ABA, NIGERIA Friday, November 28
By Marti Schneider

At our nine o'clock meeting this morning, the King's Heralds sang a
small concert for our entire group. We have really appreciated their
ministry here . . . both in their music and in their presence. We could
feel their support, their heart for ministry, their care for people. It
was our last group meeting.

When Elder Folkenberg asked the speakers from the outlying evangelistic
meetings to tell what this experience meant to them, Teresa Shelton
summed it up by saying, "I have spoken tremblingly to 20-some people . .
. but now I am an evangelist!" She and Ronnie Shelton had separate
evangelistic series going. There were good testimonies from all of the
teams.

Don was studying for his evening message. I woke up a bit early and
wrote my last special feature which was about Dr. Frank Adaeluwa. I'm
glad it was done, because Dr. Frank called to talk about it. I read it
to him just to see if it was accurate and I had not reported anything
wrong. I will paste the story below.

The morning seemed slightly relaxed since I didn't have to go away from
the hotel. Asse, the cameraman, went with Dr. Frank to get pictures of
his dredging business, since the dredge was broken on the day that
Sister Daniel, Benny Moore, and Phil Draper went out there.

In the afternoon the camera guys and I picked out the pictures we would
use for the evening program and organized them on a cassette to hand off
to Brian Belleau in the control room. After Asse and Femi left, there
were a few minutes to prepare my notes -- landscape orientation,
20-point font, 3 columns per page, and increase the bottom margin to
approximate 3x5 card size. Print a set for myself, the notes for Dr.
Frank whom I will talk to live, and a 12-point copy
with notes where the pictures should be shown for the control room to
follow. Dash water on my face, run a brush through my hair, and head up
the hill to the waiting car with Don.

Today, just before we left the room, I was going over my notes aloud to
get the names in my head and the expression right. When I walked into
the bedroom, Don was preaching his sermon aloud. We had a little
"preaching match" . . . face to face, each one using hand gestures,
speaking with emphasis and expression . . . and a good laugh afterward.

Each thing we do is the last time we will do it. . . . My last time to
pace the hallway at the stadium practicing my notes; my last time to
pray with Don before our parts are announced; the last time to climb
those steps, hanging on tightly to the little pipe that pretends to
support me; the last time to hear Pastor Dankwa say with great flourish,
"Here is Mar - ti Schnei - dehr!!" Last
trip back down the other side . . . getting out of the way of the
King's Heralds. Now . . . go sit in a chair and watch and pray for Don!
. . . for his message about the Unpardonable Sin. Listen as he tells
the people what he wants them to remember: "Jesus forgives. Accept it
now." Move toward the people as they come forward in the call. Begin
to pray with people about their problems. Hear particular needs of
young people for help with schooling.

As we go to bed, Don has to decide which sermon to preach tomorrow . .
. which illustrations will work and which won't work in this setting.
Only the Igbo (I now know the correct spelling of Ebo) translator will
work tomorrow, because this sermon is only for the local audience.

Special Feature . . .

"Dr. Frank . . . Dr. Frank . . ." I heard his name first, and then
I saw him ministering to those of us who have come to Nigeria for
"Visions for Victory." 1 <Dr Frank close up>

Dr. Frank Adieleuwa has been a great help. He works with the church
leaders and the Global Evangelism staff, doing whatever he can to
provide for our comfort and helping negotiate business arrangements. I
heard a little about his ministry activities.

One morning at breakfast, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr.
Frank and find out who he is . . . and what he is excited about. And I
discovered that he prefers that Jesus is the One who is noticed.

What are your goals, Dr. Frank? . . . both for your ministry and for
our conversation?

DR. FRANK: "I want to influence people for change . . . from selfish
Christians (Can that really be?) to selfless sentinels of Christ. And
in my work in the prisons, I want to change criminals . . . from
criminals to Christians."

He ministers, not in the name of Dr. Frank, but in the name of Jesus,
in the name of the Adventist Church.


I discovered that Dr. Frank is a generous person, but he doesn't have
time for laziness. His own children attend a private boarding school,
and he insists that they earn to cover part of their expenses so that
they will learn how important it is to work. "We should not be
standing with our hand out to receive, but with our hand reaching out to
help someone else in need. When we pass on the little blessings God
gives us, He will bless us even more abundantly . . . so we can pass
that on too. We are blessed in blessing others."

He told me an illustration: Using our resources is like filling a
glass. A glass can hold water only up to its brim. Any more poured in
will flow over the side. It is either wasted on ourselves or it can be
used to serve others.

Another thing I discovered is that Dr. Frank has no time for lying,
cheating, or stealing of any kind. No lying by child to parent in order
to get money for stylish clothing or other things he wants. No lying by
husbands or wives in order to get money for their own use. No stealing
of the tenth of our income, the tithe, that belongs to God. No
deception in order to gain political or
church power or position.

One day a foreign company overpaid Dr. Frank a sizeable sum while doing
business with him. They didn't know it! He could have kept that
money for himself or even for his ministry. But no, Dr. Frank, returned
the money. Dr. Frank, how has that one honest act affected your
business?"

DR. FRANK'S RESPONSE: That company has learned that it can trust me,
so it has recommended my business to many other foreign companies.

Let's talk about your ministries, Dr. Frank.

Prison Ministry 2 <sign> Your sign says that you hold two positions
relating to prisons. You were appointed National Prisons Counselor for
all of Nigeria by the Controller General of prisons. And you are head
of Universal Prison Ministries. 3 <group> We met the Controller of the
prison here in Aba, who told us he highly respects your ministry and
your honesty. He likes what you do for the prisoners. And, he told us,
you are his most dear friend.

You also work with the chaplains of the prisons, you train church
members to be Prison Ministry Workers, and with the prisoners you do
individual and group counseling.

In conjunction with the Universal Prison Ministries, for which you have
an office at the Conference Office, you are a resource person for the
Nigerian Union.

There is an Adventist Church within the prison. How many members are
there?

DR. FRANK: In the local prison there are 200 members. But throughout
Nigeria we have 5,000 members.

We met the church leader when we were at the prison, and the choir
leader. We saw the large chapel, the choir robes. We watched you
encourage a young man who had only recently accepted Jesus. We saw your
rapport with prisoners, playful, teasing, encouraging. In addition, you
and your wife Carolyn provide boats to ex-convicts which they use to
gather sand to sell for construction in order to earn a living.

On another day Dr. Frank took us to see the needs of the destitute. 4
<destitute woman's house> He provides food on a regular basis to
probably 500 destitute widows or old couples who are childless. 5
<interior shot - woman> They have no one who will care for them. . . .
500 destitutes! in different villages and communities. He builds small
one-room block homes with good zinc roofs in cases of particular need.

6 <destitute couple> DR. FRANK: When I give Bible studies, I choose
the texts John 14:1-3: Let not your heart be troubled, Jesus sent us .
. . and He will come again to get us. He's preparing houses for us.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting
life." Dr. Frank prefers to help people who cannot help themselves.


So, how does Dr. Frank support himself and pay for all his ministries?


[Run the pictures as we mention the dredging company . . .just keep
showing them one after another for an appropriate few seconds. We will
talk through it. We will NOT talk to each picture.]

7 Boat

8 Pipeline shooting

9 Tipper (truck)

10 Factory sand

11 Sand transport system

12 Hot bottles coming off the assembly line

Dr. Frank owns a dredging company. He takes sand from 50 feet below
the surface of a spring-fed body of water. It is a very high quality of
sand. This sand is sold to glass factories. He also provides a
different type of sand for construction of roads and buildings. You can
see some of the interesting places we visited in the pictures.

Thank you, Dr. Frank, for being a pipeline of God's blessings to
others.

Tonight I want to say thank you to my team . . . the camera crew . . .
Asse Augustin and Femi Kuewumi, and to my partner, Sister Luka Daniel.
We had a grand time discovering stories.

Thank you to Isaac, who drove us to the many interesting places.

And again, tonight, I say, For your hospitality . . . for blessing us .
. .Thank you, Aba! Thank you, Nigeria! Thank you, Africa! We love you
ALL!

Dear God, Thank you for allowing us to serve. We love You most of
all!

That's it . . . I'm free! And sad that this is my last special
feature!

Marti