His Testimony
“This is a glorious Gospel. It is alive, and it works. I was still a young child when I started seeking God. I loved God very much, and I loved the Gospel songs. I attended a mission school, and when I heard the Word of God, I wanted to be as good as possible. As much as I tried, though, I found myself failing. I pretended to be good, and everybody thought I was good, but deep down in my heart I was hungering for something more—I did not know what.
“After my secondary education, I went for teacher education and started teaching in the Baptist Mission. We were preaching that we did not have power over sin. Nevertheless, I did not stop reading the Word of God, and I did not stop praying. I kept seeking and searching. The hunger was there, but I did not know what I was searching for. A man who felt he was very close to God told me that I was alright, but I knew my heart needed something.
“After some time, I left teaching and moved to Lagos to get a job. I then sought for a church where the Truth was preached. I saw The Apostolic Faith signboard by the roadside when I passed through the area, but each time I continued on without stopping to see the church. One day, however, a lady I was acquainted with invited me to go to a service there. It would be her first time to attend the Apostolic Faith Church too.
“During my first service in that church, I felt the presence of God! I knew that my search for the Truth had come to an end. There, for the first time, I heard that ‘whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God’ (1 John 3:9). I took hold of that, and I said,’Here is the power!’ Although I could have been saved the first day I entered the church, somehow I was hesitant. I had many friends in the world, and I did not know what would happen to those friendships if I became a Christian. I knew what it would mean to walk the way of the Gospel, and I knew it would not accommodate anything of the world.
“God proved Himself to me in a marvellous way. One night, in my sleep, He put a song, ‘Never Alone,’ in my mouth. When I opened my eyes, I was still singing the song. I was convinced immediately that God was proving to me that He would not leave me alone if I followed His holy way.
“The next Sunday, I went to my knees and prayed until Jesus saved my soul. The lady who had invited me to attend the church with her also prayed and was saved. Incidentally, she later became my wife.
“God later sanctified me and filled me with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. God Himself taught me about divine healing. In one camp meeting, I was very sick, and I tried to help myself, but I could not. A church service was in progress and I needed to leave, but I did not want to go out because I had brought a visitor. I wanted to be available to help my visitor, but I was the one who actually needed help. Over the platform was written, ‘Jesus saves, heals, and keeps.’ I asked myself, ‘Paul, why are you not trusting Jesus?’ Then we sang the song, ‘What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!’ There, in my seat, I whispered a short prayer, ‘Jesus, please help me,’ and the sickness vanished.
“In 1981, my company sent me to Ghana to help establish a shoe factory there. The importance of that journey was that I made contact with the Apostolic Faith Church in Accra, Ghana. When I saw the problems they were passing through, God put a burden on my heart to pray for that church and the Gospel work in Ghana. I did not know that one day I would return there as a missionary.
“After concluding my assignment with the shoe factory in Ghana, I returned to Lagos. I met with Reverend Timothy Oshokoya, who was the leader of the Apostolic Faith work in Africa at that time, and I gave him a report on the Gospel activities in Accra. I also made it clear to him that the church there needed help—a motor vehicle at least. I was glad when our brethren from that country came for the camp meeting in 1981, and they were given a minibus to use as a Gospel vehicle.
“I became a Sunday school teacher and was enjoying my service in the Lord's vineyard. Before long, I was asked to preach my first sermon in the Apostolic Faith Church. It was unique in that, during the camp meeting of that year, God had told me clearly to prepare for a sermon. I did not understand why I was told to do that, but He gave me a message that was clear in my heart. God helped me to see the need to draw closer to Him and to get my messages from Him. Each time I got on my knees to pray, God Himself spoke to me. Many times it was as though I was being preached to first before I ever preached it to others.
“In 1992, while I was working as a general manager of a shoe manufacturing company in the city of Lagos, I was asked to pastor the church at Ifo, where I lived. Pastoring is a very challenging work, and I soon discovered that I could not be a pastor and a general manager at the same time. The secular job was taking more and more of my time. Eventually, I was asked to give my whole time to the Gospel work. Before then, I had naturally purposed to work as hard as I could, and to earn as much money as I could, so I could use it to support the Gospel work. Instead, I left my secular job to begin pastoring full-time.
“January of 1995 was a joyful time for our hearts. I went with the leader of our work in Nigeria to Cameroon to hold their first camp meeting after the reopening of our church in that country. Before that time, our church had been closed down in the Cameroon Republic, but God had answered our prayers to restore the work there. Even though it was a challenging missionary trip—a difficult journey made both by air and land—we were compensated to see how the Cameroon people were encouraged and revived.
“The restoration of the work in Cameroon involved the whole city of Bangem, in a way, because even the Mayor was present. The meeting was held in the community centre and was a joyous occasion. In the camp meeting that followed, many souls were blessed.
“When a new leader was needed for the work in Ghana, the mantle fell on me to go and take up the job. When I arrived in Ghana, the church had no money; there was no church building; the people were worshipping on the ground floor in a mission house. The outlook was not positive, but the climate for evangelism was very conducive. Achallenge lay before us. We needed a church building, but with no money, we realized we had to pray. We wrote down our list of requests, and then I encouraged the members to pray along with me—morning, evening, and night. Soon, God started answering prayer. After two years and ten months, God gave us a campground. The tabernacle there was already halfway finished; the basement was completely ready. We held our camp meeting on that property.
“During that camp meeting, we received the news of the passing of the leader of our work in Africa, Reverend Josiah Soyinka. After the funeral, much to my surprise, I was appointed to assume his responsibilities. This is a position I had never desired, but I bow to the will of God. Ever since that time, God has been helping me in a marvellous way. Along with Gospel teams, I have taken many missionary trips within Nigeria as well as outside the country. These outreaches have produced results and have been very rewarding.
“It is so wonderful and such a great privilege to be in Portland for the first camp meeting in the new millennium. I have learned a lot here, and I am in a better position to appreciate how God is using our international headquarters. I am praying that God will help us to render service to carry out the Great Commission and to win not only Africa, but also the whole world for Jesus Christ.
“Come what may, I will serve Jesus to the end, because He has done so much for me. Try my Jesus. He will not fail you.”
Brother Paul was an ardent Baptist, but as a young adult, he had many unanswered questions and earnestly sought for the Truth. It was while in Lagos in 1974 that he came in contact with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in The Apostolic Faith. In 1975, he prayed through to the Christian experience of salvation. He was later sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost and Fire. He soon joined the team work and was one of the Sunday school collectors. In 1981, he was appointed a Sunday school teacher and an assisting minister in 1984. He was issued with a ministerial credential in 1991. Brother Paul was a vibrant member of the Association of Visiting Secretaries (AVS) – an evangelistic outreach of The Apostolic Faith. He was indefatigable.
Brother Paul became the first pastor of Apostolic Faith Church, Ifo, in Lagos district in 1992. A missionary with great passion, he had the privilege of being sent on both local and foreign missions wherever a “Macedonian call” was heard. He was sent on a foreign mission to London and later went with the then Africa Overseer, Reverend Josiah Soyinka, to the Cameroons. In 1996, Brother Paul became the Overseer of The Apostolic Faith work in Ghana.