‘Embrace 10’ Kicks off in Grand Style
LIVING:
Mary Ekah
As ‘Embrace’ a yearly initiative of the Embrace International Assembly, Ikorodu, Lagos, enters its 10th season this year, the ministry is not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring that this year’s edition is significantly impacting. Embrace is one of the church’s Easter programmes, which amongst other things aims to impact positively on the physical and spiritual lives of the les-privileged and elderly in the society. It is a programme that is held on Good Friday of every year and this year’s edition is the 10th.
This year’s edition was however kicked off last Sunday in grand style with members observing Palm Sunday, often referred to as ‘Passion Sunday,’ which marks the beginning of Holy Week preceding Easter Sunday. The day is in commemoration of Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. So members of the Embrace International Assembly who were in a high spiritual mood observed the day with shouts of Hosanna reigned ceaselessly among the congregation.
Speaking on the theme: ‘The Goodness of God’, the officiating minister, Pastor (Mrs.) Tokunbo Adio, admonished the mammoth crowd that filled the large auditorium and by extension Christians to emulate the character of Jesus Christ who is rich in mercy and always doing good. The cleric who noted that many had taken the love of God for granted, said the essence of Christianity is love, which Christ demonstrated. She called on Nigerians irrespective of their creed to love one another; adding that the country would be a better place if all and sundry eschew evil and do the right thing.
Embrace 10, which official holds today, Friday April 14 at the Ikorodu Town Hall, the Chairman of the Embrace Concert Season 10, Samuel Turoti has described as a landmark concert in the sense that the church is marking the 10th edition of the event. According to him, the purpose is to bring the youth together so that they would know Christ as their Saviour. “10 signifies double grace, so we are celebrating double grace. The main mission of the Embrace initiative is purely for winning souls. You would agree with me that the life that our youths are living today is not the same as we lived in our own days. Consequently, one of the aims of the Embrace initiative is to bring the youths closer to Christ the more because the earlier you move closer to Christ, the better your life,” Turoti noted.
As part of activities to mark Embrace 10, there would be a medical outreach in the morning before the event at Ikorodu Town Hall, where free medical treatment, free drugs and 300 eyeglasses would be given to the public.
Speaking further he said, “Our salvation is free hence our attempt to emulate the gesture bestowed on us by our Lord Jesus Christ to administer free medicals to as many that would come to the event and arrangement has also been made to feed about 20,000 people for five consecutive Sundays at the Embrace International Assembly premises after the Embrace concert. So beginning from April 15, we are going to have a free feeding for our new converts for five consecutive Sundays. This is in line with the teaching of the Lord Jesus who after preaching to the congregation of about 5,000 people did not allow them to go away but he asked them to wait and be fed and then five loaves of bread and two fishes were used to feed them all,” he noted.
He explained further, “Our objective of feeding the new converts is to ensure that they are not just fed spiritually but also physically so that they can put their souls and body together to serve God.”
Turoti who said the programme will also afford them the opportunity to pray for the nation, revealed that the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode will grace the occasion as well as the lawmakers representing Ikorodu and Oba of Ikorodu, among others. Chief Ebenezer Obey, who has been part of the programme since inception will be heralding an array of gospel artistes, would be performing during the programme. They include Tope Alabi; CobhamAsuquo; Tim Godfrey; Bois Olorun; Bayo Adesuyi; Damola Adesina; Ksticks; Spirit and Life Choir; Battle Axe; Tolu Sax, among others who have been invited to perform at the event. The programme will be streamed live on Dove TV and other social media platforms to enable people all over the world to also be part of the programme.
