Vessel of Honour

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for His blessing on my life and for helping me as I wrote this novel.

I would like to appreciate Ms Laura Maisey for her amazing critique/editing service.

I would also like to seize this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to the following men of God for their spiritual support for my family:

Rev. Dr. Gomba Oyor, General Overseer, God-will-do-it Ministries, Ibadan, Nigeria;

Bishop Joseph Akanmode, General Overseer, Grace Anchor Church, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Their timely support for my family ensured the peace of mind that I really needed to fully concentrate on the writing of this book.

Finally, I want to appreciate my wonderful wife, Deaconess Susan Bamitale Adio, for being there for me at all times. I cannot measure the amount of spiritual and practical support she has given me.

Moses Oladapo Adio

PREFACE

The Great Commission

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19–20)

As an evangelist, the Lord continually brings to my awareness the alarming rate at which believers’ zeal for evangelism is burning out at this end-time. And He has mandated me to use every one of His gifts in me to wake brethren up from their slumber. If I may ask, Brother or Sister, when last did you preach the gospel to someone? And when last did you pray for missionaries and evangelists who are working in dangerous places all over the world? My dear General Overseer, I bless God for your highly favoured ministry. But do you have an evangelism department in your ministry? When was their last outreach? Did you set aside mission support funds in your ministry? And when last did you support mission? Do you even preach about evangelism? Do you let your congregation know that evangelism is not just important but mandatory?

Many of us have forgotten (or don’t know) the purpose or responsibility of the church. The church is a gathering of believers who are corporately watered by God for the purpose of individual and collective growth. This growth encompasses both spiritual growth and numerical growth of the church. For the purpose of populating His kingdom and depopulating the kingdom of Satan, God releases His gifts to us. Now, what is the point of having these gifts when we don’t go out to use them to bring in new converts to partake in His Kingdom? But believers nowadays are so lazy or nonchalant that they can only snatch members from other assemblies. We are in a dispensation where churches fight over members or properties! Can we call that evangelism or is it rather a betrayal of the Lord’s trust? 

Many people believe that the responsibility of soul winning is that of the designated evangelists alone. That is not true. The great commission is for all of us. The reason why some of us are specifically called into the evangelical ministry is to spearhead our evangelical missions. And our responsibilities, as we go about witnessing, include stirring other believers towards the task of soul winning. We cannot do it alone. We are all evangelists – designated or not.

If we look at the function of each member of the Fivefold Ministry (Apostles – governing; Prophets – guiding; Evangelists – gathering; Pastors – guarding; Teachers - grounding) we will observe that that of the Evangelist is the greatest. The task of gathering is enormous. It involves plundering the well-fortified abode of the strongman Satan. That is why this responsibility is shared among the church. And that is why the Master is commissioning all of us. And that is why he admonishes the church to be holy so our lives may attract sinners and not repel them. Beloved, let’s not just pray for fire of evangelism; the fire of evangelism is always there. The onus is on us to rekindle it and ignite the world! Let’s take a bold step and begin to reach out again. Don’t let us fold our arms while the enemy takes precious souls away. We might be held accountable for those souls. We don’t have much time left. Even Satan knows this, and he frequently drums it into the ears of his lieutenants and other members of his kingdom.

I intend to use this fiction to rekindle the fire of evangelism in us. The story reveals how greatly the Lord loves and supports those who obey His great commission. The story is about three Christian friends who left Europe, America and Australia in the 1930’s to evangelize the south-eastern part of Nigeria. Like the early church, they weathered so many storms both at home and mission field. But God had already prepared for them in Nigeria unexpected helpers of joy or helpers of destiny. Although the beginning was very tough, they trusted God – and He kept them smiling and laughing to the end.

Moses Oladapo Adio

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

CHAPTER ONE: VINEYARD OF GOD MISSIONARY ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO: AFRICA, HERE WE COME!

CHAPTER THREE: RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE!

CHAPTER FOUR: BINDING THE STRONGMAN

CHAPTER FIVE: LORD, LET THERE BE MIRACLES

CHAPTER SIX: THE FAITHFUL GOD

CHAPTER SEVEN: ATTACK FROM HOME

CHAPTER EIGHT: WE ARE RIGHTEOUS BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS

CHAPTER NINE: SEXISM IN OLD AFRICA

CHAPTER TEN: WHO’S THAT GIRL?

CHAPTER ELEVEN: VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL

CHAPTER TWELVE: BACK FROM THE DEAD!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SEASON OF FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATIONS

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: AND REUNION

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MORE WORK TO DO

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The God of Miracles

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: AMAZING TOOL FOR CREATING AMAZEMENTS

Other Faithbuilders books by this author:

The story derives its title Vessel of Honour from the King James Version of 2 Timothy 2:21:

‘If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.’

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to members of my natural team – my wonderful children Helen; Irene; Joyce; Elizabeth and Emmanuel, and my wife, Susan.

CHAPTER ONE: VINEYARD OF GOD MISSIONARY ORGANISATION

It was 3am on Saturday June 11, 2005. Reverend Sean McGovern unusually rose from bed very early. After using the washroom he proceeded to his study where he had his early morning prayers and Bible study. Checking the time later on, he realised that he still had an hour before the family devotion. He then went back to the bedroom to try to sleep more. But this was impossible as his mind was engrossed by the major event that was coming up later in the day. Realising he couldn’t suppress the thought, he returned to the study and began to reflect on his father’s life. Dad had died exactly a year ago, and this afternoon would be the first annual remembrance service. All members and non-members of the church were eagerly looking forward to it. There would be lots of guests in attendance, many of whom had started arriving in London over the past few days. There were particularly five delegates from Africa who arrived two days earlier and lodged at the Hilton London, Paddington.

He gazed at the large black and white portrait of his father which was hung on the wall directly opposite the room entrance. ‘May your gentle soul continue to rest in perfect peace, Dad,’ he muttered. He then walked slowly across the study, to a large reading table, keeping his gaze on the portrait as he walked. He opened the top drawer of the table and brought out a very big, old-fashioned diary. It was his father’s. It contained the record of his Christian and missionary activities. He opened the diary and buried his head in it. It wasn’t his first time of going through the record; he had done so several times before. In fact, he did so every time he remembered his father. ‘That diary will ignite the fire of evangelism in any serious Christian,’ he once told his wife.

Reverend Sean McGovern was the General Overseer and president of the Vineyard of God Missionary Church which had its headquarters at Ealing Broadway, West London. He was the eldest child of Reverend Daniel McGovern, the founder of the Church which began as Vineyard of God Missionary Organisation. The London headquarters housed a very big church and two blocks of ultramodern administrative offices. The administrative section was, however, divided into two departments – Asia and Africa – with each department overseeing missionary activities in its corresponding continent.

Reverend Daniel McGovern, who passed on to glory on June 11, 2004 at the age of one hundred and one years, was given a vision of evangelising an Africa region. He was an Irishman who migrated to England in 1922 – the same year the Anglo-Irish treaty, which paved the way for the Irish Free State, was signed. Back home in Ireland, he was a dynamic young Christian with a great zeal for evangelism. He was a pioneering member of the Ireland for Christ Movement (ICM), a Dublin-based youth evangelical team. He actually came to England to do a postgraduate course in ophthalmology. But while studying, he felt the Lord was instructing him to stay in England on completion of his studies. He completed his degree and internship in 1925 and sent a message back home to his father that he would be staying in England for the work of God, although he had no idea what exactly God wanted him to do. He kept on praying to know the mind of God regarding this until August 1928 when he was instructed to set up a missionary organisation and prepare to work in Africa. Being a man of faith, he never questioned God about where the financial resources would come from but began to save towards the project. He was working as an ophthalmologist with the Moorfields Eye Hospital in Central London at that time. He was also doing a part-time course in Theology. He had decided to save as much as possible to acquire a small office, furniture and employ a low-cadre administrative secretary to man the office. As he didn’t have enough funds to sponsor missionaries, he alone would set the ball rolling.

But God has His way of funding His projects. In April 1929, he sent the manuscript of his first Christian book titled The Harvest is Plentiful, to a Christian publisher. And a week later, he received a miraculous response. The publishers were so impressed they were ready to publish the book as soon as possible. At that time, missionary activities were springing up everywhere, with churches and wealthy Christians recruiting volunteers to work in places like Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Although many of the volunteers were experienced Christians, only a few of them really had skills in evangelism or Church planting. Amazingly, these were two of the areas of focus of Daniel’s The Harvest is Plentiful. The book simply met the urgent training demands of mission volunteers. It was a great literary masterpiece; truly inspired by the blessed Holy Spirit.

A contract form was sent two weeks later and the first instalment of £95 was paid the same week! He couldn’t stop wondering: ‘What an amazing God we serve.’ How long would it have taken him to save £95 from his meagre salary? Yet he still had a balance of £110 when the publishing process was complete, plus a quarterly royalty! Come to think of it – he almost abandoned the project when he was told by an editor that it wasn’t easy for Christian writers to get published. To have publishers look at you, it was believed, you must be a secular novelist with a penchant for obscenity. Religious writers hardly got published as only a few religious publishers existed at that time. Some of his friends who had had their manuscripts rejected had corroborated this. In actual fact, he never had monetary gain in mind when he started the project. All he wanted was to use his ideas and knowledge for the purpose of equipping those with a passion for evangelism. And one thing kept him going despite the missiles of discouragement that were daily fired against the project: ‘If the project will glorify God He will support it.’ What further evidence did he need to believe that God was really interested in it?

God speaks to His children in diverse ways. And we must be able to recognise when He speaks. For, when you think He will speak through Bible verses He might speak through a colleague at work. He sometimes speaks through the unbelievers! To Daniel, the church sermon of Sunday February 17, 1929 wasn’t just another sermon. He knew when God spoke to him. The sermon was titled Helpers of Destiny. The preacher had said: ‘When God gives us a vision we never bother to find out the people that He has chosen to share the vision with. Sometimes we want to do it all alone, or sometimes we go ahead and choose helpers on our own. It doesn’t work either way. Some people who tried to do it all alone had got chocked up by the vision. And those who chose helpers on their own had had their vision frustrated, deliberately or otherwise, by their so-called helpers. There’s no one with vision that doesn’t need somebody else to fulfil this vision. Listen to me: Your spouse is your number one helper of destiny. In fact, your spouse is your partner in that vision. Jesus Christ had a vision, so He selected twelve helpers. Adam needed Eve; Paul needed Epaphroditus and Timothy; and Moses needed Jethro and Aaron. Brother or sister, what vision has God given to you? You still need to go back on your knees to find out who He has chosen to support or share in this vision – your helpers of destiny or helpers of joy.’

Daniel couldn’t do anything after the church service that afternoon. He just lay in bed visualising the sermon scenario while the last sentences kept on echoing and re-echoing: ‘Brother or sister, what responsibility has God given to you? You still need to go back on your knees and find out who He has chosen to support this responsibility – people who will share your vision – your helpers of destiny or helpers of joy.’

There wasn’t any doubt that God was speaking to him. He would begin a seven-day fasting and prayer programme the following day. He must find out who his helpers of joy were. There were divided opinions about fasting among believers. While some believed in it, some didn’t see any reason why children must fast before receiving from their Father. But Daniel was of the opinion that whatever Master Jesus Christ did while on earth was an example for believers to follow.

It was one of those warmer summer Saturdays. Daniel decided he would like to go sightseeing. He had a number of places in mind, among which was Trafalgar Square. He would take his Christian magazines along as nothing could separate him from reading except, of course, sleep and his ophthalmic patients. There were many places he had not seen in London as he daily operated a constant itinerary – home to work and work to home. And on weekends he became a bookworm! Although he had read about Trafalgar Square while in Ireland, he had never visited it except when he passed by on a commute. He had particularly read about the exploits of Admiral Horatio Nelson and his death at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He also knew that Nelson's column at Trafalgar Square was built in 1843. But, for the first time since he arrived in London, he would see the statue of Admiral Nelson whom he had read about several times. He knew that similar statues of the admiral were also in Montreal in Canada and Bridgetown in Barbados. As these thoughts flicked through his mind he suddenly realised that he had been waiting close to half an hour. All the cabs passing by were already booked, and he didn’t really like to travel by bus. But as he began to think of taking a bus, a blue Ford model A suddenly pulled up right in front of him and its driver yelled: ‘Hallo, Danny boy!’

‘What? Craig!’ exclaimed Daniel. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Why don’t you jump in first, Danny? We can have a chat. I’m on my way to Trafalgar Square to meet a friend.’

‘Sure. That’s where I’m going, too. And I’ve been here for ages waiting for a cab.’

They then drove through Parliament Square and Whitehall and then emerged opposite Nelson’s column. While driving, they talked about several old issues and friends. The two men were childhood friends back home in Ireland. They attended the same elementary and high schools but different universities. They, however, maintained their relationship until Craig left for the United States with his uncle, two years after his degree. They still communicated for almost a year until Craig and his uncle moved city. Daniel and Craig both gave their lives to Jesus Christ while in high school and around the same time. They were both pioneering members of the famous Ireland for Christ Movement; Craig was the president while Daniel was the organising secretary. They really shook Dublin for Christ. Those good old days of positive, youthful exuberance!

‘Craig, you haven’t told me what you are doing in London,’ said Daniel as Craig pulled up the car.

‘Sure, I will tell you everything and you will tell me everything as well,’ Craig replied. And both gave a youthful laugh. ‘Let me first look around for the guy that I told you about; the guy I really came here to meet,’ Craig added, surveying everywhere as he talked. It was a herculean task trying to locate someone at Trafalgar Square that afternoon as it was unusually crowded.

After about five minutes, a man in his late twenties emerged. Seeing him from afar, Craig ran towards him like a tot who saw his mother arrive at the nursery to pick him up after a long day! The two of them had a boyish handshake and a bear hug. Introducing his friend to Danny, Craig said: ‘Danny, this is another Christ’s soldier. We met in the States a couple of years ago. His name is Stephen – Stephen Lloyd. He is an evangelist who preaches to evangelists and…’

‘Stop it, Craig!’ cut in Stephen. ‘Christians don’t flatter. Every child of God is an evangelist,’ he added as the three of them burst out laughing.

‘Alright, meet Danny – Daniel McGovern. He is a childhood friend whom I have just been opportune to meet again after more than six years of abandoning his best friend without…’

‘There he goes again,’ cut in Daniel. ‘Stephen, please ask him what he knows about a friend whose phone suddenly went dead for several years while in America.’

Craig lost his father – his only remaining parent – two years after he finished his degree in Cork. He had lost his mother to cancer about seven years earlier. An uncle who came from