How beautiful are our feet - Follow-up

L-R: Eniang, Kenny, Me, G-Prayo, Christy, Rugged.

Kenny

Saturday was a really good day. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the ZRR evangelism programme we held at Iwo-Oke. Well, it hasn't ended. The main programme has ended but the follow-up which is equally important, continues. Asides winning souls, part of the ZRRE plan is also to start a project in the chosen evangelism site, whether it's building or constructing something. For ours, we decided to do a borehole project.

In the past two weeks following the programme, we've kept in touch with the villagers of Iwo-Oke. We call it 'Rural Rugged follow-up', the aim is to ensure that now that they are newly borns in Christ, we put them on the right track, encouraging them and guiding them on how to grow their faith.

I missed the one that happened two Saturdays ago but I was fortunate to be at Saturday's. Our evangelism secretary emphasized the need for Yoruba speakers in counselling the villagers. In my head I'm like, "erm, it's one thing to be able to speak Yoruba, it's another to be able to preach in the language o!" but I went for it. 

We arrived at the village at about 4.30PM. Armed with our 'korope' (a mini-bus), drugs (the villagers had requested for), Yoruba Bibles, and a megaphone, we kicked off with a town cry which was led by an ex-corper and important member of the fellowship, Ondo-bred 'G-Prayo' (Don't ask. I will do a post on our nicknames one day, I promise!). He urged the villagers who had decided to give their lives to Christ two weeks ago, when we first held the programme, to meet us at the same venue as we had 'something' for them. Some of our corpers had gone ahead of us to the venue to welcome those who would show up.

After the town cry, the four of us: Myself, Kenny, G-Prayo and Patrick, went to join the other corpers. 

To my surprise, quite a few people did show up. I thought, 'OK, they are just showing up for free drugs', but after speaking to them, I realised that they were serious about their decision to follow Christ.

Counselling began. I started by asking my 'clients' what 'following Christ' meant to them, why they made the decision, what some ways of worshiping God were. I explained the importance of a relationship with the Trinity, which far supersedes religion.

Then I spotted a group of four girls. I'd say they were about 9-ish years old. I sat them down and asked if they were part of those who had given their lives to Christ, seeing as they had shown up at the venue, and that was the criterion for attendance we had provided. Nafisat was a believer, the other 3 weren't. So, I sat them down. I asked if they knew who Jesus was, only Nafisat did. Then I asked if they knew Adam, they said no. I'm thinking 'Whaaat? who doesn't know Adam' ? lol, so I had to go over the creation story, through to Adam's sin and then God's sacrifice, Jesus. We discussed how to become 'Jesus' child' through faith and what being one means; and being a new creature and letting go of old things. The girls were very attentive and intrigued. Idayat especially. It showed on her face.

After talking, I asked if they had any prayer requests we could pray about as a group, and they mentioned a couple, but before this I had asked if they were willing to become believers, explaining the importance of believing in the God one prays to. They said that they wanted to but their fear was in the danger of serving more than one God as they would still have to be at the mosque later that evening. I told them I understood. So we prayed about school; protection from danger; and for a better understanding of who God truly is. Then I asked them if they needed drugs medication for anything and referred them to where the doctor corpers were seated. I think what made me smile the most about my conversation with this particular group was their willingness to listen.

There was another group that got me excited. The one that showed keen interest in taking their journey to the next level by owning a Bible. They begged us not to forget to bring them Bibles next week. I assured them that we won't.

I went into these counselling sessions reluctant from feeling unqualified, to be honest, but I came out feeling good. 

Yo, preaching in pure Yoruba- not Lagos Yoruba that permits the addition of English terms here and there- is not beans, but it went really well. Far better than I had expected. God was present. God is real. God is faithful.

PS: This one is a village.

How beautiful are our feet

Well, not literally. I'm only referring to Romans 10:15.

You could say we were fulfilling the Word when last weekend we camped out at a rural area for our Zonal Rural Rugged Evangelism (ZRRE) programme.

Off we go!

A bit of background info

The Nigerian Christian Corpers' Fellowship (NCCF) was birthed 30 years ago with the aim of taking the Gospel to several parts of the country. The idea came in the form of the prophecy: 'A time will come when Nigerian youths will be paid by the government to take the Gospel to several parts of the country'. It's why at NCCF, we believe that in the hierarchy of importance, it's NCCF first before PPA. So, at the very core, evangelism is what NCCF is actually about, and the ZRRE programme is a result of that. Over the years, NCCF has grown into a huge organisation with branches in every state in Nigeria (as in, NCCF Akwa Ibom, NCCF Lagos, NCCF Osun, and so on); and even little branches in almost every local government in each of these states. For example, in Osun, there is NCCF Iwo, NCCF Osogbo, NCCF Ola-Oluwa, NCCF Ife Central, NCCF Ede South, and so on. NCCF Osogbo is our oga at the top, so we report to them about any and everything and they are usually in charge of organising the State Rural Rugged once a year where every zone and sub-zone in the state is expected to be present. Then there's Zonal Rural Rugged which is smaller and as the name suggests is usually organised by zones in conjunction with their sub-zones.

Last weekend was the Iwo zone ZRRE. Being sub-zones under the Iwo local government, Aiyedire and Ola-Oluwa teamed up with us. We gathered together our mats, megaphones, generator, plates and spoons, our doctor corpers, hair-savvy corpers, our welfare secretaries AKA 'Mamas', and every possible hand we could get, and we set out for Iwo-Oke; a very small, pre-dominantly Muslim village in the Ola-Oluwa local government. Our camp site was a secondary school building. The only secondary school in the village. We arrived there Friday afternoon and would be there 'til Saturday afternoon.

"The main, the main"

We kicked off the programme with a session of worship and prayers, then a film show followed. Some more prayers took place after. Then dinner (we had cooked in Iwo and brought it along, alongside utensils and foodstuff we would require to make the next day's brunch) and lights out followed. 

From 12.30am-2.30am, we held a prayer chain where each zone/sub-zone were awoken to come out and pray as a group for an hour each. So, the Aiyedire corpers prayed from 12.30-1.30, then Iwo followed from 1.30-2.30 and Ola-Oluwa from 2.30-3.30. Hence, prayer chain. HATED getting woken up at 1.30am, or maybe it was the how I hated (megaphones should be banned :) ) but it was well worth it. The peace God's presence gives is beautiful, I tell you!

The next day was "the main thing". We had gone out for a 'Jesus march' the evening before and early that morning too; which just means a walk into the village to inform the villagers of our arrival and invite them to the programme. We told them that there would be a film show that Friday evening and the next day, there would be gifts, counselling and free medical check-up. Most of them had promised to come and they did. Jesus marches are super cool and are usually made lively with our chanting and singing.

Saturday's programme was divided into departments. I was in charge of the children section, which Jane helped me with. It was lots of fun; we spoke about God's love, played games, danced, and gave them biscuits, clothes, books and pens/pencils. We asked if they wanted to give their lives to Christ and a lot of them showed interest. We had a set of Muslim twins present in our circle, one of which initially raised her hand to indicate interest but after catching her sister's eye of disapproval, put down her hand down. Jane and I smiled as we reminded them that salvation is a personal decision.

The programme setup went thus: As the children walked in, they were immediately sent to the children section. While the children section fun was in session, the children who wanted to get a haircut were selected and sent to the male haircare section, and after, were brought back to join us.

Female hair care section

Male hair care section

For the adults, they were registered upon arrival at the venue. After this, they were sent to the one-on-one counselling section where they were told about salvation, and offered general advice. After this, they were sent to the Faith Clinic for one-on-one prayers, then sent to the classroom the doctors had occupied for free medical check-up and free drugs. Then, they were led to the welfare department to receive free clothes. The female hair care section was beside the gift section so after receiving their gifts, if they wanted to 'ko' their hair or plait it, they could just go straight through. For the children, after talking and playing with them, we sent them to the welfare department too, to receive clothes, books, pens, biscuits and sweets.

Medical section

Faith clinic

After all the villagers had left, it was time for brunch. Some of us had been exempted from the Jesus match earlier so we could prepare the brunch. After eating, the NCCF family formed a closing circle where we thanked God for the success of the programme, sang the family song, and parted ways. The buses were on ground to transport us back to our locations.

ZRRE was short and sweet, yet powerful. Not that I'm surprised at the success seeing that we spent several weeks praying for the success of the programme. God is faithful indeed.

Iwo-Oke for Christ, yo!

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P. Ok, this one is a village sha. Lol.