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Our brother Sh. John Fatoyinbo of Nigeria came to Chicago to attend the LDW (Leaders Development Workshop from Oct. 22 to 25).

May our Lord encourage him with the word of God and equip him to serve the Lord in Nigeria as a good co-worker of M. Peter Park while he is staying in Chicago.

                                   LIFE TESTIMONY

 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10)

Praise be to God who has been gracious to me and my family. I’m married to Shs. Aderonke whom I see as a gift from God. God has blessed our family with three children: Samuel, Joshua and Joanna. I grew up under the care of a granny – the reason being that my parents were separated. My granny brought me up in a strict way but she was more of a pagan. She devoted her life to idol worship and as such I joined her in idol worship. A routine of worshipping of idols was done in our house and annually we all traveled to our home town for a festive celebration of the god of iron (called Ogun). It was in this pagan lifestyle that I grew up. I was enslaved to the power of sin and lived in darkness for so long. However, there was a dramatic change in my life in 1992. Someone preached the gospel of Christ to me and God touched my heart to repent of my sins and accept Jesus as my Lord. In my new found faith in Jesus, I renounced all forms of idol worship and because of this action, I fell out of favor with my granny and the devil used her as a weapon of persecution and she tormented me.

Several times I was chased out of the house, my Bible was seized, I was beaten, and ridiculed; she even threatened to stop my education. As if this was not enough, my mum agreed with my granny to take me to our home town to see a native doctor, as it seemed to them that I had been bewitched. I was brought before an idol and they asked me to bow down to the image and appease the god. I refused and quoted ‘thou shall not have another God before me.’ Each time I refused their offer I got beaten. And there was a particular time I was locked up in the shrine room. While in the room I prayed and asked God to give me strength to overcome all these trials. After three days in our hometown and all their efforts became fruitless, we came back to Lagos and my granny sent me packing from her house.

All these persecutions lasted for three years until in December 1994 when I lost my mum in a motor accident. Then things began to take a different dimension. And rather than growing in faith, I became weak and over time I became a nominal Christian. It was during this period I became exposed to immorality. As a way of punishment for backsliding, it was difficult for me to secure admission into a university. After awhile I retracted my steps back to God and repented of my sins. And as God still wanted to use me to work in his vineyard, He gave me admission to study accounting at the University of Lagos.

 Coming down to the University of Lagos has made me see the plan of God for me. In my first year I was eager to serve God so I joined a fellowship on campus and was very active in the evangelism group. But on one particular occasion, while on my way to the hostel, I came across Shep Mark Nwang who walked up to me and invited me to Sunday worship service in UBF.

Since I was attending a fellowship already I never gave it a thought but he was persistent in inviting me to Bible study. But in 1999 he invited me to the Easter Conference, which I found to be a wonderful conference where students studied the Bible deeply. Thereafter, I became a regular 1:1 Bible study student.

After a while Shepherd Mark left Nigeria for Korea but God used Missionary Peter Park to keep me fit spiritually and to stay focused. But after getting my degree, I got a job outside Lagos precisely in Port Harcourt; it is about a nine hour drive from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Missionary Peter Park advised me not to take the job but I was stubborn and didn’t listen to my spiritual Leader. After nine months in Port Harcourt I became spiritually empty there and then decided to return to Lagos and stay in the tent (common life) until I got another job. During this time I put in for a professional course for a professional exam and later become a chartered accountant.

Recently, I could feel that there is so much to do in the vineyard of God but I have given so little to the work of God. I have been deeply engrossed in my secular job, living a job-centered life. I leave home as early as 6:30 am and return by 8 pm including Saturdays. I used to have at least five Bible students but due to lack of care and proper attention to nurture the students for the gospel of Christ they stopped coming except for one brother. It now looks as if I’m having a successful career but spiritually I have not been as fruitful as I ought to be

In Lagos UBF-1, I’m the only senior shepherd left co-working with Missionary Peter Park, now that Shepherd Abraham and Shepherd James have their own chapters that they pioneered. But as a true workmanship I have not lived up to the expectation. When I reminisced on my spiritual life I was asked one pertinent question: What account will I give to our Lord Jesus? There will be no amount of excuses that can justify my lack of commitment to God’s work in his vineyard. In order to generate new spirit in fishing new Bible students, I decided to take some time off work and when I saw on UBF website that there is a leadership conference, I chose to come and participate so that I can be refreshed spiritually.

I pray that for the few days I will stay here with brethren, God will give me a new spirit and remold me to be a true workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. May God bless Nigeria UBF to raise Bible teachers and shepherds for the Kingdom of God!

One Word: I’m God’s workmanship created for good works!