The church was much different than Chidi had known it to be. Kingdom Sons Ministry now had a very large church which contained more than a thousand worshippers at once and a very large parking lot. Beside the large church was the old church, where the Seedtime programme had held, which had been renovated and converted to the children’s church. Chidi entered the church and asked to see Pastor Francis. The receptionist at the church office asked Chidi to fill a counselling form detailing the issue that he wanted a pastor to pray with him or counsel him about. She also checked to see which pastor was free to hold a counselling session.
“Please, I don’t want to meet with any other pastor. I just want to see Pastor Francis. Please, just tell him that I am here. I am Pastor Justice’s son,” Chidi pleaded.
“Pastor Francis is very busy and will not be able to see you now.”
“I’m ready to wait. Please, just let him know that I am here,” Chidi said.
Shortly after, the receptionist informed him that Pastor Francis was ready to see him.
“You know, I frankly felt that you were Adebayo when I was told that Pastor Justice’s son wanted to see me. But again, Pastor Justice has many spiritual sons. So, who are you and what do you want?” said Pastor Francis after Chidi had greeted him.
“My name is Chidi Ogbonna. I am the young boy that was given out to God in your church about 10 years ago,” Chidi said.
“Yes, yes. I remember. But last time I checked, you were not with Pastor Justice anymore.”
“Yes. He told me that I was only there to be trained for ministry for a short period. So, I left and then, I served as a pastor under Pastor Princewill Roberts of Love is Greatest Church International,” Chidi said.
“Wow, wow. Love is Greatest Church. So, what do I owe this visit and how long will you be staying?” Pastor Francis asked.
“Actually, I am here to stay. You see, just recently, God told me that I was not called into Pastor Roberts’ ministry either and that He only ordained that for my training. He said that it was time for me to step into my purpose. I waited on Him and asked what my purpose was and whether I was to start my ministry or something of that sort. And all I could remember was that day that I stood in front of you and daddy; and daddy said, “I will take Chidi along with me. Right now, he is raw and so won’t be of much use to your ministry. I’ve been asked by God to train him in ministry.” So, now that I have been trained, I am here to serve you and your ministry, if you please.”
Pastor Francis thought, “I’m not so sure if Chidi is telling the truth. How else can I explain that someone left a church like Love is Greatest Church, one of the top churches in the world, to come and serve in a local church in Imo State? I will call Pastor Justice and confirm this information.”
“You know what, I’ll get back to you,” Pastor Francis said.
The next day, which was Wednesday, Chidi returned to the church and asked to see Pastor Francis. This time, Chidi was ushered in immediately to see him without much talk.
“I spoke with Pastor Justice to verify what you said and he was surprised that you came into Nigeria without informing him,” Pastor Francis said.
Chidi smiled and looked downwards.
“Please, am I permitted to call him here and now?” Chidi asked.
“Alright,” Pastor Francis said.
Chidi quickly phoned Pastor Justice and greeted him.
“I’m sure that Pastor Francis is the one that reminded you to call me,” Pastor Justice said.
“I’m very sorry, daddy. I just got carried away,” Chidi responded.
“Pastor Francis says you left everything to serve in his ministry,” Pastor Justice said.
“Yes sir. That is what God asked me to do and I have no choice but to respond in obedience.”
“What did Pastor Roberts think of it?” Pastor Justice asked.
“He said that he is okay with it as far as I am being led by God. He also said that he’ll invite me for special programmes in his ministry,” Chidi replied.
“And what did you say?” Pastor Justice asked.
“It will depend on Pastor Francis. I’ll be serving under him and so, he is to permit me to minister in other ministries.”
After the call, Pastor Francis asked Chidi a few questions and told him that he would get back to him on Friday about his final decision. Kingdom Sons Ministry usually held a midweek bible study class on Wednesdays so, Chidi waited for the service. As he waited, he phoned Adebisi.
After being awarded her Bachelor of Science degree in Nigeria, Adebisi had gone to the United States to study Medicine which she had completed. She was back to Nigeria and was married to Pastor Ayinde Inioluwa and they had a 4 months old son. Pastor Ayinde took the place of Pastor Kingsley as Youth Pastor of Life Renewing Word Church after the latter was made the state pastor of Ogun state branch. On the other hand, Adebayo, following his sister’s example, had also completed his studies as an electronics engineer in Nigeria. Then, he went to the United States to do a dual Master’s degree in Engineering and Business. He too had completed his studies and was working at a technical firm in Lagos.
“So, you could come to Nigeria and not inform anybody, abi?” Adebisi asked.
“It’s not like that oh. I was so preoccupied with my meeting with Pastor Francis that I forgot about everything else,” Chidi replied.
“So, what you are saying is that God prepared you at daddy’s ministry and then Love is Greatest Church. He took you to countries for foreign missions, places that I cannot imagine. He helped you to found Prized Youths with so many testimonies coming out of it. And after all, it was just for you to be a servant in Kingdom Sons Ministry. I mean, if so, God has decided to visit Pastor Francis. And his ministry is about to witness a huge turnaround,” Adebisi said.
“I’m believing that God will show me what He wants me to do here. And I keep praying for the grace and humility to obey Pastor Francis completely and not use my experience in Love is Greatest Church as a reason to feel that I know more than he does,” Chidi said.
“The grace is already available for you. As daddy will say, grace is everything, including your willingness to ask God to help you to remain humble. And God’s grace is sufficient for you,” Adebisi replied. “Anyway, Bayo was going to tell you but I’m so excited. I can’t help but spill the bean. He just got engaged to a very beautiful and God-fearing damsel. If I call her name, you will know who she is.”
“Who?” Chidi asked.
“Atinuke Abiade,” she replied.
“What! Seriously. Wow! First of all, you two are pastor’s children and somehow, none of you was called to ministry yet you both conveniently married or is about to marry spouses who are called to full-time ministry. Wow, Evangelist Atinuke is worded. I’ve listened to many of her messages and they are wonderful. How exactly was our brother able to woo someone like her?” Chidi said.
“What do you mean by that? We are talking about Adebayo Olusola here oh, a much anointed young man. Well, he said God told him that she is his wife. She confirmed it and their marriage preparations are already on the way,” Adebisi said.
Meanwhile, Pastor Francis discussed Chidi at a meeting that he had with his pastors on Thursday morning. Pastor Francis now had five pastors serving under him, with this hierarchy: Pastor James (associate Pastor) – Pastor Wisdom (assistant Pastor) – Pastor Kelechi (children and youth pastor), Pastors Obinna and Victory (trainee pastors).
“…From the information I got, Pastor Chidi also formed Prized Youths affiliated with Love is Greatest Church and it already has branches in many countries including Nigeria. I saw a video where he preached in a Prized Youth International Convention and it’s mind-blowing. I still can’t believe Pastor Chidi would decide to leave every single thing to come and submit himself to serve in my ministry. And not just that, he told my father, Pastor Justice, that Pastor Roberts informed him that he would invite him for special programmes and he said that it is dependent on whether I give the permission or not,” Pastor Francis informed them.
“In my opinion, I don’t think that this should even be discussed,” Pastor Victory said, “Let him in. Do you know the kind of connections that we are going to have because of him? God has indeed already blessed us.”
“In fact, use him to get Pastor Roberts to come and minister at our church some time. I think that you should tell him that you won’t accept him as a pastor here if he does not agree to the conditions,” Pastor Obinna said.
“That is very ridiculous. Are you okay? If Pastor Francis does not accept him here, he’ll look for another church or go back to Pastor Roberts or Pastor Justice, or he can even just resume being in charge of Prized Youths. We need him here, so Pastor Francis, accept him, plain and simple. Then, when Pastor Roberts invites him for a programme and he comes to take permission, tell him that he will get the permission on the condition that he invites Pastor Roberts to minister here,” Pastor James advised.
“As usual, Pastor James, you always give the best advice. Ride on. You know how many people will come to the programme or how much offering we will get? We will complete every project we want to and have a lot more for ourselves,” Pastor Victory said happily.
“But the only way this would work is if we explain to him that he is just a junior pastor under observation and has to answer to every pastor so that he does not get pompous and develop wings. We need to be able to control him,” Pastor James said.
Everyone agreed to the suggestion and the junior pastor position was created. On Friday, Pastor Francis informed Chidi that he and his pastors have accepted to give him the position of junior pastor in the church. He emphasized that he was to obey and respect all the pastors and not try to exercise authority over any. Later that day, Chidi called Adebayo.
“Shebi, after being in Nigeria for over a week, it is now that you remembered to call me,” Adebayo said.
“What was wrong with you picking up your phone and giving me a call? Anyway, leave that one. I heard that you are about to lose your bachelor’s degree,” Chidi replied.
“Ah, I’m sure Sister Bisi could not just wait for me to break the news myself,” Adebayo said.
“She was so excited. So, how did you get Atinuke to say yes?” Chidi asked.
“Well, I met her face to face during a programme in Abuja. She was among the guest ministers and as she was ministering, God told me that she is the one that he has ordained for me. And after the meeting, I looked for her to ask her out for dinner. As an engineer and having served in technical unit for long, I had met the technical crew of the programme to ask if there was anything that I could help with, explaining my skill and experience in the work. They were happy to have me around.
“So, I was dressed in the technical crew uniform when I went to meet her and I went with some members of the technical crew. She later told me that she has always had a thing for those in the technical unit as opposed to other Christian brothers that lead prayers and preach. The reason is that the technical members she has met in her life always had the servant spirit and yet were very spiritual. They had to be if they don’t want services to be disrupted just because one wire decided to malfunction. And they were humble and did not always want to show everyone how spiritual they are but were more concerned with how people were blessed. She didn’t think though that she would marry one but felt that her spouse was a pastor. So when I met her, her heart was already melted when she saw my uniform and she immediately agreed to join me and other tech crew members in dinner. My friends were surprised at how a powerful woman of God like her would just accept to have dinner with someone she did not know. Anyway, we talked about lots of things. She was very surprised about how much I understood God’s word and knew about ministry.
“After that meeting, as the youth technical leader, I convinced the youth leaders of our church to invite her as one of the facilitators of our last annual youth conference, just to see her again. Funny enough, during the programme, I got reports that two young guest ministers, a male and a female had insulted the ushers and protocols several times for minor things like delay in serving food. The male even insulted technical unit in front of everyone for a minor glitch in sound that lasted a few seconds and I got angry. Sister Bisi’s husband, as the youth pastor, wanted to stop me but I couldn’t allow all that to happen in our programme. So, I called every single facilitator and guest minister that was a youth like us and gave them the warning of their lives. How would one be a servant of God and his or her character and manner of approach is nothing to write home about?
“Atinuke was surprised at my reaction but her respect for me increased. We exchanged numbers after and got talking. I told daddy about her and he told me that I should let her know how I felt. I made elaborate preparations to propose to her and she said yes, immediately. The night after the proposal, she watched one of your videos where you called me your brother and called my full name. You told the testimony where I prayed for the dead as kids. It was then she figured out that I’m Pastor Justice’s son. She was so surprised and angry that I’d withheld such important info. Well, at least she had said yes, nonetheless.
“Anyway, how about you, has Pastor Francis accepted you to serve in his church yet?” Adebayo asked.
“Yes. But the way he kept emphasizing that I am just a junior pastor surprised me. I mean, I did not just leave Love is Greatest Church to come and look for position. I came here to serve and I will be happy even if the duty he gives me is to clean the church. Why was he putting so much emphasis on position?” Chidi said.
“Maybe, he has encountered some people who claimed they were called by God, only for them to be looking for positions. And with your achievements, he might expect you to be pompous, in which case you'll not be of much use to him. Thus, he wants to make that clear from the start,” Adebayo said.
