WHEN MEN RESOLVE…GREATNESS BECKONS!

"Adam, the very first man that lived, we recalled, failed not only to rein in the appetite of his wife for exotic fruits, he failed to resist the temptation to join her in the perfidy of disobedience. The result was the curse, which all of mankind inherited. The rest, as the cliché has it, is history... the same scenario is still playing out today; men failing and families, communities and nations reeling from the repercussions."





Men's Summit 2012...fitting climax

On Sunday, June 17, 2012, about 200 men of various age, ethnicity and socio-political status, but united by the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, and determined to reclaim their place in God’s original plan, took a resolution.

For four days they had been together at Men’s Summit 2012, this year’s gathering of men in pursuit of Christlike manhood, organized by Christ Chapel International Churches’ Christian Men’s Network Nigeria.

They had listened to Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, senior pastor and founder of Fountain of Life Church, and a minister to men who has run Discovery for Men of which he is president for about 15 years talk to them about “Redefining Manhood” at the opening session on the eveing of Thursday June 14.

These men were at the 2B Okanlawon Ajayi Street, Surulere venue of the Summit all day Friday when Rev Wale Oni and yours sincerely spoke on topics around the theme, Rediscovering Manhood in the morning. Rev Mike Udonquak an experienced player in the corporate world spoke on the sub-theme, Rediscovering Stewardship from the corporate angle, while optometrist turned politician, Rev Dr Ronald Eyime addressed the same sub-theme from a public governance perspective. Later that night, these men spent two hours watching a movie that was to yield the resolution they subsequently voluntarily subscribed to, Courageous.

Saturday was no less busy for these men. They had the opportunity of listening to and asking question of Dr Christopher Kolade, the 80-year-old Chairman of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, a well-known minister of the word of God, whose integrity credentials, we once said on this page, are among our nation’s few consensus.  It was the Summit Breakfast and for many, absolutely unforgettable.

Later that afternoon, at a session closed to women, Rev Dr John Akachie Ahamzie, senior pastor, Holy Fire Overflow Ministries, who has presented a weekly radio programme, with the provocative title, “What’s All This Noise About Sex” for about five years now, spoke on the sub-theme, Rediscovering Sex. In a no-holds-barred session, he and Rev Dan Ibekwe, a veteran marriage counselor and Chairman, CCIC Church Council left little to the imagination on the subject – from a Kingdom angle.

Saturday night featured, for these men, who were determined to drink as deeply as possible from the well of godly wisdom that the Summit availed, a session on another sub-theme, Rediscovering Prosperity.

Rev Bayo Oniwinde, otherwise known as Rev B or “Bishop” amongst us “chapelites” whose international word ministry has taken to such diverse parts of the world as India, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the United States, Canada and South Africa, spoke on prosperity by inheritance based on the blessings of Abraham. Rev Dr Biodun Adedipe, a well-known, highly in demand business and economy consultant also spoke on the place of the supernatural in wealth creation.

Then came the glorious climax on Sunday night! Continuing on the main theme of the summit, Dr Kolade not only addressed the need for men to rediscover manhood for their own and that of their family, but for the sake of our nation which currently needs men.

This you will recall was one of the rationales for putting the conference together, in the first place. We had said that when men fail; when we fail to do all the things men are assigned to do, by their maker, the inexorable result is: disaster. And we saw from the Bible that it didn’t begin with the current generation of men.

Adam, the very first man that lived, we recalled, failed not only to rein in the appetite of his wife for exotic fruits, he failed to resist the temptation to join her in the perfidy of disobedience. The result was the curse, which all of mankind inherited. The rest, as the cliché has it, is history.

As we said then, the same scenario is still playing out today; men failing and families, communities and nations reeling from the repercussions.The most recent evidence of the failure of men, as was also pointed out, was the Dana Airline crash into the densely populated Lagos suburb of Iju-Ishaga.  While acknowledging the fact that the Aviation minister, we declared: “if you look beneath all of these and you’ll find at its very root, a man who failed! Check out the trunk, the branches, the leaves, you’ll find men who failed to take their place in the divine plan; men who charted their course away from God’s assignment. We concluded that what we have to do to prevent incidences like the Dana Air crash, and many more like it, we must change our men, beginning with each one of us.

That is what these 200 men chose to do; to change the men of Nigeria, beginning with themselves by subscribing to the following the resolution:

·         I do solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

·         I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

·         I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.

·         I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

·         I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly. ? I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

·         I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.

·         I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

·         I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

·         I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God. ?

·         I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

·         I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ? (Joshua 24:15).

Won’t you please join us?

WHEN MEN FAIL…DISASTER!

Dana Air crash aftermath

"'Look at every problem we. have in our society. At the root of that problem, is a man who failed, even though, ironically, he got up that morning, wanting to be successful. None of them wanted to fail. That is the challenge before us. We will not change our nation until we change our men…' That is what we have to do, to prevent incidences like this, and many more like that from continuing, we must change our men, beginning with each one of us".

We have a song in the Christian Men’s Network Nigeria that’s been playing in my head these past week or so. Written by one of our own Daniel Nzekwue and performed by our all-men choir, the Mighty Men of Praise, the lyrics go like this:

“When men praise                                                                                                                      Dreams are fulfilled                                                                                                           When men praise                                                                                                                     Families restore                                                                                                                    When men praise                                                                                                                     The Home is warm                                                                                                            When men praise                                                                                                                  The enemy’s defeated…”

Ironically, as I meditate on the song we have joyfully sang these past few years, what kept coming to me is what happens when men fail. When men fail to praise and to do all the things men are assigned to do. The inescapable answer is: disaster. Yes, disaster writ large!And it didn’t begin with us.

Adam, the very first man that lived failed. He not only failed to rein in the appetite of his wife for exotic fruits, he failed to resist the temptation to join her in the perfidy of disobedience. The result was the curse, which all of mankind inherited.

When the Israelites were nearing the promised land, God, wanting to motivate them with the the sheer blessedness of the land that was soon to become theirs, asked them to send twelve men to spy the land. Remember, these were men who are leaders. But when they came back; the majority report filed by ten of the twelve failed to see what God and their other two compatriots saw, a land flowing with milk and honey. Instead they saw a land that devours its people. Instead of seeing the then inhabitants as “bread” for them, given the might of god that was available unto them, they saw themselves as “suya” to the enemy. The result: years of wandering in the wilderness and the death of an entire generation but two.

The same scenario is still playing out today; men failing and families, communities and nations reeling from the repercussions. Just look around you, dear reader and you’ll see tell-tale sign of men who failed.

Of course, the most recent evidence of the failure of men is the Dana Airline crash into the densely populated Lagos suburb of Iju-Ishaga. Ah yes, the minister is a woman and so has overall responsibility, but look deeper and you’ll find a legion of men who failed her, failed the system, failed the nation.

Investigations are still on and it would therefore be premature to apportion blame and I am certainly not that inclined, But strictly in context, what we already know about the circumstances that surround the crash is, to say the least, a wake-up call. Governor Godswill Akpabio for instance said that he had recently personally called the Chief Executive of Dana Air to warn him about the state of airworthiness of the airline’s fleet. This is not the place to ask whether he could have done much more than that; and, if he had whether the disaster could have been averted.

A Dana Air female staff has also been widely reported to have stated that the crew was forced to fly the aircraft, against all protests about the health of the aircraft. She even said that the crew that flew was put together when the assigned team refused. The Obakpolor Investigative Panel will hopefully be able to confirm the truth or otherwise of this assertion.

But one thing is clear, if you look beneath all of these and you’ll find at its very root, a man who failed! Check out the trunk, the branches, the leaves, you’ll find men who failed to do take their place in the divine plan; men who charted their course away from God’s assignment.

Dr Patrick Morley of Man in the Mirror Ministries put it this way: “Look at every problem we. have in our society. At the root of that problem, is a man who failed, even though, ironically, he got up that morning, wanting to be successful. None of them wanted to fail. That is the challenge before us. We will not change our nation until we change our men…” That is what we have to do, to prevent incidences like this, and many more like that from continuing, we must change our men, beginning with each one of us.

Men’s Summit 2012 is a good place to start, or, if you have started, to continue. With Rediscovering Manhood as theme, the Summit, which is organized annually by Christ Chapel International Churches through Christian Men’s Network Nigeria, opens in Lagos, Thursday.  Chief hosted by Rev Dr Tunde Joda, senior pastor of the church and president of the network the conference will feature Dr Christopher Kolade and Pastor Taiwo Odukoya as guest ministers. Venue is the refurbished, air-conditioned auditorium of CCIC, Surulere Centre at Okanlawon Ajayi Street, off Masha, Surulere, Lagos.

Dr Kolade, Chairman of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, is a well-known minister of the word of God, whose integrity credentials are among our nation’s few consensus. He is an exemplary man from whom every man can learn a lot about Christian manhood.

Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, senior pastor and founder of Fountain of Life Church, is also very involved in ministry to men. He established and has run Discovery for Men of which he is president about 15 years ago, and has consistently held quarterly rallies since then.  

Also ministering at the summit is Rev Dr John Akachie Ahamzie, senior pastor, Holy Fire Overflow Ministries, who has presented a weekly radio programme, with the provocative title, “What’s All This Noise About Sex” for about five years now. He is a teacher of purity, power and prosperity. He will be ministering specifically on Rediscovering Sex. Rev Ahamzie will be partnering in that session with a veteran marriage counselor, Rev Dan Ibekwe, Chairman, CCIC Church Council.  

Other men of God slated to minister at the Men’s Summit 2012, which will run all of eight sessions over four days - three each on Friday 15th, and Saturday 16th; and one each in the evening of Thursday 14^th and Sunday 17 include  Rev Dr Ronald Eyime, International Optometrist of the Year 2003, and governorship aspirant who went on to serve as a commissioner in Delta state; and Rev Ajibola Oluyede, a lawyer, politician and business man who has been described as a man of the Word, who understands the world.

Come, let’s reclaim our place of responsible leadership in the divine plan.

MAN, FIX YOURSELF – TO FIX NIGERIA

“Our nation needs men, real men; men like Daniel, Meshach, Shedrach and Abednego; men like Joseph and David, men who fill their minds with, meditate on and stand for “things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (Philippians 4:8; Message).  I wish to be among them. What about you?

It’s 3am. I am reminiscing about that day 40 years ago, when I walked into the Kakawa Street offices of The Daily Times of Nigeria Limited (DTN) to begin, in earnest, a career in journalism.

It was only my second visit to the “hallowed” grounds of what was then an institution many would give an arm and a leg to belong to. Yet, I gave far less – in fact I gave next to nothing. All I did to get a job as Feature Writer in the magazine division of that conglomerate was respond to a newspaper advertisement and go all the way from Ibadan to Lagos for a test and interview. I promptly returned home to Ibadan, my fare to Lagos fully refunded and the return fare paid to boot. I didn’t know anybody in there; nobody remotely hinted at anything untoward that I had to do to pave the way for me to get the job.

I was blissfully going about my business, working at the Radiology Department of the University College Hospital (UCH), being a lineage correspondent of the Daily Sketch newspaper and trying my hands at fiction writing, when a letter of appointment was delivered to my house by a staff of the Ibadan office of the media house. As the cliché goes, the rest is history.

Suddenly, I am jarred to the present. In a few hours, I have to board a flight to Ilorin, Kwara state to pick up a document in one of my children’s school. It is a document that my dear sister-in-law had unsuccessfully tried to collect, in spite of being armed with a letter of authority. My son, who is abroad and who needs the document, had also made telephone calls to authenticate the letter of authority. I weighed in too. But, the official concerned would not budge, citing previous unpleasant experiences in related circumstances.

The implication is that several man hours will be lost and expensed incurred on a trip that will add little value to the national economy this Friday, the first day of June, because “HONOUR IS IN SHORT SUPPLY” in our land! And I am wondering, how did we come to this sorry pass? Whatever happened to the Nigeria, I grew up in? Where has the Nigeria of my young adult life disappeared to?

Now, those questions have been asked and answered in many ways. It has led our only Nobel laureate yet, Wole Soyinka to describe his generation as a “wasted generation.”. It has led somebody I cannot remember now to declare that we might go into history as the “generation that lived better than their parents and better than their children.”  Think about that!

I answer those questions, however, by pointing in the direction of us men. As the men go, so goes the world. That may offend the liberal sensibilities of many of us steeped in western thoughts, but, as I have tried to show on these pages before, it is the biblical truth. As one of my mentors would have put it, Nigeria, indeed the world, has a MEN PROBLEM.

As I wrote here not too long ago: “Events in our nation, of course, never cease to leave one wondering, what manner of men are leading us. We are a nation always dancing near the precipice and the music and dance is invariably orchestrated and choreographed by a band of men; hardly ever women. And I assure you, I have engaged with this conundrum long enough to know that it has little to do with statistics!  It’s just that we do not seem to have raised enough men of character, of courage, of virtue; men who know that the destiny of our nation depends, not on their chauvinistic monopolisation of power and authority, but on the sense of responsibility that power demands.”

I am fully persuaded that the problem began with the assumption that somehow men will be men; that beyond the general assistance that children need to transit to adulthood, no special help is required. Yet we spend time to groom the girl child; to help them transit from girls to women, to wives, to mothers etc. Although this is gradually changing, the effect of previous neglect in this area is so pervasive that we have a lot of work to do.

That is why we the men must seize every opportunity to catch up. That is why wherever the men problem is tackled, every man must make the effort to be there and everybody else must encourage as many men they know as possible to be there.

One such forum is MEN’S SUMMIT 2012. Organised by Christian Men’s Network Nigeria of Christ Chapel International Churches (CCIC), the conference opens in Lagos on Thursday, June 14 and runs till Sunday June 17.

The theme, Rediscovering Manhood will be addressed by men of God who have been selected by the Holy Spirit to speak as the Lord’s oracle on this all-important subject. Dr Christopher Kolade, who needs next-to-no introduction, is one of them. This is one of the not so many men about whom most of us are agreed has the moral high ground to speak about the issues that touch us men. Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, Senior Pastor of Fountain of Life Church and President, Discovery for Men is another. His heart for men led him to found Discovery for Men about 15 years ago and he has consistently gathered men for rallies every quarter since then.

MEN’S SUMMIT 2012 will hold at the fully air-conditioned auditorium of CCIC, Surulere Centre at Okanlawon Ajayi Street, Een of Masha Foot Bridge.

As I wrote on another occasion, “Our nation needs men, real men; men like Daniel, Meshach, Shedrach and Abednego; men like Joseph and David, men who fill their minds with, meditate on and stand for “things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (Philippians 4:8; Message).  I wish to be among them. What about you?  See you at the summit.