‘Why we declared 2011 as our year of Open Door’
What does this year’s convention hold for the congregation? We thank God for this annual event in our ministry. It is a programme that metamorphosed from a convention into a convocation. Over the years, we used to have conventions before God promoted it to convocation. This is a bigger covering of believers coming together to […]
What does this year’s convention hold for the congregation?
We thank God for this annual event in our ministry. It is a programme that metamorphosed from a convention into a convocation. Over the years, we used to have conventions before God promoted it to convocation. This is a bigger covering of believers coming together to celebrate Jesus and what he did for us. For me, the yearly convocation is truly a blessing to people and nations worldwide. Every facet of members of our ministry looks forward to it: pastors, workers and leaders. It is a time when the two assignments God has given to us to celebrate Jesus, that is the Spirit and Life Bible Church and Godhead Prayer Ministry. The Godhead Prayer Ministry is a non denominational assembly which brings together believers from all backgrounds for a whole week to celebrate.
What is important about this year’s celebration?
This convocation is very spectacular because this year will mark my fourth celebration in Abuja, and for me, Abuja is a big sacrifice to make to bring the spiritual headquarters of our ministry here. We do have the challenges of logistics and moving people and so on. It has become a thing of joy in Abuja even though people make comparisons of what they used to experience before and what we are doing today.
Why? Because our convocation every year gives birth to a new promotion and new blessings into people’s lives from all nooks and crannies of the world. So, people look forward to it. They make all the sacrifices for the one week, because every day of the programme is unique.
So when the programme virtually comes to an end, people wish it could continue. It’s one week but God has done what He should do. It’s blessing time, because people hear the word of God again directly from the visionary leadership.
God speaks that Word to us the first day of the year and that becomes the rider and the guide for the year’s life activities for families, pastors, workers and leaders. So a lot also goes into it, nations are supposed to showcase what is unique about them. We have choir competitions, award of trophies and prizes for excellent performances in different areas. We look out for what God has done within the year, people prepare a lot for it.
There are enormous blessings you get during each of our convocations. Although, it was supposed to be by delegation, members want to attend. One of our largest contingents is the one we call Edo Environ from Benin City, that is the villages around that city. Last year, we had 300 participants who attended the programme from there alone. We are trying to discourage that number this year because of accommodation challenges in Abuja. Members don’t really care about comfort so long as they get abundant spiritual refreshment and comfort from the Lord.
This year’s theme is Open Doors. What does this mean?
In Revelations 3:8, the scripture declares that the Lord has set before us an open door that no man can shut. The Lord said since we have been faithful to his name, although we are of little strength, he has set an open door before us.
This is one of the faithful scriptures I have ever come across in the Bible. The church in Philadelphia was a faithful church among the seven churches in Asia. Apostle John had a revelation in his days… The church, during the time of persecution, persevered and persisted and it did not deny the name of the Lord. The church went through a lot but eventually survived. That is why God blessed it.
How great and relieving it is to hear God declare it the year of the Open Door—It’s just the opposite of what we saw last year. That is why I can assure you that the whole thing must be through prayers. For me, what becomes of the –ember months last year, especially the month of November which is our yearly vision conference programme where we review the vision God has given us, we look at the year, areas of strength, areas of weakness, areas we need to improve. The vision conference is strictly for pastors and a few working members.
What is your dream of Nigeria?
Nigeria of my dream is an egalitarian, corruption free society. Truly egalitarian where there are equal rights and opportunities for everybody—without gender bias, without any bias, status, tribe, religion. I believe that if my dream comes true in my life time, I’m going to be happy because God has passioned my heart for that.
What is your message to all nations for this year’s event?
My message of invitation is that all nations should come to the desire of nations. The desire of all nations is the Lord Jesus himself because the kingdoms of this world will surely become the kingdom of our God. It is time for nations to return to God—the one, only universal saviour of the world who has attested to the fact that He is the only way and the only way to this one universal God is through Jesus Christ. I pray the nations will acknowledge Him as Lord and saviour and come to Him.
My message is they should come to the God of all nations, repent, know Him so that all the resources that He has deposited in their nations, they will maximise their use.