Lagos Revival 2025 – A Success

LAGOS REVIVAL 2025 – A SUCCESS

INVITATION TO PREACH

Stephen Akin-Olatunde and I were invited to come hold a revival in Lagos, Nigeria June 17-21 at Excellent Christian Bible Church with Rev. Christopher Itobiye & his lovely wife Maria. The theme of the revival was “Divine Visitation.” We got to meet the Pastor’s children: Anita, Blossom, Flourish, & Treasure. Anita later led the Sunday morning worship – she is a very gifted singer and is one of God’s triggers to release His Spirit in that church, for the people were moved to dance and rejoice. Those who had formerly been timid moved out freely under her ministry. Pastor Chris comes from a ministry family: 2 of his brothers are pastors & 2 of his brother’s in law are pastors – for a total of 6, counting himself!

The Church choir is composed about 15-20 singers accompanied by a musical ensemble of 6-7 musicians. They wear brightly colorful outfits that all match and they change to different outfits each service. Their organization is admirable. Pastor Chris & wife Maria are called and used. They are diligent to care for God’s people. They started the church in their living room and have slowly built the congregation. They bought property and built the large, beautiful church building. They have sown and now they are reaping!

THE NEED IN NIGERIA

One of the reasons we have wanted to go to Nigeria is to be an encouragement to God’s Church there. Nigeria is a country rich in children and faith, but is poor in finances. Overall, 46% of Nigerians live in poverty, making less that $2.15 a day; in rural areas the poverty rate is 75%. Lagos is a place of extremes – extreme wealth for some and extreme poverty for

others. But the people work hard to find a way out of their poverty, they use their genius to start little shops and sell products out in the moving cars and buses, and on sidewalks. Since most people don’t have cars, transportation is a big need. So many young men buy a motorcycle and carry up to 3 extra passengers on it. If they are prosperous they buy a TUKTUK - a simple vehicle with an engine and three wheels, often used as a taxi. The next step up are small mini-vans with 3 or 4 rows of seats which can be crammed with 12 or more people. Nigeria is a country smaller than Texas, yet it has a population of 236 million – the same population that the US had in 1980 but all concentrated in a small area. Lagos is the largest city in Africa, having 21 million in the metroplex. Lagos borders on the ocean and some of it is on islands. Millions are moving to it each year, except no infrastructure is built to support this influx. As a result, about 70% of the population live in slums, much of it along the lagoon, without access to basic amenities such as electricity, clean water, access roads etc. So it is a place of great need. But the people are energetic, looking for any way to work, and as soon as they can, move to other countries for work.

TRAVEL TO SERVICES

We began on Thursday night. Stephen and I were picked up while the service was in progress. We would thread our way through the streets, sitting in the backseat.

DRIVING in Nigeria is similar to riding a roller coaster in America – at least – that’s how it makes you feel. There are very few stop-lights and not many police, so at intersections the driver who gets to go first is the one with the most nerve. All the cars are within inches of each other, jumping forward and trying scare the

other drivers into getting out of their way. People frequently drive on the wrong side of the road. The aggressive drivers let you know who they are by blowing their horns as they approach the intersection. The more honking they do, the more determined, fearless, or reckless they are. So all the sheepish people try to act brave, but end up letting them push through. To complicate matters, there are MOTORCYCLES all around you acting as taxis, with women and even small children on the back. Motorcycle drivers are more daring than all – cutting you off, driving between lines of cars, cutting through cross-traffic, driving the wrong direction in traffic, and off the road, etc. Then there are the TUKTUKs - 3 wheeled, yellow taxis. They are almost as brave as the motorcycles. They dart in and out of cars, cutting corners to get ahead and blowing their horns. Then there’s the mini-van taxis and big trucks, all vying for the same space. If that weren’t enough, there are thousands of pedestrians walking between cars and overflowing from sidewalks. Often I would find myself catching my breath at the dear-death of some pedestrian or praying that an aggressive driver wouldn’t run into us!