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CHINEDU EZEKWESILI AT 70
Olusegun Adeniyi pays tribute to the founding Pastor of The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP), Abuja of the Redeemed Christian Church of God
Pastor Chinedu Theodore Ezekwesili is 70 today. Heartfelt tributes abound ahead of Friday’s ’70 minutes of extravagant praise’ at Glory Tabernacle Parish and Saturday’s thanksgiving service at The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP) of the Redeemed Christians Church of God (RCCG) in Abuja for the celebrations. I have been privileged to read them due to the assignment handed me by my brother, Frank Nweke Junior, who chairs the birthday committee. The common theme of these tributes, which I can also attest to, is that the Pastor Chinedu behind the pulpit is the same man you encounter in everyday life: humble, compassionate, selfless and generous. Pastor Chinedu is an authentic man of God who practices what he preaches and is there for everyone, even at the expense of his own convenience. So, it is little wonder that he has built a vast network of meaningful relationships that far exceed even his own imagination.
Pastor Chinedu’s 70th birthday also coincides with the 30th anniversary of RCCG in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Considering the role he has played, especially in the past 24 years, this seems fortuitous. Having relocated to Abuja in October 2000, Pastor Chinedu has often told the story of how TEAP started with ‘two-and-a-half families’ in their living room. He and his wife, Oby Ezekwesili (who had been assigned back home from the Harvard University Centre for International Development before taking full appointment with President Olusegun Obasanjo) being the first family. The second family was that of Pastor Ugo Ikpeazu (currently, founder and Lead Pastor of The Triumphant Church International Abuja). The remaining ‘half’ in the story is Dr Ngozi Azodoh who retired recently as a director in the Federal Ministry of Health and had relocated to Abuja with the children, at the turn of the millennium. Incidentally, the ‘other half’, Evaristus Azodoh, a consultant urologist who was then a serving officer in the Nigerian Army resident in Lagos, is now the Pastor at TEAP!
That Pastor Chinedu would take the parish name from Deuteronomy 33: 27: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” is also instructive. As he once explained in a chat for a TEAP publication I coordinated, the Vision of God for the parish was simple: It is, “to empower us to work with God as He builds us up to become a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-national community Church with a focus on loving the Lord Jesus and loving one another.” To fulfill that mandate, “TEAP has strived through its focus on people as individual and part of groups; to ensure that each individual was grounded in the word of God, live a life of holiness with an eye to eternal life while maximising their God given talent in their vocation.”
Twenty four years later, what began as a mustard seed of ‘two and half families’ has blossomed into ‘RCCG TEAP Zone’, comprising dozens of parishes with a strong family of people spread across several countries of the world yet glued together because we all are carried in His Everlasting Arms, thanks to the visionary leadership of Pastor Chinedu. On a personal note, given how nature has been kind to him, as I wrote when he was 60 a decade ago, most people would probably believe Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili is in his forties. A decade later, nothing seems to have changed. And one can also look at that in many ways. It doesn’t matter where you come from or your social status, Pastor Chinedu will treat you the same way. Because for him, the clerical work is a calling and those of us close enough to the family know the sacrifices he has had to make over the years for that choice.
As he marks his 70th birthday, Pastor Chinedu should be fulfilled that he has a large following of people who believe not only in the Gospel he preaches but also in his person. Thanks to Pastor Chinedu, ‘the unusual people’ not only know their God, but when the chips are down, they are also infused with the attributes of ‘David’s Mighty Men’ on matters concerning their beloved ‘Oluso Aguntan’. And that will be demonstrated this weekend. “When a congregation has found a shared vision through the leadership of a pastor/leader whom they trust,” according to an article in ‘The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership’ of Andrews University, a private Seventh-day Adventist institution in Michigan, United States, founded in 1874, “they will make tremendous personal sacrifices to support him/her in making the vision a reality.” Meanwhile, I know Pastor Chinedu enough to understand that all the fuss being made about his 70th birthday could embarrass, even annoy, him. But he has no say in this matter: Many of us have resolved to celebrate him this weekend whether he likes it or not!
Without doubt, Pastor Chinedu Theodore Ezekwesili is a wonderful man who many of us have been blessed to be associated with. I can only wish him happy birthday, long life, and good health.
Adeniyi is Chairman, THISDAY Editorial Board
