8th Church Anniversary Arise & Shine -River Of Life Church
By Rick Gillespie- Mobley
Isaiah 60:1-3
Summary: This sermon is for a church's eighth anniversary. The congregation is a West African Church from Liberia and focuses in on the pastor and his struggles.
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Eighth Anniversary Banquet 10/26/24 Isaiah 60:1-3
Arise and Shine for your light has come. Arise and Shine are words of victory, joy and celebration. However those words are usually given to a people who have been downtrodden and living in a world of darkness.
For seventy years the people of God have been living under the cruel oppression of the Babylonians, Medes and Persians. Darkness has been hovering over their lives. They had been taken captive from their homeland, their temple destroyed and their city set on fire after the destruction of their walled gates.
To hear the word given by the prophet Isaiah, arise and shine for your light has come, injected into them a new sense of hope and purpose. Their God had not forgotten about them. They remembered their homeland and they wanted to return. They wanted to be used by God to rebuild what they had lost and to be a light to those who were still living in darkness.
Today we celebrate the eighth anniversary of The River of Life Church International. We are here also because of its vision to reach out to the homeland of some of its members from Liberia. The call to a small group of believers there is to arise and shine, because God is going to equip them with a building so that they can be a light in their community in such a way that others will glorify God.
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The scriptures tell us in Ephesians 2:20 that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. In other words, God thinks, God plans, and God carries out things on a level way beyond us.
When God tells us to arise, we never know just how high the Lord is going to take us. When God tells us to shine, we never know how brightly we will burn, or how far our light will extend.
We are tempted to forget, that the God we pray to here, is the same God that’s listening to the prayers of others on the other side of the world. It is a privilege and an honor, when we can be the answer to somebody else’s prayers because of the place God has placed us in.
The seed for the River of Life Church International, was planted out of pain and struggle. I want you to go back in time with me for a moment.
Imagine what it was like, to have your country being torn apart by a civil war. You can hear gunfire, and you know the rebels are closing in. You’re terrified as you see people running for their lives.
Because you, worked for the government, the rebels are after you. They catch up with you, and you are arrested. You are from the same village as the vice-president, and they insist you tell them where the vice-president is hiding. You have no idea where the vice president is. You’re just a lowly government worker.
That’s the situation Joseph Samuel Banaci found himself in, in his home country of Liberia in 1990. He’s praying to God for help.
But the rebels demand they tell him something he does not know. They start beating him without mercy or remorse.
There’s a severe blow to his kneecap. His body is wracked with pain. They keep asking him the same question. Blow after blow hits him. They beat him until he passes out, and they leave him for dead. He’s out for hours before others can help him. The recovery is a slow process. Yet God is telling him to arise and shine for his light has come.
His desire to know the will of God for his life is increasing as he continues to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Preaching in Liberia and other surrounding African nations. He goes to the country of Guinee to learn more about the bible at the Abundant Word Bible College.
Dr. Pangio is at the College teaching and preaching as he, travels from the US to go over the world doing conferences and helping to establish bible schools and colleges.
There in the African nation of Guinea, Rev. Banaci meets Dr. Pangio. Because Rev. Banaci speaks French and English he becomes Dr. Pangio’s guide and security guard. At the end of the conference, Dr. Pangio attempts to give Rev. Banaci money in payment for his services.
Rev. Banaci declines the offer of money and says, “what I want from you is to be my spiritual father. I need someone over me in my ministry.”
Dr. Pangio accepted the role and declared Rev. Banaci to be one of his sons. It was one of the best deals Rev. Banaci would make in his ministry.
He returns to his country of Liberia. The pain in his knee reminds him of that awful day of beating. Then God who thinks in ways we could not imagine, gives Rev. Banaci a call to go and serve as a missionary in South Korea.
The average temperature in Liberia in January is 91 degrees. In Seoul, South Korea the temperature in January is usually between 5 and 14 without windchill. That cold was not going to be good for his knees.
There are black people everywhere in Liberia. There are not that many blacks in Korea. Koreans go to work from 8 am to 8pm often 6 days a week. Yet that’s where God sent him as a missionary to reach people for Christ.
Once in South Korea, the pain in his knee was becoming more unbearable, and the cold didn’t help. He went to the hospital only to discover he had a broken knee cap. It would cost him $7000 for the surgery. He had no money for the surgery.
But God had a plan in mind already. He went to the Catholic Charities in South Korea.
He explained that he was a missionary, and that he needed surgery but didn’t have the money for it. Catholic Charities sent him to their largest hospital in Korea and performed the operation for free.
It was there in South Korea, that God planted the desire in Rev. Banaci to establish the River of Life Church. God took him 8,401 miles to the east on another continent to give him the vision for The River of Life Church. The first River of Life Church was born there in South Korea.
Rev. Banaci was convinced that he was to go back to Liberia and to start a new church in the capital city of Monrovia. Once he got the little church started, and purchased land for the building, he felt called to go the United States to further his education. He turned the new church over to a local pastor until he would return. The second River of Life Church came into being.
God then sends Rev. Banaca 4,772 miles west to another continent to further his training in Pennsylvania, earning both his Bachelors and Master’s Degree. God used Dr. Pangio to make the trip to the United States possible.
Rev. Banaci began work and established the third River of Life Church International in Philadelphia. It was difficult for him trying to support himself, because he didn’t have a work permit. He found himself out of funds and homeless.
Dr. Michael Pangio and Rev Joann Pangio came to his aid with spiritual and financial support. They were there working hard to get the necessary legal immigration paper work to keep Rev. Banaci in the United States.
Even after spending thousands of dollars, Immigration officials denied his application three times to stay in the country. Yet the Pangios’ commitment to support him in ministry did not wane.
He came to Cleveland to be with a relative only to find himself homeless again because of being unable to work without a permit. God rallied the Body of Christ from Youngstown and Elyria through Dr. Pangio and Rev. Kelvin Roberts and Minister Kellie to provide a place for him to live in Cleveland. They made his early rent payments for an apartment.
Even though things were difficult, in his heart Rev. Banaci knew he should start another branch of the River of Life Church in Cleveland. He sought advice from his mentor Dr. Pangio who encouraged him to start the work.
It was eight years ago, that this congregation finally began to take shape. Pastor Kelvin was here for many of the early services offering himself wherever he could, preaching, praying and serving for the cause of Christ.
Once again, Rev. Banaci turned to Catholic Charities for assistance. He wanted to know if they could help him find a church home while launching a new church. He also wanted to know if they could help him with his immigration status by helping him to get a work permit and maybe even a green card.
Catholic Charities gave him the name of 3 churches they recommended he visit. The one church to respond to his situation was New Life at Calvary with Pastor Toby, Pastor Kellie, and Pastor Rick as its pastors at the time.
He came with Pastor Kelvin to visit the church, only to discover Pastor Kelvin had grown up at this church as kid.
Pastor Toby and I believed in what God was calling him to do, and we personally aided in assisting the congregation with the rent at the church in which he was worshipping.
When the doors closed for that location, the session of the New Life At Calvary voted to open its doors to give a physical home for the new River of Life Church Intl here in Cleveland, and here we are today. Two churches working together to reach this community for Christ.
But where would the church be if Rev. Banaci had been deported back to Liberia. In May of 2016 the Obama Administration issued a decree that Liberians were ordered to leave the US and return home because the civil war was over and they were no longer in danger. Rev. Banaci’s future in the US looked very dim.
Once again Catholic Charities rose to the occasion. They provided him with free legal services helping him to obtain a work permit and a green card.
God went further than any of us had originally thought or imagined. God did not stop with a work permit. God did not stop with a green card.
God went all the way for Rev. Banaci to become a naturalized United States citizen. Last week he voted for the very first time in a US election. He is now free to travel back and forth between the United and States and Liberia for both personal and ministerial services.
On one trip back home to Liberia, he found himself a lovely wife, named Esther. We’re praying that she will be granted a visa and able to join him soon in the church to serve as the first lady.
God had brought him a long way from that beating which had left him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he could not have known how high God wanted to raise him, and that God had plans for him to bring light upon three different continents.
No church can prosper through the work of one person alone. God has brought good and faithful leaders to River of Life Church that have greatly enhanced its ministries.
Sister Laura who interprets the messages into French has been an outstanding leader and comes from the country of Ivory Coast. Her presence allows the church to reach out in French to others online on Facebook and here in the congregation. When Laura is not available, Sister Lena steps in with her great translation ability.
Brother Prosper has come to the church from out of state and is now serving as an elder in the church.
Rev. Banaci has had knee surgery on both knees, but God sent him help in the form o Salia Nyei who is the new assistant pastor. He is more than capable as a qood teacher and preacher of the word of God.
Sister Diana has taken over as the church’s leading prayer warrior making intercessory prayers for the church.
Koffee Guedo has come alongside in the ministry with his gifts to be the financial secretary of the church and is doing a great job keeping the church operating within its financial means. He moved his family from Philadelphia to serve specifically in this ministry.
Brother Joseph Stewart has become a part of the church serving in dual roles at New Life At Calvary and The River of Life Church with the parking lot ministry.
Sister Mary has become the church’s deaconess with a vision of starting a kid’s ministry during the worship service hour.
The congregation is celebrating what God has done and is doing, while seeking God for its future. Their vision is to not only build their congregation in Cleveland, but to build a church building for a small poor struggling congregation in Liberia.
One of the things I admire about Rev. Banaci, is his refusal, to forget where God has brought him from. The war may have ended in Liberia, but the suffering of the poor people has not. He sends part of his salary home each month to help support the pastors of the congregation. $25 a month pays the rent for one of the pastors.
The church purchased land in a remote area of Liberia outside of the city, because that is where the need is the greatest. They have a vision for a building not only for worship services, but to be a training facility to provide skills and educational opportunities for those who have no where else to turn.
Their vision includes a health clinic which can offer free medical services to the poor. The civil war in Liberia left a lot of orphans and homeless people.
All they need is $25,000 to complete the building of the church. They want to arise and shine to bring the light and love of Jesus to people who do not know him. They seek to be an example of Jesus’s teachings in the parable of the sheep and the goats.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 25:34–36.
I challenge you to come alongside this congregations and to invest in their vision. Some of you will be in heaven having Liberians coming up to you thanking you for your donation. It will be because of your giving, that they were able to see the light and the glory of God on that church in Liberia that caused them to give their lives to Christ.
All the money donated and raised through this weekend event, will go to completing the building of the church building. You can still make a donation to make it a reality. Could you pledge to give something to them each month for the next 12 months. Surely we can make it happen for them if we want it to.
Pastor Banaci still has his dream for the congregation here on East 79th street. More than anything he’s believing God for transformation in the lives of the people with a desire to reach others for Christ. They want some African instruments and someone who can play them to make their worship of God even more in the style of West Africa. He believes that as they try to be a blessing to others, God will be a blessing to them.
River of Life Church, God is saying to you Arise and Shine for your light had come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. You are taking seriously the assignment of Jesus to be “the light of the world. The amazing thing is that God orchestrated this whole event. Rev. Banaci could not have possibly foreseen, how God could use one of the worst beatings in his life and, and turn it into the establishment of four congregations on three different continents
River of Life Church, God has invested a lot of resources from different parts of the Body of Christ to bring you into existence. Be strong and courageous and do the work God has called you to do. Don’t be afraid of sacrifice, for God knows how to bless you with the wealth of the nations.
You have every reason to celebrate! You are rising and you are shining for the glory of the Lord is upon you. God is just getting started in lifting you up.
