Yola literally means a ‘great plain’ or ‘vast plain land’ and is the capital city and administrative center of Adamawa State in northeast Nigeria. On this vast plain land, God is moving in incredible ways. To God’s glory, we have started a seed fellowship in Yola that came about by the faith of one man. Victor Anthony visited the city of Jos last month from Yola to see his best friend Emmanuel Abengowe, who is a disciple of Christ. After meeting Emmanuel and seeing the spiritual transformations in his life, Victor confessed he wanted his life to radiate with God’s love like his friend’s. He then followed Emmanuel to church, started studying the Bible and three days later, was saved.
Victor left Jos for Yola on the very day he was baptized with the seed of God’s word stirring in his heart. Upon arrival in Yola, he sourced for a meeting venue, paid for it and then called us in Jos to come preach the gospel in Yola. He promised to foot all our bills while in Yola and we couldn’t resist the faith of this young man! We were certain that was the wind of God’s Spirit blowing us in the direction of the fertile city of Yola. Today as a result, we have three people who have made Jesus the Lord of their lives. Michael was recently baptized after service and his daughter is already counting the cost to be a disciple of Jesus.
Rosemary was baptized after Sunday service. She is a mother of six and lost one of her children after he fell into a well and died. She found our invitation card on the floor of the hotel restroom where we were lodged, picked it and decided to attend the One-Day Challenge.
Dave Iliya was baptized in the Cantonment Ministry Ikeja in 1997 by our brother Emeka Okechukwu. Being the son of a serving military personnel, he moved out of Lagos and the fellowship with his father who was transferred up north. David lost his faith for lack of fellowship as we had no congregation in the northern part of Nigeria at the time. Last year Okechukwu got in touch with Dave on Facebook and started reaching out to him. Dave asked to be restored back to God and the church. Okechukwu reached out to Shadrach to share with him about Dave’s desire to get back on track with God and the church. Shadrach then reached out to Dave. Since Adamawa – Yola to Abuja is about a 13 hour drive, it was extremely challenging to have Dave come to church in Abuja, the nearest church after Jos in Plateau State. God in his mysterious way of working brought Victor into the picture! This afforded Dave the God-given opportunity he was yearning for. As the team of brothers and sisters from Jos and Abuja came down to preach the good news in Yola, Dave traveled an hour to where the church met and broke down in tears. He confessed his sins and committed to a lifelong decision to repent and follow Jesus. He was restored back to the fold.
Dave Iliya lost his wife, the mother of his children, two years ago and has since remarried. His goal and prayer is to bring his wife to Christ. Continue to pray for us in the Northern bloc of Nigeria, particularly for the seed fellowship in Yola. May God continue to shine his wonderful light on a volatile and troubled region. And may hearts continue to move and respond to that light! Shared from ICOC Nigeria.
