God will visit Nigeria during Foursquare convention —Committee Chairman

Reverend Theo Eniola Netufo is the chairman of the 2021 National Convention Planning Committee of Foursquare Gospel Church. In this interview with DAVID OLUWAREMILEKUN, he speaks on what the convention means for the nation and what participants should expect.

How has it been planning the convention? 

Well, we thank God for His grace upon us. We started this planning 10 months ago or thereabout when the committee that was charged with this responsibility was inaugurated by our General Overseer, Reverend Samuel Aboyeji. Right from the first day, we started work; we didn’t waste time before setting out our plans and programmes. We started to move to mobilize our people because of the mood of the nation, arising from the fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic and also the insecurity challenges we have in the nation.

So, to plan for a programme like this under this serious situation, it takes additional tasks to, first of all, assure the people that the program will hold and also to encourage the people and then give them words of comfort that God rules in the affairs of men, that the God we are serving is able to put all these situations under control before the convention. To the glory of God, we achieved this.

What should participants expect?

The expectations are high because God is going to move. The power of God is going to move because God has helped us to put together spirit-filled programmes and we have highly anointed ministers of God, frontline ministers in person of Reverend Sam Aboyeji (the General Overseer of Foursquare movement in Nigeria), Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel and Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo of KICC International.

You know this is no joke; it’s not going to be an ordinary convention, so the expectations are high because God is going to move. We expect great and mighty miracles, salvation, restoration and healings during the convention.

What were the major challenges you encountered?

The challenges were many but thank God for our own resolve. From the beginning, I resolved, by the special grace of God, that I would not fail. So, we put all our energy into it. I came into this planning with my team with great passion. We put passion into it, we put resources into it, we put energy into it. We travelled across regions in Nigeria — the north, the mid-west and even Lagos and to several churches to sensitize the people, to mobilize the people and also to assure the people that security challenges of the nation and also the impact of Covid-19, alongside the consequences of the economic woes that God would are not beyond God’s mighty hands. This convention shall be a season of a new beginning for us and this is reflected in our theme derived from the book of Isaiah chapter 63 verse 18 – 19; but I specifically refer to verse 18 which says “Remember not the former things neither consider the things of old for I will do a new thing”. So, this is a season for a new thing. This convention is a convention of a new thing, it is an assurance to all the children of God, all the lovers of God and the great Foursquare family and all Nigerians and as many as we have invited who will come that God wants us never to remember what has happened in the past years, all the losses we have sustained, all the calamities that have befallen this nation; all the security challenges here and there. God is saying we should not remember them, we should not consider them because He has started a new thing and He is starting with us. So, as we invite everyone to come, we are inviting them to a new beginning, a season of new things, a time of great and mighty things that God Himself wants to reveal to us to move ahead to fulfil our destiny.

What are the plans for crowd control?

In the camp today, we have our infrastructure in place and we have done a lot to improve our infrastructure. We have also made provision for virtual participation in order to control the crowd. We have brought in televisions, we have also connected to Facebook and other virtual forms and media houses within and outside Nigeria to participate so the crowd will not be a challenge. While we still expect people to come in great numbers, we also expect those who are far away to participate virtually and we believe there shall be no limit to everyone participating whether you are far or near and God is able to reach everywhere under the heavens. So, we believe that people will be blessed when they participate. That’s why we are inviting them because there are various options to participate — they can be here physically or they can also participate virtually from the comfort of their homes.

Being a seven-day programme, is there any accommodation arrangement for those who may want to stay for the whole period?

Yes, we have mass accommodation. We have all levels of accommodation — luxury accommodation and some other individuals who have their own cabins and buildings within the camp.  The good news is that the proximity of the camp to Ibadan and the neighbouring communities is so close. So, people can come from Ibadan, people can stay in hotels in Ibadan, they can stay in Sagamu, they can stay in Ijebu-Ode and people can come from Lagos. But the fact still remains we have enough accommodation to cater for all and above all, there are some other churches around that have accommodation and we are collaborating with them. So, if there is any spillover from our camp, we use the facilities of those camps and we have made provisions for vehicles to commute them from their residences to the venue of the convention.

What would make you feel personally fulfilled at the end of the convention?

Personally, I believe and trust God that the testimonies, uncommon testimonies, undeniable testimonies, unusual testimonies, extraordinary testimonies that would result from this convention will be great and that will be my personal fulfilment. I will be grateful to God for that. I know it’s happening because we are already thanking God for that. We have put a lot in this convention, we have invested in prayers, we have done a lot of things, we have made the camp comfortable for people and we have sought the face of God and God has assured us that in this convention, there shall be salvation, there shall be healings, the dead will rise and the lame will walk, the blind will see. Diverse miracles and wonders will take place. There will be restoration and, above all, God will release great and mighty things to us that will bring about a kind of redirection and fulfilment to our destiny. This is what God has assured us irrespective of what has happened in the past. We are poised to enjoy and experience new things and, Nigeria as a nation, we are trusting God that through our prayers in this convention there will be a new Nigeria.

The solution has come to the various challenges we have as a nation. We believe by the mercies of God, all these will become history and there will be the freshness and new lease of life for us as a people and as a nation. God will surely intervene and pass through Nigeria during this convention.

We are very expectant and we are sure that God will do it. He says it and we believe. He will keep His words. What He says, He will do. He will do, and we will give glory to Him.

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