By Job Osazuwa
The Evangel Pentecostal Church (EPC), Okota, Lagos, now has a new leadership. The new General Overseer (GO) and the rest of his team, who will henceforth pastor the faithful, were recently presented to the congregation.
It was a change that coincided with the church’s fourth national convention, whose theme was “Running with the Great Commission.”
It was a rare meeting that featured a lot of soul-lifting activities, with the weeklong convention attracting various clerics from different parts of the country.
At the grand finale on Sunday, the sanctuary was filled with members and guests. The service started with worship songs led by the choir, as they sang and danced gloriously.
The immediate past GO, Pastor Paul A. Toun, expressed delight at having a faithful person he could hand over to as successor.
The guest minister, Rev. Yomi Kasali, who was a senior pastor at Foundation of Truth Assembly, Lagos, admonished the gathering to apply the power and wisdom of God in their daily lives.
He regretted that many Christians with shallow knowledge of the word of God often misinterpreted the Bible and ended up suffering the consequences.
Kasali charged members of the church to help their new leaders to achieve the divine mandate of planting and nurturing projects that would lead to the extension of God’s kingdom.
He emphasised that some Christians were chosen to simply assist God’s ministries to grow while remaining behind the scenes.
Soon after Kasali ended his sermon, the church roared with excitement as the announcer called out the new leadership with Pastor Iheanyi Ejiogu as the new GO of the church to be anointed and unveiled.
Shortly after Ejiogu was anointed, the deputy general overseer of the church, Pastor Ikechukwu Kanu, followed. He was prayed over by Toun and anointed too. Thereafter, the duo and their wives took their positions. Members of the church rose to embrace the new GO and his deputy and to offer them their warm felicitations.
Toun, in his remarks, advised the new leaders to learn to delegate power for the smooth running of the church so that the vision of the new GO would not be blurred.
The immediate past deputy general overseer, Pastor Amechy Udeze, who was appointed following the death of his predecessor, Pastor Dimgba Igwe, said his principal left big shoes for him to wear. He described Igwe as a journalist par excellence, an ardent lover of God, a mentor and philanthropist. He also described him as a “fountain of wisdom” from which many people copiously drank.
In his acceptance speech, the new GO recalled that each time he remembered all that God had done for him, he was always overwhelmed with emotions. He said that everything that had happened to him lately seemed impossible only a few years ago, adding that they represented God’s endless possibilities, which were ahead of him as he took the mantle of leadership.
“This commission has endured tough times but one thing has been constant: God is with us, but much more, God is in us. It didn’t matter how turbulent things were; our consolation has always been that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
“The future unseen is more definite than the present that has been experienced already. So, what does the future hold for us in EPC? I am convinced that, in the near future, God will call us to relevance, influence and impact on a local, national and global scale.
“He has called us to deliberately depopulate hell, to educate, empower and reconcile all men with Jesus Christ and to disciple them into Christ’s likeness.
“From today, we enter into another vista of God’s omnipotence; we lean further into His unending benevolence. We see clearer what He is about to do on the earth and in our lives in EPC.”
In his remarks, the late Igwe’s bosom friend, a veteran journalist and author, Mr. Mike Awoyinfa, stated that the deceased would be happy in his place of rest as he watched EPC grow in leaps and bounds.
He expressed delight and commended the elders of the church for giving the youth among them a chance to hold leadership positions, maintaining that youths were the pillars of the church.
Also, during the occasion, some members of the church were elevated to the offices of pastors, elders and deacons.
As they filed out before the congregation, the immediate Toun urged them to serve not by compulsion but willingly and to be good examples to the flock so that, when the Chief Shepherd appears, they would receive the crown of glory.
Toun also admonished them to be humble in their assignments. He prayed to God to give them the grace to resist pride and to succeed in increasing the kingdom of God on earth using the instruments of their office.