Update from our Nigeria trip

Posted by Nick on August 19, 2011

During our visit to Nigeria we had the opportunity to see what Pastor Elijah’s wife Blessing was doing through a wonderful ministry to children in one of the most needy areas of Lagos. Their street children’s ministry has given birth to children’s small groups – which is amazing!!!

When Nick and I visited them we had a great time and it is clear that this ministry is having a great impact not only on the children themselves, but also their parents and the local community. When we were leaving, a little boy came up to us and asked “can you send us some drums” – which was kind of heart breaking as we didn’t have any funds with us and CCI is not a fundraising organisation. However, the point of this post is to share that God has provided for these kids – and they now have a great set of drums to use for their worship as well as some new benches so they don’t have to sit on the ground or on anything else that they can find! These wonderful gifts were paid for from a donation made to Dominion Impact Church by Christ Church Jebel Ali in Dubai – and we just want to express our thanks to God and to Pastor Steve Wright in Dubai for making this gift possible.

Thank you LORD!

Please prayerfully consider making a donation to support Pastor Elijah ministry in Nigeria. Your gifts for this ministry go towards community outreach groups, reaching out to women, orphans, the unemployed and illiterate and to support small groups training courses for in-church leaders and other churches in the community.You can do this right now simply by clicking on the PayPal button below.

Small Groups Teaching in Nigeria

Posted by Bill on August 1, 2011

How fortunate we are to have Elijah Samuel, a mighty man of God, serving on our team as Director of Small Groups Development for Africa. He is gifted, humble, passionate and hardworking. Small Groups Development is what African churches need. The following is a report from Elijah. read on →

Prisoners set free in South Sudan

Posted by Bill on July 25, 2011

Wherever there is great pain and suffering in our world, there you will find the Lord at work … channelling out His grace and mercy through His servants.

The following amazing news has just come to me from Saturnino (our Small Groups Development Field Director for South Sudan):

Dear Pastor Bill

Sir, I just want to inform you about my recent follow-up mission to South Sudan. Brother Fredrick Omoh-John couldn’t travel with me due to lack of residence permit from the Egyptian ministry of interior. But with sincere belief, He was with me in spirit, interceding by prayer from Cairo.

First of all, I have to give God Almighty great thanks for such a wonderful gift of the new born Nation of the Democratic Republic of Sudan (DROSS) and for those who financially and prayerfully supported our mission to Juba and Torit central prisons. The total amount for the whole trip to South Sudan was six thousands Egyptian Pounds. Through the support of Fredrick’s friends, 3,500 Egyptian Pounds was raised and other 2,500 Egyptian Pounds was raised by friends from our church in Cairo. Friends from Australia managed to send 300 US dollars ahead of me to Juba which helped in meeting the needs of the prisoners during the baptisms, teaching and celebration. The Egyptian Bible Society donated two boxes of 24 Arabic Bibles.

Sir, we Baptised 27 new believers in Juba Central Prison on 6 July. An additional 31 new believers were baptised by other local churches of various denominations. As a result, 49 prisoners from Juba Central Prison were released from jail, automatically, after their baptism, before the Independence Day celebration. Immediately after that, I managed to travel to Torit State Prison and began teaching about baptism in Jesus Christ. Torit State is about 84 miles from Juba. The number of new believers who were to be baptised was 57, but only 30 were baptised on 13 July, as 27 were taken for labour work in the garden by the prison authorities. Their baptism will take place on Sunday 31 July.

In both baptisms, there were 15 prisoners who carry death sentences. After their baptism, they were happier than any other believer in the whole prison. They told me they were grieving internally because of their crime before being saved. But now they are completely freed from any sin and they know where they will be after their death. They told me to remember their families in our daily prayers, so that their children may grow in god-fearing families.

Sir, there are more than 500 pastors and evangelists from all local churches who need to be trained in African Inland Churches (AIC) in Central and Eastern States by the end of August. It will also include youth and children ministry. We strongly need financial assistance in fulfilling this need.

Pastor Bill, I have just received a call from a friend, Pastor Shahzan from Pakistan. He invited me to come and minister in his House Churches in Pakistan, in August. He told me, he is arranging for a three days Crusade. He has invited me to come and help him. Praise the Lord, He is opening more doors to us in the Middle East and Asia! Pastor Shahzad has more than 42 home churches and 46 pastors under his leadership, and he has more than 500 pastors who need to be trained through your Small Group Development program. He personally asked me to ask you if you could partner with them and have time to come to Pakistan to train his Home Church pastors. Please, treat this issue as being important. Pastor Shahzad’s web site is: www.gospelnewsministries.org

Pastor Saturnino Cypriano (21 July, 2011)

Please prayerfully consider making a donation to support Pastor Saturnino and his ministry in Sudan – you can do it right now simply by clicking the PayPal button below

A vision of visions 3 – Ibadan

Posted by Bill on

We arrived late in Ibadan – badly dressed (jeans and t-shirts) with no time to change and knocked about a bit on the 3 hour journey from Lagos…

and Bill was still feeling really crook from congestion and no sleep – Nick began to check out the projector, screens, laptop, etc. ready for the presentation to start. As the last of the participants arrived I took myself off into the corner of the room and simply prayed, asking the Holy Spirit to come and give me the strength to deliver the training, and to open the hearts and minds of the participants – many of whom had made a lot of effort to come into Ibadan.

About 50 attended the training, and we were hugely encouraged by their enthusiasm as the simplicity of the Small Groups Church Plan was unfolded. Bill repeated the strategy that he had used in Lagos, inviting participants to come up to the front and share their questions and opinions and once again this was a great success – encouraging the rest of the audience as each person who came up to speak reinforced one or more of the principles that I had been talking about.

During our time in Ibadan we also had the opportunity to visit the site of the new church building (which has been purchased and construction has been started) and the possible site for the visionary Dominion Campus Project – this was very exciting for us and humbling, as Pastor Kola and his team have placed all their faith in the Lord to provide for their church, such a great encouragement to all of us.

This was also a great reunion for me with Pastor Kola and his beautiful wife, Bola, who also pastors in the church. Please be praying for Kola and Bola Emiola as they lead their church, and for the other members of their leadership team – Kenmi, Emmanuel and Elijah. Their commitment to following Jesus and their faith and determination in their lives and ministry is really a great example tall of us in the comfort of our ‘developed world’ homes and lives.

You can read more about Dominion Impact Church in Nigeria, and some of the other amazing things that God is doing in Africa on a new website, ‘Africa for the Kingdom‘

If you haven’t already subscribed to our blog I encourage you to do so – we will be posting more detailed reports and testimonies about Bill’s May 2011 tour in the coming weeks!

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A vision of visions 2 – Lagos, the ‘Centre of Excellence’

Posted by Bill on

Yep, the ‘Centre of Excellence’ is the slogan for the amazing city of Lagos in Nigeria where Bill and I arrived on May 6, just after lunch, and stepped out into a brick wall of humidity!

Our brother and CCI’s Field Director for Africa, Pastor Elijah Samuel, gave us this wonderful feedback and testimony on our visit.

There were no better times than May 2011 for the much anticipated visit of Cells-church Consultants International to our Lagos and Ibadan church. The meetings were well publicised and attendance at the two location were very encouraging.

Bill and Nick came to Nigeria with the aim at strengthening our ministry and empowering me as the African Field Director for CCI, to take more of the land for the Kingdom through the small groups’ development ministry.

The team arrived in Lagos on May 6th and started training of church pastors and leaders on Saturday May 7th. This training session went for 7-hours and was strengthened with power point presentation (which made it much easier to communicate the simple message of small group ministry to the audience). The training session was also interactive. The participants were allowed to share their new understanding. Amazingly people rose-up to air their views, and thanked Bill for coming to equip and empower them.

Sunday 8th May was a Cells-Celebration worship service where several testimonies on cells activities were received from members. One common feature of all the testimonies heard was that of answers to prayers in the entire small group operated by the church. This gave us the confidence and assurance that God is with us during our small group activities as much as He is with us during the celebration service. Thus cells and celebration is meant to compliment each other.

We would like to share the testimony of a member by name: Friday Adams. He is presently a cell pastor and our youth leader. He got married late last year and he and his wife are expecting their first child this year. Friday used to be a non-believer (the type who doesn’t like meeting with pastors, because he avoids being preached to or invited to a church service). Pastor Elijah is a regular visitor to his compound, ministering to others. On each visit, Friday would go into hiding in his bedroom, waiting for Elijah to leave before coming out.

However, one day, things didn’t go as Friday had planned. He met with Elijah and that was the day that the salvation of God came into his life. He accepted Jesus into his life and joined he church. Elijah listened to Friday’s story of his endless search for a good job, without success. He had visited several shrines and practiced fetish things to get a job but all to no avail. Elijah prayed with him and promised that the church would assist. With God, and through His church, Friday in less than six month of staying in fellowship with God secured a good job in a private cargo clearing and forwarding company. Friday loves his work so much, and is disciplined and dedicated to his duties. This led the management of the company to honor him with a company car, two years later. The pictures show Friday with Lydia his beautiful wife. And him alone, dancing at the altar, during a worship service.

Elijah Samuel

You can read more about Dominion Impact Church in Nigeria, and some of the other amazing things that God is doing in Africa on a new website, ‘Africa for the Kingdom‘

Please prayerfully consider making a donation to support Pastor Elijah ministry in Nigeria. Your gifts for this ministry go towards providing a permanent internet service for the church and the pastor (about $300 set up plus $1,100 per year subscription); rresources (food, clothing, etc.) for community outreach groups, reaching out to women, orphans, the unemployed and illiterate and to support small groups training courses for in-church leaders and other churches in the community.You can do this right now simply by clicking on the PayPal button below.