Boy! This is worth reading.

SALVATION STORY OF PASTOR LAWRENCE AJIBOYE. http://bit.ly/2dZqtLQ

My Journey to Salvation in Christ was steady and long. I can categorize it into two separate phases. Phase one is the one that led me to Christ, and the second one is the one that established me in Christ. I started getting serious with the Lord at Primary School which was a Catholic School.

What interested me the most was the beauty and the glory that I saw with the supervising Reverend Father. I always wanted to be at the mass just to observe the beauty and the orderliness of the Service But then this was only at school.

At home, I did not have that opportunity because of the conflicting values of religious practices within the extended family setting. As I approached finishing my primary school tenure, I wanted to be a Reverend Father, but that fantasy was punctured when our erstwhile Reverend Father was transferred, and a new one was brought in.

This happened to be the first black Reverend Father in the history of our School. On his first appearance at the morning assembly, he disciplined a pupil who was standing right behind me. At that time, in my view; the action was nothing short of unwarranted wickedness toward a very young pupil. I did not know exactly what this boy in question must have done, but the response of the Father scared me.

I said to myself that “if this is what it means to be a black Reverend Father I will never be one”. This experience was a huge discouragement to me as I lost all interest in church activities and fellowship. When I got into the secondary school, all efforts to get me into the scripture union fellowship yielded no results as I refused completely to attend any. Also, Foursquare Gospel Fellowship was rejected by me.

However, during this time my dad had passed on and life had changed quite significantly for me. I turned to God in prayer but still would not go to church. During one of the school holidays, something dramatic happened. My senior sister, who had been suffering from incessant Rheumatic problems, got healed at a crusade.

Her healing experience provided a tonic of some sort for me to become interested in attending church events. At every school holiday, some Christian Organizations would come to our town for crusades, and I was always attending such crusades not really for the message, but as an avenue to escape from home and avoid being sent on errands – at many of these crusades I gave my life to Christ several times because I really did not understand that salvation is once and for all.

While at Secondary School, I was again let to Christ at the junction of two major roads by a brother (named Amobi) who was one year senior to me at school. Having given my life to Christ, my focus was still not so much on Christ but on what I could get from him. When I got what I wanted, God loved me. And when I did not get it, as and when I wanted it God was not good to me. I was always in and out. For me just going to church was all I needed to do.

At this time, the desire to study and know more of Christ was not there; hence I was not really growing spiritually. I was always full of fear in my heart and scared of everything in life. I would go to the fellowship whenever I felt like and provided I had the time to do so. However, in my last year at school, I became more serious.

The fear of not wanting to be unemployed after school prompted me to spend more time in prayer, focusing on God to giving me a direction for my life. I was determined not to waste any more time in my life.

And I promised Him that wherever I was posted, for the National Youth Service would be fine by me. When I finished school I was posted to Akwa-Ibom State in the Eastern Part of Nigeria. My uncle wanted me to rather serve in Lagos since it would afford me a much better opportunity to get a job after the Youth Service. He got my posting changed to Lagos.

However, to his chagrin I turned it down preferring to rather serve in the East. This was a decision that helped me to become more stable in my relationship with the Lord.

For the first time in my life, it dawned on me that I could trust the Lord for my future. Arriving at the orientation camp I quickly joined the Christian Corpers Fellowship.

We spent the whole service year organizing crusades all over the State almost every fortnight during the dry season. My involvement at this level got me more committed, as I gained valuable Christian Service experience especially in Soul Winning and Evangelism.

At the end of the Service year, the Lord handsomely rewarded me with a job opportunity, a day following our passing out parade. At my uncle’s prompting, I abandoned the opportunity and now focused on travelling to the USA for work and further studies.

However, after wasting a whole six months pursuing visa to the USA, I realized that that was not God’s plan for me. I then turned my attention to doing my professional accountancy examination.

I got a job while studying at the same time. My involvement in church activities was greatly minimized as I only devoted all my time to studying, and primarily due to my inability to properly prioritize my time.

While studying for my professional examinations, full attention was focused on qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, with little or no time for church on Sunday morning, as I always rushed out to school to study. I was not willing to accommodate any other thing into my work schedule.

Completing my board exam in May 1992, my attention again turned to my work. I had a big ambition professionally to become one of the fore most financial analysts in the country.

My job often took me outside of Lagos and the country and I really enjoyed the experience so much. At the same time, I was praying and seeking God’s help to find the right pursuit for myself.

All through I had an emptiness in me but I did not know how to fill it. At different occasions I engaged in several fasting and prayer sessions which often lasted many days at a time.

My progress career wise was very good as I was always getting promoted without any delay. However, whenever I had time, I used to join my friends from church to go on street evangelism around Fadeyi area in Lagos.

Although my first contact with Christ Embassy was in 1993, I was never available for any serious involvement in church activities. This continued until the later part of 1994 when I started to get more committed by at least not missing Sunday and midweek services.

I was always mindful of what I wanted to become professionally. Being involved heavily in church activities was not something I ever contemplated.

However, when I got involved in the Cell System as a member, my perception changed, yet I had no satisfaction in me. I was always thinking that I needed to do more professionally in order for me to attain to my desired peace of mind.

As I progressed in my career, I got an opportunity to relocate to South Africa – which I seized, and I was there fully focused on my career. I was literally married to my job! By the time Reverend Ken Oyakhilome came to South Africa to start Christ Embassy, I had already spent nearly three years there.

Reverend’s presence did not deter me from my continuing prioritization of my career above everything else. I was always focusing on my career, and extremely hesitant to get involved in church activities outside of Sunday service days.

However, Reverend Ken was very patient with me, always asserting that “Lawrence is a great man”. Reverend Ken’s presence helped me to recalibrate my priorities in life and in favour of my faith and spiritual growth.

The rest is now history! Can you believe it? I am a Past
or, working full time in Ministry. I am so grateful to God for His many kindnesses toward me.

I am also grateful to Pastor Chris for giving me the gospel as I have known it today. I am grateful to Reverend Ken for not only teaching me Ministry, he also taught me how to live in the gospel that Pastor Chris brought to me.

Every time I think about his impacts in my life I always remember the Apostle Paul’s place in the life of Timothy. Special thanks also go to Reverend Ray Okocha, for speaking to me in such a fatherly way when he first visited South Africa in December 1999.

I am grateful to Pastor Jide Femi and Dr Eden who were at different times my PCF presidents. Pastor Arinze Emmanuel was also kind to me. I am grateful to him too.

Wow! Pastor Lawrence Ajiboye had his birthday yesterday. Join us as we celebrate a man with a heart for God and his people. You can leave your birthday greetings and prayers in the comment section. God bless you!