What it Takes to Get Genuine Miracle By Andrew Abah

There is no doubt that God truly cares.

Jesus went to the extent of identifying with Mary and Martha by weeping. He did not stop at that level but He intervened divinely by bringing back to life. Jesus is concern about you. Those things that make you cry make Jesus to weep. Receive your divine intervention as you watch this.

The Secret of Lasting Miracle in English and Portuguese

Everybody in life needs God's intervention in one way or the other. That is what we refer to here as Miracle. Sadly, some get the miracle but it does not last.

This teaching by Andrew Abah in very simple and straight foward English interpreted into Portuguese will help you to not only get your miracle but to sustain it

The Years Ahead

Chapter 15 of  Journey to the Dark Nations

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)

And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. (Mark 1:38-39)


Certainly, it is impossible at this point to write the last chapter of my life. Like Apostle Paul indicated in Philippians 1:21, my resolve is to live out the rest of my life for the one who paid the supreme price for my salvation with the consciousness that when death come knocking, I will be remembered for my input in taking the light of the gospel to the darkest part of the earth.

Looking Back
In October 1982 when we came into the scene of world evangelization as a student, little did I know there is world of darkness out there that needed attention. The presence of God was very conspicuous in our campus fellowship and by extension, the entire campus such that those who were not born again were out of place. In 1984, it was like Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 4:3 to lift up their eyes and look on the fields. I had the reality of the field beyond the campus when God led me to work among the Aiona people and from that point, my view of the field continued to enlarge by the day.

In 1997, the Global Consultation for World Evangelization (GCOWE '97) was mind blowing. Research reports made available at the event especially the one by Joshua Project on the status of world evangelization and the remaining unfinished task were very revealing. The Nigeria Taskforce on the unreached people powered by the defunct AD2000 and Beyond Movement were not left out.

One of the Project they embarked upon was a survey of 300 people groups in Northern Nigeria. The result was staggering. It was established that 178 of the 300 groups were confirmed to be unreached people. Out of the 178 Unreached people are 100% Unreached, 76 are African Traditional Religion adherents, 172 are Muslims and 70 of them are classified as top priority and mission agencies/Churches are advised and encouraged to consider for urgent attention.
Some of the people groups includes the:

• Achipawa in Sakaba local government area of Kebbi State and Marige local government area of Niger State where we have only 25 converts in 3 villages.
• Baruba in Baruten local government area of Kwara State with no single Christian.
• Buduma on the shores of Lake Chad with no known Christian.
• Bolewa in Fika and Nangere local government areas of Yobe State with no known Christian.
• Laru in Borgu local government area with no known Christian.
• Shangawas also known as the Kyengewa, descendants of Kishera who left Badr near Meda to escape Islam. They are found in Dendi, Bagudo and Yauri local government areas of Kebbi State. The only Christian convert is reported to have gone back to Islam. They are 100% Muslim now.
• Bashar in Wase and Kenan local government areas of Plateau State, with no known Christian.
• Bisa in Borgu local government with only two Christians.

The Great Commission has not changed and I felt I don't need extra call to be challenged to contribute my quota in enthroning the Lordship of Jesus in some of these places. It is against this background I concentrated my life in pursuing this course. With the birth of Grace Foundation Inland Missions in 1989 we reinforce our labor in places where ordinarily they may never be able to access the gospel.

After many years of labor as an individual and 25years of Grace Foundations labor in the dark places, we have not only succeeded in our target but have mobilized many Churches and individuals to engage scores of unreached people but going by current statistics, the volume of the unfinished task is even more staggering.

It is not because our labor is not yielding positive result but the more we lift up our eyes, the more we discover more unreached people that were not captured in earlier missions research reports and also very sadly some other lands are lost to the enemy.

Current  Sobering State of World Evangelisation
Currently, the total population probably is 7.178billion. Out of these number 2,997,692 globally  are yet to be followers of Christ. The total number of people groups globally is said to be 16,800. Unreached/least reached people is 7,300. Out of the 7,300 30% have had no exposure to God's word. India leads with 2365, China follows with 455, Pakistan with 453, Bangladesh 345 and Nepal 332.

It is no longer news that many nations that were captured by the early Church have slipped into darkness. Turkey is a good case study. It is located in the present day Europe and partly in Asia. Christianity existed there for 1023 years. Some people said Mary the mother of Jesus actually taken to Turkey by Apostle John. The Christians were first nicknamed so at Antioch located in today Turkey. One of the largest church in history, The Hagia Sophia was located in Turkey. Sadly, Turkey is now 96% Muslims and 0.02% Christians.

North Africa is an eye sore. That was the region of the world that hosted Jesus when Herod attempted to kill Him. It had the best of seminaries and theologians at a time. The term Trinity was coined from this region. Sadly, the same region is today the heart of Islam.

The worst of all is the Western world. This part of the world had contributed immensely to the evangelisation of the world. Great men and women like William Carey, Mary Slessor, John Knox, John Wesley, Robert Moffat, David Livingstone,  and many others too numerous to mention will be wondering what went wrong when they exited the scene for eternity. An author recently analysed the region and explained that birth rate of 2.11 is required to perpetuate any culture and the general Average for the region is 1.9 with the following breakdown: European Union is now 1.38, Canada is 1.6 and USA is 2.11 while the Muslims that migrated to the same region is 8.1. According to the author's calculation, if nothing is done to alter it, in the next 35 years, France will be Islamic Republic. By 2050, Germany will become Islamic Republic and in 25 years time, USA will have 50million Muslims.

Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity's Survey
A recent survey  by Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity's titled Christianity in its Global Context, 1970-2020  came up with very staggering revelation.  According to the survey, one out of five non-Christians in North America doesn't know any Christians. Missiologist Todd M. Johnson and his team found that 20 percent of non-Christians in North America really do not "personally know" any Christians. That's 13,447,000 people—about the population of metropolitan Los Angeles or Istanbul—most of them in the United States.

And that number includes atheists and agnostics, many of whom are former Christians themselves and more likely to have close Christian contacts. Without that group, 60 percent of the non-Christian population has no relationships with Christians.

Worldwide, the numbers are much worse: more than 8 in 10 non-Christians do not personally know a Christian. But Christians only make up a third of the world's population. The United States, meanwhile, ranks in the top 10 Christian countries, with 80 percent of the population identifying as Christians.

The biggest factor in explaining why so many North American non-Christians don't know Christians is immigration, Johnson said. The U.S. attracts more Buddhist, atheist, and agnostic immigrants than any other country in the world. It ranks second for Hindu and Jewish immigrants, and seventh for Muslim immigrants.

But immigrants are also keeping the percentage of those who don't know a Christian from going higher. That's because the U.S. also attracts more Christian immigrants than any other country. And the region that sends the most immigrants to the U.S. is (by far) Latin America, where 90 percent of non-Christians know Christians. (In the CSGC study, Mexico was categorized as Latin America, not North America. As per U.N. categorization, North American countries included Greenland, Bermuda, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Canada, and the U.S.)

Migrants move into enclaves and don't venture out. But even Christians who live close to Chinatowns and Little Italys don't often venture in, Johnson said.

Separation between religious groups isn't limited to the United States and Canada. But North America has a unique opportunity to connect across religious lines, he said."The United States is a very strategic place for people to interact," he said. "It's ironic in a place with all the freedoms to interact that people don't do it. In light of the deficit of contact, what better thing could happen than to have a bunch of people move into your neighborhood and build houses of worship?”The Journey Ahead
Against this background, I have laboured alongside with my team at Grace Foundation and the Network of Mission Leaders to do my best in the past years and by the grace of God spend the rest of my life to do far much more than I have ever done if Jesus tarries and as the Lord enables me.  My primary focus is to change paradigm and raise at least:

• 50 market place missionaries for closed nations in the next 10 years. I have taken the last 10 years to build network relationship in North Africa and across the Arabian Peninsular and a lot of prayers have gone into it.
• Also, 50 more missionaries will be recruited for the local work in Nigeria.
• To accomplish these, intensive mission mobilisation will be carried out using various platform across different nations of the world especially countries with enormous human resources and very low mission awareness.  Some of the platforms include mission conferences, publication of magazines, books, etc. To sustain this, our GFIM team and I plan to start off mobilisation offices in at least 10 nations across the world that will facilitate the recruitment of the marketplace missionaries as well as raise logistic workforce, prayers and financial squadrons. The prayer squads will in addition to facilitating the work of the missionaries focus on praying for restoration, revival and the nations.
• Thirdly, our training arm will move to her permanent site at Lamingo with the target of training 300 regular full-time residential missionaries, 200 mission leaders at our Advanced Mission Leaders Institute(AMLI), 400 indigenous leaders through our Indigenous Leadership Course(ILC).
• We also plan to enlarge our Mercy Ministries to increase the number of orphans and vulnerable kids from unreached people background we are taking care of  at our Home of Grace(HOG) to a minimum of 75 and train 15 of the ones present now to degree level and sound in the things of God to the point of making significant input in ministry between now and the next ten years and consolidate the ones in other nations.
• We may not be able to accomplish this huge goal in isolation. We will therefore continue to provide leadership to the Network of African Mission Leaders (AMLI), mentor younger missionaries with other mission agencies and network with many other individuals, agencies and church organisations nationally and internationally.
• As the Lord may permit, the next generation should have been made ready to take over the leadership of the ministry in the next 10years if Jesus tarries.

Partnership
God used the input of friends and partners to make the journey to the dark nations possible. It would have been absolutely impossible to get to the height we have attained without their active role of providing the needed moral, prayer and financial support. Groups like Gospel Bankers Inc(GB)., Missions Supporters League(MSL), defunct Rescue Fellowship of Nigeria(RFN), Missions Challenge Network(MCN), Missions Exposures and Training(MET), World Mission Resources, Christ Anointed Hands Fellowship, Our Daily Need Ministries(ODNM), National Hospital Chapel, Chapel of Good News, Women and Children Departments of Oritamefa and the Express Road Baptist Church, ATBU Chapel of Victory, Kingdom Outreach Ministries International, Calvary Bible Church, Christ Redemption Mission, etc. had partnered with us in providing support for some of our missionaries  and funded some of our projects on the mission fields at one point or the other. Many individuals too numerous to mention have been used by God to put smiles on our faces. We are eternally grateful to all of them. God will certainly reward you for your labour behind the scene.

The journey ahead is no doubt certainly capital intensive. It will gulp so much in terms of prayers and finance. A lot of this work especially the ones in closed nations will be done under cover because of the security implications. Little  and sometimes absolutely no publicity will be given electronically or otherwise and as such may not attract support. We will be depending on God and the confidence you have for us the past 25years for future funding. We pray earnestly that God will lift you financially so you will be able to give sacrificially. We also pray for the Spirit of supplication to come over you so you can consistently support us on your kneel. We trust the Lord to raise those that will independently start prayer squads/chapters across nations that will labour in prayers to bring the ministry vision to reality.

Numbering My Days and The Finishing Line
It was the Psalmist who prayed: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12). If Jesus tarries to come, we will all certainly die to exit this world. This is one basic truth we sometimes shy away from.  Jesus was in tune with this reality when He said in John 9:4: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 'The night' is when our life on earth is ended. It also implies when doors of opportunities are closed and when for reasons of age or ill health one may not be able to contribute significantly to world evangelisation any more. 'The night' is not static. It moves and Jesus said with all certainty that it is on the way. In His words: " the night cometh".

In the past few years, I have seen many things happen that substantiated Jesus' statement.  First was my health. I have had a running battle with diabetic such that it has drained a lot of the needed strength for the work. Fasting, a very integral part of the life of every successful minister had become very irregular as a result because of the implication on my health. I am thankful to God for modern technology and medicine that has helped me to manage this challenge for many years. I am also thankful to Him for provision of healing in His words but the truth still remains that I can no longer cope with stress as much as I did in my early days in ministry. It serves as warning that whatever is left for me to do, I must get them done now before it is too late. I therefore live my life with every sense of urgency.

Also, with the little strength left, I noticed that many part of the world I could easily access in the past, the doors of the opportunities are shutting up. The North East of Nigeria with the continuous menace of the Jihadists, Boko Haram is one of such. Missionaries and other Christian leaders are being killed and threatened. We recently had reasons to withdraw some of our missionaries from this part of the country for safety. This is a place where in the past we travelled day and night in the past. The story is different now.

At Jordan, we received report of massive conversions of Syrian refugees and had prayed, planned and raised fund to deploy a missionary to join the team on ground to disciple the converts. Just at the last minute, we have to suspend the trip indefinitely because of increase in volatility in the country,  to access it, we were to be assigned Tourist Police which is detrimental to our work mainly done under cover. Again, the night seems to have come in some ways for that part of the world. Another case study is that of Mauritania, an Islamic State requiring urgent gospel attention. It was part of West Africa and was easily accessible by citizens of Economic Community of West Africa State(ECOWAS). They have pulled out and joined the Arab League making it absolutely difficult to access now.

At Jordan, we received report of massive conversions of Syrian refugees and had prayed, planned and raised fund to deploy a missionary to join the team on ground to disciple the converts. Just at the last minute, we have to suspend the trip indefinitely because of increase in volatility in the country,  to access it, we were to be assigned Tourist Police which is detrimental to our work mainly done under cover. Again, the night seems to have come in some ways for that part of the world. Another case study is that of Mauritania, an Islamic State requiring urgent gospel attention. It was part of West Africa and was easily accessible by citizens of Economic Community of West Africa State(ECOWAS). They have pulled out and joined the Arab League making it absolutely difficult to access now.

There are however many needy nations still open and beckoning for help. May the Lord help us to engage them before they draw the curtain. Like Jesus said in John 4:34-35 which is my resolve and prayer : "My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work".  Let us join hands together to get the job done now before it is too late. When you are dead, opportunities for you to make input will be over. There will be no mission work in heaven.

Powers Encountered on Life’s Journey

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

Life's journey has not been without opposition as the Devil is not excited with the input my family and I make on a daily basis in enthroning the lordship of Jesus in the dark nations of the world and he does not hide it. On a regular basis, the Devil expresses his fury by attacking my family and I. He comes to kill, to steal and to destroy as documented in John 10:10. Once, a demon possessed girl confessed that she was delegated to kill me but since she could not, she targeted my wife but failed. Not giving up, she focused on my kids and succeeded in throwing my eldest son who was three years old at the time into a very deep well and covered him up in the well. According to her, their plan was for the boy to die in the well all in a bid to discourage us from continuing with our mission pursuits.

Unknown to Her, the God who called us assured us that He has given unto us power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt us. From under the well the angel of God held my little boy's head above the water and amplified his voice and my wife who was far away in the room heard his cry and traced it. It was then she discovered that he was crying from inside the well. She got confused and raised alarm. A man passing by whom I believe was God's angel asked why she was shouting and on hearing that my son was inside the well, he brought him out. 

Miraculously, Nehemiah was not injured neither did he sink. Nevertheless, he was rushed to the nearest pharmacy for checkup to be sure there was no internal injury. The Nurse and Pharmacist, on duty did not believe our story. As far as they were concerned, it was impossible for a boy of three to be thrown inside the well and not die either because of the water in the well nor suffocate because the well was covered nor sustain injury. It ordinarily would have been impossible to hear his cry from inside the well.  We were, and are persuaded that it was divine intervention as only God can do what seems impossible to man. When He commissioned us in Matthew 28:20, He also assured us: "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age". 

To the glory of God, Nehemiah is in his final year in the University and he will live to fulfill his destiny.

It however looks like there may be no final victory until our work on earth is over and we transit to heaven.  This is because, the Devil never gives up. Even for Jesus, the Devil never gave up on Him.   In Luke 4:13, the Bible confirms this: "...And when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from him for a season." It is therefore not surprising that the Devil has ceased to give up on me. The more the attack the more the victory.

Lucy's Cancer Encounter
Another assault from the Devil that cannot be easily forgotten was my wife's close shave with death. The Devil knocked her down with cancer, first on one of her breast. The Doctor sent for me and advised me strongly to consent to her surgery which implied the removal of the breast. The logic according to the Doctor was that it will prevent the cancer cell from spreading. That was not to be, as Few months later, despite the surgery the cancer had extended to the second breast and the armpit. 

At this point, one can sense the helplessness from the way the Doctor sounded. He referred us to another hospital for further test and then to the United Kingdom for further examination. The Doctor at the other Hospital was callous and crude at the same time going by the way he spoke to us. To him, we generated the cancer and were careless in seeking for medical help in time. We had no resources to travel abroad for further treatment but were convinced that the Helper of the helpless will see us through. 

We resolved to pray, and our friends across the nations were  committed to praying for us. A particular note was the involvement of a senior colleague, Pastor Joseph Egwuda who was at the time the Presiding Elder of Chapel of Goodnews, Kaduna, Nigeria. He assembled Pastors and other church leaders in the city to pray for us. Many others were doing same both at their family, congregation and individual level. 

The Lord was not silent either. At a point, I heard him clearly say to us what He said to Simon in Luke 22:31-32: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32”But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers”.  If Jesus prayed for us so that our faith will not fail and He is the same person to answer the prayer, it then means that our faith will not fail. It is like an examiner writing the answers to the questions. It is absolutely impossible to fail the same exam. Secondly, it was obvious that God allowed the cancer assault for a post-experience ministry.

With His assuring words, we persevered in prayers until God opened our eyes to basic fruits and vegetables that had nutrients which could to tackle cancer cells. We had personal encounters with cancer survivals like Gloria Davies. We further took time to study books written by the founder of Hallelujah Diet and listen to her experiences on video. That further built up our faith. Lucy was optimistic that God would heal her as she constantly confessed that cancer was inclusive in the sickness Jesus' stripes took care of.  A family friend got several faith-building books for her and even amidst the pain, she managed to read some of the books.

One night she resolved not to eat cooked food for the next two months until God healed her. She then concentrated on eating fruits and vegetables which she juiced and others she blended. God breathed on these and trashed all the cancer cells in her body and regained her health. Another senior colleague of mine, Rev. Gerald Golbeck and his wife, Patricia then invited us to South Africa to one of the best Oncology Centre for a test which they paid for. The Centre conducted several tests and came to the conclusion that there was no cancer cell in her body any more.  Since then, she has visited the Centre from time to time for check-up and they have consistently congratulated her for staying cancer free.

One of the things the Lord spoke to us when she was really sick was that after her healing, she will be instrumental to healing others. We have seen that happen over and over. One of the cancer patients we saw God deliver from death was a lady by name Dorothy, a relation of her listened to my wife testify of her healing in Kaduna and called her to get in touch with my wife. She did and as usual, my wife told her what to eat and drink and what not to eat. She said she wanted to come over to Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria where we lived because most of the fruit and vegetable were not common where she lived at Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. We said it was alright if she had a relation to stay with but she had no one and pleaded to stay in our family house which we agreed with the assumption that she was going to be accompanied by a member of her family. One night, we saw her walk in alone. Looking at her was quite scary. Her case was cancer of the bone and she had already commenced radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Her eyeballs were deep down in her sockets and all her hair was gone because of the negative impact of the therapies. It was as if she was going to die the following week. Apparently, having given up on her must be the likely reason why no family member accompanied her to Jos.

We prayed and got the fruits and vegetables for her as she was determined and believed that God could heal her. God stepped in and in one month, her strength was restored. Her hair grew, her eyeballs fit in the socket and gradually she became fully healed. She was amazed herself at the speed and one evening went out to look for the King of the Igbos in Jos to come register her deepest appreciation on behalf of her family. She returned back to her family strong and healthy and we return all the glory to God for her healing.

We have scores of different manner of cancer patients from across the world that God has healed through counseling, direct supervision, phone calls, etc. Space and time will not permit us to give vivid testimonies here. We also have many who took time to read through Lucy's book: “How God Healed Me of Cancer and His Remedies for Terminal Diseases” and put into practice what they read and testimonies of God's healing abounds. God turned the table against the Devil as what he planned to use to bring down the ministry, God used and He is still using it to promote the work He has committed into our hands. People from different faith cutting across various classes in the society including Muslims have had reasons to visit us because of cancer related cases and they have all provided opportunity for us to show them the love of Christ. No consultancy fee is paid. Freely we receive and freely we give. " ...And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."(Luke 22:32b)

Thunder, Armed Robbery, Attack and Accident, Etc.
The catalogue of power encounter is endless. In the words of Apostle Paul: "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries".(1 Cor 16:9). I will like to share some more of the fury of the Devil directed at my family and I and how God fought our battles and handed over victory to us.

Early in ministry, my wife and I traveled to some of our mission fields in the North Central states of Nigeria. While we were away, thieves burgled our house and made away with many valuables from the house. It was natural to ignore it and continue as if nothing happened but a young girl under the influence of demons confessed that she arranged for the theft. According to her, she has being delegated to do anything possible to discourage us to discontinue our mission work. It was good to know that the Devil was not comfortable with our labour to advance God's kingdom. We prayed and instead of being discouraged, the Lord strengthened our hearts. We did not recover the items stolen but many persons brought gifts to us. Also, as a result of the theft, God paved way for us to buy a good car, Datsun Laurrel which added speed to our work. Again, the Devil was put to shame.

One evening we were driving from Ankpa, Kogi State of Nigeria after a very successful Mission Conference which brought together church leaders from different denominations to review the remaining task of reaching the Igala nation. The result of the conference was mind-blowing. We had many positive responses and action steps outlined to be taken to complete the task. The Devil again was very furious at such level of networking to unseat him and enthrone the Lordship of Jesus and on our way back we ran into the hands of some armed robbers. We prayed and God answered us and none of us was hurt.

Another night, we concluded a great meeting at the famous Baptist Seminary at Ogbomosho in the South West region of Nigeria. The responses were heartwarming. Many of the students training to go and serve as Pastors volunteered to go into the dark nations of the world where Jesus was not known and this made me glad as I could imagine the vast number of nations the volunteers of this four day meeting will cover. While thanking God, I took off that night via Ibadan to Lagos from where I was scheduled to take a flight to the United Arab Emirates. The Devil again was deeply furious. On our way between Ibadan to Lagos, there were many cows covering the road. The Driver did not seem to see them, he accelerated the vehicle while the passengers screamed "cow! cow!! cow!!!". The more they screamed the more he accelerated until he crashed into the cows. Many passengers were badly wounded. I knew the Devil hard targeted me but God rescued me unhurt. I trekked few kilometers that night to the nearest point where we got a taxi and still made my journey to United Arab Emirate.

Thunder Blast ~ Reaction from DRC
Few years ago, I was invited to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) to speak at the Missions Fest, a mission conference organised by the local churches in the city. One early morning after the conference, my friend and I drove to the hospital where we took time to pray for the sick and casted out demons from people that were possessed. At the same moment, thunder lightening struck in my house faraway in Jos, Nigeria heading straight to my wife with the children standing by her side ready to go to school. My wife shouted Jesus and immediately the thunder diverted into the electric cable and destroyed the thunder resistor, burnt the cables, meter and electronics connected to it.  We are thankful to God that they were not hurt. God remains the unbeatable champion.

10 Things I Will do Differently in Managing Relationship as a Leader ~ Andrew Abah

The Bible has been very insightful in my journey leadership. I sometimes wish I knew all I know now when I began to lead as a student in 1983 and later as a mission leader in 1989. It would have saved me a lot of setback and apparently, the work God committed into my hands as a leader in the missions enterprise would have flourished more than it did. It is however not too late as I am daily adjusting in a number of ways and have liberty of sharing my experiences knowing that upcoming leaders can take advantage of my failures and never make same mistakes. Can we read together Romans 12:9-21 and use it as context for managing relationship in Leadership:

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

There can be no leadership without followership as the leader cannot do it alone. He needs the team to work with. The people make up the team and they are indispensable in accomplishing the goal. Unfortunately, many leaders may fail not because they are not energetic, brilliant and visionary but because they don’t know how to cultivate and sustain relationship. The above passage will be very helpful for leaders to use in cultivating wholesome relationship as it prescribes the character every leader needs to succeed. We will outline ten of the precepts here:

1.     Respect: Every leader wants to be respected. It is important to stress here that the leader must also respect everyone including even those that oppose them. Leaders must learn to esteem others better than themselves. They must recognize the worth and the value of the other person. No matter how little, everyone has intrinsic value because they are made in the image of God. This includes the most incapable, degraded and handicapped alike. The leader must recognize that value. When you honor the person, you enrich yourself because you surround yourself with people of worth.

The team members should be recognized also because their performance and achievement. They should be commended and appreciated publicly and privately. This can be expressed through the tone of voice, the look of the eyes and other non-verbal means. Putting an arm an arm around the shoulder pr giving them a worm hearted huge can go a long way. Being present with them on their important occasion will also mean so much to them.

2.     Understand your team members: We must take time to know those that work with us. Many times, the leader wants to be understood instead of understanding others. Leaders must deal with the selfish attitude. You cannot manage people you don’t know and cannot develop relationship when you don’t know them. To know a person will require you drawing closer to the person. This may take some time but the leader must work on it consciously. It will mean that you don’t restrict your relationship to formal setting so that people can relax and socialize. Leadership. Leaders can visit their team members even at homes. Be friendly with them. Share food and fellowship. Participate in life events like marriage, funeral, naming ceremony, etc. Laugh and weep together. Friendship is essential in understanding your members.

3.     Express Love and kindness as much as possible. No one can truly develop a true relationship without love.  In times of sickness, visit them. Offer some help in times of financial stress. Such help will improve on the bonding. This bonding will enhance the relationship. Sometimes, team members can go through challenges like accident, death, heavy burdens, etc. These challenges present opportunities for leaders to express their love.

4.     Avoid favoritism: The need to be fair to everyone cannot be overemphasized. When favor one person more than the other openly, it will be detrimental to the work generate ill-will. The Leader must therefore watch out for various possible sources which could generate favoritism and avoid it. They are: (a)   Tribe (b)  Clan (c)   Education (d)  Class (e)   Personality and personal interest

5.     Be Gracious: It is normal for team members to sometime fall short of expectation. Harmonious relationship will require that we forgive and move forward. Sometimes, not meeting, up to time schedule schedule can be very painful but let us be flexible and gracious. A leader must recognize the wrinkles in the members and accept them. We are different in personalities with strength and weaknesses which attracts and repels. No matter how you try some cannot be reformed.

6.     Capacity building: The leader must show personal interest in team members to help them grow and develop to reach their God-giving potentials. Long or short term training may be helpful. This can be in the workplace or somewhere else. Such training enhances productivity as well as encourages the individual.

7.     Vision: The leader must not assume that the team members already understand the vision. Take time share your vision in such a way that everyone will be on the same page. The need to refresh people’s mind on this cannot be overemphasized because Continuous refreshment will generate more support by the team members because they are the foot soldiers that will implement the vision.

8.     Avoid embarrassing your team members. Correction is inevitable as you work together. How it is carried out determines the result it generates. If you correct in private it will be more productive than when you correct in front of others. For many, if you correct them in the presence of others they consider it as embarrassment. When a controversial issue emerge in a meeting, it is best to suspend the agenda. Check on the person in concern privately to sort out the issue. The misunderstanding will only be deepened if you press on with the matter in a group.

9.     Build trust: For any meaningful success to be achieved the leader must cultivate a relationship of trust. This will require that both the leader and the team members must trust one another. The leader in particular must work hard to demonstrate that he is trust worthy. Character and competency are very crucial here. Character consists of honesty, truthfulness, purity and holiness. The leader must be beyond reproach in all this areas. If the team member must trust their leader, he must be transparent. The leader must be opened, self discipline is absolutely essential in any leadership. Nobody will trust you if they don’t know you and they cannot know you unless you reveal yourself.

10. Work with the team:  When the team leader assign work, he must also join in working or else he/she will be giving a wrong signal that he/she is not sharing in the burden. Action speaks louder than voice. A wise leader must himself serve. He/she must come down to the level of everybody.

Candle in the Dark

(Extract - Chapter Four of Journey into the Dark Nations : Autobiography of Andrew Abah)

It is difficult to precisely tell the exact date Grace Foundation Inland Missions came into existence but the circumstances that surrounded its birth and the year it was founded cannot be forgotten easily. First, in one of our many outreaches, some friends with whom I had related with for many years decided to go into more interior and remote jungles to preach the gospel to the people. We were persuaded by the reasoning of Oswald J. Smith who argued that it was not logical for some to hear the gospel over and over whereas others are not opportuned to hear the gospel even once. We then choose four locations for our mission adventure for that period. They were Ebala, Akre, Enumadu and Irim, all in Benue State of Nigeria. These places were not accessible by vehicles at that time, not even commercial vehicles could dare it. We trekked very long distances, climbing hills and descending valleys to get there. 


Entering Real Dark Jungles
We preached at four locations from house to house. We also organized open air crusades and the evangelistic campaigns were very fruitful many persons came out to surrender their lives to Christ and the sick came out to be prayed for. We were all very young and energetic, Dr. Agnes Okpe (nee Igoche) was a college girl then, she is now a Lecturer in Kaduna State Polytechnic. Dr. Joel Onu was a student at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria then. He is now a Lecturer at the same University. Rose Ameh was a student at the Benue State Polytechnic, she is now in Liberia after working in one of the oil companies in Kano for several years. Preaching especially in the jungle was our passion. The results were always very exciting. We did it with little or no resources. The grace of God was always very strong and the team work was unparalleled.

All the places we preached were really challenging but one of the villages stood out. That was Irim. Most of the inhabitants were dwarfs. Some of the dwarfs, including men had protruded stomach as if pregnant with twins, some had sores that had lasted for seven years and above. The situation of the people was an eyesore. One girl seemed to standout there. She was very beautiful and well structured. I beckoned on her to come so we could chat. Unfortunately, she responded with sign language. She was deaf and dumb. I was deeply touched. I then asked why all of them were so highly deformed in the village. They claimed the village was known for witchcrafts and that the more number of witches or wizards torments, determined their pride in the society.

The Seed that led to Grace Foundation Inland Missions
I wept as I asked the Lord why He permitted the people such power to be able to torment His creatures in that manner. I heard God tell me very clearly that He was not to be blamed but the church. The church was designed by God to be the light but this light has been hoarded so much that many communities, tribes and nations are still in gross darkness after over 2000years that the price for their redemption has been paid. While places with light are being flooded with more light, darkness is growing thicker in the dark places of the earth and the Prince of darkness have field day carrying out his ministry:  'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…'(John 10:10). It was at this point that the Holy Spirit made Psalm 74: 20 clearer in my spirit: 'Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty' (Ps 74:20). 

In a lay man's language, God is a covenant keeper. He will continue to wait for the light to dispel darkness. Until this is done, the cruelty will continue. He has made provision for the light. You and I are the light that will dispel this darkness. His words:  "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matt 5:14-16).

The need was very clear. Civilization, money and social infrastructure could not checkmate this darkness. Only the light could do it.   At this point, I offered myself. At this point I had been born again, I had served in various leadership positions and ministry but nothing else could quench the thirst to dispel darkness.  The seed to extend God's grace to these people grew stronger and stronger. It was clear where I was heading to in life as I made commitments to God I was going to spend the rest of my life to take the light of the gospel to the dark places of the earth. The thought of how to go about this task constantly gripped my heart.

In 1988, the Kamberi mission work started via a research while I was the Evangelical Secretary of the Kwara Christian Corpers Fellowship (KCCF). In 1989 we pressed further with series of short term outreaches using the KCCF platform.  The Kamberi field located in the thick forest of Borgu Local Government Area just like Irim had the same features of the dark places of the earth. As we rounded up the service year, we made effort to convince the incoming KCCF leadership to continue with the work but sadly, they declined because the place was carved out of Kwara State of Nigeria and merged with Niger State. 

My friend and colleague, Habila Musa made contact with the Calvary Ministry, an indigenous mission outfit in Nigeria to take over and continue with the work just like we handed over the Christian Fellowship Centre I started at Aiona in 1984/1985 to Christian Life Evangelical Ministry. They also declined. We cannot allow the work among the Kamberis to stop prematurely. We must also continue with our outreaches in the jungles of Ebala, Akre, Enumadu and Irim. The extension of the Christian Fellowship Centres at the boarder villages of Enugu and Benue state anchored by my colleague, Michael Agada had not been handed over to any ministry. Instead, we had gotten more missionaries like Magreth Daniel, Gabriel Itodo, Pius Eje, Janet Julius and others. Most of them were teachers and were paid by the government. Magreth and Gabriel were supported by our first financial partner, Dr. Malobi Ogboli.

After much prayer, I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to have a broader organized platform that will harness our past and existing labour that had not yet been handed over to any organization and to use it as a lunching pad to invade as many more dark places of the earth as the Lord  enables us. In October 1989, I met in Jos with some of the members of the team we were working with to ratify the structure. We called it Grace Foundation. It was in the process of registering the organization with the Corporate Affairs Commission we discovered the name was no longer available that we changed it to Grace Foundation Inland Missions(GFIM). 

We spent the first year praying to God for a clearer blue print on how to progress with the assignment. A team of between seven to twelve persons began meeting on a weekly basis in my house to pray for our team on the mission field. We travelled from time to time to the mission field to strengthen the converts and the labourers.  In 1990, we called for a National Prayer Conference (NPC) that brought together all our team members from across Nigeria. We took time to pray for the nations, for world missions and for the future of GFIM. At the end of the conference, we met to formalize the leadership structure during which Agnes Okpe, Joel Onu, Sunday Ayegba, Yinka Laoye and I became the first set of Executive Council.

After five years, the list was reviewed to include Samson Amedu and Lucy Abah. In the process of registering GFIM with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the status of the Executive Council was changed to Members of the Board of Trustees. With time, members of this Board began to grow in many ways and their schedules became very tight such that they were not as available as they use to be. Some of them became Pastors in their local assemblies. Others became Managers in their places of work. In responding to this reality, a governing council was appointed to work hand in hand with the Board of Trustees. Some of the Board members who are resident in Jos and those whose schedule still allows for consistent involvement in the work like Yinka Laoye, Lucy Abah and myself are members of both the Council and the Trustees. We also brought in new members who have shown consistency in the ministry like Joke Eyitayo (Nee Ositelu) and later replaced by her husband Samuel Gboyega Eyitayo and National Directors of GFIM in various countries as well as Chairmen of the Governing Councils of countries where we work and Michael Agada who was the regional leader of the work among the boarder villages of Enugu/Benue State and much later Fred Adigun.

Fresh Breath on the Work
With GFIM in place, work continued in earnest in all the places where we were working. We studied patterns of Jesus missionary endeavours and    Matthew 4:13-16 particularly struck our minds: 
'Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan,Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." 

We knew that if we were to go far in the work, there was the need for missionaries to dwell among the unreached people. Jesus left Nazareth to live among the people. He was not shuttling. As good as short term missions is, if there are no missionaries on the ground to harness their fruits, it turns out to be a futile effort. 

In May 1991, we deployed our first Resident Missionary couple, Samuel and Anna Abrakson to Kamberi field.  Two years later we deployed a single missionary, Monica Ogwuche (Nee Omale) to the same field. Before then, we were only shuttling on short term missions. In the first three years of resuming on the field, they planted seven churches in very deep remote jungles. The first sets of converts were completely unlearned. They were thought how to read and write by the missionaries. They were thought the Bible and trained locally to pastor the new churches and they performed very well.

The Kamberi field has so many other unreached people groups including the Dukawas, Hausa, Fulanis, Larus, etc. We therefore concentrated our effort on the place for a field while, sending more missionaries to work among the various people groups.

From Kamberi to Dirawa
At the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement Unreached People's Consultation at Abuja in 1995, research reports were submitted and list of many tribal groups in Northern Nigeria with their profiles were made available to mission leaders present. It was very staggering to see as many as 78 chronic unreached people groups with no known Christian. Most of them were not engaged at the time by any mission agency. We were encouraged to adopt as many as we could. The Dirawas were said to be located in Bauchi state of Nigeria. This sounded close to us in Jos where we have our base. We adopted it and began to pray for labourers and more information on how to engage them. 

God connected us to a Pastor in Bauchi who was familiar with the people, we took advantage of that connection to visit the people. The situation of the people was so pathetic. None of the people had known the Lord. Few Christian organization had made efforts to reach them but they were very resistant to the gospel. We delegated two missionaries to live amongst them. They still did not want to relate with the missionaries. This was our first experience of working among such a very unyielding tribe. The missionaries used all the strategies they knew. They taught their children how to read and write. They organized adult literacy classes but the people were still adamant. We concentrated on praying for the land and looked out for their felt need.
We later discovered that they trekked several kilometers to grind their grains and we felt they needed a grinding machine, which could compel them to come close to us. We prayed about it and began to trust God for the fund. At last, the Mission Supporters League (MSL) offered to buy the grinding engine for us. There was great celebration, when the engine was installed, the people began coming around not only to grind their grains but to spend time talking with us. A bridge was built and the grinding machine was the bridge. At this point, they agreed to release some of their children to come over to the mission house to learn. Salisu Chiroma was one of the young boys. He became the first convert from the tribe. Today, a few more persons have come to embrace the Lordship of Jesus from the tribe. Salisu has completed his High school and is warming up for tertiary education.

At the point God began to grant us favour before the people. However, the Muslims also began to show interest in winning the people over to Islam. One night they came in with large stock of bundles of zinc, clothes, money and several other materials. They invited the people, distributed the items and told them to embrace Islam. To our greatest surprise, many of them agreed and from that night they became Muslims. It was difficult reaching them as animists but it is now much more difficult reaching them as Muslims and syncretics.  Our missionaries laboring among them, Bulus Inlaya and Rabo Yakubu have refused to give up. We are praying that one day the power of God will come over them and they will massively turn to the Lord.

One particular plague on the field is snake. They are all over the place. Two years after the work began; our missionary was uncomfortable with movements on the roof at night, she pointed her touch on the roof and discovered it was a snake. She and her colleague were both female missionaries and could not even attempt to pursue or kill the snake that night. They however, moved to the next room to sleep. The following morning, they woke up to see another snake on the bed beside them. We thank God they were not bitten by the snake.

From Dir to Bum
As the work continued to crawl in Dir, we felt the need to extend the gospel to other unreached people groups. We moved in to the Zullawa people groups in Bum. Josephine Oumorou(Nee Idoko) had just completed her mission training and was not comfortable with duplicating efforts. She wanted to go to a place where no church had ever existed. She wanted the people of Bum to also have the opportunity of hearing the gospel and congregating together for the first time to worship their Creator.

Unlike Dir, she was welcomed into the land and given a hut to live in, as she began evangelizing and there was no much of resistance. Many of them surrendered their lives to the Lord and the first church was built. We have seen over and over that no matter how thick the darkness is, a candle light makes a whole lot of difference. The Zullawas did not only surrender their lives to Christ but they were discipled. Many were taught how to read and write and many others were raised to take the gospel to other unreached people groups in the state.

After the first phase of the pioneered work, Sunday Musa was drafted in. Musa plays music before God called him to missions. On resuming work on the field he found many young boys and girls who had embraced Christ through the ministry of Josephine. With his musical skills, he impacted them positively. The Zullawa youths are waxing stronger and stronger in the Lord today spreading the gospel to many other places through music. The Men and the Women Fellowship are also growing and helping to strengthen the work in other areas of the land.

A new church has been planted at Zull and it is strategically located beside Tasha-Durumi, a community that is largely dominated by Muslims from the Hausa and Fulani people, as well as foreigners from Niger Republic. The work is currently making progress under the leadership of Ladi Ekpa.

From Bum to Bolu
After laboring to plant the first church in Bum, Josephine Oumarou pulled out to the Bolu people group located at the back of the Zaranda Mountain. She and Issa Malaki started the work among the Bolu people. Unlike the Zullawa work, they met stiff resistance at Bolu. The territorial powers were determined to halt every effort geared towards tampering with their belief in their idol gods and satanic culture. First, they were not allowed to live in the village, the man who gave them a portion of his house to live in was thoroughly persecuted, the roofs of the huts offered to them were leaking profusely such that they needed buckets each time it was raining, when we had money to build, the villagers conspired not to give us land to build etc. It took us a long time to persuade the village head to give us land to build a house.

Reaching the villagers was initially very difficult. Just like she did at Bum, she took time to learn the culture and language of the people and the people began to see her as an insider. When she got married, her husband was transferred to join her on the field while Issa Maliki was moved to Niger Republic to pioneer the Gobirawa work. Together with her husband, God began to grant them favour with the village head and the men. Some of the men began to respond to the gospel but the women were adamant.

The challenge grew stronger when the women threatened to live their home and marry other men because of the faith of their husband's. The unmarried ones also had the challenges of getting wives because the women considered it betrayal from their husbands to live their idols to worship God Almighty.

Ministry Among the Desert Tribes

(Extract - Chapter Three of Journey into the Dark Nations : Autobiography of Andrew Abah)

 The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will 

lick the dust. (Ps 72:9)

When the Spirit of God impressed it on my heart that my ministry among the Aionas was over, I prayed to God to know what His next agenda for my life was. Then I had the leading from God to lift up my eyes towards the far north of Nigeria, the seat of the Islamic Caliphate of Nigeria. For a natural mind, it was a huge unrealistic ambition. But the Spirit of the Lord was however very clear and direct about it and Sokoto was to serve as my next base of ministry assignment. The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust was a prophecy that was to be fulfilled in the context of the tribal groups in this part of the world. I spent more time praying for a clearer blueprint. I knew no one in that far desert, neither did I know how to go about it nor where to start from? These were the wild questions on my mind.

Suddenly, the Spirit of the Lord impressed it on my heart to apply for admission into the higher institution which was the only university in the area at that time.  Following my previous encounter with the Lord, I dared not argue nor insist on my own rather I was quick to tell the Lord that if it was for the purpose of acquiring a degree, it were better to apply to the University of Jos or Ahmadu Bello University. These two institutions were closer home and more affordable but the Lord told me that academic pursuit was simply a bridge to the next phase of my ministry. I applied without any hitch, since the Lord was involved in it, the admission was successful.

On resumption, I devoted a greater part of my time to praying and establishing social contacts with the students. There was no doubt that it was a virgin mission field full of unlimited opportunities. We had a sizeable number of different unreached people groups on the campus. The mega tribes were the Hausas, Fulanis and Nupes. Outside the campus, we were also surrounded by the Dukawas and other smaller tribes. Some of the tribes have few number of Christians while others had no known Christian.
The Fellowship of Christian Students (FCS) was the only evangelical fellowship on campus and a very good platform to disciple the different nations represented on campus. I joined and became a faithful member. After the first session, I was elected the President of the FCS. It was a very strategic position God used in preparing me for the future leadership thrust and mission work he had for me. Again, it was an opportunity to work as a team. I had Aminu Sule as my Vice President, James Jacob as the Bible Study Secretary, Ruth Aifou(Nee Bako) as the Prayer Secretary, Arida Dasuma as Financial Secretary, Uchechukwu Dim was Welfare Secretary, Naomi Peterson as the Treasurer and few others I rarely recall.

Reaching the Rascals 
One of the highlights of our ministry was how to reach out to the influential rascals on campus.  James Jacob, in addition to his role as the Bible Study Secretary was very passionate about this group of persons. He met with them at the long tennis court in a secular manner. They took soft drinks, shared testimonies and he brought God's word to them. He never condemned them irrespective of their outlook, neither was he in a hurry to invite them over to the main fellowship.  His watch words were: 'Let us love them into the kingdom' . That outreach turned out to be very fruitful. Many of them surrendered their lives to Christ and became members of the main campus fellowship. The quality of the Bible Study and Sunday Services were great. The nominal Christians in the fellowship began to experience great transformation. Fervency in prayer became a norm. God moved in diverse ways and we were grateful to him.

Reaching the Dukawas
After a while, we saw the need to extend the love of Jesus to the Dukawas at Rijau Local Government Area of the then Sokoto State. There were reports of effort being made by the Muslims to Islamize them. For example, the head of each family at one of the villages was given money, a scholar was brought in to marry the daughter of the village head, the names of all the villagers were changed for Muslim names and all of them changed their religion from Idolatry to Islam. That to us was a dangerous signal and we felt as a body of Christ, the need not to only rise up but to counter the spread of Islam and take the light of the gospel to where it was needed most.
At this time, Calvary Ministries already had missionary team working among the Dukawas. The Ministry also had a chapter in Sokoto. To effectively contribute our quota, some of us became part of the Calvary Ministry chapter in the city. We travelled together with some of the chapter members to the field. We provided financial and other material gifts to the missionaries and spent weekends with them interacting with the Dukawas. These cross-cultural experiences remain indelible.

My first trip to the Dukawa field from Sokoto was not an easy experience. We trekked several kilometers on feet late into the night through many villages and hamlets carrying loads on our heads. The dogs barked like lions roaring. Unfortunately, after getting to our destination, the missionaries were said to have travelled out to Sokoto. We thanked God, the villagers were kind enough to open the doors to the missionary house for us to rest.

Outbreak of Persecution
Working among Muslims has never been easy. Several times they threatened to fight the Christians our number was so few to theirs that we dared not attempt to take them for granted. As the President, I always arranged to move the female members of the fellowship out of the campus while the males slept on open field. Sharing room with the fundamentalist was also hell on earth. I remember one night, I was listening to the gospel music in the room, a Muslim roommate threatened to stab me if I didn't off the cassette player. I had no option but to comply.

Sometimes the university authority took sides with the Muslims. At a time, all fellowships on campus were proscribed that we had to mount pressure on the authority to allow us operate under a new name, Protestant Christian Community and I was designated Chairman instead of President.

At the end of the day, the growing persecution made Christians grow stronger and stronger in the faith.
Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Student(NIFES) Sub Zone and Zonal Leadership being the only university in the area, our campus Fellowship provided leadership for all the fellowships in the other tertiary institutions in the subzone which in present day structure include Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi State. The zonal structure which our fellowship then belonged to was Zaria Zone which also included Kano and Kaduna State. The Zonal Cordinator was Adekunle Adeyemo(represented Ahmadu Bello University) who later founded the Bread of Life Ministry at Iwo. Other members of the Zonal Executive Council included myself, Bala Usman(represented Bayero University, Kano)  who is the current National Director of NIFES and late Habila Musa who represented Kaduna Polytechnic.

Exposure to NIFES at that level helped to lay the foundation for the relationships we harness for networking to take the light of the gospel to several nations today. It served as an open door into the various campuses in the Muslim infested northern states.

Another Transition
The academic program under which cover, I ran my ministry in the far northern state of Sokoto was virtually over. A new executive council was elected and we handed over to them. At this point, my Vice President, Aminu Sule took over the mantle of leadership. James Jacob and Ruth Aifou(Nee Bako)  were also in the new executive council because they still had additional year to spend on campus. 

The fellowship grew both in number and in quality of service to the glory of God. Many of those who came to the Lord are doing exploit for God today. One of such outstanding persons that surrendered their lives to Christ and joined the fellowship was the Student Union Director of Socials, Kasimu Dokpesi popularly known as Kaska. He is still in the Christian faith and serving as an Evangelist. He was twice Chairman of the Etsako East Local Government Council and Edo State Commissioner for Works. From the desert tribe God relocated me to Kwara State of Nigeria with a different level and nature of ministry assignment. I am ever grateful to God for the opportunity to serve in the desert tribe.

Training in Missions

(Extract - Chapter Two of Journey into the Dark Nations : Autobiography of Andrew Abah)

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should 

greatly increase. (Job 8:7)

My teaching job at Igwu- Akor village was over at this time. I returned to join my parents in Makurdi, Benue State Capital, Nigeria and my continuous search to be like my elder brother at that time led me to the saving arms of the Saviour. I got filled with the Holy Spirit and shortly after that secured admission to higher institution, the School of Basic Studies, Makurdi. I resumed at the school with the aim of pursuing the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB), an equivalence of advanced level GCE which ordinarily serve as a bridge/gateway to the University. Little did I know that I was enrolling for ministry training. 

As a new Christian just coming into the campus where there were many other young believers with different gifts and grace was a great time of great learning. In the first place, the Campus Fellowship was organised in such a way that great men of God from across the state and sometimes beyond were scheduled  to preach and some to teach on various subjects. Some of the teaching still sticks to my mind till today. Gbile Akanni was a very regular teacher. He was a Physics lecturer at the Katsina Ala College of Education at that time. He had just completed his National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) program. He was  very simple in his outlook and lifestyle and his teaching were very down to earth. He took personal interest in me. He thought on discipleship, year of Jubilee, etc. 

We had others like John Ornguze who had some Western influence and preaches with foreign ascent. He too was a great preacher and led the Intercessors for America. Listening to him was another level of exposure. 

Godwin Ikyernum was the first charismatic evangelist  I was ever exposed to as a young believer. I remember vividly his crusade message titled: The First Question to the First Man on the First Place of the Earth; Where Art Thou? Others were Tor Uja, Moses Msue. Their lives and messages impacted me greatly and I cannot divorce what I became in ministry from the input these great men of God in my life.

The Executive Council of the fellowship were thorough. The president, Isaac Igbe, Vice President, Joshua Manyam, Library secretary, late Julius Achin, Prayer secretary, Bishop Joseph Opaluwa, Blessing Ocholi and few others that I cannot readily remember were thorough ministers of the Gospel at that young age and they helped shaped my life for ministry. Their lives and messages were very impactful and In less than a year of entering the campus, a new election was conducted and I was elected into office as the new Prayer Secretary. It was a huge responsibility. This time, I had to grow beyond just praying for myself to praying for all the members of the fellowship. 

Tor Uja and Gbile Akanni taught on the coming revival and we took time to pray for it. We desperately wanted the revival on our campus. Sewuese Igbadu was a member of the new executive council. She was a very prayerful young lady. She mobilized friends to the long tennis court and spent several hours praying for divine visitation. With my responsibility as the prayer secretary, I organised prayer vigils twice a week and Sometimes we set up prayer chain and drew up time table where brethren prayed for 24 hours.

A Taste of Revival
It was not possible to pray that way without God coming down. One of such occasion was in May 1983 when we organised Jesus 83. I ensured that fervent prayers were made both day and night as we invited Moses Msue from Katsina Ala  and Professor Duro Adegboye from Zaria as the main speakers. Msue spoke on the topic: What Jesus can Do! I cannot remember precisely what Duro spoke on. The power of God came down as never before. We had mighty harvest of souls. One of the results that still abide till today was Rev. Samuel Tukura, he interrupted one of the sessions of the Jesus 83 to surrender his life to Christ. Before his surrender, he was very fetish and well known in the Campus. His conversion led to chains of other conversions and Gbile Akaani, Godwin Ikyernum and Tor Uja were particularly excited at the outbreak of revival. They helped nurse the fruits of the revival and particularly took interest in Samuel Tukura and discipled him.

Jesus 83 came and passed but the revival persisted. I remember vividly the former cult lady, simply called Agatha. She was said to be the queen of Indian Ocean, a high rank she attained in the marine world. She had initiated many of the campus girls into the marine spirit before her conversion. But as God came down mightily,  the spirit of God swept through the Campus and most of the girls Agatha had initiated were brought to the Lord and were ministered to. They were set free. Their male friends were confused. They could not understand why their girl friends have to suddenly break away from their immoral relationships. Some came close to the fellowship hall to peep. They wanted to see the Jesus that snatched their female friends, but the power of the Holy Spirit magnetized them from the fellowship windows from where they were peeping and they surrendered their lives to Christ and entered the church.

The wave of revival was massive. The fellowship was always filled up. All the leaders worked selflessly. Nobody took the glory for what God was doing. It was awesome and It was beyond the work of any man. We prayed effortlessly, we loved one another effortlessly and God produced for Himself lots of men and women from that campus who are serving him in various capacities across the nations today. 

Professor Samuel Odeh was the service secretary. Today he is a Professor of Medicine and also serves as one of the Pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Ameh Amana was the Library Secretary. He is the founder and leader of Gospel Inn today. John Jia was the Bible Study Secretary. Presently, he works with shell at Gabon. Ruth Adejoh(Nee Adejoh) was the General Secretary. She leads the Peace House in Lokoja with her husband. Benjamin Atebije leads the Prayer Ministry and many more whom I had lost touch with. Patience Adjei and Ajuma Agaba labour for the Lord at Oju and Gboko respectively today. The campus ministry was truly a processing plant for many of us and those that took over from us. 

Samuel Tukura, one of the many fruits of Jesus 83 did not only surrender his life to Christ but rose to become the fellowship President that led the Executive Council after our set. He founded the Flame Ministries many years after and had taken the gospel to many nations of the world. 

29years after, we look back and give God the glory for the training as It was a combination of charisma and character. Few years ago, Gbile Akaani and I met in Japan and casted our minds back to those early years of training and I was thankful to him and the few others that helped build in me a solid foundation. As I look across the nations, I cannot but be thankful to God on behalf of all my class mates and friends who have made input in one way or the other.

And Then the Practical Session  
In 1984, the School of Basic Studies program was over and we all dispersed applying for further studies. I applied to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to pursue a degree in History after which I prayed to really know if it was God's will for me to really go to Zaria or He has other plans for me.  I was expecting that if God will object to my schooling at Zaria, the only alternative was going to be University of Jos. Benue State of Nigeria where I came from was a catchment area for the two universities. It was easy securing admission as long as one's grades were okay.

However, I found myself in a trance, I was preaching in a village. The village was full of darkness and though there were few churches there, the people did not know their right from the left as par the gospel. The Lord explained to me that the village I saw in the trance was my next place of assignment but not the university. That was unbelievable. I took time to argue with God that my going through the School of Basic Studies was to prepare me for the university education and not to go to the village as a preacher. I resisted vehemently. I just could not imagine my mates going to the university and I will be going to the deep rural area to live among them for the purpose of preaching the gospel. That to me was madness.

I traveled to ABU to follow up on my admission in my determination to ignore God's leading. I met Dr. Patrick Wilmot, a Lecturer at the university then. He told me that the admission list was not out yet but that with my score, I would have no problem. When the list came out, it turned out that my name was not among those admitted. I returned to Dr. Wilmot and he too was surprised that my name was not on the list. He verified and discovered that my application form was not forwarded to the University from Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) and as such the university cannot consider me for admission. I wept sorely knowing that it was a  divine interruption like that of Jonah but even then, I was not comfortable with the idea of relocating to the village where God directed me in a trance to go.

The village, Aiona is located in a very remote jungle, 9Kilometers from the nearest tarred road. Vehicle rarely plied the road as at that time. On very rare occasion, we got vehicles which came in on market days. The villagers were used to trekking that distance. After much reluctance and struggle, I heard God clearly speak to me that because I refused to regard His calling, He will sit on His throne and laugh at me on the day of my calamity. His words: 'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh' (Prov. 1:24-26). 

At this point, it was already clear that admission into the university that session was a foregone conclusion and I had secured a teaching job in a more comfortable place, Edugwu-Iye Community Secondary School, Adumoko, Orokam. The salary was relatively reasonable and there was promise for accommodation for staff. I had to choose between the comfort and the threat of God 'laughing at my calamity'.  I took off to the village for a visit and visited the Government Day Secondary School. I introduced myself to the College Principal and he said he knew me and had planned to invite me to come over and teach in his college.

He told me how much the college will offer me and took time to persuade me. I told him I was already teaching and the salary I was offered was far higher than what his college was ready to offer. The Principal then began to give me information on how unevangelised the community was and that my teaching in the school will be a platform for me to spread the light of the gospel to such gross darkness. This was amazing because the Principal himself was not born again as at the time he was persuading me. I knew again, God was there to double-cross me. If he could speak through the mouth of a donkey, it was not surprising that he could use this God-fearing unbelieving Principal to persuade this young boy to come over and serve as a missionary teacher.

I still had my struggles and the voice persisted: 'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh' (Prov. 1:24-26). This time, in tears, I surrendered to his will. I then left for the College where I served, tendered my resignation and relocated to the Aiona Mission field.


God Provided a Mentor
Not long before I completed my program in Makurdi, I had crossed path with another young Evangelist at Ugbokolo, Benue State, Nigeria. I had gone to Benue Polytechnic situated at Ugbokolo to visit my elder brother, Abraham and was told he went to the Primary School to pray along with his prayer partner. I traced him to the school and waited for him by the door post. The prayer which I thought will last for an hour or two lasted for several hours. They prayed and prayed and prayed again! When they came out of the classroom, their countenances were radiant. You know these were supernatural beings. It was then I discovered the definition of effectual fervent prayer.   “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit”. (James 5:16-18).  I meet my brother's prayer partner, Evangelist Sunday Oguche for the first time. I saw in him great grace I could tap from. He preached with signs and wonders following. Inside of me, I felt this was a man I could learn from. I wanted to be such a passionate powerful Evangelist.

Ministry at Aiona
The phase of my ministry at Aiona which I often refer to as the core of my practical session after my first two years of ministry training in Makurdi will remain indelible. It was not long after I arrived the village that I understood what the College Principal meant by gross darkness covering the land. Wickedness abounds everywhere. The level of witchcraft, drunkenness and idolatry was unparalleled. Stories of killing through poisoning and charms of even close relatives were no longer news because they were rampant. Most homes were littered with shrines. 

After sometimes of prayer, I began witnessing to my students at the college. Not long after that the converts from the college joined me in house to house evangelism. Results began to trickle in as many lives, young and old, male and females began to turn to Jesus. The discipleship process necessitated meeting with all the converts under the tree in my compound because my tiny single room could no longer accommodate us. We later moved to the primary school at the centre of the village as the Head Master was generous enough to allow us the use of one of the classrooms for our fellowship.
Before long, the fellowship began to grow in number and persecution broke out. The contradiction was that church leaders championed the persecution. It was not surprising because they were not born again themselves. Some of them were drunkards and never knew their right from their left. Others were idolaters and notorious for the use of dangerous charm. They called us all sort of names. In some of the churches, they announced that we are cult that specialized in sucking blood and warned that the members of the church should not allow their relatives to come close to us or the fellowships that had just begun.

The announcements only helped publicize our work. Those that were adventurous came closer to us to investigate the allegation and the Holy Spirit pulled them to Himself. Two things that our critics could not deny were the Christ-like character of our converts and members of the fellowship and the miracles that were always not in short supply. One night, I heard someone bang on my door like a thief. I asked who the person was and the person introduced himself as the pastor of one of the biggest churches in the village. That was very strange. What will a Pastor who hated me so much be looking for at such odd hour of the night? Could he have come with a gang of hired killers? These were the thought that ran through my heart.

I prayed and politely opened the door. He came in with three of his children. It was another story of Nicodemus. His mission was to be prayed for. His children were all epileptic. One of them came under severe attack that night which prompted them to run to me for prayers. They were really helpless. I introduced Jesus, the helper of the helpless to them and spent time to pray for them. God ended their misery of epilepsy that night.

The news of what God was doing began to spread to the cities. While some were thankful to God, others fought us. At a time, the Police headquarters directed the Okpoga Divisional Police to investigate my activities. They had received allegation that I had turned the village upside down and that had been a heavy 'negative' influence on their youth in particular, teaching them to be rude. The Police came in and carried out their investigation. They were amazed at the information they gathered. What the people called rudeness was the fact that their born again family members had resolved no longer to sell alcohol or cigarette any more. The young ladies were also no longer ready to be married to non-Christians. Crime rate had dropped sharply because perpetrators were born again and their lives  changed.

They reported back to the headquarters but one of the influential men from the village, a Medical Consultants in Makurdi (who became born again himself many years after) continued to mount pressure on the Police headquarters prompting them to arrest some members of my leadership team while I was away. The young converts were also tortured by their parents and stopped from coming to fellowship and associating with me.

Counteracting the Oppositions
One way we could help the new believers who were literally under fire then was to keep teaching them the cost of discipleship which included partaking in the fellowship of his suffering as taught by Apostle Paul: “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name”. (1 Peter 4:13-17)

Jesus teaching on bearing the cross was also very resourceful: 
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. 27”And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”. (Luke 14:26-27) 
While some of my team mates were in Police detention, I travelled to see a member of the Benue State Executive Council and Commissioner for Information of that time, Rev. Tor Uja who was also one of those God used to nurture me spiritually before God deployed me to the village.  I wanted him to use his influence to stop the Police from further harassing us. I told him, I was the target of the Police and that I had been declared wanted. He told me to return to my mission station and that if I was arrested and detained, I could send to him.

That did not make much sense to me especially as there were no telephone facilities then as it is now. Instead of returning to my missions' station, I left for Ugbokolo to notify Evangelist Sunday Oguche of my ordeal. He was still a student at the Benue Polytechnic then so it was not possible to follow me immediately. He asked me to go ahead of him. I passed through Owukpa and picked up one of the village Evangelist, John Inamu to accompany me to the Police station where my team mates were detained. He was to take the information to Sunday Oguche and Tor Uja if the Police detained me. The good news was that they called me to the DPO's office and confided in me the source of the pressure on them from the Police headquarters and that they had investigated my activites but had found no reason to harass me. They however advised that I cancelled a meeting I had planned to avoid embarrassment from the police headquarters as they had threaten that if they at the Division cannot tame me, they were willing to send Police directly from Makurdi. They discharged me and the others. It was a miraculous escape!

That seemed to be the beginning of the persecution. Some of the converts suddenly saw the need for restitution. One in particular was no longer comfortable with being a second wife. She felt she must leave and straighten her relationship with her maker. Hearing that a woman had to leave her matrimonial home in the name of restitution caused an uproar in the society. 


Agent of Darkness at Work
Since the fire of persecution could not make us to soft-pedal, the devil devised other means to halt what God was doing. A young lady simply known as Juliana joined the fellowship. She claimed she was born again and began to partake in all our activities ranging from discipleship class to outreaches. She helped in carrying the megaphone we used for public address system. Little did I know she was an agent of darkness. 

In one of our meetings, the power of God came down heavily and she began to confess how she was delegated to initiate me but every effort to get hold of me proved abortive as according to her, I was surrounded by fire. She had attained a very high rank in the marine world. She also had spirit husband and kids. In view of that she was no longer interested in getting married in the material world any more. She turned down all the men who approached her for marriage and her parent were already getting worried.

As usual, our God sets captives free. That is one reason why Jesus came to die for us: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."( Luke 4:18-19)

She was prayed for and set free. There were many of such agents of darkness that came with the intention of ruining the work but God took over the battle and gave us victory.

Another Transition
After months of doing ministry at Aiona, God did not only give us more and more converts but some believers from the city came in. One of such is Freedman Akoh. Not long after he arrived, God spoke to me that my time there was almost over. I was specifically directed to prepare him to take over the leadership of the work in that village. He was a fine gentle man but not baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was not possible to survive there without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I introduced him to it and prayed for him. He was baptized. He turned out to be an excellent Pastor. Together we worked until I handed over to him in obedience to divine directive.

At every point, persecution did not only persist but intensified. As I relocated from the village for a fresh assignment, the enemies of the gospel ganged up together day and night and strategised on how to put a complete halt to the advancement of the gospel. The heat became so intense that the brethren began to think of institutionalizing the ministry to position them well to face the enemies. All the while, we had not adopted any formal name nor were we reporting to any structure anywhere. For the purpose of nomenclature, we refer to ourselves as Fellowship and our meeting place as Christian Fellowship Centre.

Beside Pastor Freedman, another fine Christian, Michael Agada had completed his National Youth Service Corps and joined the team. Her mother was already a frontline member of the fellowship. Michael secured a teaching job and was posted to the boarder village of Benue and Enugu State. He started branches of the Christian Fellowship Centres in some of the villages. Though largely autonomous and initially none of us earned salary at the onset as we all collected salaries as teachers, I however provided initial leadership for the work.

As constant police harassment resumed, we all agreed that the centre at Aiona be handed over to a formal denomination that is incorporated with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Michael suggested Christian Life Evangelical Ministry and we all unanimously agreed to that as the way forward. Being the pioneer of the centres at the Benue/Enugu boarder, Michael naturally took over the leadership of the work directly under his care. We remained grateful to Janet Julius who pioneered the Aiede work, Magreth Daniel, Pius Eje and Gabriel Itodo for their pioneering role in the Owukpa District. We are still stakeholders in these work and we take out time to visit the fellowship as God provides the opportunity.