{"id":100087,"date":"2026-09-04T22:46:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=100087"},"modified":"2026-09-04T22:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:46:43","slug":"a-blast-from-the-past-part-1african-missionary-story-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=100087","title":{"rendered":"A Blast from the Past – Part 1(African Missionary Story Series)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ogochukwu Soludo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Planted on good soil, a mustered seed can
\nbecome like a giant oak!<\/p>\n

I could not have imagined what far-reaching impression our little acts of kindness and goodwill would inspire in people; but now I know: Good deed does have a multiplier effect with far-reaching transformational testimonies.<\/p>\n

Thirty-one years ago, I was a student of missions and cross cultural ministry at the Christian Missionary Foundation (CMF) School of Missions, Idere, Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State.<\/p>\n

During that time, we used to fellowship with the local missionary church there. The assembly was planted and pastored by one of the pioneer CMF-missionaries, Pastor Ibitayo Kolapo and his wife, Moyo.<\/p>\n

Pastor Kolapo was also a teacher at the School of Science, Idere, a government secondary school, where he distinguished himself as the best science teacher in Oyo State at the time.<\/p>\n

He mirrored the character of Christ in his lifestyle, preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God, both in words and deeds.<\/p>\n

By his godly disposition, character and comportment, he won most of the teachers and students in that school to Christ and also discipled them unto maturity in Christ.<\/p>\n

Pastor Kolapo and his wife were good role models, highly disciplined, diligent, dedicated, free, friendly, responsible and hospitable. The couple was highly regarded and remained a reference point for good within Ibarapa Local Government Area and beyond.<\/p>\n

The couple mentored and nurtured many people, pastoring the local missionary church, a model new testament congregation of believers and disciples of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Their home was a discipleship centre where they raised many distinguished disciples that are still standing in faith to this day<\/p>\n

Pastor Kolapo was my Field Leader; I laboured as a missionary at Ominigbo, Ibarapa Field, from 1996 to 1999.<\/p>\n

Pastor Kolapo and his wife have paid their dues with a track record of excellence in missionary service, spanning over four decades.<\/p>\n

Pastor Ibitayo Kolapo recently celebrated his 70th Birthday Anniversary. His wife, Mrs Moyo Kolapo celebrated her 60th Birthday also.<\/p>\n

Pastor Alex Adewale Ekundayo, is one of the young men that the Kolapos discipled and mentored in ministry<\/p>\n

By 1995, Alex was a teenager and still in secondary school, a student of Government Science School, Idere, and under Pastor Kolapo’s discipleship training.<\/p>\n

He was diligent and dedicated, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord.<\/p>\n

One day, Pastor Kolapo permitted him to preach to the congregation and he did exceptionally well, in my view.<\/p>\n

I was impressed by his performance and decided to encourage him by giving him a pat-on-the back after the service, for motivation.<\/p>\n

Little did I know how much that simple “pentecostal handshake” would impact him; not until he opened up to me recently, after nearly three decades of our separation by different lines of duty, and not being in regular contact with each other.<\/p>\n

Last week, Pastor Alex found my telephone contact from a social media platform and reached out to me with his testimony that drew tears from my eyes.<\/p>\n

He wrote:
\n“Good afternoon sir, I have been longing to re-establish contact with you.<\/p>\n

“This is one of the boys that God used you to nurture when you came to School of Mission, Idere, years ago.<\/p>\n

“What you did for me on the day I preached in church for the first time, as a teenager, in 1995, has continued ringing in my mind to this day<\/p>\n

“You called me aside, after the service; patted me on the back; shook my hands and gave me money, a brand new \u20a650 note, which was about the highest denomination of the Naira at that time.<\/p>\n

“That simple act of yours registered symbolically in me as a memory of Christ’s goodness and the reality of salvation.<\/p>\n

“By the grace of God, I am now one of the senior ministers at Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria.”<\/p>\n

“This sounds very interesting,” I replied, unable to contain the surge of emotions.<\/p>\n

“Can you tell me more, and what is your name?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“I am Alex Adewale Ekundayo, a student of the School of Science, Idere, during your time at the CMF School of Missions, Idere, in 1995.<\/p>\n

“Your love and care for young people that time drew me closer to you, together with some other youngsters.<\/p>\n

“Your relationship with us, your encouragement, corrections, counseling and support helped in establishing my feet in Christ.<\/p>\n

“Even after I finished my secondary school education in 1995 and went to higher institution, the seed you had planted kept growing.<\/p>\n

“I could not afford go out of Godt presence.<\/p>\n

“I am now happily married to another disciple of yours, Nike, a younger sister of Pastor Kolapo’s wife, and we both serve as ministers in the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Ibadan District.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Alex and Nike.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Thank you most sincerely for demonstrating Christ-like life to us.”<\/p>\n

“I am very pleased to reconnect with you, my beloved brother.”<\/p>\n

“It is a great pleasure connecting with you again, sir.”<\/p>\n

What more need I say?<\/p>\n

“God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform” (Isa. 55: 8 -9, Rom. 11: 33)<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dr. Ogochukwu Soludo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u25cf Soludo, PhD, General Missions Director, <\/strong>
\nAfrican Missionary Empowerment Network (AMEN) Ltd\/Gte, sent this via WhatsApp and can be reached at osoludo@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ogochukwu Soludo Planted on good soil, a mustered seed can become like a giant oak! I could not have imagined what far-reaching impression our little acts of kindness and goodwill would inspire in people; but now I know: Good deed does have a multiplier effect with far-reaching transformational testimonies. Thirty-one years ago, I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":100088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772,5777],"tags":[8648,8650,8649,8647],"class_list":["post-100087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","category-features","tag-alex","tag-cmf","tag-idere","tag-kolapo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100090,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100087\/revisions\/100090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}