ABA, NIGERIA Thursday, November 27
By Marti Schneider, On location

Well, I'm in the soup politically! You see, someone wants me not to
feature only men in my stories. I've been wanting to do a story on
Women's Ministries here which is a very strong ministry, but I had a
hard time catching the director. Then the prayer team felt like they
should be noted, and I agreed. The conference president told me that,
of course, I would want to present the Shepherdess Organization of which
his wife is the head. And . . . and . . .

As you can see, I'm running out of time to tell all the stories that
I've found. I told each of the groups that Hebrew 11 says, "By faith
Noah. . . By faith Abraham . . . By faith Moses . . ." and later it
says, "And time fails me to tell of . . ." and it simply lists more
faith-filled people. They seemed to get the point.

I was praying about what today's feature should be, and I think God
gave me the answer! So I featured four different ministries. I'll
paste the feature in here.

Who is a minister? It's anyone who has accepted Jesus and received
God's Holy Spirit in order to minister to others. Yes, I believe that
every one of us who has enlisted in the Adventist faith has been
commissioned by God to be a minister . . . men, women, young people,
children! Every one of us! Of course, we may minister in different
ways depending on how God has gifted us.

Today I spoke to the leaders of several organizations. The Prayer
Ministry Team is active right here during the "Visions for Victory"
Satellite Evangelism. If it were possible to rank ministries, it is
perhaps the most needed ministry because when WE pray, GOD works.
(Three leaders walked across the platform and stood beside me as I read
their names. I explained to them that there was no time for them to
talk.)

The Nigeria Association of Adventist Students is an active campus
organization of Adventist students in non-Adventist institutions of
higher earning here in Nigeria with more than five thousand members. It
is the most developed Adventist student association in the world. They
encourage students to be faithful and encourage them to be witnesses for
God. The students conduct evangelistic meetings, the most recent being
November 1-8 in Port Harcourt. I told the students I met this afternoon
that we are trying to develop campus ministries in North America. And
we are really glad that they are leading the way here in Nigeria.

Shepherdess International is an organization of pastors' wives led by
Mrs. G. C. Nwaogwugwu. These are women who work with their husbands --
men who lead congregations or who direct the work in the conference.
The organization meets officially four times a year and includes wives
of both current and retired pastors. If some of the retired pastors'
wives are unable to attend, they receive visits, prayer, and other
nurturing care. Shepherdess International has an organized choir that
sang here on the first evening of "Visions for Victory."
Shepherdess members conduct evangelistic events. Just in July 2003 they
preached the Gospel in Umuoba and 60 souls were baptized.

Dr. Mrs. Sal Okwubunka is the leader of Women's Ministries for the
East Nigeria Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The women of the
Adventist Church in Nigeria are very active. In order to tell about the
scope of their work I will just be able to mention briefly each of the
ministries they conduct.

The choir -- You heard them singing tonight! The music of the
Women's Ministries Choir brings joy, not only to the listeners, but
to the singers as well.

Spiritual Growth Retreats, Seminars, and Workshops help women grow
closer to Jesus.

Widows' Organization trains widows in how to cope with the one-parent
life system.

Young Women's Ministry plans events for and by young women from 12 to
25 years old.

Education -- The women build schools with classes from nursery through
primary school. Older students are sponsored at the Adventist
Secondary Technical College.

Motherless Babies Home -- We talked about last night in connection with
the hospital. Women's Ministries provides the place and funds the
feeding and provisions. The doctors and nurses care for the health of
the babies.

Adoptions are possible through the Motherless Babies Home for couples
who have no children of their own.

Through door-to-door evangelism women share the Gospel with literature
and Bible studies.

And finally, Public Evangelism -- Women speakers preach the Gospel and
help establish new congregations in towns where there are no Adventist
churches. I learned that the Choir joined the speakers for the
three-week campaigns, willing even to sleep on the floor in order to
share Jesus and God's Word.

Dr. Sal Okwubunka, please come with a message for our new believers!

SISTER SAL: "Welcome to the Adventist family. As you have learned
during 'Visions for Victory,' the Adventist family is a worldwide
family. You are welcome! You are part of us. Please join us. And the
men are invited to become part of the Men's Ministry. Most of all,
find a ministry and go to work for God."

(I had given Dr. Sal the above suggestion, saying that she could put it
in her own words, that it needs to be short, but the point was to
welcome the new believers into the church family. Oh, my! I should
have told her the same thing I told the prayer ministry leaders. She
did a beautiful job. . . but the guys at the bottom of the platform were
cutting their throats with their fingers, pointing at their watches. I
put my hand on her arm . . .yet she continued. She invited each group,
Women's Ministries, Men's Ministries, Adventist Youth, and on and on
. . . to call out their rallying call. Phil Draper says, "All is well
that ends." I wasn't sure this was going to end.)

Tonight was the night I would wear the African dress that Queen gave me
. . . and we would sing the African song. I didn't put the dress on
until I was in the back room at the stadium. Queen helped me dress.

When I came onto the platform, it was obvious they appreciated my dress
. . . and when instead of my usual, "Good evening," I said,
"Ndewo" (Hello) they responded with great enjoyment. After I had
presented the special feature above, I said that Queen Eruba and several
others would join me for a song. The minute we started singing in Ebo,
"Oh de ge mem ka Jesus?" (Who can treat me like Jesus treats me?)
they were clapping and shouting. The song asks, "Marti, can you treat
me like Jesus?" The answer is, "Oom-bah" (No). At that moment my
mind blanked, I said, "What's the answer?" Then it came to me,
"Oom-bah!" (They laughed at my forgetfulness.) Then Queen asked,
"Jim (Ayars), can you treat me like Jesus?" In his deep bass he
replied, "O-o-m -- b-a-h!" (They were delighted.) We only did one
round of the song, but it was well worth it whether we hit the notes or
not!

Don preached . . . and preached. He did a double header tonight.
After the normal sermon, the audience was invited to stay if they wished
for the Saturday night sermon that will be uplinked to the rest of
Africa. His voice held out. Answered prayer! He made a call during
the first sermon . . . and there was a good response. He made a call
during the second sermon . . . and there were still a half dozen people
who wanted to receive Jesus and be baptized.

One more story . . .

I watched it happen! I witnessed it with my own eyes. I saw what
happens when Jesus is invited into a person's life!

A few nights ago, many people came forward when the speaker invited you
to accept Jesus . . . to be your Saviour and the ruler of your life,
your Lord. And again . . . he invited people to be baptized like Jesus
was! And he invited people who had heard new truths from the Bible to
embrace the truths and to follow Jesus . . . wherever He leads them.

And what did I see happen? I saw people making decisions! Decisions
that will lead them into the water of baptism! And not only did I see
it, I met some of those who made decisions, who were baptized . . . or
who are planning to be baptized soon.

Let me tell you what happens next. When the Holy Spirit of Jesus comes
into your heart, He not only cleans up your heart, He not only begins to
change your habits . . . the way you act, the way you think, the way you
talk, the way you live, the way you treat people . . . He puts new
goals into your heart! You are filled with joy . . . and you have to
share it with someone else!

I met Emmanuel Obasi . . . right here at the front . . . in the large
group of people receiving Jesus into their lives. He said, "I want to
become a Seventh-day Adventist! I want to be converted." (That is
something the Holy Spirit of God does in us.)

The next day I saw him again. He said, "I want to become an
evangelist!" (Did you hear?) He said, "I want to become an
evangelist!" (You see the Holy Spirit is working inside of him. He
can't keep quiet.)

And I saw him Sabbath, down at the river, just after his baptism. He
said, "There is no church in my village. I must go and help to start
a church there. (ALREADY he is becoming an evangelist. He just MUST
share the Jesus he loves, the Good News he has heard, with the people he
loves.)

Another person I met is Chimezie Oyenwere. He too had come to the
front. He came to me and said, "I want to be completely converted. I
want to be baptized." He is looking forward to baptism next Sabbath.
Last night he introduced me to his wife. She is already a Seventh-day
Adventist and I realized, not only will this be a baptism! This will be
bringing together spiritually a husband and wife before God, almost like
a new marriage. I believe they will have NEW JOY in their marriage
because they are serving God together! And do you know what Chimezie
said to me last night? "There is no Seventh-day Adventist church in
my village. I want to place one there!" Can't you see how God
works in the heart? He is already planning to use Chimezie to share the
Good News of Jesus with others!

And this joy will never be lost . . . IF you stay close to Jesus, if
you read His Word every day and think about Him, and talk to Him in
prayer, and re-commit your life to Him each day.

It is so exciting! It is SO exciting to see the God of Heaven bending
down to Earth to touch people! What a wonderful God!

Thank you, Aba, for providing this place. Thank you, Nigeria, for
allowing us to share this with all of Africa. And thank you, Africa,
for being the place from which we beam God's love to all the world!

. . . and thank you, dear friends, for praying for God's Holy Spirit
to baptize our time in Africa!

Marti