THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, has perfected plans to
host the most exciting Holy Spirit-charged festival that will feature
exhilarating music ministration, seminars and teachings often laced
with loads of miracles and life-imparting prophecies.
Briefing newsmen in his office at the new RCCG Secretariat, the
Special Assistant to the General Overseer on Administration and
Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola said the church has done everything
possible to have a successful Holy Ghost Congress—a special annual
spiritual fiesta which began in 1998—assuring that there will be no
traffic mayhem on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as a result of
the programme.
According to Odesola who was flanked by his assistant, Pastor Goke
Aniyeloye and the managing editor of the church's official magazine,
Redemption Light, Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, the theme of this year's
event which begins tomorrow is; "The Overflow." "The Overflow we are
talking about is not just for the church, it's for the whole nation.
All of us could benefit from it," he said, noting that there is
tremendous hope for Nigeria.
"Once we are still able to raise the banner of praise unto the Lord,
there's hope for us. People are worried about what may happen to
Nigeria by 2015, I want to assure you that as long as God is on the
throne, it'll be well with the nation. It cannot get worse by the
grace of God.
"The essence of the programme is that we want Nigerians to join hands
with us to pray that God will restore our nation. We also urge
Nigerians to pray without ceasing for our government and leaders. You
can say anything about the president or the governor and all those who
are in authority, but there's something we believe; according to the
Bible, nobody can get to any position except God permits him or her.
"So whether we like those people or not; whether we voted for them or
not; they are God's choice and we should be praying that they will
lead us well," he urged.
On provision of infrastructure at the camp to accommodate the ever
growing number of participants, Pastor Odesola maintained that there
was no way the church can provide facilities that will adequately
accommodate participants. Nevertheless, he said the church which
generates its own power and provides its own water, had put in place
several measures for the comfort of the participants expected from far
and near for the programme.
"One way or the other, people have stereotyped the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway traffic with RCCG, and that is absolutely untrue. The
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was commissioned in 1977 when there was
no-body along this road. No town, no village, and not much vehicles.
There has been no expansion since then, so you can expect this kind of
thing. But thank God for recent palliative measures the govern-ment is
taking on the road.
"You can move round the camp to see the number of car parks the church
has invested so much money on to ensure that nobody parks on the road.
RCCG has done everything possible to ensure that we do not constitute
a nuisance on the road. If people park out there, it would be public
transporters. You know; whether there's a programme or not, they have
their own way of doing things. While we are expecting a multitude, we
also want to ensure that there is little or no constraint of traffic
during the one week period," he maintain-ed.
Asked about the state of loud speakers within the auditorium, Pastor
Odesola said the church had received a considerable number of
equipment to effectively cover the auditor-ium, pointing out, that the
German company which would have supplied all the equip-ment had
delayed because it is involved in preparations for the 2014 World Cup
in Brazil.
He nevertheless maintained that sound quality at this congress would
definitely be better than last year's, stressing "in the last three
months, we have procured close to 5,000 units of micro speakers that
can go for sound and for music from Germany. At the moment, we've
received about 4,000 out of the 7,000 we ordered."
Pastor Adeboye and other anointed ministers of God including the
National Presid-ent of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor will be ministering just as various choirs including
Vinesong, a non-denominat-ional team of missionaries, who spread the
gospel through worship and the word almost 11 months of every year
would be on parade. Though the team members are from different
nations, Vinesong founded by John Watson, is based in the UK.
Holy Ghost Congress began in 1998 when over seven million individuals
were said to have gathered at the Lekki Beach in a landmark event,
reminiscent of the congregation of the children of Israel in the days
of Moses, to celebrate the proginator of Christianity, Jesus Christ
with astounding miracles following.
That first edition was called the Holy Ghost Festival, Lekki 98.
Subsequent editions have moved to the Holy Ghost Arena at the
Redemption Camp, first as a 3-day event, and later as an all week-long
affair.
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