Saturday, September 9, 2017 was the actual date of the ministry’s anniversary and the celebration was indeed a beautiful. It was day filled with thanksgiving to God for being with and keeping us, in spite of and despite all our numerous challenges over the years. Truly, our challenges have been many but God has continually delivered and will continue to deliver us from them all as He promised in Psalm 34:19.
The program for Day 3 began prayers, praise and worship. There was a choir ministration from Kigbangha Gokana Zonal mass choir. They took us back to the 90s with their wonderful renditions of old Ogoni songs cherished by the older members of the ministry. After this, there was parade performance by some Greater Evangelism Nursery and Primary School in which pupils from the various schools owned by different branches of the ministry gave the International Director, Pst V.I Olori a salute. It was a beautiful session that reminded us that children are indeed the future of any organization and much more than just ensuring academic success for our young ones, we have the privilege of instilling the fear of God into them while at it. It also interesting to note that the central school’s board was not left out of the parade, some of her excos also participated in the parade. The teenagers were also not left out. The teenage mass choir gave a super rendition of a self-composed song that affirmed the truth that the vision does indeed, live on.
After this rendition, Evang Godwin Ozichukwu gave a brief testimony on some landmarks of the ministry. Continuing his teaching the previous day, Pastor Dotimi Amatare spoke on “Disciples like the master”. Speaking from 1 Corinthians 11:1, he said that God gave us a wonderful example in the person of our founding father of blessed memory, Apostle G.D Numbere and that as children of the ministry, we ought to follow the example of our founding father. He gave a brief recount of how he came in contact with our late founding father. He mentioned that one of the things that endeared him to Apostle Numbere was his radical lifestyle for the gospel and also his love for people.
Just to reiterate some of the points, Jesus gave us an invitation to come to Him in Matthew 11:28-30, telling us to take his yoke and to learn of him. Jesus wanted to ensure that His disciples were different and distinct from others. Speaking further, he gave us twenty ways in which we ought to follow our master Jesus since we are his disciples. Some of these ways include; in faithfulness especially since faithful men are now hard to come by in ministry (Hebrews 3:2), in freedom from the world (1 John 2:7), self-crucifixion (Gal 2:20), in enduring persecution (Hebrews 12:3), in totally setting ourselves apart from the world (John 17:17), in life and in conduct (1 John 2:6), in manifesting the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22), in love (John 14:12). This teaching brought the morning session to a close.
The afternoon session, had two major talks. The first was taken by Pastor Kenneth Otuokere. He handled the topic, “The Disciple And His Prayer Life”. Speaking, he said that, to talk about a disciple and his prayer life, we must first consider the master and his prayer life. Looking at the life of Jesus, it is evident that He took prayer seriously. Severally, in the gospels, we see Him praying. Mark 1:35 records that while day was yet to break, he went for prayers. After He was baptized by John the Baptist, he went into the wilderness and fasted and prayed for forty days and nights. Even as He has ascended, he is still praying for his church (Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34). As disciples, we must not make light of that which our master took so seriously. He also gave an unusual example of prayer from the Old Testament. He said, Samson prayed only two times in his life, yet every time he prayed, God answered him. We must remember that Samson did not have the name of Jesus to pray through or His blood to rely on. This man relied on the blood of bulls and goats to make him acceptable before God. In spite of all of these limitations, God heard Samson. Dare we think, that as children of God, washed by the blood and accepted that God will not hear our prayers? Samson also believed that God heard him because after praying for strength, he actually pushed the pillars, if he didn’t believe in the efficacy of prayers, he would have made no such attempt. One of the most beautiful statements he made during the course of his teaching is that, it is possible for one to grow his/her prayer life. The disciples asked that Jesus should teach them to pray. It can be learned! So for those who are struggling in this area, take heart and courage and learn to pray. Make deliberate efforts to grow your prayer life.
The next talk was handled by the wife our founding father and president of the Greater Women Fellowship International, Pst. Dr Nonyem Numbere. She gave a talk on “Landmark Events And The Journey So Far”. She took us down the memory lane and reminded us testimonies like those of Elder Henderson Jumbo, a boy who was deaf and dumb and got his healing and other mind-blowing testimonies that are not so common anymore. Speaking, she mentioned that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever more, and that if we must see the miracles that we saw in time past, we must return to our foundations. The ministry of Greater Evangelism World Crusade is not a church that should be concerned with so much programs and activities such that the members are always in church. Our mandate is to raise the faces of men, the faces of the people in the church have already been raised. We must therefore launch out and find perishing souls. In the earlier times, our founding father of blessed memory did not consider any village too remote to be evangelized. As long as there were living souls there, the word of God also had to find its way down there. If we continue to sit in our churches while lives in the streets, creeks, villages, towns and even nations are wasting away, we will lose our essence as a ministry she warned.
We moved on from there to brief documentary of the ministry. It gave information about the ministry in her early days up till date. From our founding father’s salvation story to remarkable miracles God wrought through him, to his death and succession by the current International Director. The day’s teachings really left all who sat under it with a burden and a lot to reflect on.
