Apart from being a co-pastor of the Word of Life Bible Church, she is the Chairman, Board of Directors of Eagle Flight Micro Finance Bank Limited, Eagle Heights International Schools and the African Broadcasting Network, ABN. In this interview conducted before the presidential election, but after the women convention of the Word of Life Bible Church, known as Daughters of Sarah Convention, the mother of three bared her mind on several national issues. Excerpts…
What triggered your salvation and how did you get to this stage?
It’s quite interesting because every time I think of it, it tickles me because, first and foremost, my Anglican background must have played a very big role in this. My father actually built an Anglican church in our estate and it was mandatory for us to go to church in those days, but that didn’t bring the change, besides the fact that I had a moral background and upbringing. There was this thirst in me to know God more.
My Bible and my big cross then were always in my bag. I will never forget a particular day I went to the bank and I needed to meet with the bank manager. Whilst I was waiting, the bank manager’s secretary engaged me and asked if I had given my life to Christ. I told her yes and I brought out my Bible and my big cross. She started laughing. So I asked what she was laughing at and she said she was not talking about my religion; instead she wanted to know if I had given my life to Christ.
She spoke to me about the need to do so and advised that I attend a particular church on Sunday. I didn’t go. When I showed up again the following week at the office, she looked at me and asked if I attended the service and I said yes. So she looked into my eyes and said I just lied. I was shocked because I couldn’t believe she would be that bold to say that to me.
Right there, I made up my mind that I was going to attend the next service which I did. And that day, as the service was going on, it was as though the man of God was speaking about my life. I lost my mother when I was four. Growing up, even though I was in a home of affluence, the fact that my mum was not there created a big vacuum for me and my siblings.
Having to now groom yourself to be very independent with the belief that there isn’t anything you can’t achieve, that has always been my resolve. I was very radical in that aspect. I could just throw myself into a place and believe that all I need to do is to pray and everything will start turning.
For someone now to start preaching and saying you’ve always believed you could do everything by yourself, you need Christ. Those were the things that really pushed me out and I was really touched by the experience because I just felt I was just tired of struggling and needed to give myself totally to the Almighty God, which I did.
Recently, you started the Professionals Entrepreneurs’ Businessmen Fellowship. What informed the formation of PEB and what it is all about?
PEB Fellowship actually is an idea that came to Papa and I. We sat down one day and looked at what had been going on in our environment, and found that apart from the fact that Christians believe that the only thing they need to do to bring a change into their lives, they also need to fast and pray to make things work.
So we had been discussing on how to take our children to the next level of life. Apart from preaching the gospel to them and showing them how to go to heaven, we also need to give them the impetus; what is going to make them shine here on earth. It is not going to address the professionals only, the initiative is intended to address expatriates, professionals, business men and women; and, of course, we also believe that the world in which we live in is not created for only unbelievers.
Unbelievers are not supposed to be the ones in charge of wealth. Christians are supposed to be in charge of wealth. We are supposed to be the ones to teach unbelievers how to make money, but, unfortunately, we haven’t been active in that area. So we want to be able to teach our children how they can to distinguish themselves in whatever field they might find themselves. And it’s not just in Word of Life; it cuts across, meeting the needs of the community and, of course, in Nigeria as a whole.
Those who have attended the PEB Fellowship will attest to the fact that the sessions are unbelievable and unprecedented. And if we can work on the information, no doubt we will start seeing Christian multi-billionaires who, through that, can change their world positively still remain in faith. So the whole essence is to build a total man outside the spiritual aspect of impartation and make them very functional and prosper in their endeavors as the case may be.
In your position as President of Daughters of Sarah Fellowship, how do you rate the fellowship and its annual conventions?
Daughters of Sarah Fellowship is a body of women from Word of Life Bible Church, of 30 years and above, married and unmarried. The essence is to expose them to spiritual emancipation, financial, material, marital emancipation. One thing we’ve realized also is that women are the most marginalized sex, not just in Africa but around the world. It’s worse in Africa.
We know that in the western world, there has been some level of improvement because now we are beginning to see women heading countries. I’m hoping that, one day, we will be able to produce a woman as the President of Nigeria. There’s this uniqueness in a woman, because a woman is actually a man with a womb and that is the added value of a woman.
A woman can think through things if she is under pressure, you can see that she can easily balance out things. Those are some of the attributes that God has deposited in a woman and, if she is allowed to function in her aunction, not only would she be able to bring transformation to her immediate environment but the community and beyond.
A fellowship like this is to allow our women fulfill destiny in every area of life without having to be timid and feeling low with less esteem, but given a platform to function and to bring out the best in them. The beauty of this fellowship also is that it does not only encourage women in all aspects of life, but even the male folks as well.
The fellowship does not allow the women alone to attend the programme, for instance, like the just concluded convention, but it’s also for everyone because we do not only teach you on how to make your homework. Don’t forget, if your home is strong, automatically, every aspect of your life would be. Men were in attendance as well as children. I believe that this year’s convention was mind blowing because, every year, God has always tailored it to address something in our lives and it has always been incredible.
Read full story here: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/the-pastor-behind-can-n7-billion-bribe-story-has-come-to-beg-oritsajefors-wife/
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