By Gbenga Osinaike
He never liked Fulani herdsmen. But God sent him to them in a rather dramatic way. For Tunde Taiwo, going to preach to the Fulani was not a thing he ever contemplated.
“The fact that these people intrude on farmlands anyhow and allow their cows to destroy vegetation was quite nauseating to me.” said Taiwo who pastors Revelation of Redemption Ministry based in Abuja.
He recalled that he once seized the cow of one of them who intruded on their worship space on a mountain in Abuja. It was after that action that God spoke to him in clear terms that he had to start praying for them instead of condemning them.
“It was so clear in my ears. God said to me instead of rejecting them and treating them as nobody that I had a responsibility to reach them with the gospel. God said to him that He died for the whole world and that these people I so much resented deserved to be saved. That was what broke me down. But I did not know how to go about evangelizing them”
Shortly after that experience however he attended a meeting where a brother came to tell him about his experience with some Fulani folks who readily gave their lives to Jesus at a retreat programme and requested that I join him in evangelizing them. I connected that with the earlier instruction I got from God and decided to go on evangelism with the brother.”
That was it. Since that meeting God has miraculously raised help in this regard. He soon had another encounter with a Fulani man who could speak some smattering English. “This brother is the one that has been helping to reach out to them. He is my interpreter and we have been preaching to them and God has been delivering them from Satanic bondage.
Through the help of this brother we have been able to reach about 25 of them with the gospel and they have been quite receptive. Now we hold Bible study for them. We have been able to procure Bibles in the Fufude language and God has been glorifying Himself in their midst.
He said further, “At every Bible study programme we have an average of 10 attendees. We have great time together with them. They are so eager to hear God’s word and they are always willing to go on evangelism. They are the ones who have been nudging me to take them to some of their kinsmen to preach to them. They are even ready to be persecuted and die for their new found faith.
“One of them said to me that he did not give his life to Jesus because we came to preach to him but because he had a personal revelation of Jesus. He said he saw a vision where Jesus made himself real to him and during which he came to realize that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Nobody could have peached to me if I did not have that personal encounter with Jesus.”
While noting that the kingdom of God is love, joy peace in the Holy Ghost, Taiwo said, “my joy is that these people were not attracted to Christ as a result of any material gain. They are just eager to do God’s will. They want me to start training them on how they can go about evangelism. Some of them told me they want to be integrated into the ministry so they can be useful for the ministry.
Many of the converts according to him “are from Muslim background but some of them were pagans. Many times people think Fulanis are basically Muslims. This is not true as a matter of fact there are more pagans among them.
He said the immediate plan of his ministry is to set up a training centre for them for vocational and Bible training.
Taiwo, a graduate of Business Administration from the University of Lagos and a prophet by calling said his journey to Abuja for ministry work was quite fortuitous.
His words, “I became born again in 1997 the Deeper Life Bible Church. From there I moved to International Christian Centre and then joined Agape Generation International Church before going to Abuja on God’s instruction. I have been actively involved in church planting work in Lagos before going to Abuja where God miraculously provided for us a space on a mountain top where we hold regular meetings and engage in evangelical work .”
Pastor Taiwo could be reached on +234-803-7180861