This was our first international trip! It came about when our friend James Nesbit (Prepare the Way Ministries) told us about his friend Sayo Ajiboye. My wife and I met him separately, and as he began to tell us about his ministry in Nigeria, we both began to see prophetic pictures, and he immediately invited us to come and teach. So we became part of a 6 person team of Americans who came with Sayo in November 2002. Most of our ministry was in the city of Ilorin. Here are some memories of our assignments

• Lagos - This is far and away the largest city in Nigeria and the primary international airport. The primary memory of Lagos is:

  • People everywhere

  • Posters celebrating Jesus and revival meetings all over

  • The smell of charcoal fires

  • The sounds of chickens and goats

• Redemption Camp - Now called Redemption City - 30 miles north of Lagos, this is the headquarters for what may be the biggest church in the world. When we visited in 2002, 250,000 would come once a month. Currently the have an auditorium which seats 100,000 and are completing one that seats 6 million. And 22 years ago already there was spiritual power in this place.

• A Muslim village near Ibadan - Sayo took us to a small village who’s leader was a Muslim man with several wives and many children. They were very hospitable towards us

• Ilorin - Ilorin is about 180 miles from Lagos to the north and is a Muslim city becoming increasingly Christian. The Yoruba tribe is dominant here but many different tribes are represented. We stayed in a large guest house hear as our headquarters.

• First Sunday - Each of the Americans on our team was assigned to preach to a different church. Darlene and I were assigned to preach to the Youth Chapel associated with the Anglican Cathedral. There were several hundred in attendance and we were very warmly accepted. Afterwards, we were able to spend time with Pastor Ebenezer Olouawi and his wife Bisi. We also met the provost of the Cathedral and the Bishop and his wife. We were able to spend considerable time with the Bishop.

• People we met - We got to experience life in Ilorin, going to the marketplaces. At one location, our host, Sayo, spent time with a girl waiting at a bus stop who was on the verge of likely being trafficked without the intervention of someone. We took her to a neighboring church pastored by a man named Muhammed Ali, who would likely have her Christian by morning and returned to her home. We met merchants who were Muslim on the surface but professed faith in Jesus behind closed doors. We had dinner with a family, who served us a beautiful meal, and we were able to pray for the man to be healed from cancer. We met a pastor and his wife who were building a church and got to pray for the building.

• Young Leaders Conference - We moved for two days to a camp for this annual conference, where Sayo and his friends accepted young leaders from all around the region and taught them and prayed for them. Us Americans taught about half the sessions. This was an amazing privilege

• Second Sunday - For a second time we were invited to the Anglican Youth Chapel. After beautiful worship, Pastor Olayowi was about to introduce us when the Holy Spirit fell on him and he fell into his two assistants and all of them were out in the Spirit. Darlene and I took over the service. We found out later that the whole church had been fasting for three weeks.

• Celebration at the Cathedral - That afternoon, we were invited to be speakers at a special anniversary service. My wife was the first woman Anglican priest to speak there since ten years earlier when some women had been ordained and then their ordination revoked. She spoke about the God who speaks through fire. The bishop spoke last and greatly welcomed our group and used the occasion to call all who were willing to be used as evangelists and had us pray for them and many were deeply affected.

• Return home - We were greatly changed as we returned first to Lagos and Frankfort German back to our home in St Louis.