How I, Summervile, Became a Minister of Jesus Christ
Background
I was born in a traditionally African polygamous family of twenty children. I was the first child of my mother who was traditionally married and had five other children for my father. She had no formal education. During her youthful days, girl children were not educated by their parents since they felt it was a waste of time and resources, and they would one day become the wives of someone else.
For my father, of course unlike my mother, he received quality education from some of the best Christian boarding schools founded by the Baptist denomination. In adulthood, he played around the church, and held so many very important positions, but sadly his choice of lifestyle was too far away from the church. It was entirely dominated by polygamy. In the early part of the 1980s, my parents’ marriage ended in a divorce since my mother could not allowed him to bring in another woman as wife.
Life before meeting Jesus Christ
When this situation was going on, I was around the age of 14 or above. The absence of my mother in the home eventually led me to leave and joined street life. I followed bad friends to do some bad things like drugs, alcohol and wild party. In all of this, inside I did not like what I was doing, but I had to just in order to be accepted by my peers. This went on for couple of years, and life was daily becoming emptier for me. In all of this, I was sponsoring myself in grade school through finding manual work to do no week end days. Don’t ask me about my parents. They were out of my mind completely.
When Jesus found me!
On one summer day, during one of those moments of looking for an odd job to do to help myself, I came across Jesus through people who transformed my life. At the close of 1984, I was cutting grass in a yard with a lane mower when not so far from me I started to hear some beautiful songs from a street Gospel band. This band was made of fine young Christian men and women. The songs I heard coming from these young people were deeply soul touching. Upon hearing them, I immediately left what I was doing to go and find out for myself what was going on. They were coming from an organization called, Youth For Christ. They looked indeed happy as the expressions on their faces dictated. I was astounded at what I saw. I stood watching and listening to them sing. After some singing, an elderly American missionary woman came up and preached a very simple Gospel message on the love of God. She closed with, “Jesus loves you just as you are.” When she was finished, an invitation was extended to all those who wanted to receive Christ as Savior, and Oh, how I rushed forward to give my life to Christ. Inside my heart, I felt like this was my moment and sincerely speaking it was. I went forward and gave my heart to Jesus as Savior and lord of my life.
Later, I was encouraged to attend the Youth For Christ’s weekly programs (Bible study, Coffee House, youth Rally …etc). Within two weeks, I joined the Outreach team in other for me to learn how to share my newly found faith in Christ. It was also at this stage, that I commenced reaching out with the Gospel to friends that I did drugs with and my father too. Many came to the place where they invited Jesus into their lives. As I began to mature in Christ, some responsibilities were given me, one was to head the Open Air Evangelistic team, and the next was the Prayer team. After my graduation from high school, I was greatly blessed by the Lord with a scholarship to study at the African Bible College. Which at the time was an answer to prayer for me, since I honesty needed to prepare myself for full time ministry.
My call to Christian ministry
When I relocated to attend the African Bible College, I also thought about selecting a Bible teaching church to fellowship with while in school. Later, my home pastor sent a letter to my newly chosen church pastor telling him about how I needed spiritual guidance. This new church was a Baptist church, and I was from a Baptist church. So, this new pastor took interest to nurture and disciple me. While there in that church, my pastor had me become a part of the church planting team. During and after my graduation from the African Bible College, I was chosen through his inspiration to become pastor for the Star Baptist Church.
Later, when the Liberia civil war erupted, I vacated this part of the country and moved to Monrovia, where I served as a pastor for a short time at the International Church of Monrovia (SIM related). At that time employed by SIM – Radio ELWA to work in the Correspondence Department, and to also serve as registrar for their Pastors’ training school. While at ELWA, I felt the Lord leading me and my wife into church planting. So we resigned and went into church planting with the founder of the Calvary Chapel Movement. Today, I work with Choice for Life, and the African Bible College University. It is my honest desire to produce God fearing leaders that will lead the future generation of my country, and to see this happen, my wife and I are having a full time job with the above Christian University just in order to make use of what God provides through our salaries to keep sponsoring young men and women to Bible school, and the Ministry of planting churches where there are no church through Choice for Life Ministry.
Testimony of how I, Wrepoandeh, became a minister of the Gospel.
I was born unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Tukpah in the year 1968, who were separated from their marriage union because of lack of understanding. We were three children born unto this union. My older sister, me and our little brother who was the last. We did not see our mother as we were growing up because of the separation. After few years of staying alone with our dad, on one occasion, our mother came to visit us and was introduced to us as our mother. We were extremely excited and thought she has come to stay but to our surprised she left. Our Dad now brought in another woman to replace our mother. She was very good at taking care of us.
Than in the year 1975, our dad moved to one of the counties called Grand Bassa because of his new found job as a heath practitioner. This job brought us good prestige and money. We also attended Church regularly without knowing the meaning of going to Church. My Dad began to add up more women as his wives. Out of our frustrations, we became defiance and rebellious. So to correct these attitudes, he decided to send us to a boarding school in 19 80; not knowing that this was the worse place when it comes to morality. I started hearing about and seeing boy/girl friend relationships. So by the age of 14, in the year 1982, I decided to try mine which led me into premarital sex and teen age pregnancy. I dropped out of the boarding school leaving my parents with heart aches and weeping, especially my Dad. The county where we moved was where our mother was also residing but in a different community. In 19 82, I give birth to a girl child November 1 of that year, while attending the night school of that community. The following year, 1983, I was enrolled in the government morning school where I actually began to hear and understand what it meant to become a Christian and to have a personal relationship with Jesus. There was a small Christian fellowship group on this campus that my new female friend invited me to attend. After months of visitation and faithfully teaching God’s truth, by one of the students who was so remarkable in his faith, and also my friend who invited me, I began to realize that I have sinned and needed to be like a child of God who should follow His ways, growing to please God by reading the Bible and applying its truths to my life. I asked the Lord to forgive me, my Dad and mom including everyone I came in contact with to forgive me for being rebellious, and for bringing a child into this world without wedlock. So I also followed my friend at her Church and began growing in my new faith that I so enjoyed in 1984-85 then.
After my high school in 1985, my Dad told me that he was going to give me another chance by sponsoring me to the nursing school because that was what I wanted to do as a career, while my grandmother takes care of my child. I was the happiest on earth and grateful to God for affording me this opportunity again. I enrolled in this noble institution and was also blessed to come across another Christian group that still helped me grow in my faith. We went on camps and retreats. Marriage now was discussed among us and who to choose as husband or wife during some of our retreats. I now began to regret and to learn to accept the Lord’s forgivingness, praying now for the Lord’s best for my life. Graduated from the nursing school in 1988 and was now dating my husband who was also in this very school we are presently teaching. He graduated as well, but we got married in 1996 after eight years of separation because of the civil war in our country. We are blessed with a girl making it two. My husband took us to the mission field where we stayed for 13 years working with ex-rebel soldiers. Leading them to Christ and also assisting the senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel church, our ministry. After long years of service, we began trusting the Lord for going back to school in order to be more trained for the spiritual challenges we were facing in our country (Liberia). The door was opened in 2008 and went to attend the JOS Plateau State Nigeria, ECWA Theological seminary. Graduated with a BA degree in Mission and Evangelism while my husband with two Masters in New Testament and M.Div. We were called to teach at the African Bible College University (ABCU) presently. With this still in minds, and the challenges facing our contemporary world, last year, we also graduated from the Andersonville Theological seminary, with a Master in Ministry, Christian education and my husband, doctorate in Theological study. an online program. My first daughter Odell is married with 4 children, she and her husband are in ministry also, the last daughter, call Corrie is out of collage and trusting God for plans. Mean while, we are also doing village ministry. The Lord has led us to some villages, part of the county where we are teaching, Nimba County, Liberia, to reach the lost. These people worshiped idols, are known for pagan practices. Some have come to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and also reaching out to their own people. Four Churches have been planted in four villages we also do mobile clinic, free of charge but due to the prevailing financial needs, this aspect has stopped.
Quite recently, we were blessed to join the Ministers Commission Network and were certificated. Our prayer is to keep praying for us as we trust God for financial assistance to get into agriculture, medicines to meet health needs and allowances to also give others who go with us to reach out. Many thanks to GOD for his unfailing love and forgiveness and His tremendous blessing He has bestowed upon me. I am teaching missions and evangelism right now at the ABCU, working as the college nurse and dean of women.
Gbelehyee Life Community Church
Karnlah Life Community Church
Ceiling just completed
Kinnon Life Community Church almost completed
