JOURNEY TO ETHIOPIA SEMINAR
I have been chronicling my journey from a suburban economy—a district not in Lagos or Warri but a district in Nigeria—to the global arena, and I want to tell you how I got to Ethiopia, a beautiful country with wonderful people.
Number one: I had the desire. You must have a strong desire to reach your world, influence your world, and make a mark while still here on Earth—to use your life as a perfume so that the fragrance of your life can spread to as many people as possible. This is a big dream for a man who is not too intelligent, not heavily anointed, from a minority tribe, from a poor background, with limited capacity, but I am here, and you are watching me.
When I came back from Kenya, I said, “Ethiopia, you are next.” Keep setting new goals, new targets, and if one thing has worked, try it again and again until it stops working. So, I went to the internet again and typed “Missionary organizations in Ethiopia,” and the face of a man popped up. What’s his name again? Alu something—I remember it. I told him I wanted to come to Ethiopia, and he said he would send me a letter of invitation.
He sent me an email—an older man than I am—with the letter of invitation. I printed it out, so another one has worked, using the same formula of going to the internet, taking a blind leap, taking a risk, moving out in the dark, not knowing what is ahead. I communicated with him; he sent me a letter of invitation, and I went to the Embassy in Abuja. I had never been to that embassy before. I got there, and the man looked at my letter of invitation and wanted to see the renewal of the church’s registration. I didn’t know they registered churches every year in Ethiopia to renew their licenses. So, I went and bought data for my phone and called Ethiopia—thank God for good network—and gave the phone to the consular officer to speak with him. He said that the man’s church had not been renewed for that year.
So, I told the man, “Listen, if it is America I’m going to, I can understand, but I’m going to Ethiopia to equip our people. I’m going to Ethiopia to be a blessing to them.” Then I told him about Menelik and the Battle of Adwa and how the Ethiopians defeated the Italians. He looked at me and said, “Your letter of invitation does not qualify you for a visa, but your person qualifies you for a visa,” and he gave me the visa. I was so excited that I was breaking the barriers and becoming a global citizen. You wouldn’t understand.
I was saving money from my preaching engagements, bought the ticket, and flew to Addis. I did not know who I was going to see, but when I went to sell books with my wife at Ooro, I bought a jean jacket to wear so that I could travel in a very rugged form. When I was on the plane, I made sure I ate enough because I told myself I didn’t know if I would have a meal that evening. I got to Addis, and my host was not there in the Bole airport. It was night, so I gave somebody there—Ethiopian people are wonderful people—the number of my host, A.Y., and he called him. He said he was on his way. I had never met him in my life, but from the picture on the internet—don’t take these risks in this generation—it was him when I saw him.
They brought a Lada, one Russian vehicle from those days; we had stopped using such cars in Nigeria to carry me. There was a fan connected to the battery of the car that was blowing. We started transversing Addis from the airport, then started climbing a high hill. We were going to Lafto. It was very cold. The man told me, “Are you a missionary?” I said yes. He said, “Okay, sleep on that chair.” So I slept on a chair. I had left a very beautiful hotel, Pimos Hotel, a big suite that I slept in the previous night, and here I was a night later, sleeping on a chair.
I always told myself that those who brought the gospel to Africa passed through more hardship than I was passing through. But Pastor A.I. said something as we climbed the hill towards Lafto. He said, “My son, because you agreed to come to Ethiopia, when you get home, the Lord will bless you. I don’t have money to give to you.” So, I said amen, and it did happen.
We got there, and I woke up the next day. No person asked me how I was going to take my bath, and I noticed that the weather was very cold. The water from the taps was extremely cold. So I stayed, just cleaned my face, brushed my teeth. We didn’t eat breakfast. He said we should go to town to see some pastors. I went there; they brought coffee. Those guys can drink coffee, and their ceremony for coffee is wonderful. Coffee originated from Ethiopia, their Kaffa province. We drank coffee; they wanted to know what I came to do, and I told them I don’t run a church. I just came to share the principles of economic development, capacity building, and raising entrepreneurs. That was why I was in Ethiopia—to preach the gospel. They asked me whether I wanted to establish a church. I said no because they said that some Nigerians came there, saying they were coming to run seminars, and within a short while, they took all their members. I said I don’t have time for that.
So the next evening, I preached somewhere, and you see this struggle within Nigeria for members, tithes, offerings, and struggles in congregations for deacons and elders and quarrels over the pulpit. You don’t see the move of God. The Bible says, “Go ye,” not “Stay or quarrel ye.” It is when you go out that you see the grace and the manifestation of His power when you go out with sincerity of purpose and good intention. They took me to a house where eight people were present. Eight people drank coffee, and I preached the word of God. The power of God came down mightily, and there were manifestations of signs of the glory of God. Wow!
The next day, they took me to town to preach somewhere. As I was preaching, the power of God came. I didn’t know one huge woman, as big as a door from my imagination, was going to fall. Suddenly, she fell toward me. I flew to one side, and she flew to the other. From there, the news spread, and they moved the meeting to one man’s house in Lafto called Neu. We started gradually, and in 13 days, 130 people were gathering to listen to me. People were bringing benches, pulpits, microphones, and musical equipment. People brought a camera. It was just organic growth.
At a point, people were sitting outside, and I was having a great time. They didn’t have money to give to me, and they couldn’t buy because they don’t speak English; they speak Amharic. I preached, and then on the last day, they asked me, “What do you do with us?” I said, “I didn’t come here to establish a church; I’m going back home.” They wept, and I wept, and I left.
There were some interesting things. When they brought an interpreter, it was a surgeon from inside Addis, and the wife was my videographer. As she was video recording me, she fell under the anointing, fell with her camera. There was something interesting in Ethiopia. When I say, “There’s somebody here,” before the interpreter says it, the thing has manifested there, and these people weren’t understanding English. They needed an interpreter, so it’s transliteration, they call it. It was being interpreted in the spirit and producing results.
You see the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit when they have good intentions and are pure; it’s very exciting. I preached there; from there, we went to Matura. Matura is quite a distance from Addis. We went to Matura. I was scared; you see people with AK-47s like walking sticks everywhere, but they were very peaceful. It was not lawless.
We crossed Lake Basaka. The water is as dark as coffee without milk, and when you wash clothes, you don’t use soap because there’s a lot of fluoride. If you drink the waters of Lake Basaka for a long time, your teeth will become pigmented with the fluoride, brownish. I saw camels like I’ve never seen before, camels everywhere. Then I rode chariots like the Ethiopian man in the taxi I took to the side of Lake Basaka. When I was coming back, I told the man I wanted to ride the chariot. I’m a risk-taking person. I started riding it. Just taught me if you want the horse to go left, you pull the left string. You want it to go right, pull the right string. You want it to go straight, hold the reins. You want to stop, pull both at once. I learned it and rode the chariot. I was so excited.
After 13 days, I decided to come back home. My wife usually expects
me at the airport. I said, “Sorry, I am too hungry. I will go to Kilimanjaro and take food to eat before I meet you.” From the airport, I went to a restaurant and ate as much as I could, then went home.
We thank God. I think in a few days, I received gifts that I didn’t anticipate. Money, I did not expect came to me, just confirming the prophecy of Pastor A.I. Today, Ethiopia is my second home. I am the national director of Dew of Hermon in Ethiopia, a leadership training organization registered in Ethiopia. The people are wonderful, and I love Ethiopia.
It is possible to rise from where you are. When you hit your next target, set a higher one and keep striving. As a young person, take risks, calculated risks. Keep making progress, and God will see you through. God bless you.
