(Part 1/2) I wrote JAMB 6 times. My results were withheld the first 4 times and I felt there was no way I was writing JAMB again. I had just started discovering my love for music. My mum was in tears as she wanted me to go back to try JAMB again. So, she bought the JAMB form herself because I wasn't interested. I’d made up my mind that I was done with school and would just make money from music. I eventually wrote the exam for the 5th time and had a good score. I also had a good score (90 over 100) in Post UME but I still didn't get admission. It was really weird and at that point I gave up.

A friend of mine who believed so much in me got me the JAMB form again, and because this was the 6th time, I wasn't bothered. In fact, I went to sing somewhere in Oyo Town and it was a vigil. My exam was the next morning. I got to the exam hall late in Ibadan. I was 30 minutes late so they punished me by keeping me outside for an extra 15minutes. So far I had missed 45 minutes of the exam. I honestly wasn't bothered.

I walked in majestically afterwards and didn't apologise to anyone because I felt they were still going to withhold the result again. I wrote the exam and walked out. (At this time, I knew the syllabus like the palm of my hand.) I scored 257. I wrote Post UME and I got my admission into the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

I had a good time in UNILAG. I ended up studying Philosophy and in my final year, right before my convocation I had an accident. But before my accident, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a big boy. I wanted to have so much money like my brother and just be one of those young men controlling things before age 30. It looked like things were actually going well. There were a lot of ups and downs but things were looking good. I got a good job in my final year and my salary was great, so I felt life was good.

I had stopped singing. I'd seen money, and my dreams had started coming to life. People kept on asking me why I wasn't singing anymore. But I liked where I was, the money was good and church wasn't going to give me that kind of money.

(Part 2/2) So, on this particular day I was going to minister at my Pastor’s birthday. Prior to that time, my Pastors had been telling me, "The life you're living is not you. You're supposed to be doing ministry." but I wasn’t having it. To be honest, I wasn't living a great life. I wasn't going to church anymore.

In retrospect, I feel God wanted to get my attention. So, while I was driving, this man just drove into me and destroyed my car. I was in the hospital, my right arm got broken and I couldn't use it for over 2 years. I then made a promise to God that I was going to go back to him. I quit my job. The album, ‘As I Am, The Journey So Far’ was birthed after my accident.

The ‘As I Am’ brand comes from a place of me saying this is me, coming to God as I am, with no pretence. The album came with a lot of awards and recognition from that boy who was fighting to be relevant in the social system with money and all. Truth is, success is not financial. Success is living in the purpose and will of God for your life. The will of God for your life can make you prosperous. That's the part Christians don't understand. God can bless you so much with no sorrow added to it.

Everything I was chasing and I felt I couldn't get, I have them and the best part about it is that it never stops. I might not be there yet, but the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter till the perfect day.

My story continues and this will encourage someone to realise that when God wants your attention, he will get it. Sometimes he might get it in a way that hurts, or a way that would shock everyone or shock you, or you'll just learn and listen to him. If I had listened to God all this while, I probably wouldn't have gone through all this pain, but today I understand that my scars are a sign of the victory in Christ and it's a reminder of how not to misbehave. I'm totally grateful for every pain, every minute of confusion and I hope that I can inspire young people and make them realise that in God, we are complete.

I always thought that being a Christian was about going to church and serving in church. Basically living for Sundays.

I was always told things like, “Make sure you pay your tithes and give your offering.” “Be a good girl.” “Make sure you are doing good and even when you're doing bad, the people that know you won't catch you doing bad”. So basically, I was living to serve a particular set of people, not realising it was all about God. It was okay to go to the clubs and do anything, as long as the people that were not supposed to see you didn’t see you. I’d then go back to church on Sunday to serve and act perfect, just like everyone else.

The truth was something that I found out about a year ago and it's so far off from religion. It's now a way of life; not trying to please anyone but making sure my life aligns with what God wants me to be. I never knew it was possible to talk to God or to hear from him. I knew it was real but I just thought whatever the pastor said on Sunday was it and it would end there. For me, it was normal to go to school, graduate & get a job, hustle, make money, get married, have kids, grow old, and then die. That was basically what life meant to me. So I felt, "Why not just have fun while you can." I didn't realise there was much more to life than that. Of course, I knew I had certain things inside of me but I didn't understand where my place in God was at the time.

It was an eye opener for me when I finally realised that there was more to God and God was bigger than what I ever imagined him to be. 

(Part 1/4) Service year was rounding to a close and I did not have any lady to call a future wife. I remember God telling me that I would meet my future wife during my National Youth Service (NYSC) and that she would be a south-western lady. I constantly looked at my journal where I had written that prophecy God had given me personally.

I had just ended a relationship of 3 years because I saw that it would take a lot of work for both of us to get along. Added to that was that we both lacked self-control and almost had sex on several occasions. I knew we had to end it if we didn't want to both suffer the consequences.

Now here I was, serving in Jos on the Plateau, with ladies I could choose from. I definitely needed a divine hand to be able to choose appropriately. I made one cardinal rule to guide me in future relationships. Whatever feelings I had for any lady, I would consult my Father and friend before making any move. Alongside this guideline were also four things I considered were very crucial to my marital success.

First and foremost, she had to be born-again and an ardent pursuer of God. Secondly, she had to be my friend. We should be able to talk about anything and everything. She should be able to tell me things as they are & be confident and free to express her feelings about everything. Thirdly, she had to have a great sense of humour. I couldn't marry someone who wouldn't get a joke I shared on Monday morning until Tuesday evening *laughs*. And lastly, she must be resourceful; able to make the best of whatever she had, whether plenty or little.

As I related with many of the ladies who lived in the Christian Fellowship family house during NYSC, those were the things that guided my interactions.

(Part 2/4) Whenever I discovered I developed an interest in a lady, I would immediately talk to God about it. The conversation usually went something like this - "Father God I've discovered that I really like (I'd mention the lady's name). The way she smiles just melts my heart and I think I really like her. But then I'd like you to tell me what you think. Is she the one I should marry?" On some occasions, immediately after the prayers, he would nudge my heart and I would know she wasn't the one. On other occasions, I would know she wasn't the one after a few days of interactions. She would suddenly "disqualify" herself.

However, there was one particular lady that I couldn't get a specific answer from the Lord about. We had developed a great friendship. Mind you, I had become friends with other ladies as a result of my role as the Publicity Secretary of the NCCF.

One day, I came back from my place of primary assignment upset about how my day went and this sister offered to listen to my frustration. She asked me if I wanted to take a walk with her and since we had become good friends, I felt I needed the company. For the next 20 minutes or so, we were walking and talking. She listened intently to every word I said. We soon approached a suya stand and she asked me if I wanted some. I quickly told her I didn't bring my wallet along and she promptly asked me if she was telling me to pay. I was taken aback.

Up until this moment, I had never had a lady buy me anything without me already having paid my dues before that time. She bought the suya for myself and her and paid. For the remaining 100 metres it took us to get back to the NCCF family house, I couldn't get over what had happened. When I told a roommate, he just told me that she must really like me.

Service year soon wound to a close and still, there was no lady to call my own.

(Part 3/4) One day I was prayerfully considering my options. I thought of ladies within my circle that I could ask to marry me when I returned to Ibadan and I couldn't think of any.

At that point, a thought crossed my mind, "What about Moji?" I told myself that she was a no-go area. We had both decided we would just be friends and wouldn't allow the insinuations of people to push us into a love relationship.

However, the more I thought about those qualities that were important to me and asked God, the fonder I became of her. Then I knew I had fallen in love with her without knowing. The problem was how to tell her I loved and wanted to marry her without it appearing as if I was leading her on in our friendship? Wouldn’t that be a betrayal of trust? Besides, she was a University graduate and I was an HND holder.

I knew of her dreams to pursue a career in academics while I didn't want to pursue any more academic degrees in Estate Management. So, I knew I had to be guided when I related with her. The more we talked, the more I was convinced about her but I just couldn't get myself to talk to her about love. It seemed it was only NYSC that brought us into the same class. I toyed with the idea in my mind and I knew I had to develop courage to get the girl or else I would regret it all my life. So, I prayed to God for help.

(Part 4/4) On a Sunday, while in church, God sent me help. The pastor preached a message about being bold and courageous and he used the story of Jonathan and his armour bearer in 1 Samuel 14. When the pastor read the second part of verse 6, I knew God was talking to me. Convinced that the Lord had spoken to me to allay all my fears, I made up my mind to ask my friend to marry me. The worst that could happen was that she would say no.

I told her what was on my mind but instead of her giving a response, she just uttered a hasty goodnight and ran into the family house, shocked. At that point, I knew she never expected it! I felt I was in trouble.

She never gave me any answer the other morning and it took a lot for me to greet her. She didn't give me any response still. It was as if I never said anything to her. I began writing love notes to her but after two weeks, I got tired and stopped altogether. 

Then she called me one day, just before the evening devotion and I got one of the worst "talking-tos" of my life. One thing she said stuck, even till today. "You don't raise a woman's hopes for love and suddenly dash them", she said. Apparently, all my love notes were etching a place in her heart and I thought I was just pouring water into a basket. I guess she was waiting for the right time to say yes.

That was 2003, some thirteen years ago. Today, we are still friends and lovers, with a beautiful family. Every time I think about us, I'm so glad God guided me. I've never regretted making that move to tell her I was in love with her. In fact, I still am. 

CHRISTMAS IN A BOX

Christmas in a Box (a project of Slum2School Africa) began in 2013. Since then, it has impacted children in various slum communities around Lagos State - Bariga, Ajegunle, Emina and Saga Island and our host community Makoko, Lagos. Over the years, we have reached out to over 15,000 kids, showing and making them feel the essence of Christmas.

2015 was a major year for us as we reached out to internally displaced children in Borno, Kaduna and Abuja.

At Slum2School, Christmas is not only about sharing gifts with those who are unable to celebrate, but also making them feel what Christmas is about - love. Our Christmas in a Box grand finale this year was on the 17th of December at Adekunle Primary School, Makoko Road, Yaba. This year’s event was different because for the first time, we had a female celebrity Santa!Christmas in a Box (a project of Slum2School Africa) began in 2013. Since then, it has impacted children in various slum communities around Lagos State - Bariga, Ajegunle, Emina and Saga Island and our host community Makoko, Lagos. Over the years, we have reached out to over 15,000 kids, showing and making them feel the essence of Christmas.

2015 was a major year for us as we reached out to internally displaced children in Borno, Kaduna and Abuja.

At Slum2School, Christmas is not only about sharing gifts with those who are unable to celebrate, but also making them feel what Christmas is about - love. Our Christmas in a Box grand finale this year was on the 17th 

I’ve always been told I look exactly like my Mum. She was the first child of her parents and was so independent. She left home at age 14 years to her uncle’s place at Ibadan to learn what she loved to do most; hair making. She met my dad when she was 19 and then I came into the picture.

I am the 4th child in a family of 5 children. I thought my mum didn’t like me because I was the only child she made sure understood her business. Little did I know she was preparing me for the future.

It all started when I was 14. My mum would send me down to Togo to get her goods. When I was 15, I was already good at bringing in different items besides my mum’s goods like cars, frozen turkey and fairly used clothes. At age 16, my mum was diagnosed with cancer of the breast. At 18 years, after staying back 2 years to take care of her, she died.

I gained admission into a private university. When my mum died, I thought it was the end for me. I thought I was going to suffer and nobody could ever understand me like she did. To my surprise, my father turned out to be my best friend in disguise. He didn’t support my business but he watched me closely and sang my praises to his friends at church. He was always proud of me but he usually would not tell me to my face.

I didn’t think I could still cope with school. All I thought about in life was making money and my family. I started experiencing peer-pressure at the university. It was hard to blend with other girls of my age. My course mates called me godmother. Some school mates called me a bully, while my friends called me No-Nonsense. I never tolerated cheating from anyone and this made me gain self-esteem.

I was in need of extra cash apart from my monthly allowance from my dad, so I started what I know how to do best; business. I started the business of selling fairly used clothes from Togo with N5000 and when I was in my final year, my account balance was 300k. I was so proud of myself and thankful to God.

(Part 1/2) I used to be addicted to cannabis sativa (weed). It became a lot worse when I got into university. It was so bad, that at some point I started to hallucinate. I remember the first time I had weed; I was laughing like a crazy person. Unfortunately for me, people started to bring it to my room, so I didn’t need to go out of my way to look for it. I became so hooked on it that I couldn't go a day without it. Weed became a catalyst for every other thing. There would be crazy sexual activities after smoking.

It was really bad. I thought I'd never be able to get past smoking weed even when I started getting close to God. It was a struggle. I had stopped attending church for a while because the weed consumed me. As I got even more personal with God, it became something that I knew I had to let go of. How that was going to happen, I had no idea.

Somehow I just kept praying, not even about the weed addiction because it was so strong that I felt it was probably something that I'd have to live with for the rest of my life. I would pray about every other thing. I didn't think it was a problem. I always made up excuses on how great weed was. I was a good advocate for it with great arguments and lines which usually made a lot of sense, at least to me.
I can't remember what exactly happened but I stopped smoking cigarettes first.

Getting closer to God really helped me even though I wasn't the best of his children at the time. I stopped buying cigarettes with my money and eventually found out I wasn't smoking cigarettes anymore. But I was still dealing with weed big time. I stopped smoking weed but then started chewing it. (When you smoke it, the effects last for just a few hours but when you chew it, it goes to your blood stream, and so it could last up to 4 hours.)

Eventually God did it. I don't know how, but He made a way. I just found out that I wasn't having cravings anymore. God worked in me and I was able to quit weed. I realised I could live my life without enhancements from anything or dependence on any material.

(Part 2/2) Though I'd stopped smoking weed, I was still dealing with sexual lusts and desires. Now, I prayed about this a lot, because for me I think I had something that was deep and it was more spiritual than physical.

Ladies were always coming on to me; even married women too. It was crazy, I was a sex maniac and a beast. I would pray, go to vigils, then the next thing I knew, I would be back at it. It was a physical struggle. I've even had girls literally rape me, struggle to have sex with me, begging me not to push them away.

I realised I was trying to stop by myself because every time I made the decision to, I wouldn't last for a week. I would see certain things in my dreams and once I see them, I knew the next day or even that day I was going to have sex. It was a fight. I needed the Holy Spirit to help me so I prayed. I said, “You know what Lord, I'm not going to struggle about this anymore. I'm not going to fight it. Let your Holy Spirit help me. I yield myself to your Spirit because I know I need help."

I celebrated 1 year of celibacy in October, 2016. It hasn’t been a walk in the park and there’s temptation everywhere, especially with the kind of work I do. For me it's still very unbelievable, because I didn't think I could go past a week. I remember in my 3rd month of being celibate, I got close to losing it. There was this one time I was about to have sex and then something held me back. The Holy Spirit took over. I can't do anything with my might, so I've learnt to let the Holy Spirit do His work. Because all the time I tried to do it myself I failed.

Temptations will come, but it's how one tackles them that matters. A part in the Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Another part says flee every appearance of evil. So, at every point of temptation you need to know which one to apply. There are some cases where you can't flee, but you can confront and resist the devil and he will flee. That's where wisdom comes in. The good thing is that God has given us the capacity to deal with it and it's always very wise not to go it alone but with the Holy Spirit.

(Part 1/2) I’m a man of many parts. From a professional point of view, I run an organisation called Inspiro Consulting. It’s an HR and career services organisation and has been running for 6 years. Prior to that, I had worked with different organisations in consulting and banking at senior management levels. Today, I do a lot of career coaching, counselling, and public speaking. I also ­pastor the Lekk­i arm of my church - Kingsword International Church. ­I'm an author of 5 published books.

The truth is, I wasn't alw­ays like this. I reme­mber some time ago, m­y mum called me and s­aid there was a frien­d of hers that wanted­ to speak with me. So­ the woman was given­ the phone. I knew her wh­en I was in Secondary­ school. This is how ­the conversation went­:

Mum's friend­: "Hello, is this Jim­i?"

Me­: "Good afternoon ma. How are you ma?"

Mum's friend­: "My children have b­een telling me about ­one Jimi Tewe that is­ going around talking­ everywhere and I was­ like it cannot be th­e same Jimi. Because ­the Jimi that I know ­cannot talk."

So, that is an exact picture of who I was­ growing up versus wh­o I am right now.

I am the 1st of 4 kid­s. I grew up in a r­egular nuclear family. My father is a lect­urer and my mum taught English Language - she later became a principal of several schools. For some reason, I grew up with a he­avy sense of poor ­self-esteem. I rememb­er I had a permissible ­excuse why I couldn't tal­k to people or why I couldn't an­swer questions in cla­ss - I­ was shy. So, shyness­ was my excuse. I coldn't even talk to a ­lady.

I wasn't too goo­d in my academics either; I ­was below average. In­ a class of 40, my pos­ition would be 20 som­ething. I remember wh­en I was 19th position. It was like a mirac­le. Meanwhile, my sibl­ings were always in the top three positions in their respective classes. The one after m­e was the head boy of­ the school. My sister wa­s head girl too. I, the eldest­ brother was always a­t the back of the cla­ss. So, I didn't feel­ I was smart. I was j­ust going through lif­e essentially.

(Part 2/2) I grew up in a Christian home and I got born again when I was ­in my 2nd year in Junior Secondary school (JSS2). In JSS3 we were about writing the ­exams that would take us to Senior Secondary School, but my dad was concerned about me. He got the Maths teacher, Mr Balogun from school to ­come be my home teacher because that was my worst subject. I just couldn't understand it. And in spite of that, I was still failing.

So I remember it was some weeks to the exams and my dad came to school to see Mr Ba­logun. My dad told him, “Mr Balogun, Jimi can't fail this exam o. Please o, does he need more classes?" And Mr Balogun had a startled look on his face and he said, "Jimi?­ Which exam? Maths? No o. Jimi will do very well." All the while he was speaking, I was wondering which Jimi they ­were talking about.

To my surprise, I ­finished the exams and I got just one A, and it was in Maths. That's where I learnt the place of believing in others and how that can transform people’s lives. Nobody had believed in me like that and ­I don't blame my parents because I had given them enough bad results. I don't know what Mr Balogun saw in me or why he said what he said, but I remember that his belief alone helped me. From there I said to myself, “I like Maths.” It changed my perspective.

I started getting better results, results I'd never had before in my entire destiny *laughs*. So, ­by the time I got to ­SS2, I wrote JAMB, WAE­C and I passed. I gained admission to the ­University of Ibadan ­and graduated with a ­2.1 CGPA in Agricultural Economics and the rest is history, though it ­is still being written.

(Part 1/2) My name is Samuel Olusegun Adepeleinde Obe. Adepeleinde means the crowned one that came last. I am the youngest child of my parents. My father was an ambassador of Nigeria to some African countries and my mum was a banker for many years. My dad died when I was 3 years old and my mum died about 21 years ago. I have just one sister and 3 brothers. I was that baby they didn't plan to have. Even the age gap between myself and my siblings bears witness to that, *laughs*.

I had a lot of challenges growing up as a man because I didn't have a father figure but the greatest challenge of all was the issue of identity crisis. You know when you don't even know yourself, you don't know how to love and you don't know how not to love. You're either very nice to everybody or you're very into yourself. I was more into myself. For a long time, I felt nobody really loved me and for many years I lived in my own world. The age gap between my siblings and I didn't make it easy so there was really nobody to talk to.

Some of the things I've probably not achieved today such as being married, are tied to my growing up. I was always secluded, always by myself not because anybody locked me in a room or something, but mentally I just wanted to find myself. At some point, I didn’t even know who I was but I thank God that my mum introduced me to church.

The first church that I ever entered was Four Square Gospel Church and my mum prayed me into that church. She always used to go to church but I never liked and never knew the reason or concept of church. I remember one day I was playing street football outside the house and she got back from church. I was still quite young then. She was walking in and looking at me and she just started crying. I could see the tears. I told my friends I would see them later and followed my mum inside.

When we got inside, I asked her why she was crying. One thing I had always told myself is that I would never want to see tears in my mother’s eyes. So I said, ''Mum why are you crying?'' She said, ''It's you.''

(Part 2/2) ''What have I done. How would I make you cry? You've been there for me and I love you. You're my mother'', I said to my mum. She replied, “You don't follow me to church.” Today in particular, she sat back and watched other people’s kids acting drama and singing. She knew her son was so talented and gifted, but for some reason was just wasting away, not using his gift anywhere. Now here were some kids doing an adulterated version of what her son does at home like a ‘joke’.

To cut the long story short, she was sad about that and she said to me, ''Look, I am sad and this has been a source of concern to me. I saw those kids and just wished that you were on that stage too.'' I said, ''Okay mum, promise me that if I follow you to church next Sunday, you will not cry anymore?'' She said, ''I promise.'' Her face lit up and I thought, “Wow this is my rock, she's happy again.”

I went to church. I got into the drama team, music team and practically all the teams. My mum was so proud. I remember her watching me sometimes and she would just cry; not tears of sorrow but of joy. I know that the day we laid her to rest, she was happy.

I'm still doing what my mum led me into. I'm still in Christ and God is good.

I gave my life to Christ at a very young age. I was 4 years old and it was quite an experience.

I woke up one night from a terrible nightmare that was tormenting and scary for a young child. In my fear, I screamed awake. Luckily for me, my aunt was in the same room and heard me scream from my sleep. She spoke to me about Jesus and led me to say the sinner’s prayer. She told me that Jesus was able to protect me, keep me and fight my battles. She calmed me down and I went back to bed only for me to continue the same dream.

In the dream, what I saw was a masquerade-like looking demon with eyes all over its body. It was trying to grab hold of me but I kept dodging and trying to avoid it. I couldn't hold it; I couldn't fight it. I screamed, ‘Jesus!’ in my sleep. I don't know where the power came from, but all of a sudden the demon was frozen like a statue, though all the eyes were still moving and looking at me. It couldn't move, it couldn't do anything; it couldn't reach or touch me. I woke up and realised the name of Jesus was the name above all names. 

I'm still born again today, over 20 years after this experience and trust me it hasn't been a simple journey. But the name of Jesus remains at the back of my mind. He’s the only one that can keep me and fight for me. Jesus is so real that every day I realise more and more that he is there, waiting for us to call his name and reach out to him. 

I started having nightmares when I was around 12 years old. They were so bad that I couldn't sleep at night without nightmares or night terrors. I was only able to sleep in the mornings so I would wake up very late. This went on for several years even till I entered a higher institution. And of course, my grades were badly affected, I was barely getting by in school.

I prayed and prayed to God but didn't see any change. All the while, I was a leader in my fellowship, but only a few knew what was happening to me. Then one day, I just got so distressed and tired, so I told God I was leaving school and fellowship and wouldn't come back except something changed. And it did!

God reached out to me through someone who encouraged me and said that God had heard my prayers, and I just needed to follow a specific instruction which was to sow a seed. I did so, and kept praying.

A week after this, the nightmares stopped. My grades started improving remarkably and I graduated from school. Now I sleep comfortably and soundly through the night. Indeed, he gives his beloved sleep!

RCCG HOLY GHOST CONGRESS 2016

I thank God for the previous Holy Ghost Congresses I've attended. They've been awesome. There have been great testimonies, signs and wonders. When I came to camp, I prayed that God should heal my mum and she was healed. In the years that I've been coming to camp, God has never let me down. He has helped me achieve a lot of things especially concerning my education and career. I just appreciate him for everything. He's worthy. 

So far, the Holy Ghost Congress has been full of testimonies. I thank God for all he has done in my life. Every time I come here with an expectation, God answers me. I thank him for all he has been doing in the life of Pastor E.A. Adeboye. I thank God for the new auditorium. God has really been faithful. 

It’s always awesome being at the Holy Ghost Congress. There’s always one experience or the other. For me, I can't afford to miss it because I get renewed spiritually. Each time I come it's new and God is always doing something fresh in my spiritual life. I see an impartation of power and apart from that, God has been faithful to me. It's not something to miss. 

This is my first time attending the RCCG Holy Ghost Congress. It's been awesome and beautiful. It's also been highly impactful. The ministers were on point. The choir, oh my! I love the organisation as well. The security and sanitation guys were great. God is speaking and men are speaking. When men yield their wills to God, God can speak through them and that's exactly what is happening here. I bless God for the vessels. Daddy G.O is amazing, his fatherly attitude and leadership are great. A man from Kenya came to share how we enjoy his leadership in Africa. I thought that's massive. In the faith, we know we have a father. It's been awesome.

God is so faithful. I thank him for everything, but I'm still believing him for one major breakthrough. When I came here, God still favoured me. I didn't believe I would get an accommodation here at camp, but I got one. I thank him for comfort. When Daddy G.O ministered, he mentioned my case and I believe God has settled it and in no due time it would manifest in my life.

We are siblings. I’m Heritage and he’s Ore my elder brother.

Heritage: I was born into the Redeemed church. Over the years, I've had different experiences. But this year in particular, I just began to feel a new realm. Everything has been going so smoothly since we came to camp on Monday. We had some issues with our car on our way but we just knew that we were coming here for something. Once we came it was so obvious to our family that something is happening. We’ve been seeking God for direction in our family, but by Friday morning after we did a prayer walk around camp, I can say there's a direction God has given to us and I'm grateful.

Ore: This Congress has been wonderful. God's presence has been so strong since day 1. It has just been like a progressive build up. Different revelations have been coming. And really, it's not only about knowing the Bible, this one is more about the experience, the actual connection with the Father. That's exactly what I've been experiencing and it has been growing deeper and stronger.

SHILOH 2016

The first day at SHILOH 2016 was really exciting. I had a great time and God's presence was so strong. The following day was also a continuum of what happened on the first day. My expectation basically, is to find direction. Almost like a sequential guideline of how my life should go from here. That's why I also got this book, 'Understanding Vision'. I feel like if you know where God wants you to go and how you should go about it; every other thing will fall in place.

I've had multiple SHILOH experiences. To me, SHILOH simply means an encounter with God. I remember the first time I came here; I was unemployed trusting God for a job. When I got here I got a word from Bishop David Oyedepo. He said, "You will get different jobs. People from far and near will be willing to employ you, and you are going to begin to employ other people as well." I keyed into this word and 2 to 3 months after, I got called for a job; 3 jobs in fact. I was now left with the option of choosing which one. 

I've had many diverse testimonies come out from here; testimonies on healing, breakthrough and even salvation. 

I started coming to Shiloh in 2005. At the time, I was an undergraduate. Now I have graduated, I run my business and things are going fine. But one thing about SHILOH is every time I come, it's a platform to prepare for the next year.

I remember SHILOH 2011 was a very significant one for me. I came back from NYSC without having a clue of what to do. I had some encounters at SHILOH that culminated in me starting my business in 2012 and from there the business has been growing and God has been showing Himself faithful. Also, spiritually there are some revelations that have been dropping here. It's a wonderful experience. I can't start highlighting them one after the other, but know this; this is a place to be.

This is my 2nd time attending SHILOH. It's been a time of pleasant experiences. And today I know by the grace of God I'm going home with all my answered prayers. Bishop Oyedepo has said it's a mountain of answered prayers and I believe him because I believe God and His Word. So, I'm full of expectations for this year’s SHILOH. 

I attended a public secondary school and throughout my time in school, I never saw a computer. We only did theory but never practiced with an actual computer. So I picked up an interest in computers and ICT. I had to fight my way through learning how to use a computer. I would sit in cyber cafes, watch people type and keep looking until I became pretty knowledgeable.

I attended the Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA) and Pastor Sam Adeyemi taught us a lot about helping and empowering people. My pastor also used to talk about reaching out to students so I thought I could impact them by introducing ICT to students in public schools. Before this period, I had already volunteered with some NGOs, so I understood what it takes to be a volunteer. I wanted to volunteer my own services and do the little I could to help kids. I approached one of the NGOs I had volunteered with before and told them what I wanted to do. They liked the idea so we started with 20 kids. I put them in an air-conditioned place to make them feel like ‘honourables’, away from their regular classrooms.

We needed about 20 laptops so we could give each child a laptop. Buying them was very expensive and a few friends donated some laptops. I repaired them and each child had a laptop to work with. A lot of friends volunteered, and we had them train the kids on how to use Word, PowerPoint and Excel. I had other friends who are professionals in their fields train the students on soft works, financials, project management, career development and so on. So besides ICT, we also trained them on other important areas of life.

The whole experience has been life changing for me, and I learnt a lot from the kids. These kids mean a lot to me as well as everyone who volunteered. After the training, the best male and best female during the training received their own laptop. We've got wonderful support from friends and family and even the church. Next year, we plan to move from 20 kids to 1000 kids. I’m confident we can achieve that goal.

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Contact details for Tech For the Street Initiative:

Email: info@techforthestreet.com

Phone number: 08027714171, 0809 484 3221

Website: www.techforthestreet.com