of them from Solution Centre. During the occasion of
church birthing, my sermon topic was the potters house taken from
Jeremiah 18:1-6. Prior to the birthing of the church, as I was praying
for this parish I had thought of naming the parish potters house.
Consequently, on the day of commissioning the parish, I named it;
The Potters House. They have continued to grow.

The advantage of using the laity in church planting is that apart from
their skills, it cuts costs. On the other hand, the official transfer or
relocation of such leaders sometimes affects the sustainability of the
work unless in situations where God replaces them with financially
able individuals. I will encourage mission-oriented churches to
get their laity trained for church planting and get them practically
involved.

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Another strategy for effective church planting is using trained
workers to jumpstart the work. Not long ago someone said to me,
Your spiritual children are all over RCCG Kenya. That is a true
statement. In many parishes of the RCCG Kenya, there are workers
who were trained and raised in Solution Centre. Our philosophy of
ministry is that after leaders are raised, they should be released for
impact. With this background every parish we opened, we sent out
workers alongside the pastor to assist in setting it up.

At times it is painful to release your own spiritual children but we

have learnt that for quality church planting, good seeds are needed.
It is what we sow as a seed that we will reap as fruit. One time our
father in the Lord, Daddy GO, said that when we are sending out
workers or pastors to start a new parish we should not pick the bad
ones but should send our best so that in return God will bless our
churches with the best.

The parish that God used to post us to Kenya, Dominion Sanctuary,

Ikeja, was in Nairobi in July 2009 to start a new parish called The
Ambassadors, a vision of Pastor Femi Atoyebi, Pastor in-charge of
Lagos Province 2. From the launch of the parish I announced to the
workers in Solution Centre that any one of them who would wish to
be transferred to The Ambassadors Parish would be gladly posted.
As many as indicated their interest to join them were transferred to
the new parish. With these trained workers from Solution Centre, the
Ambassadors Parish kicked off with relative ease.

This has been our pattern. Solution Centre Parish is like a river source
that gives out fresh water but never gets dry. This is what church
planting should be. As God is bringing people and transforming
their lives, we should be flexible by allowing them to be all that God
wants them to be. Daddy GO was in Nairobi one time and during our
discussion we told him about the single largest church in the city. His
response was that we thank God for them but you should not forget
RCCG mandate. It is not about gathering crowds in one place but it
is all about planting churches and using the human resources God
has brought into the church to advance the course of the kingdom.
Church planting is a great opportunity for people to discover and
maximize the call and gifting of God upon their lives.
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The third strategy for effective church planting is having the ability to
position people in Gods kingdom according to His grace upon their
lives. In Ephesians 4: 4-13, the scripture highlight the various gifting
and callings in the kingdom as follows;

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in

one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

From the above scripture, everyone is called for a specific assignment

and grace is fully released where and when one is engaged in his
calling. Every church organization has its mode of operation and
functions and this should be followed by adherents. For example, in
the RCCG the highest level of ordination is that of a full pastor. It is
common to see most ministers being addressed as pastors. The truth
of the matter is that although people may be ordained as pastors, it
is vital that each individual identifies his domain and endeavours to
operate in that gift.

A domain is an area of territory owned or controlled by a ruler or

government. In the beginning God commands us to have dominion.
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Our titles should not confuse our callings. Not everyone is called to
the pastoral domain. Understanding our domain is very important
in fulfilling the great commission. Your domain authorizes you to
exercise your dominion. Your domain gives you a legal access to the
benefits in that domain. Each calling or gifting is loaded with some
types of manifestations.

Not all of us are called to full-time ministry. For example, I know

quite well that God has called me to an evangelistic ministry. I will be
underutilizing His grace upon my life if I just sit in church roaming
around doing pastoral work. I started heading a parish in 2000 but
in the midst of all my pastoral duties I give priority to evangelistic
activities. I am very much committed to evangelistic sermons,
making altar calls all the time. We have monthly outreaches, prison
ministry and programmes that bring souls into the kingdom with
demonstration of Gods power.

For church planting, each domain (field) should be spiritually mapped

out to understand the kind of gifting or calling that will be most
appropriate for the start. The understanding of the terrain needs and
usage of appropriate gifting helps to soften and break the ground.

NATIONAL ACCEPTANCE

One obvious reality about mission is that for meaningful work to

be done in any community there has to be the acceptance of the
missionary by the people. A missionary may be rejected in one place
but accepted in another. I believe the Lord Jesus knew this would be
the case when he gave this directive in Luke 10:5-11:

And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to

this house.
And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon
it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such
things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire.

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 Go not from house to house.
And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you,
eat such things as are set before you:
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not,
go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we
do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of
this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Let me mention here that a missionary may not be welcomed initially,

but may later be accepted. There should be no rush in concluding that
you are not welcomed in a particular country or city. Sometimes you
may need to earn your welcome.

We came to Kenya when there were several bad names associated

with Nigerians. To make matters worse was the fact that some
ministers of the gospel of Christ were said to have behaved in a bad
way that cast doubt in the minds and hearts of many on Nigerian
preachers. We were looked at as suspects by many. We heard that
some people told others associating with us to be careful. We were
treated with deep suspicion whenever we introduced ourselves as
pastors from Nigeria.

It took years of their watching and studying us to convince them that

we are different. A Kenyan expatriate in another country who spoke
to me one day, said: It takes years for Kenyans to study a foreigner
and after such years of close examination are over and the foreigner
is judged to be genuine, they will give themselves to such foreigner.
We have proven this to be true. We did not try to force ourselves
on them. We simply lived the life Christ asked us to live. We lived
the life of true disciples, thanks to our God, who helped us and still
does. For a good number of years, during all the National Days
(Jamhuri, Mashujaa and Madaraka, which are Republic, Heroes and
Independent Days) we received invitation cards and still do till today,
both to the Nyayo National Stadium for parades and State House for

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the garden party with His Excellency the President. This is the extent
to which the nation and the people of Kenya have received us.

We are seen as part of them and that is truly what we are. Anywhere
we go across the globe, we see Kenyans as our own people because
we see ourselves as Kenyans. We have carried Kenyan flags in
international programmes we have attended even outside Africa
such as the famous Haggai Institute in the USA. During international
sports competitions we pray and want Kenyan athletes to win always.
Our hearts are filled with joy when a Kenyan wins and disappointed
when a Kenyan loses.

In 2009, at the famous Uhuru Park, Nairobi, when Kenya Festival

was organized to recognize ministers of God who had excelled in
various categories, my wife and I were honoured with THE MARK
OF EXCELLENCE AWARD IN LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY. The
Speaker of the Kenya National Assembly graced the occasion and
signed the certificates. In October 2010, when Nigeria marked her 50th
Independence Anniversary, the Nigerian High Commission carried
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out an independent survey to find out which Nigerians in Kenya have
affected the Kenyan community most and projected a good image of
Nigeria. To the glory of God, my wife and I were awarded the High
Commissioners (Ambassadors) award for exemplary community
service and social development in Kenya.

We have been so welcomed and accepted in Kenya that many people

are naming their children after us. There are Obasi-ikes in Turkana
and in other places, Esther and Prince are being given as names of
children and the parents actually call or come to see and inform us
about it. A bishop told me that he had named his first born Favour
after our first son and that he would be naming the one he was
expecting, Goodnews, after our second son. In all these we give glory
to our God. We cannot betray this great confidence the people of
Kenya have bestowed on us. We will continue to serve our God as we
do so even in serving the people and being examples in Christ Jesus
in all manner of conversation and conduct.

To the glory of God, my wife has had more opportunities than myself
of ministering in virtually all the major churches in Kenya from
mainstream or orthodox, to evangelicals and Pentecostal churches.
The acceptance in Kenya of our ministry is unparalleled. This is a plus
for the RCCG.

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 Chapter 14
MISTAKES IN MISSION
Mistakes are part of life. Interestingly, mistakes are also part of our
success stories in life. To set out for a life without mistakes or errors is
simply a plan not to live at all. To determine not to make a mistake in
the course of lifes pursuits, to say the least, is to be unrealistic and to
live in a fools paradise. Nobody, no matter how successful, anointed
or mightily used of God, is without past mistakes or decisions
erroneously made. To write about any great mans or womans life
without including their errors, areas they fell short in their own
expectations, the expectations of God or even the expectations of
other human beings is simply to be economical with the truth. The
only person who ever lived without any error, sin or mistake is none
other than our LORD JESUS CHRIST. In fact, when the appointment
of Judas Iscariot as one of His disciples and group treasurer is x-rayed
based on human wisdom, it could be said that Jesus Christ made the
error in character judgment as Judas Iscariot turned out to be a thief
and a betrayer. However, this was simply to fulfill a long standing
prophecy. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which
did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me (Psalm 41:9).
Further proofs to this truth are the following scriptural verses:

I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen but that
the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me
has lifted up his heel against me (John 13:18).

There is no argument about the fact that the LORD JESUS

CHRIST had no fault at all:

Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of
this world cometh, and hath nothing in me (John 14:30);

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 Then, said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I
find no fault in this man (Luke 23:4);

And said unto them, YE have brought this man unto me,
as one that perverts the people: and, behold, I, having
examined him before you, have found no fault in this man
touching those things whereof YE accuse him (Luke 23:14);

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had

said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto
them, I find in him no fault at all (John 18:38);

Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them,

Behold, I bring him forth to you, that YE may know that I
find no fault in him (John 19:4);

When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out,
saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them,
take YE him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him
(John 19:6).

Mistakes made by us or other people are supposed to be lessons to

everyone who reads or hears of such. We are not supposed to make
the same mistakes that we made before, neither should we repeat the
mistakes of others, which we have had the opportunity to read or
hear about. To continue to make the same mistakes would mean that
one is either not serious or is a fool.

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we

should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted
(1 Corinthians 10:6)
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world are come (1Corinthians 10:11).

In the mission work, we had our fair share of mistakes; it is our hope
that sharing some of them here will ensure others do not make the
same mistakes.

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MISTAKE NO. 1: CARNAL APPOINTMENT

Many times in the mission field I, and sometimes with other leaders,
took decisions and acted in a manner that was not totally according
to biblical principles either for its convenience or just in the name of
growing the church and being preoccupied with the desire to have
people of good standing in the society as members of the RCCG.
In 1998, there was one sister whom we will call Wini in this book,
who visited my wife at our home. She got to know my wife through
someone and she brought her younger brother who was sick with
HIV for my wife to minister to him. In the process we shared the
good news with her and she promptly received Jesus Christ as
Lord and Saviour. Thereafter Wini joined the church. Her husband
was a former Assistant Minister in the Kenyan Government and
occasionally followed her to worship in our church at Silver Springs
Hotel. With such a person in the church, we rushed her through
our discipleship class called Believers Class and the Workers in-
Training Class. On her graduation, she automatically became part
of the church leadership. She was appointed chairperson of the
committee mandated to identify appropriate landed property for the
church to buy and also to mobilize the required funds needed. Her
appointment to this position was premised on her presumed social
connections and capital. I also assumed that she and her husband
would contribute substantially to the required funds. I however, gave
no consideration to the fact that she was still a babe in the Lord. I also
negated the fact that acquiring a land for the Church would take a
lot more spiritual than mere physical work. Being a babe in Christ,
vesting such authority upon her without considering that getting a
good land would require prayers, ability to discern and hear from
God other than just locating land and raising funds for same was a
big mistake. The lesson is that the rightness or correctness of anything
or regarding any issue is not dependent on our human point of view,
but on the point of view of God, who made, saved and called us into
His Kingdom as co-labourers.

This sister was full of zeal. Immediately after the appointment she
mobilized the committee and they went all out to look for the land.
Not many days after, she came to inform me that she had found a
land along Langata Road in Nairobi. The plot was not so big but it
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was such that we could easily raise the money and buy. She took
me to view the land. It was next to the tarmac. After inspecting it I
told her I would pray about it. She did not want to hear anything
like praying about it. She wanted us to move with speed and buy the
land. After putting it to God in prayer, I was not convinced that God
would want us to buy the land. I told her that I was not led to commit
church money to buy the property. She became angry and said many
unprintable things to me; I cant even remember her exact words. She
rained so much insult on me and from that day began to attack me,
opposing virtually every decision I made in the church.

For instance, in September 1998 when I decided that the church should
move out of the hotel to a place where there would be an office for
us to operate from, after operating from our house for almost three
years, she opposed it publicly. It was during a Sunday service after I
announced to the brethren that we had finally found a place to move
to. She stood up and without seeking permission took the microphone
and started addressing the church. She was not even a minister. She
told the brethren why she would not like us to move. At one point
she asked the brethren to vote either for or against the proposal. The
entire ministerial team was taken aback and they were asking one
another what was going on. I asked my wife if she had discussed
this presentation with this woman before the service began. My wife
said they had had no such discussion. I could no longer take it and
wanted to take the microphone from her but my wife restrained
me. She advised that we should not allow the congregation to know
what was going on. I painfully took her advice as we were all held
hostage to this womans speech. Unfortunately, the congregation,
not knowing what was going on, was voting thinking that being the
chairperson of the land committee she had my mandate to address
the church. When she was done, we continued with the service as if
nothing had happened. Following this incident, I made up my mind
that there would be no going back on the decision to move away from
the Silver Springs Hotel to Kirichwa Road where we found a suitable
accommodation.

Another episode occurred when I called for a joint meeting of workers

and members of the committee. It was immediately after a Sunday
service at the hotel. My agenda was to explain to the team why we
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needed to move out urgently. We were spending so much money on
the venue for the Sunday service and paying for mid-week service at
another place on Mbagathi Way. This arrangement was strenuous for
my wife and I, in terms of administration since we had no office. I had
barely finished my explanation when Sister Wini stood up to shut
me up and attempted to slap me. It was a bad scene but Gods grace
kept me from reacting. My wife also did not say a word. However,
there was a worker, who had just arrived in Kenya on official posting
and this happened to be his first time in our service. This brother
could not believe his eyes and did not take kindly what was going on.
He spoke some sense into Wini and used the opportunity to inform
the brethren of what is expected of the people in terms of respect for
their spiritual leaders. This brother is Pastor Kunmi Adeyemo. The
meeting ended in an atmosphere of uneasiness. I had no option than
to dissolve the committee.

I did not know that she had written a petition letter to our GO against
me. One day, I received a mail from Nigeria. When I opened it, I could
not believe what I read. The letter had several allegations, which
included a claim that I was disrespectful to Kenya and took unilateral
decisions on issues concerning the church. She actually asked for
my recall back to Nigeria. Thank God for the wisdom of the GO in
sending back the letter to me. On reading the letter, I decided to call
her and find out if she was the one that wrote it. She was shocked to
see me with the letter. She confessed that she did, so I left the matter
there. Meanwhile in my response to the General Overseer over the
letter I simply told him that the letter was a complete fabrication with
no truth at all, but since God speaks to him he will know the truth
from God.

Mummy GO and Daddy Akindele happened to be touring the

regions about that time so they called a meeting of the ministers and
the dissolved land committee. Sister Wini was in attendance. The
contents of her letter were tabled and resolved. Sister Wini left the
church thereafter.

About a year later, the government decided to make the Langata

Road, the tarmac abutting the land Sister Wini wanted us to buy, a
dual carriage road. The land in question became part of the road. This
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would have been a tragedy for the church but for Gods mercy that
helped me to take the decision not to buy the land.

Many years later, Sister Wini came to see my wife and pleaded for
forgiveness. Let my wife share her encounter with her.

Sometime in 2004, I was preaching during the womens meeting. In

the middle of my sermon I saw a tall, huge woman weeping. She
walked up to the altar, knelt down and began to ask for forgiveness. I
was asking myself who is this woman that could walk up to the altar
right in the middle of a service, crying in the presence of everyone?
What could be the problem? Behold it was sister Wini, who six years
earlier, had accused my husband and I falsely. Gods grace upon me
that day was so amazing that rather than being resentful, I stopped
preaching and hugged her. She wept uncontrollably leaning on my
shoulder as the congregation watched in amazement. However, a few
women leaders in the meeting, who had been with us over the years,
recognized her. Recalling the incident involving sister Wini, these
women also wept. Sister Wini knelt at the altar as I laid hands on her
and passionately prayed for Gods forgiveness upon her life. It was a
very emotional moment. This is Christianity in action. Forgiveness is
a central theme of the gospel.

After praying for her, I took her to a corner in the sanctuary and
consoled her, but she could not be consoled. She asked how she
could meet with my husband. My most emotional time came when
she asked me, Can Daddy ever forgive me? I told her my husband
was out of the country but assured her of his full forgiveness. She
pleaded for mercy and forgiveness. I assured her that as a family we
had forgiven her and that I would give her sincere apologies to my
husband when he returned. Remember, I was preaching before this
episode. For me assuring her of forgiveness was more important than
my sermon because if this woman had died before that day I dont
know where she could have found herself- heaven or hell? You cant
answer that.

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If you have been a victim of false accusation in the past, take heart! I
know the emotional pain and suffering that false accusations entail. It
is a road my family and I have travelled at different times. However,
one thing we are sure of is that it does not matter how long one may
have been falsely accused, as one continues steadfastly to serve God,
one day, truth will prevail. We were not sure how long it would take
for the truth concerning Winis accusation to come out. In this case
it took six years, but eventually it came to pass. She realized her evil
deeds and apologized publicly. Unfortunately, some of those she
deceived may have fallen out of faith. A few left our church then but
today some of them are back with apologies.

The lesson here lies in the words of Apostle Paul to Timothy. Paul,
advising Timothy on the choice of leadership in the church, wrote:
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he falls into the
condemnation of the devil (1Timothy3:6). Young converts should be
allowed first to be grounded in the faith before being given leadership
responsibilities. To give a babe sensitive position in the church is
akin to exposing such to challenges that the fellow is not prepared to
handle.

Another lesson from the experience with Wini is that choice of people
for leadership positions should not be based on what our senses are
telling us. It is only God that knows the heart of everyone; hence
ministers of God should depend absolutely on the Holy Spirit to guide
them in making choices. Our human nature is heavily corrupted and
this is why it is not completely free from errors. Nobody is above
errors and nobody should feel too big to correct his or her errors.
There should be no pretense in this matter. In order to avoid these
errors we have to continuously involve the Holy Spirit and allow Him
to guide us as opposed to our unilateral decisions based on human
wisdom. 1Samuel.3:19 says, And Samuel grew, and the LORD was
with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

This scripture points to the fact that every word that came out of the
mouth of Samuel was performed by God. In other words, if Samuel

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prayed or prophesied, God answered by bringing such to pass. There
is hardly any such person today whose words are accurately and
completely performed by God without any exception. We all have a
backlog of unanswered prayers and prophecies or words spoken that
never came to pass. When the same Samuel was sent on a mission by
God, he would have made a big blunder had God not intervened. He
would have anointed the wrong person as the king of Israel as Gods
replacement for King Saul.

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked

on Eliab, and said, surely the Lords anointed is before
him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have
refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man
looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart (1Samuel16:6-7).

Have you not made certain decisions on the basis of physical

appearance or what you intended to gain from such a decision
without listening or finding out what Gods mind was concerning the
matter? But God has a way of correcting such errors for the one who
loves Him and is called according to His purpose.

MISTAKE NO.2: RUSH TO HAVE MANY CHURCH

BRANCHES PLANTED IN A SHORT TIME

Another big error came from the desire to have as many branches
of the church as possible in several places within a short time. Since
the church authority wanted us to plant many churches in any given
year we were determined to run with this mandate. As we launched
into church planting, many so-called pastors from other ministries
or who had their own churches but decided to surrender them to the
RCCG were gladly welcomed. We usually rushed them through our
discipleship classes and made them pastors in-charge of parishes.
Some joined us because they could not meet the financial burdens of
their churches, while others simply came to us so that they could be
paid salaries or stipends. In each of these cases we paid rent, bought
public address and music systems, chairs, and the like for those

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churches. There were four of such churches. Interestingly, there was
not a single success story. Every one of those pastors at the fullness
of time disappointed us and went with everything although in few of
them we managed to retrieve some of our properties.

A typical example was one of the churches in Nakuru called RCCG

Possibility Centre. While the pastor was still collecting a monthly
stipend from us and had the church rent paid by us, he met with a
Korean cleric, who I learnt offered to pay him more money, and as a
result changed the name to the Korean church. Information came to
us to that effect and without letting the pastor in-charge know that we
were coming, we went to Nakuru and collected as many of the church
belongings as we could. This was in 2004. Why did we spend and
waste Gods resources on unprofitable ventures? I learnt the hard way
that in the mission field it is better to be a bit slow in opening church
branches through raising the ministers from your own congregation
than gathering ministers from the market. Such ministers most times
are hirelings and will always leave at a certain time either for the
highest bidder or when the church has grown and stabilized. I learnt
not to accept such people again.

Today, many still come with stories of how God has led them to
join and become ministers in the RCCG, but I dont listen to them
anymore. These days when they come with their fantastic testimonies
of how they have been blessed through either our media programmes
or outreaches and tell me they want to join or be incorporated to the
Church, we point them to our discipleship programmes with a note
that even after they have successfully completed the programmes
there will be no guarantee that we will begin to use them as pastors
in-charge of parishes until we are convinced beyond doubt that they
have come to be part of us. Virtually all of them have turned back on
hearing this.

MISTAKE NO. 3: CULTURE BLUNDER

Here is my wifes story:

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Kenya is the first country I visited outside Nigeria. In Nigeria I had
ministered among different ethnic communities. I arrived in Kenya
knowing that I was in Africa. For me then, every African nation was
the same in every way. It was not long before I suffered a culture
shock. I am from a culture where we express our minds plainly. We
dont hide our feelings or emotions. In Kenya that is not the norm;
some diplomacy is needed when talking. I found it so strange. Why
should I not say something just the way it is? A normal Nigerian is
aggressive by nature. I tend to think that it is our environment that
toughens us and makes us aggressive. That was an issue for some
Kenyans. It was considered rude. On the other hand, I saw the people
as too slow for my liking. When I gave out work I wanted it done
within a timeframe but here we learnt patience, perseverance and
long suffering because someone can take his time to just get one
assignment done. At times the assignment may never be done. Oh
my God I was losing my patience! Sometimes, I would cry, asking
God why he brought us to Kenya but at all times He would remind
me of the genesis of our selection and I would take solace in knowing
that He is with us.

At the initial stages of the work the Lord instructed me to start a

childrens club every Saturday. I knew very well I was not called to the
childrens ministry. How do I start and what will I say to the children?
In total obedience I started the childrens club, not knowing that I was
about to employ myself as a nanny. Every Saturday, mothers would
drop off their children in our home. The programme was scheduled to
start in the afternoon and end after about three hours, but they would
diligently drop off the children in the morning and some would pick
them up at night. This meant I would provide lunch and supper for
the children. Also I needed to take care of the children until they were
collected by their mothers. It was such a challenging duty. I wished
God did not speak to me on this matter. One time I was teaching them
about the fruit of the Holy Spirit and I asked them, Can you name
the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Many hands were raised and I was sure
they knew the answer. Their responses made me think twice if I ever
heard God about this club. The children, one after the other, named
pawpaw, orange, apple, mango, and such fruits. I pitied myself that
day. I had two assistants, Pastor Mary Wanalo, and Teacher Enoch

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Matte. We looked at ourselves and laughed it off, but in my heart I
had some questions for myself. Such questions included: how do I
cope with ministering to these children when I am used to ministering
to adults? I was concerned that I might be far behind my colleagues
in Nigeria.

The club continued, and not too long after we started, families of staff
from the Nigeria Embassy and the United Nations started bringing in
their children. Their children fell in love with our club to the extent that
on Sundays, they would insist that they be taken to our church. They
used to call it Favours church. Favour is our first son. Their parents
would drop them off, while they would go to their various churches.
This continued until their parents decided to join their children for
our Sunday services. Through this some influential and economically
empowered families joined the church. As we progressed and the
Lord added us more children and teachers, I guess my grace for
childrens ministry reduced, so I handed over to more qualified and
passionate instructors and I focused more on womens ministry. Paul,
speaking in 1 Corinthians 1: 26-29, highlights the kind of people God
uses,

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are
called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And
base things of the world, and things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring
to nought things that Are: That no flesh should glory in his
presence.

I think I fit into the category of the foolish because prior to starting
the childrens club I had no clue on how to run a childrens ministry
or to minister to them. I knew just enough to teach my baby at home.
Who would have believed that God could use the childrens club to
bring parents who later became great blessings to the church and to
my family! The ways of God are past finding out.

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Listen to wisdom: Mission field has taught me and still does teach
me patience with others. In a cross-cultural mission you need grace
to become all things for all men. Flexibility is required. Sometimes we
are so rigid for God that He ends up breaking us instead of bending
us. We should allow God to bend us to fit into the field we are called
to minister. Our methods should be open to the Holy Spirit to change
at will. God can use anyone or anything to grow His church.

Then came the challenge of what I thought was disrespect. I grew

up knowing that a younger person would first greet the older one.
In Nigeria, every tribe has their ways of greetings. From the Igbo
we greet majorly by either shaking hands or hugging. The types of
greetings can be determined by how intimate I am with the other
person. Some relationships would call for hugging, while others may
call for just a handshake; or waving to each other. The handshake
has to be initiated by the older person, and then the younger one
responds. In Igbo culture, it is considered disrespectful for a younger
fellow to initiate a handshake to an elder. At the initial stage of our
mission work, I used to get so upset when a younger person sought
a handshake. In my mind, this individual did not have respect. The
worst was not greeting me at all. You could meet someone in the
morning and the fellow would pass without any sign of greeting.
Even those living with us, including house help, would meet me or
my husband on the staircase early in the morning and would pass
without a word of greeting. Normally, we would call the person back
and asked what the problem was? In my culture, it is only an enemy
who would pass by without greeting. If you meet someone in the
morning and the individual does not exchange greetings with you,
we consider that fellow evil or a carrier of a bad omen. We started
teaching people how to say good morning. Some got it while some
did not see its importance. My husband then came up with what he
called a prophetic greeting and this is what it is, Good morning in
Jesus name! Then the other fellow was expected to respond: Amen
and Good morning in Jesus name. This is applicable for all times.
This was aimed at encouraging people to see greetings as part of
a blessing. Despite this greeting strategy, we got surprised that
sometimes when we said good morning in Jesus name to someone,
the fellow would respond, To you. Some of these petty things
were stressing me up.
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The most frustrating for us was the culture of appreciation. In Nigeria,
we value gratitude. From childhood we teach our children how to say
thank you for everything starting from meals to any little kindness
shown. In fact, when a child is given something and he does not say
thank you, we take it back and ask him to say thank you before he
can have it back. A particular tribe in Nigeria can greet you so many
times for kindness shown. Years after you have forgotten you did
the fellow some good, he will still be thanking you for what you did.
That is the extent to which we value, thank you. At different times
we showed people so much kindness but did not receive any form
of gratitude for the kindness. There were occasions when we sent
gifts to individuals and we did not get even an acknowledgement
of receipt. We had to follow up to confirm if the gifts were received
and to our surprise we would find that they were, indeed, received. It
was so de-motivating and discouraging that at times we felt like not
giving again. But since we enjoy giving, we kept on giving.

Despite our financial struggles, we made it a point of duty that

whenever we travelled out of Kenya to Nigeria we bought clothes for
people. Due to the weight of clothing, we would always have excess
luggage. This always resulted in our having to beg for favour at the
airport checking-in counter over excess luggage. Then on arrival in
Nairobi, we would face the Customs. When they saw the quantity
they would insist that they were for sale and we must pay duty. It was
so difficult to convince them that these were all gift items for church
members. They wondered how a pastor could afford to buy such a
quantity as gifts. The truth is that we did not have much but the little
we had we shared with most people. I will not pretend; we expected a
thank you from the beneficiaries because it cost us so much sacrifice
to give out those things. Some people borrowed money from us and
did not pay back. We started teaching Bible study on the importance
of saying thank you to God and people whom God has used to bless
your life, like in the story of Jesus and the 10 lepers in Luke 17:12-
18. In our teaching, we brought out the fact that if you cannot thank
the human being you are seeing, what is the guarantee that you will
thank the invisible God. With our teachings, some started learning
and changing.

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When the RCCG turned 50 years and it was celebrated in Nigeria with
beautiful materials, we came with several metres of clothing to share
with the brethren in our church in Nairobi. When we arrived I took
so many hours packing and labeling them. I was determined to share
the materials during our church all-night vigil. I was so happy and
felt fulfilled when the materials got to church and were distributed to
different people. I expected that those who received them would be
happy and say thank you but only a few people did. After some days
I decided to find out if those materials got to the right people and I
was discouraged when they said, yes, they had received.

In my culture, as a mark of respect, we do not call our parents or

elderly people by their first names without putting in some kind
of title. For men it could be uncle, brother, Mr. or Sir. For women
it could be aunty, sister, Mrs.., or Ma. For a mother, it is Mama,
Mum or Mummy and for Fathers, Papa, Dad or Daddy. Some of our
encounters in mission field were people calling elders by their first
names. A child of 10 years could say to me, Esther how are you?
I would be gazing at the child, not knowing how to answer. In my
mind I thought, If I tell this child that I am not fine, how could he
or she be of help? Reluctantly, I would say, I am fine and how are
you too? We would exchange greetings. The poor innocent and
ignorant child would not know that I was wondering what kind of a
child he or she is that does not have respect for an elder. At the right
time, we would mention this in our teaching as a way of correcting it.

I grew up knowing that one does not use the left hand to either give
out or receive something, especially from an elder. If you stretched
out the left hand either to give or receive something you would be
chastised. I came to the mission field with that worldview. I got
another shock. In Kenya, there is no difference between the left
and right hand. Any can be used for any purpose. I just could not
understand this. So many times I asked myself, Is this Africa? Rather
than take some of these cultural differences as part of learning and
adjusting to a new culture, I became a critic. I was ready to criticize
every little and non- important thing. These petty matters clouded
my mind so much that I could not see the great people God sent us
to minister to. I could not see the gentle and polite people of Kenya,
friendly and humble people, willing to share their beautiful heritage

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(country) with strangers from all over the world. Kenya is one nation
that can be called a place of refuge. Kenya accepts the world to share
their country with them, even though in those years they were not
very welcoming to Nigerians because they were suspicious of them.
But this did not change the fact that Kenyans love strangers. They
provided shelter and still do for many refugees. Those years we could
stay for a full year without our electricity going off for one second.
Once in a while when electricity went off, the power company staff
would be called and in few minutes they would arrive to fix the
problem. This was irrespective of time, night or day. Everything
was working, light, water, telephones and all amenities. I did not see
all these beauty because I expected them to behave exactly the way
Nigerians do. In some ways my attitude affected me personally and
perhaps may have also affected the work.

DELIVERANCE FROM MORBID CULTURE SHOCK -

THANKS TO AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
NAIROBI
I enrolled at the Africa International University, formerly Nairobi
Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST), in 2001 for a
Master of Arts degree in Mission. That decision paid off greatly in
my overall approach to ministry and to people. At AIU, I met humble
faculty members and friendly staff. It was strange for me to see faculty
members relating with students in a very humble, approachable and
understanding way. I came from a background where when we saw
lecturers, we changed our direction. While we were undergraduates,
lecturers were small gods. But at AIU most of the lecturers had
their PhDs, were highly intelligent yet so down to earth. During break
time, students and faculty members would eat together. A visitor
might find it difficult to differentiate between students and faculty
members. The relationship was exactly what a Christian community
should be. It was a community of people from different nationalities
(Africa, Asia, America and Europe). Nobody behaved as if his or
her nationality was superior to others. The love of God was real and
tangible. People earned respect as opposed to demanding respect.
This relationship did not compromise the academic standards. Papers
must be submitted on time and class attendance observed. Coming
late to class was not tolerated and excuses for late submission of work

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were not in the AIU vocabulary. I saw respect and love work hand in
hand. I realized that I didnt need to always use force or intimidation
to get someone to obey me. Love, acceptance and service could earn
respect.

Our school had a mixture of people from different denominations.

We had students from mainstream churches and Pentecostals. I
had a mindset that anybody from the mainstream church should be
asked his testimony of salvation to be sure the fellow was born again
whereas once the person is from Pentecostal, the tendency was that
this person must be born again. What a narrow theology! At the early
stage of school I was a bit suspicious, but as time went on, I relaxed. I
accepted the fact that I was in the midst of wonderful children of God
from all tribes, tongues, kindred, social status and denominational
backgrounds. I started seeing Christianity through the lens of Calvary
rather than denomination. I needed to put off my denominational lens
and barriers for unity in diversity. Little by little my cross-cultural
perspectives were changing. God started transforming my mind.

Every subject was unique and impactful in a way. There was no subject
that was not relevant. I looked forward to classes. Every lecturer was
terrific. The more I learnt, the more I saw my emptiness in cross-
cultural approach to mission. Towards the final year, we did a course
that gave me the answers to my entire cultural headache. That was
social anthropology. The first day of the class was like a movie to me.
They were playing my life in the mission field. As usual, we were
given some scripts to read and critique. I read stories of missionaries
who went through some of the things we went through. One of the
stories hit me hard. This was the story of the wife of a missionary who
went into depression and almost died because of not understanding
the people they were ministering to. Their culture was totally different
from hers and she tried to make the people understand her but they
did not. She got fed up and went into depression. As we critiqued
that paper in class the lecturer asked me what I thought about this
woman. I almost wept because I understood her very well. Others
may not have understood her situation but I did. For some moments,
I tried to come to terms with what I was going through.

My jovial nature may not have revealed the challenges I was going

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through but I knew I was getting fed up with the mission work. In
fact, at some point we started telling our members like a song that
we would soon be transferred from Kenya. Many times my husband
would tell the church that one day and he believed very soon we
would be gone for another assignment. We were tired. Things were
so tough. We could not understand the people and they could not
understand us very well. In those years, an average Kenyan found it
difficult to understand the Nigerian accent. I remember my husbands
first secretary telling me that her mother had told her after one of
our services that my husband preached all through in tongues. Her
mother was serious about what she was saying. She actually believed
that my husband preached in tongues. The secretary had to correct her
by telling her that my husband preached in English. Her mother was
shocked because, according to her she did not understand anything.

Back to my AIU class, after some minutes I responded to a lecturers

question but rather than answering, I asked questions such as why
is it that majority of Kenyans I have met dont greet people? Why is
it that people dont say thank you when they receive gifts? Why is it
that people dont like to be corrected? Why? Why and Why? Some of
my colleagues were kind enough to explain the culture of Kenya to
me. According to one of them, in his tribe, when you do something
good to someone, the fellow will take some time to come and say
thank you. It may even take weeks before the fellow will organize to
visit you and say thank you. That explanation did not make so much
sense to me. The explanation that made so much sense to me was
the one for greetings. One of the students informed the class that the
behaviour of Kenyans who live in Nairobi did not totally represent
the Kenyan culture. Nairobians have abandoned Kenyan culture.
There is a huge influence of the Western world in Nairobi. People are
completely mixed up in cultures. Even the way of life like cooking and
dressing are all under foreign influence. This explanation made some
sense to me. We were dealing with some urbanization issues here. I
remembered a course on urbanization that we did. I was beginning
to see my ignorance. One student said that in Kenya every tribe has
its own way of greeting or showing respect. For some tribe, the older
should greet the younger. Shaking of hands is acceptable here and
nobody sees it as a mark of disrespect. Calling older people by their
first names is not a big deal here. They made my mountain look so
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small that I asked myself, why had I troubled myself all these while?
I almost got depressed over non-issues. Use of the left hand to give
something was considered normal, after all God created both the left
and right hands and there are some people who are left-handed. It was
a day of deliverance for me. I asked my lecturer why this course was
not done earlier. As I drove home, I could not stop thinking of all the
unnecessary pains I went through just because of cultural differences.
From that day I began to see people and things differently. These days
I dont really bother how I am addressed or greeted. But I still teach
about thanksgiving and living a life of gratitude because it is a biblical
principle. I am very glad that my family is today seeing the fruits of
our years of labour and those of other churches and ministries. The
spiritual climate in Kenya today is so different from what we saw 17
years ago. God is at work.

Some of the lessons we can learn from our experiences, especially my

own, being the weaker vessel, are as follows:

FIRST LESSON: PREPARATION

People should be prepared before they are sent out to the mission
field. There are some basic knowledge of cross-cultural mission that
should be taught to the missionaries before being sent out. If possible,
the missionary should go on a short-term mission to the particular
field before he or she is finally sent out. As a single sister in 1990, I
had the privilege of going on a short-term mission called Operation
Joshua under Calvary Productions (CAPRO). After few weeks of
orientation in their mission school at Ganarop, Nigeria, I was posted
to a village called Berekuta in northern Nigeria. That was my very first
time to hear of such a village in Nigeria. I did not know it existed. My
experience there is a subject of another book. That short missionary
journey opened my eyes to what village mission, especially among
Muslims, looks like. We fetched water from the brooks where cows
and other animals also drank water from. We trekked miles in search
of water and when we found one it was very dirty, but since we had
no alternative we ended up drawing from it. When we got home we
would boil it before using it. There was no guarantee that the brook
would be there the next day. At times by the next day it had dried up.

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Although this place is a part of Nigeria, it was different in so many
ways. I had to learn their greetings, food and lifestyle, generally. I am
not good at learning new languages and in a way this is not good for
mission work. While in Berekuta, I could only speak and understand
greetings. I was a graduate but I ended up acting like an illiterate.
My inability to communicate in their language limited my usefulness,
especially when it came to witnessing the gospel to them. I resorted
to intercessory sessions, with fasting and prayers. CAPRO used a
medical clinic as an entry point into that community. I helped out
with cleaning and other such jobs.

One time, a beloved brother came to visit us and he brought for us

just a small tin of canned tomatoes. It was like manna from heaven.
That was the first and last tin of tomatoes I saw in that place. As small
as it was we used it for days to make stew. We were very excited that
someone had remembered us. To get out of that village to the main
road we would trek for hours. Therefore, for someone to have thought
about us and trekked many kilometres just to visit us was like God
coming to see us. That day I understood the power of demonstrating
love towards the poor, the abandoned and the missionaries. What I
learnt from that short mission is helping to shape the way I treat other
missionaries under us, especially the very poor among them.

SECOND LESSON: INVOLVE YOUR SPOUSE

The pastors wife has vital roles to play in enhancing the work of
mission. For her to play her role effectively she should be involved
in the process. When a pastors or missionarys wife is not integrated
into the work, she will feel left out and may not participate, and could
feel frustrated resulting in her being antagonistic against the work or
against her husband. It was said that Jonathan Edwards, who was a
key figure in Americas Great Awakening had one of the most blissful
marriages in his time. It is written that one of the secrets was that he
shared his ministry with Sarah his wife and thus gave her a larger
role than many women of that time enjoyed. It was an uncommon
union, indeed (Peterson 1984:101). This testimony is a sharp contrast
to the marriage of William and Dorothy Booth. William Booth was
the pioneer among missionary pioneers, Bible translator par excellence
and the one who launched the modern missionary movement.

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(Peterson 1984:163). Despite such a high profile William had a
miserable marriage. His home was full of friction. His busy schedule
excluded him from what should have been a family tie. His wife
Dorothy suffered so much from emotional problems to the extent that
she became insane. Peterson states:

Quite possibly she felt neglected, even abandoned, by

her husband. He seemed always to have important things
to doAs William moved into his world of
dreaming the impossible, Dorothy gradually drifted
into her dream world too. Williams world was growing;
Dorothys was shrinking. (172).

Dorothys world shrank until she died a sick and emotionally

traumatized woman. Wives need counseling even by their husbands.
The men have a way of taking in so much, but naturally women
break down more easily. Mission work is very demanding. We need
to always strike a balance between home affairs and ministry. The
culture shock in Kenya affected me more than it did my husband.

A missionarys family members are his first counselees. Unfortunately,

most missionaries or ministers of God would rather give time to
others, listening and counseling them but not their wives. At the very
initial stage of our mission work, I suffered from such an attitude
from my husband. He would stay in church from morning until
night, not minding what was happening at home. I was also involved
in the work but felt we also needed some time to discuss family issues
rather than church matters but he would not understand. One time
in order to get his attention, I went to his office as a counselee and sat
before him just the way others did. He asked me, What is it? I said.
I have come for counseling. He told me we would do that at home.
I refused and he was adamant. He insisted we talk at home. I left his
office terribly wounded. When he came home we still did not discuss
the matter.

At another time, a couple in the church felt we had worked so hard

that we needed some holiday. On our own we could not afford any
holiday. Mr. and Mrs.. Lester Wako paid for a two-day holiday for
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us at a restaurant that doubles as a lodge on Kindaruma Drive, off
Ngong Road, Nairobi. We checked into that restaurant on Friday and
I was so excited, looking forward to having a restful weekend. We
were to stay there from Friday evening to Sunday morning. After we
checked into the place, my husband began making calls to find out
about the state of our church equipment in readiness for the Sunday
service. I reminded him that we were there to rest but my reminder
fell on deaf ears. He spent so much time organizing for the Sunday
service on phone. I was enduring and wondering what was going on
there.

By Saturday, he told me he needed to rush to the city centre to get the

piano for the Sunday service. The piano had gone for repairs and so he
needed to pick it up. I advised him to send the choir leader to do that
but he did not want that. He was not sure if the choir leader would
comply with that instruction because in those days the triviality with
which people handled important matters was despicable. He did not
want any mess on Sunday. I tried to explain to him that a couple had
spent money just to bring us to this place but since we came it had
been business as usual. He told me that if anything went wrong with
the Sunday service, it would be he that the blame would be upon.
Every effort to stop him did not bear fruit, so I told him we had better
go home as we had only relocated geographically. He told me to get
our things ready so that as soon he returned from the City Centre
with the piano, we would be heading home. That was exactly how we
left that place. My heart was broken.

As we progressed in mission work and I began to mature, I realized

that he had been contending with the initial challenges of mission work
where there was no dependable human resource. He had to step in,
virtually in everything. If not, things might not go well. I know some
missionaries are currently in that stage. My advice to such people is
that both the husband and wife should understand the timing and
the emotional issue attached to it. What I would have expected from
my husband was to explain in a better way and at least handle me
with some gentleness and make up the time some other time. The
pastors wife should not be a victim of mission challenges. Over the
years, God has sent us help so my husband has changed. We can now
demarcate church matters from family concerns and we share more

190
time together as a family. The work has increased tremendously but
through Gods help and wisdom, we now find time for each other
and for our children. The first five years of our mission work was
turbulent. For those years my husband never went on annual leave.
Thanks to God things have changed and he no longer jokes with his
annual leave. These days as a family we go on holidays.

I strongly advise that every minister of God, whether full-time or

part-time should incorporate his wife into the ministry. But the wives
of ministers of God must show great interest in what their husbands
are doing. Men love to know that their wives are cheering them on
as well as being participants in the work. The greatest cheer team for
any man of God is the family. Once the family is together, they can go
through any storm and come out stronger.

Many years ago, as we were preparing to go for our monthly all-night

prayer meeting, our first son met me on the staircase and asked me,
Mum are you preaching tonight? I asked him why the question? He
said: Mum just answer me! Are you preaching tonight? I responded,
yes. He said: Yeeeeh! I asked why the excitement? His response
gave me the greatest strength ever to keep up with my evangelistic
ministry. Our son said to me, Mum I love to hear you preach. Even
if I am sleeping, as soon you take up the microphone, I will wake
up to listen to your sermon. This response was very interesting so
I wanted to hear more so I asked him, Favour tell me, what do you
love about my sermon? He said, Mum, you prepare your messages
very well and you give a point by point sermon, which makes it very
easy to remember your sermons and mum you can tell stories. In fact
when anyone is absent from church the fellow will want to know
what you preached and what story you told.

God used our son to make me know my ministry of preaching is

making impact. Although I have heard that time and time again
from so many people, the compliment from our son meant so much
more than any other to me. The reason is because when a prophet is
honoured in his own home, then that is a higher level of honour. The
children watch their parents lifestyle to see if that conforms to what
they preach and if it does not, they may detest their parents ministry.

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God enabled me to get to this level of ministry because my husband
fully integrated me into his life and the call of God upon his life. Like
earlier stated, we are partners in the vineyard. In Kenya, people tend
to know me more than they know my husband, but each time I have
an opportunity to preach outside our church, I always tell the people
that my husband is the key figure in our ministry. But because by
nature he is not as outgoing as I am, many people may not know him
as much I am known. But I tell people that when it comes to church
planting he is the real pillar behind our mission work. I am sure from
this book you would testify the same. His other key operational area
in ministry is in the power gifts. My evangelistic approach to ministry,
sociable lifestyle and large social network contribute to the progress
of the work. I know my part and he knows his part, and hence, there
is no confusion or conflict.

THIRD LESSON: MISSIONARIES ARE ASSETS, USE

THEIR KNOWLEDGE
On the part of the church, there should be some tailor-made training
for missionary/pastors wives. Before they are sent out to the mission
field, these wives should be mentored by missionary wives who had
been in the field. This suggests that every mission-oriented church
should have structures for short-term training for missionary wives.
This is one of the things I would want to dedicate my later days to
do. I will not want to see other missionary wives go through what
I went through. They may still have to experience some culture
shocks peculiar to their mission field, but the impact will not be as
emotionally traumatizing as it would have been if they were mentally
prepared before time.

Missionaries are assets to any organization. As a matter of fact any

church that sends out missionaries should have structures that
motivate and encourage them because they are great assets and not
liabilities. Missionaries should be honoured even more than the way
the world honours her military. When someone has been sent to the
field, it is like sending someone to the world unknown. Frequent
communication should be maintained between the sending church
and the missionary, prayers should be often made for the missionaries

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and periodic visits should be made to see how they are faring. Any
time they come home, they should be treated with great love and
respect because they are image makers. Missionaries are the image
makers and builders of any church or ministry. They represent the
organization and liaison between the world and the sending church.
They are ambassadors. Missionaries are organizational trademarks.
It is the way they brand the church that the world will see such a
church. Their reward is great in heaven but Jesus also promised them
good living here on earth. In Mark 10: 28-30 we read;

Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all,
and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said,
Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospels, But he
shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Peter asked Jesus what will be their rewards for answering the call
to full- time ministry and Jesus did not rebuke him for asking that
question, rather as a loving Master who knows how to give good
gifts to his servants, Jesus reassured him that God is not unfaithful to
forget their sacrifice. He will surely reward their sacrifices.

Did Jesus fulfill his promise to them? Oh yes he did. In the entire
account of the works of these apostles, they had the full backing of
heaven in demonstration of the power of God, they got thousands
as sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers in the faith, and they never
lacked any good thing. In fact the church lacked nothing because
resources were shared as per the need as recorded in Acts 2:41-45;

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:

and the same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in
the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and
many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And

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 all that believed were together, and had all things common;
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to
all men, as every man had need.

Any faith based organization that understands and practices this

principle, will have better results on their mission fields.

Church organizations should both invest in training the wives of

missionaries and in turn use them to train others. I am a beneficiary of
this. While doing my Master of Arts degree at AIU, it was so hard to
continue supporting myself financially. I solicited help from Daddy
GOs office, and thanks to God and him, my request was granted
and with the financial support I got from him, the burden of tuition
fees was taken away. In 2009, I enrolled for my doctorate degree at
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA,
USA. After one year in school, I knew it would be impossible to
sustain the cost. I got some percentage of scholarship from FULLER
for my tuition, but what was remaining was still high, coupled with
my air tickets every year from Nairobi to California, housing, food
and books. I needed help. Again I asked for help from Daddy GOs
office and help came for three years. I am very grateful to him. The
Lord will continue to honour him, his family and the RCCG. On 6th
November 2012, I successfully defended my dissertation for doctor of
missiology degree.

Now, what should be my trade back to the RCCG and the body of
Christ? I believe that I strongly owe the body of Christ, especially the
RCCG, to use my skill and knowledge to train other pastors and their
wives on cross-cultural mission. My doctorate is in missiology and
this has helped theoretically in shaping what I know practically about
mission work. I believe that someone who has done cross-cultural
work since 1995 might have a few valuable contributions to make in
this area.

My suggestion would be that the wives of missionaries who have

succeeded should be given platforms to share their experiences with
the upcoming missionary wives. Once in a while the missionary
wives could be asked to go home to teach short courses on cross-
cultural realties and sometimes the church should re-evaluate her

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doctrinal issues to see how some of them affect either positively or
negatively the mission work. With such forums, the missionary wives
are encouraged to share their experiences in the fields and through
discussions and interactions knowledge can be shared. This will be
a great tool for creating awareness, team-building, and networking
among the missionary wives, resulting in advancement of the
kingdom.

FOURTH LESSON: THE MISSIONARY SHOULD ADOPT

AND ADAPT THE CULTURE AND WORLDVIEW OF THE
PEOPLE
Another lesson to learn from my cultural challenge is that the
missionary should respect and accept the culture of the people he or
she is serving, provided it is not sinful. God reveals himself through
the lens of culture.

When God sought to communicate with Jews, he did

not first demand that they learn a language and culture
that allowed them, for example, to better understand his
lovingness. He employed Hebrew linguistic and cultural
forms in spite of their inadequacy in this respect. He even
went to the extent of endorsing (for them, though obviously
not for everyone at all times) at least major portions of
Hebrew culture as it was. He did this even though he
knew that their culturally conditioned fear of him would
constitute a serious impediment to getting his lovingness
across to Hebrews. This appears to account for the fact that
God chose to work with Hebrews in terms of culturally
understood covenant relationship (Kraft 2005:89-90).

An attempt by a missionary to condemn a peoples culture while

imposing his own culture on those he is called to serve will destroy
the work. Over the years I have learnt the tool of dialogue, which
was not my style before coming to mission field. In Nigeria, we
obey instructions without asking questions. At times we did not
understand why we were doing what we were doing but we were not
supposed to ask any question. This pattern of behaviour helps us to

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obey our leaders. However, I also know that some of the people who
claim to be obeying orders are obeying with murmuring, complaining
and bitterness. They would wish to understand but our system and
cultural values may not allow that, so we put up with that. In Kenya,
the culture is different. The people want to understand why things
are done the way they are done. They believe it is their constitutional
right to understand the what and why in the society. This culture
is also adopted within their church system. According to Kenyans,
when they are not allowed to ask questions, they feel they are being
taken back to the days of colonial rule, and so they resist it.

Since we have understood their cultural values, what we do is to see

a way to help them understand where and when to draw the line
between their quest to understand issues before they obey and the
Christian doctrine of faith and obedience since God expects us to
obey His commandments and divine instructions without asking
questions. On the other hand, God also takes His time in the Bible to
explain His ways to us so that nobody plays ignorance. But there are
times God gives instructions and without any explanation expects us
to fully obey such instructions. In this case the role of the missionary,
for example, in Kenya would be first to show the people sincere
love in his or her commitment to serve them, then build some level
of trust with them, let them know that you can be trusted. Through
experience, we know that the best thing is to let them see the practical
life of Christ in you and then when you give them instructions they
will obey without any question because they trust and believe in your
sense of judgment.

It will be of great advantage if every missionary asks for the history

of the people he is called to minister to. The history of a people has
a way of shaping their culture. According to Kenyas history, the
people suffered so much under oppressive colonial rule. They gained
independence in 1963. According to them, any attitude that suggests
oppression or dictatorship reminds them of colonial rule, a reminder
that elicits resistance and opposition by all means. Another factor is
the level of poverty. As in most African countries, the level of poverty
is high and the gap between the rich and the poor is huge. We have a
common saying that a hungry man is an angry man. Poverty has a way
of making people suspect any move around them. Poverty defines

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the world of her slaves. It gives her citizens a slavery mentality. The
Bible says, The rich mans wealth is his strong city: the destruction
of the poor is their poverty (Proverb 10:15).

What is destroying the poor is their poverty mentality. To change

the economic status of a poor man or woman, his or her poverty
worldview must first be changed. This will involve first engaging
this poor person for some time with the aim of transforming his or
her poverty perspective. Subsequently, economic empowerment
initiative could be introduced and hopefully tangible change can be
achieved.

On 28th October 2011, I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo

to minister in our church there. On the day I was to minister to the
women, it started raining in the morning. The meeting was to start at
10:00am and the rain started much earlier. I had travelled with Pastor
(Mrs..) Florence Langat. We were already waiting to be picked for the
meeting. Then the host pastor called to suggest that the meeting may
not actually take place because of the rain. I was surprised. I told him
that I didnt think we should go that way. They had advertised the
meeting and we had spent money just to come to minister. We had
prepared spiritually and so why should the meeting not hold? He said
we might have to change the time. Well I told him to do whatever was
convenient for them. He moved the time. Eventually the rain stopped
and we went for the meeting. It was a great meeting and God saved
souls. Women were so happy, asking for more of such meetings

After the meeting I asked the pastor to help me understand why

he would have cancelled the meeting that had blessed people. That
was when he explained to me that when it rains people do not like
walking on the road because of naked electricity wires everywhere.
Their electricity connection is so poor that whenever it rains someone
could step on live wire and be electrocuted. They have been advised
to stay at home as much as possible whenever it rains. Oh no, I felt
bad for having misunderstood his decision. Pastor Langat and I had
thought the people were lazy or had a wrong attitude towards the
things of God. We were wrong. The people were concerned about
their lives. We learnt how to give people opportunity to first explain
themselves before we pass judgment. The church is beginning to be

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more judgmental than the world. We are quick to pass judgment on
innocent children of God. A missionary should not have a judgmental
attitude, especially towards other children of God.

This reminds me of an incident that happened some months ago.

After a Sunday service, I was told a man wanted to see me and I
asked them to send him in. He came in and introduced himself as a
pastor in the RCCG in a certain country and that he was in my office
to sincerely apologize for judging me harshly. I was meeting him
for the very first time so I could not understand where and when he
judged me harshly. He then narrated his story. According to him, we
had flown in the same plane from a certain country to Nairobi. We
both sat in the business class. He even told me my seat number in the
plane. While in the plane something was telling him to greet me, but
he refused to say hello to me. However, he kept looking at me. Then
he overheard my phone conversation with someone. This was before
we were asked to switch off our phones for take-off. He overheard me
talking to this fellow about Jesus Christ and he asked himself, can this
woman be a Christian? He thought I could not be one. But why was
I busy talking about Jesus on phone? He was fighting within himself
whether I was a Christian or not. Eventually, he never spoke to me
and the plane took off. On arrival in Nairobi, the same voice told him
to greet me but he still refused and we went our different ways. Of
course, I never noticed him in the plane or outside. I was very eager
to know why he doubted my Christianity. This was the very first time
I heard that someone looked at me and doubted my Christianity. He
continued with his story. He doubted my Christianity because of my
dressing. For him, a Christian should not look the way I looked. I had
a very decent well-covered skirt and blouse. My skirt covered my
knees down to my toes. His problem was why should I be wearing
beads on my neck and a bangle on my wrist? I had worn a red
accessory of small-beaded necklace and wrist bangle. For this pastor,
wearing beads and beautiful dressing were not for a Christian. But
he said he wondered all through why this person would be speaking
about Jesus?

We arrived in Nairobi on Saturday and on Sunday; he was supposed

to go to church. He asked the Lord; If you want me to attend church
show me the RCCG church or else I will not attend any church. The

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Lord directed him to the telephone directory in his hotel room. There,
he saw the RCCG, Solution Centre and he got ready to go to church.
The taxi man he used knew our church very well so it was not difficult
locating us. As the man entered the church he got the shock of his life.
Who did he see at the altar? The same woman he has judged harshly.
I was the preacher of the day and after my sermon I made altar call
and so many people gave their lives to Christ. The man could not wait
for the service to end so that he could meet with me. Here he was in
my office, a pastor from the same organization I represent. It was very
emotional. I welcomed him very well and we introduced ourselves to
each other. He was in Nairobi on a short visit. After he left my office,
he sowed a seed towards our womens outreach. The pastor judged
me in two ways. First, by my dressing I could not be a Christian and
secondly he assumed I was from a certain tribe in Nigeria, which,
according to him, likes dressing with beads. In fact, he told me that
he had said to himself, this woman must be from this tribe because
they like such dressing. He was wrong. I am not from that tribe. It
will be good if Christians, especially ministers of God, learn to accept
people the way they are, try to understand people before they make
up minds about them.

In a nutshell, culture is part of life. It is the way every community

sees, understands and interprets life. The missionary, based on Bible
principles should help the people see Gods love through the lens of
their culture and empower them to put their total trust in the almighty
God.

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 Chapter 15
GOING FORWARD
As the year 2012 comes to a close, it will be exactly 53 years of Gods
grace, mercy and love in my life here on earth. The only one who
knows what the future holds is God. As God keeps us alive, we will
continue to serve Him with the whole of our hearts, with integrity
and love. Justice shall remain the central message that our lives will
portray. We will endeavour by Gods grace to keep the fulfillment of
the promise I made to God concerning the naturally poor, as explained
in the earlier parts of this book and added now to the spiritually poor
as our central focus.

We have a project in hand, which is the construction of a 3,500-seater

auditorium at the RCCG Solution Centre, Nairobi; the Regional
Headquarter of RCCG Eastern Africa Region 2. I laid the foundation
of this building in 2009 and by Gods grace; it is my desire and prayer
that I finish it.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know
that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. Zech. 4:9.

Gods call upon my life is to be a missionary. For effective mission

work to be done, the missionary should have a base from where
he can move from place to place and return to from time to time.
The Apostles had Jerusalem as their base from where they moved
to several parts of the world. Some died in the countries where they
were sent to reach people for Christ. Some earlier missionaries, who
came from the West and settled in Africa, had their bases or their
Jerusalem from where they reached the parts of the continent they
targeted to reach for God by Gods grace.

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My Daddy in the Lord, the General Overseer, knowing what Gods
call upon my life is and in his resolution of the infamous fracas that
followed my transfer in 2010, said of me on 30th September, My
son is a missionary, he can continue, planting more churches, doing
mission work in any other place he may want to go and do mission
work.. Our Lord Jesus himself said in Matt. 28:19-20:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen.

By the grace of God I am not going to abandon this course for

anything else. The whole world is a territory Christ Jesus has given to
all disciples to cover of which I am doing my own part by his grace.

Following the split of the old Eastern African Region into 3 regions,
on 30th January 2011, I handed over 55 parishes of RCCG in Kenya
to Pastor Peter Amenkhienan who is the pastor in charge of Region 1
and also a Special Assistant to the General Overseer Eastern Africa.
Running with both the divine and church authoritys mandate
between 2011 and 2012, God has helped me to plant two additional
parishes in Kenya namely the RCCG Bungoma and Kitengela. By the
grace of God more parishes shall be opened.

There are realities about work and time. Interestingly, while I am

still very young at heart, the reality is that, it is not everything I was
able to do 17 years ago, when I came into the mission field, that I am
able to do today even if I wanted to. Upon this premise, we need
Gods wisdom on how to approach the mission work going forward
so that all that God has in mind for us to accomplish will be fully
accomplished in record time. Holistic approach to ministry shall be
our focus going forward with greater emphasis on raising leaders
with integrity and faith in God.

From the time God saved me, He has been on top of everything in
my life. Even from the truth told in this book, it is obvious that God
speaks and is still speaking. We have ever followed His programme
and by His special grace, He reveals to us before it happens most
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times. He reveals also what will not be. We are perfectly secured in
His hands. He knows our paths even in the wilderness. Our hearts
are well known to Him. I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins,
even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the
fruit of his doings (Jeremiah. 17:10).

As the scripture above teaches, man may not understand but God
perfectly does. He knows what is in all our hearts and will reward all
accordingly. This is my consolation always.

My wifes passion is evangelism, women empowerment and

transformation of lives through the preaching of the undiluted Word
of God. Hear her hearts cry.

Imagination deals with the capacity to entertain what is not yet

present but can be encouraged to emerge from the core of ones
deepest convictions (Roxburgh and Romanuk 2006: 148). Dare
dream a dream? Dream is a dangerous weapon against the kingdom of
darkness. You either dream or die. Anything that cannot be conceived
cannot be delivered. The power of imagination is something we
cannot describe fully. Imagination is a force that compels and propels
one towards living a purposeful life. Your imagination shapes your
conviction. You cannot die for what you are not deeply convinced
of. The Bible says, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and
drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee (Proverb 23:7).
This means that you have the ability of becoming what you think.
You can become who you think you are and you can get to where you
see yourself in life.

In Nigeria, we lived in an area called Ojodu, in Lagos. Our house

was close to the main road, and on that road were some hotels. One
is called Singapore Hotel. For no reason, I fell in love with that name
Singapore. I also loved Geneva. I would always tell my husband
that I just loved the names Singapore and Geneva. I would picture
myself in Geneva and Singapore and I would tell my husband that I
would one day be in the two places. I carried this thought for years.

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Do you know that by Gods own predetermined counsel he ensured
that Switzerland was the very first country in Europe that I visited?
I had forgotten completely about my imagination until I arrived at
Geneva Airport, then suddenly I heard a voice say to me, This is
your dream land. I was startled and wondered how great thoughts
could be. Some years ago, I was in Singapore. This was a big lesson
to me. If I had imagined seeing myself in Afghanistan or Iraq, maybe
God could have landed me there too.

Paul, speaking to the church in Philippi, said,

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever

things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there
be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).

Here, you are given the liberty to choose your pattern of thought. The
choice remains yours.

Walter Brueggermann writes,

The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and

evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the
consciousness and perception of the dominant culture
around us(Brueggemann 2001)

For you to dream right, you need to be prophetic in your mindset.

You have to get released from the dominant culture around you.
Cultures that do not promote purpose and plan must be dealt with.
No dreamer who has achieved destiny operated within a culture of
grasshopper mentality, chicken mentality or Esaus mentality. Great
women and men of exploits live above their world and operate with
the principle of an eagle. The storm is their vehicle to higher heights.
You can ask Prime Minister Joseph Jacob and he will tell you that the
ten vehicles that carried his dream to fulfillment were the following:
Vehicle No 1: A walk of over 24 Kilometres just to deliver food to his
brethren;

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Vehicle No 2: Victim of envy, hatred, conspiracy and jealousy from
his own brethren;
Vehicle No 3: Cast into the dry pit;
Vehicle No 4: Sold to the Midianite traders;
Vehicle No 5: Sold to Potiphar in Egypt;
Vehicle No 6: Sexual harassment by Mrs.. Potiphar;
Vehicle No 7: False accusation by Mrs. Potiphar;
Vehicle No 8: Imprisonment;
Vehicle No 9: Forgotten by the chief butler;
Vehicle No 10: Until, that is, waiting for the appointed time of destiny
even in adversity
What was the bone of contention? Look at Genesis 37:20 -
Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into
some pit, and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured
him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

The whole problem of Joseph is summarized in Genesis 37:20. It was

all about his dream. Let us see what will become of his dreams. Little
did his brethren know that that singular decision they made was
moving Joseph towards destiny and changing the worlds history!

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity

in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance
(Genesis 45: 7);
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant
it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive (Genesis 50:20)

How did God bring Josephs dream to pass? Read Psalm 105:16-22:

Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake

the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even

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 Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt
with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his
word came: the word of the LORD tried him. The king sent
and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him
go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his
substance: To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach
his senators wisdom.

There is one vehicle called UNTIL. Whenever you are going through
affliction for righteousness sake, keep asking God to, please, send
you this vehicle. We are told that it was until the word came; the
word of the Lord that the king sent and loosed Joseph from the prison
and set him on high. Every dreamer has a day for his UNTIL vehicle
and I sense that there is somebody reading this book, whos UNTIL
is NOW OR NEVER. Receive your vehicle of UNTIL now in Jesus
name. This is your season, this is your time, and this is your day and
now is your moment. Dare dream a dream? You must.

Martin Luther King Junior had a dream when the United States of
America could not imagine that one day, the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave owners would sit down together at the
table of brotherhood. The United States couldnt imagine that Kings
four little children would one day live in a nation where they would
not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their
character (King, 1998:226). His words were shaping the future. His
passion was dealing with the foundation and stronghold of slavery,
his risk and determination were the forces that pulled and rallied
people around him, his vision was the voice in the silence and his love
was the light in darkness. He fought against injustice. He addressed a
structure that promoted racism. Hear King:

A social movement that only moves people is merely a

revolt, but a movement that changes both people and
institutions is a revolution (King, 1998:220).

There are so many structures in Africa that need to be broken down.

If Africa will fulfill her dream, men and women of integrity should
begin to voice out against every form of oppression, nepotism,
tribalism, slavery, poor governance, corruption and other evils. The
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church must be seen to be active in this movement. Jesus was not
opposed because he was a miracle worker, but because he voiced out
against every form of injustice in his days. He dealt angrily with all
the unjust structures of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Scribes. He
brought a total revolution. He was a big threat to unjust structures
and so were the apostles. The church has a role to play. Where are
the dreamers in the church? Dare dream again? For your dream to be
from the Lord, it must be bigger than you. The dream must be bigger
than the dreamer so that only God can bring it to pass.

I HAVE A DREAM
I have a dream that one day on the shores of Africa; every woman will
be gainfully engaged and strategically positioned;
I have a dream that one day; an African woman will be the song of
the earth;
I have a dream that one day being an African woman will be a pride
to humanity;
I have a dream that one day domestic violence against an African
woman will become a thing of the past;
I have a dream that one day marginalization against women shall
come to an end;
I have a dream that one day the African woman will be lending to
nations;
I have a dream that one day our streets will be free of streets boys and
girls;
I have a dream that one day it will be said that prostitution and human
trafficking have ceased in Africa;
I have a dream that one day no African girl will again be raped,
abused or molested;
I have a dream that one day illiteracy and poverty will be forgotten
in Africa;
I have a dream that someday the dignity and honour of an African
woman will be fully restored;

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I have a dream that soon we shall say of Africa Weep no more and
bleed no more;
I have a dream that soonest every sinner will receive Jesus Christ as
Lord and Saviour; and
I have a dream that one day, THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD
SHALL BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND
OF HIS CHRIST; AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND
EVER(REVELATION 11:15). AMEN!!!

In pursuit of my dreams and much more, I am determined to keep

walking with God who has called me into this great work and to keep
working for Him with all my heart. By His grace I want to remain
focused and maintain integrity so as to finish well. I have come to
realize that following diligently the call of God upon ones life is one of
the greatest wars to contend with because one will be misunderstood
even by close associates and the children of the kingdom. Despite all,
as Jesus focused on the joy set before him, enduring the cross, I am
asking Him daily for the same grace, mercy and favour so that I finish
well and with joy.

One of the secrets that sustain great men and women in doing exploits
for God or for what they live for is to be very sure of who has called
them and for what purpose. From time to time, God keeps reassuring
such people of his call to them. This assurance gives great energy. Like
I had mentioned earlier, my calling is definite. I dont gamble about
it and from time to time God keeps reminding me of my purpose
in life. However, the climax of his confirmation and approval of my
calling came on 11th April 2008. My father in the Lord, Pastor E. A.
Adeboye, visited Kenya for our regional convention. I was not on
the list of speakers in the programme and, of course, how could I
have been when there were powerful ministers of God around. There
was no way my name could have appeared at all but this is how it
eventually showed up. My husband had invited a guest minister, one
of the great men of God in Nairobi who was part of the active team
among the Kenyan bishops that participated in the organization of
the event to host our General Overseer, to prepare to minister just
before Daddy GO came up that day. Every plan was in place and in
my normal characteristics; I needed to remind all the guest speakers

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about their schedules. When I called the man of God to remind
him of his schedule, he informed me that something had come up,
which would not allow him to minister as scheduled. He requested
if my husband could exchange his date with another speaker so that
he takes Thursday, while the other man takes Friday. I mentioned
this to my husband but he was not ready for that because the other
man of God was ready for his schedule and also Friday was to be a
deliverance service that had its own agenda. My husband decided to
look for another speaker and time was not in our favour.

Every day I would remind him, I hope you have fixed someone for
Friday. Two days to Friday he asked me, By the way what are you
doing on that day? I was surprised because he knew I was very busy
taking care of our guests and other logistics, which I explained to
him. The next thing I heard was, You take that session. I thought
I did not hear well or he could be joking. I said, What? He said:
You take that session. My heart sank not because I was afraid of
preaching but how could I preach where Daddy GO was? What will I
say? How will I stand on the pulpit? I mean just tell me, who am I to
share an altar with Daddy GO? From that moment, I started seeking
Gods face for help, grace and revelation.

On that day, I took the microphone and gave a brief charge from the
Book of Exodus 3:6-10

After my message, Daddy GO was invited to the podium to minister

and he started by saying these exact words.

The Joy of a father is to see his children doing exploit, while

he is still alive because that will give him an assurance that
when he is gone the good work that God has started through
him will continue. Thank God for the message brought by
my daughter, I am a pastor but it looks as if I have produced
an evangelist. Thats good, it was very very good. The Lord
said; I have seen, I have heard, I have understood, I have
come, am leading you out, and I wont let you go alone.
That is wonderful, I think am a good student and I learnt
something. Put your hand together for the almighty God.

What is in the words of a father? The word of every true father aims
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always at empowering and blessing his children. No good father will
want to see any of his children fail or fall. Whenever a correct father
speaks about his children, he speaks graciously about them and when
he speaks to them, he speaks to empower them. In Genesis, Chapter
1 Verse 28, after the Lord created everything he empowered man to
take charge. How did he empower man? He did that through the
spoken word and its interesting to note that the very first word man
encountered on earth is a word of blessing and from the father:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be

fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth
upon the earth (Genesis 1:28).

When God blessed man he also empowered him to do exploit. The

blessing of a father supersedes every other blessing. For me that
day was like the beginning of days. I was not excited at all, but was
humbled and terrified. I was humbled because I had never imagined
that my message could bless Daddy GO to the point of learning
something new, and much more, acknowledge it publicly. That is
the fathers blessing. I was terrified because I have always known
that God has called me primarily as an evangelist but at times when
things are tough in the ministry, some elements of doubt come up.
Further, I know what that calls for more sacrifice.

Since GOs confirmation of my calling there has been no looking back.

As God is defining your calling, so is He packaging your sacrifice.
This can be scary. Whenever God announces publicly his agenda for
a person the supernatural forces are mobilized against such person.
The devil roars and his agents are assigned against the individual.
But our comfort is that before the enemy mobilizes his forces, God is
always ahead to put every spiritual, physical and material machinery
to deliver victory to you.

In Revelation, Chapter 12 Verse 16, we read,

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened
her mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon
cast out of his mouth.
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As the earth helped the woman to fulfill destiny and Jesus was born
despite every plan of the enemy to stop that wonder, I speak into
your life and destiny, the earth shall help you. You shall deliver your
God-given destiny and purpose and they shall be preserved in Jesus
name.

I have learned from Pauls admonition of Timothy his son in 2

Timothy 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the
work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
By Gods grace alone I am determined to endure afflictions, do the
work of an evangelist and make a full proof of this ministry, which
I have received of the Lord. I may not know what the future holds
for me but I know who holds my tomorrow. He is faithful, just,
trustworthy and upright in all his ways.

I can say;
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless
I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12).

Some of us if not many have suffered many things for the sake of the
kingdom. Why dont you rejoice? I have taken mine with a mixture
of tears and joy, a mixture of laughter and weeping but at all times my
greatest strength and joy come from knowing that I have not suffered
as an evil doer or sinner but for serving God with all my heart and
doing his will. A servant cannot be greater than the master. A soldier
without scar is a civilian in military uniform. Every soldier has scars.
Even Jesus, our perfect example, had his own scars. I cant wait to see
him face to face.

I have some advice for the church of Jesus Christ. Listen to this.

Someone said: The church is the only army that shoots its own
wounded.

No credible army would want to shoot its own. Unfortunately the

church of Jesus Christ is full of soldiers of the cross who have been
wounded in the battle. Some are still bleeding with fresh wounds,
but the church really does not care. We are busy with ministry while
our soldiers are dying daily. Regrettably some of the major wounds

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are inflicted by fellow kingdom soldiers in the name of service to
God. Some dangerous and poisonous arrows of destructive words,
deadly politics, marginalization, pains, agony and the likes are
shot by Christians against others. The destinies of many gifted men
and women of God have been destroyed by arrows from kingdom
soldiers.

Cant you hear Jesus weeping for Jerusalem?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and

stonest them, which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye
shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matthew 23:37-39).

This is a wakeup call to the church of Jesus Christ. Jerusalem is the

church. Jesus is asking the church, why are we killing the prophets
sent to us? Why are we murdering gifted men and women God has
sent to help build his church? Why are we stoning people who are
serving God in spirit and in truth? But Jerusalem why? We cry and
wail that we no longer see the power of God like in the days of the
apostles. Is it not because of what Jesus said long ago: we are killing
the men and women His father sent to us, we shall not see his face
until his second coming. Has he not hidden his face from the church?
Has he not said the church shall be left desolate?

We can change our attitude. We can change our methodology. We

can change our ideology of our mission and commission. We have
been called and commissioned to build the Kingdom of God and not
our own empires. When we turn the church into an empire then our
weapons of warfare change from being spiritual to physical.

Why dont we look for some of these wounded soldiers and be a

healing to them? Why dont we reach out with the arms of love and
compassion to touch our wounded soldiers, calling them back into
the Kingdom force? Jesus is watching what we are doing with the
prophets his Father has sent to us. Are you the salt and the light? You
can be the change agent God has been waiting for.

211
 EPILOGUE
What drives you? What is the motivating force of your life? For
each life there is a purpose. What is your purpose in life? Have
you discovered this purpose? Does purpose drive your life?
Any life not driven by purpose is a life sailing on the waves
of life without a compass, a life driven by circumstamces and
blown in any and every direction by situations.
We are all here on earth for a purpose. In pursuit of purpose,
a situation in life may have made you to make a promise. To
what extent are you fulfilling those promises? Promise keepers
are covenant keepers; promise breakers are covenant breakers.
It should be a matter of great concern for you if you are not
walking by your promises. King Solomon who was loaded with
great wisdom has an advice for every one:
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay
it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou
hast vowed.(Ecclesiastes 5:4).
King Solomon by this charge is asking every wise person to
refrain from making promises unless we plan to keep them;
Solomon, the wisest man in history, teaches us to ensure timely
and complete fulfilment of every promise we make to God, to
his church and to any other person for that matter.
This book documents our journey so far in life and ministry.
It has been a very eventful journey driven by God and his
ordained purposes for our lives; purposes that are obviously
different but complimentary, as should be expected in any
marriage contracted according to Gods will. As the book shows,
in pursuit of our purposes in life, we have made promises to
God and have been careful in fulfilling them. Where we have
inadvertently fallen short of his glory, we have always sought
his mercy. In general, purpose and promise have been our
anchor in every stormy sea and our compass for direction in
every season. .
212
We are convinced that as we continue our walk and work in
Christ, guided by his purpose for our lives and the promises of
our commitment, we shall live to tell the story of the second half
of our lives and ministries, a glorious phase of Gods goodness
and mercy it shall be, only by His grace. This assurance of faith
is founded in our purpose and promise-driven life.
Shalom!

213
 REFERENCES CITED
Allen, William E. The History of Revivals of Religion.
http//www.google.com

Brueggemann, Walter. 2001. The Prophetic Imagination. Second ed:

Augsburg Fortress.

Covey, Stephen R. 2004. The 8th Habit. London: Simon & Schuster UK
Ltd

King, Martin Luther JR 1998. The Autobiography of Martin Luther

King, JR. New York Boston: Warner Books.

Kraft, Charles H. 2005. Christianity in Culture. New york: Orbis Books.

Lucado, Max. 2004. No Wonder They Call Him The Savior. Nashville: W.
Publishing Group.

Obasi-ike, Esther Nkemdilim. 2006. From Grass to Grace. Nairobi:

Mustard Seed Publications.

Petersen, William. 1954. Martin Luther had a wife. Chepstow,Gwent:

Bridge Publishing.

Roxburgh, Alan J. and Fred Romanuk. 2006. The Missional Leader;

Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.

214
 Pastor Prince praying at the foundation level of 3500 seating
capacity auditorium in 2009. Left standing is the committee
chairman Deacon Balogun and right Bro. Cosam

Pastor Prince pouring the first concrete at the foundation level with
some committee members on the left is Pastor Mrs. F. Langat
Pst Obilana in Turkana giving water to a young boy in 2008

Katulenyeng borehole commissioning with Pastor

Obilana in 2009.
Daddy GO with Pastor Esther and baby Goodnews during the
inauguration of RCCG Geneva Parish 2001

The ongoing construction of Solution Centre, 3500

seating capacity auditorium
A cross section of Queen Esthers Generation monthly outreach,
Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi - January 2011

Pastor Esther ministering at the Queen Esthers Generation

monthly outreach, Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi - March 2012
The High Commissioners award for Exemplary Community
Service & Social Development in Kenya to Pastor Prince O. &
Mrs Esther Obasi-Ike 2010
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Pastor Prince Okechukwu Obasi-ike, a
Nigerian, is the pioneer missionary of
the Redeemed Christian Church of God
(RCCG), Eastern Africa Region. He has a
long legacy of missionary service, having
been mandated and commissioned by
RCCG Nigeria some seventeen years ago
to pioneer the church in Kenya. Prince
has both loyally and faithfully executed
this mission, leading to the birth of
over 58 churches in Kenya. During this
time, God used him to lead the planting
of more churches around and outside
Eastern Africa.

He is an incurable church planter, with a large heart for God and Gods
people. He carries the apostolic grace and frontier anointing. He holds a
Masters degree in Pastoral Studies from the African International University,
Nairobi. Currently, he is the pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern Region Two,
covering Burundi, D. R Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, with his headquarters as
Solution Centre Nairobi, Kenya. This man is a missionary to the core. He has
put his hands on the plough and he is not looking back.

His wife Pastor Nkemdilim Esther Obasi-ike is one of the leading ministers
in Kenya, and a well-known and respected voice in the media world .
She is a greatly sought after dynamic preacher with a unique passion to
empower women. For over a decade, she has been the pastor in charge of
the RCCG Solution Centre Parish in Nairobi, and the President of Queen
Esthers Generation, an interdenominational womens movement aimed
at national transformation. She is a doctoral candidate (ABD) of FULLER
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (USA). She will
graduate in winter 2013 with a Doctor of Missiology degree.

Both Prince and Esther are graduates of the world class Haggai Institute
(HI) Maui Hawaii (USA) and Esther is a faculty member of HI Kenya. They
are a well-travelled couple and visionaries of several arms of ministry and
award-winning ministers. Both have won several awards: They include
THE MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARD IN LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY
2009) & THE HIGH COMMISSIONERS AWARD FOR COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA 2010.

Theirs is an epitome of servant leadership. They are blessed with two sons,
Favour Okechukwu and Goodnews Chimemeka.