FRANCESCA LODI CABRINI

On the March day in 1889 when the thirty-eight-year-old nun got off the boat on Ellis Island, she was thinking about the task ahead of her; helping to establish an orphanage, school and covenant in New York City. She wasn’t preoccupied with any of the problems from her past, though she has experienced plenty. Francesca Lodi Cabrini was born two months premature in the Lombard town of Saint Angelo, Italy, where she remained the sickliest child in her village as she grew up. At age six, she decided that she wanted to become a missionary to China. However, people mocked her dream. “All missionary order would never accept a girl who is ill most of the time,” her sister Rosa Scoffed.

At age twelve, she took a vow of chastity and when she reached the required minimum age of eighteen, she applied to join the Daughters of the Sacred Heart Convent. She was indeed rejected because she was too sickly. Rejection was not going to make Cabrini give up her dream of ministering in Asia. She began doing what she could in her own village to build her strength and price her worth. She taught neighborhood children. She cared for an older villager. And when a smallpox epidemic hit she nursed family and friends through it until she became sick. After she recovered, she reapplied to the convent. She was turn down again.

After six years, Cabrini finally gained admission into the order. She thought that milestone would put her one step closer to achieving her dream of serving in China but she was to experience many setbacks both her parents within a year. Then she was applied to other organization devoted to working in Asia, she was rejected. Soon, she was assigned to oversee a small orphanage, in Codogno, a town not more than fifty miles from her home. She spent six frustrating years there before the orphanage was close down. When she still dreamt of traveling to Asia, a superior told her that if she wanted to be part of a assistance of a half dozen from the orphanage, she founded the missionary sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880. During the next eight years, she built the order, establishing foundation of Milan, Rome and other Italian Cities. She tried to earn a place in Asia, but Pope Leo XII put an end to Cabrini’s dream of ministering Chaina. He told her “Not to the east, but to the west. You will find a vast field of labour in the United States”. She was to help run an orphanage, school and consent in New York City.

That’s how Sister Francesca Cabrini came to be on Ellis Island in March 1889. Her lifelong dream of serving in Asia lay in ruin behind her in Italy, the only home she’d ever known. But she didn’t look back. She was not someone to allow the past to hold her hostage. Over the next twenty-eight years, she dedicated herself to the task of ministering to people in the Americas. And she overcame plenty of obstacles to do it. When she arrived in New York, she was told that the plans for the orphanage, school and convent had fallen through, and that she returns to Italy. Instead she solved the problems they were having and established the facilities as planned. It didn’t matter what difficulties she faced, she continually overcame them. By the time she died in 1917 at the age of sixty seven, she had founded more than seventy hospitals, schools, and orphanage in the United States, Spain, France, England and South America.

…End Note

With determination resilience you too, can get whatever you want in life.

Charles J. Givens

While I was still a young man my father died. Even after his own business for 15 years, he died absolutely broke. There wasn’t even enough money to pay his own funeral expenses. I will never forget wondering how, in a great country like America; any one could work so hard an entire life time and end up with nothing. With half – formed tears promised myself that that would never happen to me. No matter how long or hard I had to search, how many books I had to read or how many people I had to ask, I was determined to find the answers. I wanted to be rich and nothing was able to stop me.

What I learned about money over the next fifteen years enabled me to build my personal and business fortune. The determination and single-mindedness paid off.. If you read the financial articles in U.S.A Today, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Success, Money, or Venture Magazine you know the story. I feel very fortunate to have been able share my strategies through the great talk show host like Oprah Winfrey, Byrant Gunbel, Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael and Geraldo Rivera.

I have found that there is no downside to having a lot of money. Money is freedom and freedom is the ability to do whatever you want when you want to do it.

The path I followed in building my wealth was certainly not the easiest. Every possible mistake was made for one reason­-no one was around to show me how.

At age 25, I was a millionaire for the first time through the creation of a Nashville music business conglomerate, Colony international. At 26, I was broke. No one had ever told me that I had enough of the right kind of insurance. My recording studio and office building burned to the ground and I never collected a dime.

During the next three years I moved from the button to the executive suites of Genesco, a major apparel conglomerate, by designing management computer systems in an era when computers were new and computer professionals almost nonexistent. The job gave me the leverage to use borrowed money to finance my way into almost a million dollars of stock market wealth. New companies, new issues, and new profits to borrow against. Then in 1968 the market turned. No one had ever told me that stocks can go down. Instead of continuing to follow my own instincts and common sense which had created the paper fortune, my emotions led me to vested, fast-talking, and stockbroker. “Here. You watch my money, “I said, almost relieved. He must still be watching it because I never saw another cent. I traded my Cadillac for a mortgaged Volkswagen, sold my house to pay off the margin calls, left corporate America and Nashville with a bankroll of $200 in my pocket.

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The Colonel Harlan Sanders” Story

You can’t discover and your talent and not arrive in the class of the rich. There is a story about a man that I admire so much. He discovered his talent, traded /It and it and became a multi-millionaire. His name is colonel Harlan Sanders, the owner of Kentucky fried chicken in the United States of America. His story goes thus:

His father had died when he was only five years old. He quit school when he was a young man of sixteen. By age seventeen he has already lost job. He got married at eighteen and before he was nineteen he became a father. When he was twenty he was twenty his wife left him and took their baby daughter with her.

Between the ages of eighteen and twenty _ two, he worked as a rail road conductor and failed, joined the army and crashed, farmed some land and couldn’t succeed at that, applied for law school and was rejected and became an Insurance salesman and failed again. This man couldn’t do anything’ the only thing he found that he could do well was COOKING. So he became a cook and dish washer in a small café. He had a lot of time to think while working long hours in that small hot café, he grieved for his and baby daughter. He begged his wife to return to but she refused. Oh, if he could get his little daughter back he loved and missed her so much.

He spent a lot of time formulating a plan to get his daughter back, meticulously mapping out everything in his mind, calculating every move. For a week, this young grief-stricken father laid ion the bushes outsides his wife’s small house watching his daughter play and planning his next move. He wouldn’t kidnap her! The day came for him to execute his fail safe-plan. He was nervous, excited frightened. Driven by love, he once again position himself in the bush watching for his daughter to come out and play that was the one day she didn’t come outside.

Eventually, he was able to confuse his wife to return home. Together they worked in the café cooking and washing dishes, until retired at age sixty-five. On his first day of retirement, he went to the post office. There, he found  letter from the United State government he open it and inside found his past social security cheque for $105.00 (pension) it seems as though the government was saying he couldn’t take care of himself any more; that all he could do was exists for the rest of his  demoralized and discourage. His wife had been one disappointed after another for sixty-five long years. So, he decided that if he couldn’t take care of himself his life doesn’t worth living. He would commit suicide taking a  piece of paper and a pencil he walked out behind his house and sat down under a spreading shade  tree, planning to write to his last will and testament. Instead, for the very first time in his life, he begins to write down what he will like to do with his remaining years. He discovered he wasn’t through yet! There was something he could do that no one else he knew could do as well. He knew how to cook! He spent is entire life behind a hot stove. Then and there he determined that it was the last thing he could do, he was going to be somebody worthwhile with the rest of his life. He got up from under the shade tree went to the bank in his home town, and borrowed $87 against his next social security

Inspiration of the Scriptures

There are various evidence that attest that fact that the Bible is inspired of God. Examination of its eternal (self evidence) and external claims leads sincere seeker to conclusion that the Bible has a divine origin. The internal evidence includes the testimony of Christ the lordship of Jesus Christ expressing the image of the invisible God, held the view that the Bible is the word of God. He had it in high esteem during His earthly ministry and used it as a weapon to defeat the enemy of our soul devil.

Out of 3, 779 verses of the four gospels, 1, 934 verses were spoken by Jesus and 180 verses were quotation from Old Testament. With this, He approved of Divine authorship of the Bible, furthermore the revelation from God – The expression like “thus saith, the Lord”, “The Lord said unto me”, “The word of the Lord”, etc are found over 3, 808 times in the Bible. This is self- testimony that the Bible is divinely inspired the Bible is God divinely inspired in every part and the result that follow as human reads and obeys the instruction of the scriptures leads to transforming experience, because the way the Bible teaches against sin is not known with any book on earth.

Its origin must be from above it has never has been added to or enlarge since the last book had been written, yet, it is complete and applicable to every generation the Bible was written in three language the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic yet with all exhibit wonderful unity. These, together with the fact that over 3, 000 of Bible prophecies have already been fulfilled all prove that the Bilbe has a divine source. A part from internal evidences, external evidences also prove that the Bible is the word of God.

One, its wonderful unity in the face of the diversity of the background and experience of its authors makes it a unique Book, no other book has been circulated, translated and printed like the Bible it is never outdated, its unique in its survival and preservation many kings, emperors, philosophers and scientist have fought against the Bible; some destroying as many copies as they felt were in existence but the Bible is still very much alive today.

History and archaeology also prove the inspiration of the Holy Scripture. The fact that most men of renown that have made impact in the world history have been people who had their faith in Christ and the Bible or had people who had great respect for the Bible. A British Prime Minister, W.E. Gladstone once remark: “I have known 95 of the world’s great men in my time and of these 87 were followers of the Bible”. Great men like Abraham Lincoln, John Bacon, and Isaac Newton believed to have professed belief in the word of God. Also men like Napoleon Bonaparte, Lord Tennyson, Francis Bacon, Mahatma Gandhi and George Washington for their statements, are know to have great respect for genuine faith in the Saviour

Rose Cook Small

A woman who knows the value of independent, courageous action

Born in 1912, grew up in a poor neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey. One of the six Children of poor immigrant parents, Rose peddled vegetables to help the family out. She had to leave school at an early age. At sixteen, Rose married Harry Cook, who operated a local market. Working in the market with her husband, she began to build a dream of owning a large meat-packing business.

Working long hours in the market until her hands raw and red and raising two children at the same time, Rose kept the dream alive.

Their business grew, and two years later they opened another market, this time with a packing house. But in 1973 a fire destroyed that market. So broke that she couldn’t afford eight cents for trolley fare, Rose walked fourteen miles to the store to clean up and see what could be salvage.

Finding the bank reluctant to lend the Cooks money to start over, Rose put up her wedding and engagement rings as collateral. Bluebird inc. was born in 1940 with money Rose had obtained from her rings. The bluebird they chose as their symbol means love, grace and happiness.

When Harry Cook died in 1950, Rose took over filling the roles of mother, father, breadwinner and advisor. She also carried on the business, directing its growth and expansion. Over the years Rose learned the business, from buying slaughtering and cutting meats. At the same time, she put one of her sons through medical school. The other joined her in the business.

…End Notes.

After years of bone-tiring work, this woman of independent spirit built Bluebird into a giant meat packer that produces 11 million pounds of meat weekly, with annual sales of over half a billion dollars.

Breakthrough in Business

Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both these things. What are important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. They are man’s greatest asset – ideas.

I find it difficult to refuse that statement. If capital is needed to support a business, a lending institution will provide that if you can demonstrate that your company is alert, energetic, creative and responsible. If you lack experience, there are management consulting organizations that can supply what you lack in experience, whether it be production, marketing, financing know-how, or whatever you need. But if you need ideas for a business, ideas for a product, ideas for something to sell, you have to provide them yourself if you expect to be successful.

One such idea came to George Ballas as he drove his car through a car wash. As he watched the strings of the brushes envelop and surround his car, his mind relaxed and turned to thoughts of home, of finishing the tedious chore of trimming and edging his lawn, down on his hands and knees. Then, bingo. An idea. “I’d been trying to think of some way to trim the grass around trees and patio stones on my lawn, and suddenly it came to me. I noticed how the strings in the car wash straighten out when revolving at high speed, yet were flexible enough to reach into every nook and cranny.” Thus was born the Weedeater!

Back home, Ballas punched holes in a pop-corn can and threaded holes with cord. Then he took the blade off his edger and bolted the can in place. Ballas remembers that his invention tore up the turf and made a loud noise, “but it did the job I wanted.” At first Ballas intended to use his trimmer himself, because he couldn’t afford yard help and “anyway, no one would take the job. My house is near a bayou, and who wants to get down on his hands and knees and trim a round rocks when a copperhead snake might be hiding there?”

A Man of Uncommon Passion: Pastor W.F Kumuyi

A Math Professor is called to Preach! William Folorunsho Kumuyi was born in 1941 into an Anglican home. It was a very strict Christian home, he told Isaacson, “We would get up in the morning, read the Bible, sing hymns, and go to church regularly. When I went to secondary school I lost interest in the church because our principal taught us atheism. But after a while I thought again and started going to various churches in town. Eventually, in 1963, a group of singers and preachers from a Gospel church got permission to come to the school. I understood the Gospel message, and was born again on April 5th, 1964. I read John Wesley, Charles Finney, Spurgeon, and lots of other books. I got involved with the Scripture Union, and I grew.” In 1973, while serving as Math Lecturer at The University of Lagos, W.F. Kumuyi started a Bible study group with 15 university students who had come to him requesting training in the Scriptures. By the early 1980’s that small group had grown to several thousand, at which time Deeper Life Bible Church was formally established.

“The history of Deeper Life is very much the personal story of W.F. Kumuyi. He is a gifted man, clear-thinking and humble. He is a dedicated Christian and deserves the title ‘the man of God,’ which his followers have given him. Since he was a young man, Kumuyi has devoted his time to reading and studying the Bible. He knows the Scriptures inside out, and has struggled to understand and apply them. As he shares that struggle and his love for the word of God, so people have been drawn to him for advice, or simply to listen. When he preaches, his message is clear, simple, and profound. Poor street traders who can barely read sit next to university professors, all equally captivated by the way Scripture becomes suddenly relevant to them.

Pastor Kumuyi‘s own Christian life developed because he took the Bible so seriously, and so the Deeper Christian Life Ministry has developed in the same way. In Alan Isaacson’s own words, he “preached Deeper Life into existence.” His sermons were captivating, wrote Isaacson, “I would classify him as one of the greatest living preachers, giving a straightforward Bible-based message, his sermons thorough, and always personally challenging. He always gave a wide range of cross-references which were read in their context, supporting, clarifying and expanding his main points. He spoke clearly and authoritatively to the Nigerian situation. He dealt sensitively with African culture, but also made a firm stand in highlighting the points where local culture was incompatible with the will of God. While stressing the high moral tone which is one of the virtues of most African cultures at their best, he was at pains to specify those aspects of local culture which were unchristian and even evil. In this way he was not only concerned with some kind of personal holiness, but also genuinely seeking the wholeness and harmony of the community at large, where truth, honesty, and justice should be the predominant characteristics.

A Man with a Great Heart for God! He is not tall, and does not have a larger-than-life character. He does not dominate, nor has he accrued power to himself. He walks slowly, is relaxed, and has a gentle sense of humour with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eyes. He dresses simply, eats simply… and… Could have assumed titles to himself. As the Deeper Christian Life Ministry developed – most people enjoy the trappings and regalia of status which followers gladly give. But he calls his followers brothers and sisters, and treats them as colleagues.

From Professor to Preacher! He gained a first-class degree in Mathematics at the University of Ibadan; then went back to Mayflower School to teach. After five years he went to the University of Lagos to do a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and became a lecturer there in 1973; and that was when he started a small Deeper Life Bible Study group.

In speaking to a group of Pastors under his leadership as General Superintendent, W. F. Kumuyi said: “Our emphasis should be on the practical side of going out. If the Lord comes, let him meet us working for him. Now every time I preach I try to mention evangelism. I have told all the Lagos District Coordinators and Zonal Leaders to spend half their time on evangelism and only half their time on their members. There will always be problems in the church: don’t let them take up all your time”.

Rose Cook Small

A woman who knows the value of independent, courageous action

Born in 1912, grew up in a poor neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey. One of the six Children of poor immigrant parents, Rose peddled vegetables to help the family out. She had to leave school at an early age. At sixteen, Rose married Harry Cook, who operated a local market. Working in the market with her husband, she began to build a dream of owning a large meat-packing business.

Working long hours in the market until her hands raw and red and raising two children at the same time, Rose kept the dream alive.

Their business grew, and two years later they opened another market, this time with a packing house. But in 1973 a fire destroyed that market. So broke that she couldn’t afford eight cents for trolley fare, Rose walked fourteen miles to the store to clean up and see what could be salvage.

Finding the bank reluctant to lend the Cooks money to start over, Rose put up her wedding and engagement rings as collateral. Bluebird inc. was born in 1940 with money Rose had obtained from her rings. The bluebird they chose as their symbol means love, grace and happiness.

When Harry Cook died in 1950, Rose took over filling the roles of mother, father, breadwinner and advisor. She also carried on the business, directing its growth and expansion. Over the years Rose learned the business, from buying slaughtering and cutting meats. At the same time, she put one of her sons through medical school. The other joined her in the business.

…End Notes.

After years of bone-tiring work, this woman of independent spirit built Bluebird into a giant meat packer that produces 11 million pounds of meat weekly, with annual sales of over half a billion dollars.

DON MOEN

“This time, I’ve followed my heart and not my head.”

It’s a simple statement that carries with it a powerful meaning in the life of worship artist Don Moen. One of the best-known and respected recording artists in the Christian music industry, Moen has earned a worldwide reputation for his work as a songwriter and worship leader who has helped shape today’s modern worship landscape. As a platinum-selling recording artist, he has recorded more than 17 albums which have sold more than 5 million units. But it’s his newest release, I Believe There Is More, which has become his most personal project to date.

I Believe There Is More is the next chapter, a new season that comes in the midst of what has been a three-decade-long career for this award-winning songwriter who has penned such worship classics as “God Will Make A Way,” “I Just Want To Be Where You Are” and “God Is Good All The Time.” Moen’s landmark recording Give Thanks which sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.

“I’m amazed that I’ve had the favor I’ve had, that I’ve done the things I’ve done,” Moen admits. “I am the most unlikely guy… I didn’t plan it or go after it. But I’ve realized over the last few years in particular that I needed to pay more attention to what God had originally called me to be…a worship leader and songwriter.”

The path to that realization has been filled with some pretty important steps along the way. Even in the midst of awards, accolades and success, it is most notably Moen’s visionary instincts and strengths as a mentor and leader that industry peers and fellow musicians have recognized most. His initial recordings with Integrity Music led to a 20-year relationship with the label, during which time he served in a variety of creative roles and was eventually named president of the label.

But, in late 2007, he decided to leave his position at the label. “I was compelled by the Holy Spirit to rethink my priorities… to pursue my own calling, my own ministry,” he explains. “I couldn’t go another month denying that. It had taken a back seat for far too long. It was no longer a career issue. I knew that if I didn’t pay attention to the stirring in my heart, I would be disobedient to God.”

It was a difficult decision for Moen to make at this particular time in his life. To pursue something completely new – leaving a secure position at a company when he had a family with five children to support (three in college) – went against all logical reasoning. But it was a heart decision.

“I didn’t know how to get in the boat and pursue the new thing God wanted me to do in my heart, while keeping one foot on the land,” Moen shares. “But I’ve felt confirmed. I know I did the right thing. Integrity was my family for 20 years. It was a season of my life that I was blessed to be a part of, but seasons change, and if we don’t change when the Holy Spirit wants us to change, we miss out on some of the best things ever. “This time I’ve followed my heart and not my head, and look at the doors that have opened,” he adds. “I would have never walked through them had I stayed comfortable where I was.” That’s why Moen felt compelled to call the new record I Believe There Is More. In many ways, it’s the perfect title for where his life is at the moment. “It gives me every reason to share with people who are more motivated by fear than faith. Fear says, ‘God is not going to use you anymore.’ Fear says, ‘You’re getting too old to have an impact. You’re not young and beautiful.’ Faith says, ‘I can do all things in Christ.’ Faith says, ‘Doors are going to open if I take that step.’ Fear sees the glass as half empty; faith sees it overflowing.” Moen stepped into the role of producer on his own album for the very first time, a task that reignited his passion for the creative process more than he’d expected it would. “I’ve really enjoyed being back in the studio as a producer listening to mixes. I’d really removed myself from the very thing that got me into music to begin with – the nitty gritty of working with songs, working with songwriters, getting the right band together, getting the right sounds… It’s just been such a pleasure.”

As part of that process, Moen has also written or co-written nine of the album’s 14 tracks, something he moved away from on previous projects. “This is the first time I’ve written in a long, long time,” he shares, “and I think I’ve written my best songs. Writing was always something I crammed into the middle of a busy schedule. But I’ve had time to live with these songs, and to be intentional about the writing process. I’ve not been this intentional about my writing in a long time. I really think it’s the most personal project I’ve ever done.” Moen planned the album much like he’d plan a worship service, taking great care to place the songs in a particular order. It’s why the album kicks off with the powerful worship chorus “The Greatness of You.” “I could see myself starting a concert with this song,” says Moen, who strategically thought about everything from key range, tempo and ending when considering how each track would transition into the next. He co-wrote four songs with Hillsong writer Mia Fieldes, including the energetic “Thank God I’m Free” and one of Moen’s favorites, “O God of Abraham.” “Mia is one of the most fun writers to work with,” Moen says. “We worked extremely well together.” It was during a writing session with Fieldes that Moen penned one of his most personal songs to date, “Grace Is Enough.” “I can boast to many works/Done out of insecurity/And credit many conversations/To my immaturity/And while I’m misunderstood/You are understanding me/And showing me how grace is enough.” Moen also co-wrote two songs with renowned songwriter Claire Cloninger including the album’s title track, “I Believe There Is More,” a fitting theme for the album and for a new season of life. “We resist new seasons out of insecurity and fear,”

Moen explains. “But we’ve got two choices: live our lives in fear, or live our lives in faith. When you understand that you are called to do a specific thing – when you get in that place – you can step fully into the role God has for you, and say ‘This is who I am.’ The more we have to lose, the harder it is to step out in faith.

…End Notes.

But I believe there is more – for the preacher who has had a moral failure, for the artist who thinks his career is on the way down, for the woman who is divorced and feels judged… there is more. “God is still in the business of changing lives, and he’ll work through you. When we make a mistake, like a GPS, God will ‘recalculate’ our route. He’s going to take us to the place he’s destined us to go. Our Plan B is not his Plan B. He’s still on Plan A. He’s going to get us there. That’s the message of hope, and the message of this record, too!”

Smith Wigglesworth: “Apostle of Faith”

Born in 1859 to a very poor family, His father did manual labor, for very little pay. Smith himself went to work at the age of six to help with the family income. At six he was pulling turnips and at seven he was working in a woolen mill twelve hours a day. His parents did not know God, but Smith hungered in his heart to know Him. Even as a youngster he would pray in the fields. His grandmother was the critical Christian in his life. She was a Weslyan Methodist and would take Smith to meetings with her. At one of these meetings there was a song being sung about Jesus as the lamb and Smith came into the realization of God’s love for him and his decision to believe Christ for his salvation was decided that day. He was immediately filled with the desire to evangelize and led his own mother to Christ.

Smith has various church experiences as he was growing up. He first went to an Episcopal church and then at thirteen a Weslyan Methodist church. When he was sixteen he became involved in the Salvation Army. He felt deeply called to fast and pray for lost souls. He saw many people come to Christ. At seventeen a mentor shared with him about water baptism and he decided to be baptized. The Salvation Army was experiencing a tremendous level of the power of God in those days. He describes meetings where “many would be prostrated under the power of the Spirit, sometimes for as long as twenty-four hours at a time.” They would pray and fast and cry out for the salvation of fifty or a hundred people for the week and they would see what they had prayed for. At eighteen Smith left the factory and became a plumber. He moved to Liverpool when he was twenty and continued to work during the day and minister during his free time. He felt called to minister to young people and brought them to meetings. These were destitute and ragged children, whom he would often feed and care for. Hundreds were saved. Smith was often asked to speak in Salvation meetings and he would break down and weep under the power of God. Many would come to repentance in those meetings through this untrained man. At twenty-three he returned back Bradford and continued his work with the Salvation Army.

In Bradford Smith met Mary Jane Featherstone, known as Polly, the daughter of a temperance lecturer. She left home and went to Bradford to take a servants job. One night she was drawn to a Salvation Army meeting. She listened to the woman evangelist, Gipsy Tillie Smith, and gave her heart to Christ. Smith was in that meeting and saw her heart for God. Polly became an enthusiastic Salvationsist and was granted a commission by General Booth. They developed a friendship, but Polly went to Scotland to help with a new Salvationsist work. She eventually moved back to Bradford and married Smith, who was very much in love with her.  The couple worked together to evangelize the lost. They opened a small church in a poor part of town. Polly would preach and Smith would make the altar calls. For a season, however, Smith became so busy with his plumbing work that his evangelistic fervor began to wane. Polly continued on, bringing Smith to conviction. One day while Smith was working in the town of Leeds he heard of a divine healing meeting. He shared with Polly about it. She needed healing and so they went to a meeting, and Polly was healed.

Smith struggled with the reality of healing, while being ill himself. He decided to give up the medicine that he was taking and trust God. He was healed. They had five children, a girl and four boys. One morning two of the boys were sick. The power of God came and they prayed for the boys and they were instantly healed. Smith struggled with the idea that God would use him to heal the sick in general. He would gather up a group of people and drive them to get prayer in Leeds. The leaders of the meeting were going to a convention and left Smith in charge. He was horrified. How could he lead a meeting about divine healing? He tried to pass it off to someone else but could not. Finally he led the meeting and several people were healed. That was it. From then on Smith began to pray for people for healing. Smith had another leap to make. He had heard about the Pentecostals who were being baptized in the Holy Spirit. He went to meetings and was so hungry for God he created a disturbance and church members asked him to stop. He went to prayer and prayed for four days. Finally he was getting ready to head home and the vicar’s wife prayed for him and he fell under the power of God and spoke in tongues. Everything changed after that. He would walk by people and they would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and be saved. He began to see miracles and healings and the glory of God would fall when he prayed and preached.

Smith had to respond to the many calls that came in and gave up his business for the ministry. Polly unexpectedly died in 1913, and this was a real blow to Smith. He prayed for her and commanded that death release her. She did arise but said “Smith – the Lord wants me.” His heartbroken response was “If the Lord wants you, I will not hold you”. She had been his light and joy for all the years of their marriage, and he grieved deeply over the loss. After his wife was buried he went to her grave, feeling like he wanted to die. When God told him to get up and go Smith told him only if you “give to me a double portion of the Spirit – my wife’s and my own – I would go and preach the Gospel. God was gracious to me and answered my request.” His daughter Alice and son-in-law James Salter began to travel with him to handle his affairs. Smith would pray and the blind would see, and the deaf were healed, people came out of wheelchairs, and cancers were destroyed. One remarkable story is when He prayed for a woman in a hospital. While he and a friend were praying she died. He took her out of the bed stood her against the wall and said “in the name of Jesus I rebuke this death”. Her whole body began to tremble. The he said “in the name of Jesus walk”, and she walked. Everywhere he would go he would teach and then show the power of God. He began to receive requests from all over the world. He taught in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and many other areas. When the crowds became very large he began a “wholesale healing”. He would have everyone who needed healing lay hands on themselves and then he would pray. Hundreds would be healed at one time.

…End Notes.

Over Smith’s ministry it was confirmed that 14 people were raised from the dead. Thousands were saved and healed and he impacted whole continents for Christ. Smith died on March 12, 1947 at the funeral of his dear friend Wilf Richardson. His ministry was based on four principles:” First, read the Word of God. Second, consume the Word of God until it consumes you. Third believe the Word of God. Fourth, act on the Word.

John Newton: 1725-1807

John Newton (1725-1807), divine and friend of the poet Cowper, born in London, [England] 24 July 1725 (Old Style), was son of a commander in the merchant service engaged in the Mediterranean trade. His mother, who gave him some religious training, died of consumption 11 July 1732. Thereupon his father married again, and the child was sent to school at Stratford, Essex, where he learned some Latin. When he was eleven (1736) he went to sea with his father, and made six voyages with him before 1742. In that year the elder Newton retired from the service, and subsequently becoming governor of York Fort, under the Hudson’s Bay Company, was drowned there in 1751. Meanwhile the son, after returning from a voyage to Venice about 1743, was impressed on board H.M.S. Harwich, and, although made a midshipman through his father’s influence, he soon deserted. When recaptured he was degraded to the rank of a common seaman (1745), and at his own request exchanged off Madeira into a slaver, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. He became subsequently servant to a slave-trader on one of the Plantane Islands, and suffered brutal persecution. By another master he was treated more humanely, and was given some share in the business. Early in 1748 he was rescued at a place called Kittam by the captain of a vessel whom his father had asked to look out for him.

During his wandering life he had lost all sense of religion, and afterwards accused himself of degrading debauchery. But the dangers of the homeward voyage, when Newton was set to steer the ship through a storm, suddenly awakened in him strong religious feeling. To the end of his days he kept the anniversary of his ‘conversion,’ 10 (21st, New Style) March 1748, as a day of humiliation and thanksgiving for his ‘great deliverance.’ On settling again in England, he was offered by a Liverpool friend of his father, Mr. Manesty, the command of one of his slave vessels. He preferred, however, to go as mate first (1748-9). On 12 February 1750 he was married at Chatham to Mary Catlett, the daughter of a distant relative, with whom he bad been in love since 1742, when he was only seventeen, and the girl no more than fourteen. Three voyages followed his marriage, but in 1754, owing to ill-health, he relinquished his connection with the sea. During his adventurous career as a sailor he succeeded in educating himself. Even while in Africa he had mastered the first six books of Euclid, drawing the figures on the sand. Subsequently he taught himself Latin, reading Virgil, Terence, Livy, and Erasmus, and learning Horace by heart. At the same time be studied the Bible with increasing devotion; and adopted, under the instruction of a friend at St. Kitts (Captain Clunie), Calvinistic views of theology. Although a captain of slave-ships, he repressed swearing and profligacy, and read the Liturgy twice on Sunday with the crew.

From 1755 to 1760 Newton held, on the recommendation of Manesty, the post of surveyor of the tides at Liverpool. Shortly after his settlement there, Whitefield, whom he had already met in London, arrived in Liverpool. Newton became his enthusiastic disciple, and gained the nickname of ‘young Whitefield.’ At a later period Wesley visited the town, and Newton laid the foundation of a lasting friendship with him; while he obtained introductions to Grimshaw at Haworth, Venn at Huddersfield, Berridge at Everton, and Romaine in London. Still eagerly pursuing his studies, he taught himself Greek, and gained some knowledge of Hebrew and Syriac. He soon resolved to undertake some ministerial work; but he was undecided whether to become an independent minister or a clergyman of the church of England. In December 1758 he applied for holy orders to the Archbishop of York, on a title in Yorkshire, but received through the archbishop’s secretary ‘the softest refusal imaginable.’ In 1760 he was for three months in charge of an independent congregation at Warwick. In 1763 he was brought by Dr. Haweis, rector of Aldwinkle, to the notice of Lord Dartmouth, the young evangelical nobleman; and on 29 April 1764 was ordained deacon, and on 17 June priest. His earliest charge was the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in Lord Dartmouth’s patronage. In the same year he published an account of his life at sea and of his religious experiences, called ‘The Authentic Narrative.’ It reached a second edition within the year, and still holds a high place in the history of the evangelical movement.

Olney was a small market town occupied in the manufacture of straw plait and pillow lace, with a large poor population. Moses Browne was the vicar, but had recently ceased to reside, on his appointment to the chaplaincy of Modern College, Black heath. Newton’s stipend, which was only 60£ a year, was soon supplemented by the munificence of John Thornton the evangelical merchant, to whom he had sent a copy of ‘The Authentic Narrative.’ Thornton allowed him 200£ a year, enjoining him to keep ‘open house’ for those worthy of entertainment;’ to ‘help the poor,’ and to draw on him for what he required further. Newton faithfully discharged the trust. The church became so crowded that a gallery was added. Prayer-meetings, at which his parishioners and his friends among the neighboring dissenting ministers took part with him in leading the prayers, were held in the large room at Lord Dartmouth’s old mansion, the Great House. Newton preached incessantly, not only in Olney, but in cottages and houses of friends far and near. In October 1767 the poet Cowper and Mrs. Unwin settled at Olney. Their house at Orchard Side was only separated from the vicarage by a paddock. Cowper at once identified himself with the religious life of the village. He joined Newton in all religious services, in his preaching tours and in his visits to the sick and dying. But in 1772-3 Cowper’s religious madness returned, and he made a renewed attempt at suicide.

Cowper’s mania ultimately took a Calvinistic tone; but it is more reasonable to attribute this fact to the fierce Calvinistic controversy which raged at the time in the religious world than to the influence of Newton, whose Calvinism was always moderate, and a latent rather than a conspicuous force. The extreme tension and emotional excitement of the life at Olney under Newton’s guidance must, however, have been very dangerous to Cowper. Still more dangerous was the spirit of desolation and seIf-accusation which pervades all Newton’s writings, and which is directly reflected in the hymns and letters written by Cowper while at Olney. Newton regarded spiritual conflict as the normal type of God’s dealing with the awakened soul (see OMICRON, Letters, letter xi), and hence was blind to the disastrous physical effects of Cowper’s delusion. He throughout treated him with exquisite tenderness. For thirteen months Cowper and Mrs. Unwin lived with him at the vicarage. To the end of his life he had the deepest affection for Cowper, and they never ceased to correspond together. Two temporary breaches in their friendship — on publication of the ‘Task’ and on Cowper’s removal to Weston — were due to Newton’s puritanical objections to every form of secular amusement and to any sort of toleration for Roman catholicism — sentiments which Cowper only imperfectly shared. His letters had always the affectionate aim of removing Cowper’s delusion as to the divine reprobation, but they generally deepened his gloom. When Newton came to London, Romaine was the only other evangelical incumbent there. His church accordingly was soon crowded by strangers, and to the end of his life his congregation was very large. The bulk of his preaching was extempore, and both Venn and Cecil testify to his scant preparation.

His utterance was not clear, and his gestures were uncouth. But his marked personality and history, his quaint illustrations, his intense conviction of sin, and his direct address to men’s perplexities, temptations, and troubles, sent his words home. His printed sermons have no literary value. In 1781 he published his most considerable work, ‘Cardiphonia,’ a selection from his religious correspondence. The easy and natural style of the book, the sincerity, fervour, and almost womanly tenderness of the writer, and the vivid presentation of evangelical truths, gave it an immediate popularity; and it opened to Newton his most distinctive office in the evangelical revival — that of a writer of spiritual letters. Numbers of these have been published since his death. He said that his letters would fill many folios, and that ‘it was the Lord’s will that he should do most by them.’ Among the persons whom at various times he aided by his personal counsel are Thomas Scott, the biblical commentator, whom he converted, after much debate, from socinianism; William Wilberforce at the crisis of his conversion (1785); Richard Cecil, his biographer; Claudius Buchanan, the eminent Indian chaplain, who was converted by a sermon at St. Mary Woolnoth; young Jay, the eloquent minister at Bath, who has left a graphic account of Newton’s breakfast parties; young Charles Simeon, whom he visited at Cambridge; and Hannah More, with whom he stayed at Cowslip Green. In 1786, the Handel celebration, which to his stern mind seemed a profanation of sacred things, drew from him a series of sermons on the texts in the oratorio of the ‘Messiah.’ In 1788 he aided Wilberforce by publishing his own experiences of the slave trade — a temperate, restrained, but, ghastly recital of facts. In 1789 he published ‘Apologia,’ a strenuous defence of his adhesion to the church of England, and all effective defence of establishment. It was called forth apparently by charges of inconsistency, grounded on his attendance at dissenting chapels, and on his contempt for all distinctive tenets outside the evangelical creed. On 15 December 1790 he suffered the loss of his wife, whom to the end he loved with what he feared was an idolatrous love. She died of cancer. He had been preparing for the blow for months in prayer, and he had strength to preach three times while she lay dead in the house, and then her funeral sermon. The anniversaries of her death were always seasons for him of solemn meditation, often marked also by very lame but touching memorial verses. Just as in the ‘Narrative’ he had expressed the depths of his unregenerate crimes, and in the ‘Cardiphonia’ his regenerate depravity, so now in his ‘Letters to a Wife’ (2 vols. 1793) he unfolded the innermost recesses of his life-long love. He had no dread of the world’s judgment which leads most men to shrink from uttering their darkest and holiest secrets.

Newton’s house was kept henceforward by his niece Eliza, daughter of George Catlett, whom he had adopted as an orphan in 1774. As his sight gradually failed he depended entirely on her devoted care of him. In 1802-3, however, she fell into a deep melancholy, which necessitated her removal to Bedlam. It is said that Newton, old and blind, daily stood under her window in the hospital, and asked his guide if she had waved her handkerchief. After her recovery she married an optician named Smith in 1805, but she remained with her husband under Newton’s roof. In 1792 he was presented with the degree of D.D. by the University of New Jersey. He continued to preach till the last year of his life, although he was too blind to see his text, and the failure of his faculties grew painful. In 1806, when Cecil entreated him to give up preaching, He replied, ‘I cannot stop. What! Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he call speak? ‘His last sermon, during which he had to be reminded of his subject, was for the sufferers from Trafalgar (1806). He died on 21 December 1807, and was buried by the side of his wife in St. Mary Woolnoth. The bodies of both were removed to Olney in 1893, when St. Mary’s Church was cleared of all human remains…

PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE

The General Overseer (G.O) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye is a man of God, who has been a tremendous blessing and inspiration to numerous people and drawn lost souls to salvation by the grace of God. Pastor E.A. Adeboye was born on 2nd March 1942 at Ifewara in the present day Osun State. His parents 9now of blessed memory) were indigenes of the town, which is about midway between Ilesha and Ondo towns. He had a strict Christian up bring which was engineered by a church going culture, which was the prevalent style of Christianity of those days. This church-going attitude gave him an appreciation of God, but made no extraordinary or outstanding Christian out of him. He under went primary and secondary education which were almost curtailed due to the problem of funds, barefooted and in tears. He recalls for the first seventeen years of my life, I never had to wear shoes. However, as God would have it, he survived against all odds to graduate from the University in 1967, at the age of 25. Between 1967 and 1975 he had added two more degrees, an M.Sc in hydrodynamics and a Ph.D in Applied Mathematics, and lectured at the University of Lagos and university of Ilorin. Before his lectureship at these Universities, the G.O had taught mathematics at two secondary schools viz: Okeigbo Grammar School, Okeigbo near Ondo and the Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School, Surulere Lagos. It would appear that his academic and professional career and achievement greatly prepared him for the office into which God was to call him later on.

His childhood Christian background had made him to appreciate God in the ordinary sense. However, it was not strict enough to preclude him from being an active young man engaging in all the perks to which a young lecturer and an educated man was entitled, even though he was married.

Married in 1968 to his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye, the young couple was faced with the problem of recurrent caesarian section by which the wife had delivered their first two babies. Medical science had diagnosed that in view of the formation of pelvic bones, having babies by natural means was impossible and such advised against having further children. A solution had to be found.

How his Christian background did not preclude him from trying out other areas outside of his Christian belief where solutions might be found. In any case, his Yoruba cultural background was not averse to syncretism. Olorun ko ko aajo his people are wont to say, that is God (or belief in Him) is not opposed to native remedies. The implication of which is that if prayers are not effective, the nature medicine-man is available.

As part of the solution-seeking odyssey, the young University teacher and his wife were invited to the Redeemed Christian Church of god by his uncle, Rev. Chris Fajemirokun. Though leaded by unlettered men, the visibility of the power of God was not lost on the young couple. The church was then headed by Pastor Josiah Oluwafemi Akindayomi, the General Superintendent (GS), a man who did not have any formal education and spoke no English but his native Yoruba language. However, compared to his own educated mind, this man and the other men of God in the church were infinitely superior to him the knowledge and ways of god, and especially in their examination and exposition of the Bible. The sermons of the GS and those of his lieutenants were quite incisive, thought-provoking and soul-stirring. Here were men who despite their educational handicap would not compromise God’s standard. It was also here that he learnt that his way of life would lead him directly and unwaveringly in only one direction HELL FIRE! He also learnt of the importance of looking up to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith and the need to cast all our cares upon Him. So, when on 29th of July 1973, the altar call was made in the church for those who wanted to surrender their lives to Jesus, forsake their sinful ways, and become born again, the young man, who was to become the General Overseer of the church rushed forward, and in a remorseful show of penitence, gave his life unto Jesus! Reflecting later on his conversion he said, something overwhelmed me that mighty: that I was close to hell and I didn’t know it. I suddenly realized that it is possible to have all the PhD’s in the world and still be on the losing side. I know all the formula but I did not know the one eternal life.

The appointment of Pastor E.A. Adeboye to the leadership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as the General Overseer had been revealed even before he became a member of the Church. The revelation had come to the General Superintendent of the Church in early70s that his successor would be a young educated man.

In those days it was very rare to see young educated men, especially University graduates in Pentecostal Churches, which were considered to be too fanatical for their own liberal consideration of life. Rather whenever they choose to attend churches, they settled for the more conventional ones which did not quite infringe on their freedom to continue to revel in the passions of the flesh. Thus when the young University lecturer became a member of the church in 1973, Pastor Akindayomi (the GS) was able to recognize his successor in the spirit, as the person the Lord had spoken to him about. His burning zeal for the Lord, his readiness to learn, even from people far intellectually inferior to him, his intensive study of the words of God as contained in the Bible further went to confirm the veracity of the revelation received by the General Superintendent. Coincidentally, about five years before he became the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Adeboye himself had some revelation concerning the appointment. After sharing it with his wife, they had been in complete consternation, and had fervently prayed and fasted for God to allow the cup pass over them. However, only the will of God would prevail. One year before the event, he had another divine revelation concerning the appointment.

Before passing on into glory, the General Superintendent had revealed to select groups of the Church’s Councils at different instances, the divine will of God regarding his successor. From human perception, it was hardly comprehensible that a young man aged thirty-something, who joined the church just yesterday will become the leader of the church, over quite elderly men in their late forties, fifties and sixties who had been in the church for between fifteen and twenty years before! He also revealed that those who might not wish to see the fulfillment of the wish of God will be removed by God himself without affecting the progress of the church. In any case, God has said that His ways are not our ways.

When the General Superintendent was therefore called by God to higher service on 2nd November, 1980, most members of the Church knew on whose shoulders the mantle of Elijah would fall, the question was, accepting the will of God.

The will of God eventually prevailed and on 21st of January 1981 (after only seven years of accepting Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, at the tender age of 38 was consecrated as the leader of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and chose the title, General overseer.

A POET WHO DIED BY HIS POEM

He is a man always left on his solitude

with his might set, like a sharp sword.

His hands always exhausting pens,
with papers filled to the brim.

His heart gush and groan wide

with his head affirming, from side to side.

His words forces of wide thought
scheming words of all sought.

His dreams scanned in booklet,

this man rain all in droplet.

He exposes the secret of nature
and give details of all creature.

He mimics the ways of the philosophers

but not of vivid terms, it differs.

He write of many immortal shadow
setting transparency of emmence sorrow.

His mind fight with his desire,

his heart embellishing what he has acquire.

When he turned activist of the state
his works even the little hate.

His words read the heart of many

causing his plight to be plenty.

He was killed because of his poem.

He is a poet who died by his poem.

Love is a strong desire for something

When we first find love it was hard

To let it slip away because we are in love

We want to take it to the house top

Because we’ve been love by someone

STORY OF APPRECIATION

ne young man academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview and made last decision. The director discovered from the C.V that the young the youth’s academic achievement were excellent all the way, from secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year passed when he did not score excellent grades.

The director asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” the youth answered “none”. The director asked, “Was it your father who paid for your school fees?” the youth answered, “My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, “Where did your mother work?” the youth answered, “My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect. The director asked, “Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” the youth said “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, “I have request when you go back home today, go and clean your mothers hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.” The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid. The youth clean his mother’s hand slowly. His tears fell as he did that it was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were clean with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay for the school fees. The bruises in the mother’s hand were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future. After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night mother and son talked for a very long time. Next morning the youth went to the director’s office. The director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes and asked: “can you tell me what you did and learned yesterday in your house? The youth answered, “I cleaned my mother’s hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes’ the Director asked, “please tell me your feelings,” the youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation, without my mother, there would not be the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationships.

The Man Who Burned Bridges

When Edwin C. Barnes climbed down form the fright train in Orange, N.J., more than fifty years ago, he may have resembled a tramp, but as his thought were those of a king!

As he made his way from the railroad tracks to Thomas A. Edison’s office, his mind was at work. He saw himself standing in Edison’s presence. He heard himself asking Mr. Edison for an opportunity to carry out the one consuming obsession of his life, a burning desire to become the business associate of the great inventor.

Barnes’ desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen pulsating desire, which transcended everything else. It was definite. A few years later Edwin C. Barnes again stood before Edison, in the same office where he first met the inventor. This time his desire had been translated into reality. He was in business with Edison. The dominating dream of his life had become a reality.

Barnes succeed because he chose a definite goal, placed all his energy, all his will power, all his effort, everything, back of that goal. Five years passed before the chance he had been seeking made its appearance. To everyone, except himself, he appeared only another cog in the Edison business wheel, but in his own mind, he was the partner of Edison every minute of the time, from the very day that he first went to work there.

It is remarkable illustration of power of a definite desire. Barnes won his goal, because he wanted to be a business associate of Mr. Edison more than he wanted anything else. He created a plan by which to attain that purpose. But he burned all bridges behind him. He stood by his desire until it became the dominating obsession of his life and finally, a fact.

When he went to Orange, he did not say to himself, “I will try to induce Edison to give me a job of some sort.” He said, “I will see Edison, and put him on notice that I have come to go into business with him.” He did not say, “I will keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case in fail to get what I want in the Edison organization.” He said, “There is but one thing in this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business association with Thomas A. Edison.  I will burn the bridge behind me, and stake my entire future on my ability  to get what I want.

He left himself no possible way of retreat.  He had to win or perish! That is all there is t o   the Bernies story of success!

Dreams with Deadlines are Opportunities Realized

Like many of his peers, Bernie married young. In 1940 at age 22, he was both newlywed and a new graduate from the University of Texas. During the war years, Bernie stayed at home to man the jewelry store because the injuries to his leg landed him 4F and kept him out of the service. In the jewelry business, Bernie got his first taste of being an entrepreneur. He opened his own store in Waco and put on a few auctions on his own while he was still working in the jewelry business, he began to sell life insurance on the side with his father. He soon found out that he was pretty good at it in 1950, Bernie, the son of a pushcart salesman, went to work full time selling life insurance for pioneer American Insurance Company. His primary audience at the time was union members no easy target in a right to work state.

Bernie’s life as a salesman and entrepreneur teaches an important lesson: success for him was anything but overnight. But even when he was struggling, he always had dreams of great success and a plan to get there through hard work.

In 1951, at age 33, Bernie and his wife’s uncle, Harold Goodman, decided they could improve on the insurance product Bernie’s was selling. The pair founded American Income Life Insurance Company with a $25,000 loan on his uncle’s credit. In the early days, Bernie says, he worked long hours and lived on as little as possible a meager $300 a month. The company bordered on insolvency on a day to day basis, but Bernie never quit. He had a nugget of an idea and an undeserved niche: union members. He tailored his product and his marketing to this unique audience, and he never stopped working the concept. He even insisted that every salesman in the company join a union. It was a great marketing gimmick, but typical of Bernie, it wasn’t a façade. He believed in the power of the people and the ability of unions to improve working conditions and treatment of American workers.

In the early days at American Income Life, Bernie started a practice of checking in on every salesman weekly phone to discuss what had been accomplished the week before and what was going to be accomplished in the week to come. Even today, at age 83, Bernie keeps up the practice. On Saturday mornings, the calls start at 6:45a.m. And last until around the noon. Bernie’s week calls helping salesman to set goals and stick to them are consistent with the philosophy he has always applied to himself.

“Dreams with deadlines are opportunities realized,” Bernie says.

This is vintage Bernie Rapoport. Without discipline and a program, dreams are just that. Bernie always made sure his dreams became opportunities by coming up with a plan, making sure it worked, and then getting it done.

The Moveable Entrepreneur

Petra Grosis, a tall, graceful young Austrian woman, describe herself as being a “people person.” Her self-made entrepreneurial career in marketing and advertising has led her from the country of her birth to London, Budapest, and Bucharest, in search of the challenge of surrounding herself with people with whom she could share her love of the business. By 1995, after building and selling her own advertising/communication firm in Budapest, Hungry, Petra started looking for other regional opportunities. She found one in Bucharest she met Kenny Blatt and Adrian Draghici.

The time between Petra’s first post-university job and owing and running three concurrent companies in Romania was remarkably brief. Despite the challenges of entrenched attitudes and bureaucracy, the 1990s has been a period of great opportunity in most of Central and Eastern Europe, simply because so much was needed in so many fields. As a junior account executive on the Chrysler-Jeep account in Vienna in 1992, Petra was assigned the task of developing the advertising campaign in Eastern Europe: the least desirable of locations when compared to London or Paris.

“I want to Prague, Warsaw, Budapest…not really knowing what I was doing,” Petra said, “it was great fun. It was a huge market and I was always very open-minded. It was great for me; I was traveling around, meeting new people, and seeing new places.” By age 24, Petra had been hired away from her first agency to be senior Account Executive with Saatchi and Saatchi in the Budapest office.

“I wasn’t worried by my age,” she said. “if you were a foreigner, you ere shown a lot of respect. I met a lot of other young people whom were put in very re4sponsible positions. Suddenly you are handling a large client just because you are a foreigner, not because you have great experience.” Leaving Saatchi and Saatchi, she started her own company in Budapest. Then she moved from hungry to Romania in search of even greater “undeveloped” areas of opportunity. Meeting Kenny Blatt facilitated the creation of a new advertising company with Kenny and Adiran as her partners. Petra has made a tangible difference to the many Romanians who work for her country.

“The Romanian people have a history of depending on strong leadership,” she said, “They have greater confidence in their ability to accomplish something if the leadership is there. I’m like the mother in the company. I bring the people close to me, teach them values and how to do business, and then gently push them away.”

Petra, like Kenny and other Western entrepreneur who find themselves becoming mentors, draw people in, help them learn what they to thrive and then give them wings to achieve on their own.

Too Old

Having return to the private sector, Dick was soon back into Democratic politics. He began to help a new young Democratic candidate for president, someone he had known for the preceding four years: Bill Clinton. When the Clinton campaign hit full steam, Dick was actively involved.

After Clinton won the election, the incoming National Security Adviser, Tony Lake, and his Deputy, Sandy Berger, recommended Dick for an under Secretary’s position in the State Department. But the final decision of appointment was to be made by the Secretary of State-designate, Warren Christopher. Dick was invited to meet Christopher. The meeting was pleasant, but before long Christopher finally came out and told Dick, “The time has come to turn the leadership of the country over to a new generation.” It was Christopher’s way of telling Dick that he was too old.

Shortly after the inauguration of President Clinton, Tony Lake asked Dick Schifter to come to see him that the President wanted to appoint him Ambassador to Germany. To Lake’s surprise, Dick turned him down. He explained that Lilo had stayed at home for years to raise their five children, had then gone to law school, and now had a career of her own, serving as a member of the Maryland Public Service Commission. He didn’t want to ask her to resign, nor did he want them to live on different continents. He said would prefer to serve on the staff of the National Security Council. Again, time would show this to be one door closing for Dick with a new and better door opening, as Dick was ultimately given the opportunity to serve on the Security Council.

Entrepreneurs come in all ages. At age 68, dick Schifter was told he was too old. But at age 76, Dick was still as energetic and committed as he was in his youth. Part of his job involved frequent travel to Central and Eastern Europe, with Vienna being one of the usual stops. He often starts his day at 6 a.m. to make a breakfast meeting in downtown Vienna. That would be followed by his typical, intense 15-hour day working for the taxpayers. Dick is one of the healthiest, most productive, and energetic workers I’ve seen at any age.

A number of month after his encounter with Warren Christopher, Dick accompanied the then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, on a visit to Europe. At one point, they attended a luncheon at the Dutch Foreign Ministry. Not realizing that meal being served had some lobster in it, to which Dick is extremely allergic, he began to feel terrible. But the last thing he wanted to do was get up from the table and leave the meeting early. If word got back to Warren Christopher, he thought, that would be proof to Christopher that he was right, that Dick was too old. Through sheer willpower he hung through the entire: “Dick, what was the matter? In the middle of the lunch you turned green.” Entrepreneurs can be stubborn and tough.

Trevor Cornwell and “Entrepreneurial Idealism”

When he was 24, American Trevor Cornwell developed a concept he called “Entrepreneurial Idealism” the idea was to use the tools, notions and fundamentals of business and apply them to non-profits,” Trevor said.

He put his brand of entrepreneurial idealism to work in Central and Eastern Europe in 1990 with the National Service League (NSL). At the time of the notion that the world is we knew it was going to change fundamentally, at least in terms of the way we relate between nations,” Trevor said. “I was very interested in the idea of making sure when this change took place that our country, which sets the tone for so many, did things differently than we had in the recent past. The idea was to set up NSL as an organization that would use business as a lending library and then have the young people carry the books out to the indigenous community. I wanted to use skills and tools of business to make things work more efficiently.

Trevor was convinced that a vibrant free market, free press and focus on a healthy environment were pillars that would link countries together around the world. “The idea was to bring young people who might typically go into business, and let them first spend a year of their lives making a difference. In some ways, NSL was very successful,” Trevor said. One group helped develop a revolving loan fund in the inner city in New York, and then went to Hungary to help develop a credit union.”

The experience of the inner city brought about New York proved strikingly useful to working in Budapest. By 1993, Trevor was living in Budapest and running NSL. Over time, though, he became disillusioned. “In a lot of ways, being an entrepreneur in a pure-profit is the toughest thing that you can do,” Trevor said “There is not a capitalistic interest for somebody to stay involved. Sustaining the interest of employees is difficult.”

National service League was active for six years, having been intended as a vehicle to help transition countries through the difficult first years after Communism. When I asked Trevor about closing it down, he said that the region had changed so much that the marginal benefit that a non-profit could provide was just not cost-efficient. Some NSL projects did make it. One of them was an English language radio program in Budapest based on U.S National Public Radio (NPR) format. The NSL radio project was very successful and became the doorway for Trevor’s move into the private sector.

Trevor started an English language radio program in Budapest that was distributed throughout the region. After a year and a half, he sold it to a small investment bank. The last phase of the radio program he worked on involved an internet distribution system. This led Trevor into a new exciting world.

An Unusual Tribute for an Unusual Man

The year 2000 year represent a real milestone for Rabbi Schneier: He celebrated his 70^th birthday. This is certainly a time for celebration for anyone, but Schneier’s case, the birthday was a very special one indeed.

More than 750 people gathered together in early June at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to honor a man who had touched their lives and made a difference literally millions of people all over the world. A commemorative album was created to include the hundreds of birthday committee. The co-chairs were Vice President Gore and Rabbi Israel Meir Lav, the chief rabbi of Israel, along with list luminaries including New York Mayor Guiliani, Henry Kissinger, Representative Tom Lantos, Ambassador Ron Lauder, Senator Moynihan, and Elie Wiesel. More than 100 others helped to plan the events honoring the rabbi that day.

Although I had come to know a lot about the rabbi following our dinner in Vienna during negotiations over the Kosovo crisis, holding his commemorative album in my hands and pursing the many tributes that were bound inside made me realize that I was in the presence of an amazing and influential man. Throughout his long life, he has been a leader, showing others the way to freedom, building strong link between leaders of the world’s religions, and building an enduring home for Park East Synagogue. Throughout the Cold War and through the first difficult post-Communist decade, he has, through the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, been a flame of hope in the search for religious, political and economic harmony.

One quote in particular struck me as I looked at the album. In 1965, as he was beginning his life long mission to the Park East congregation, he said, “Anything worthwhile in life is not easy attainable.” I couldn’t agree more. Rabbi Schaneier exhibits many of the traits that I consider a must for successful entrepreneurs. Pursuing his visions of what he wanted to achieve for the Park East Synagogue led to a wonderful school for children that continues its mission toady. A one day protest against the persecution of Soviet Jews turned into The Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which has provided a forum for religious leaders all over the world to speak out in a unified voice against violence.

Rabbi Schneier’s acute sense of opportunity enabled him to grow from the leader of a New York City synagogue to an entrepreneurial leader of an organization recognized worldwide for building bridges to peace.

Reflection on How We Live

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As graduation approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. With the young man’s name embossed in gold.

Angry, he rose his voice to his father and said “with all your money you give me a Bible?” and storm out of the house. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but he realize his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he receives a telegram telling him that his father had passed away, and willed all his possession to his son. He needs to come home and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw this still new Bible, just as he left it years ago. With tears, he carefully underlined a verse, Matthew 7:11, “and if ye, being evil, know how to give good gift to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask him?”

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL. Selah. How many times do we miss God’s blessing because they are not packaged as we expected?

Footprint

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking

Along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes

From his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints

In the sands; one belonged to him, and the other to the lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked

Back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times

Along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.

He noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest

times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it

“LORD you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk

with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most

troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would

leave me.

The LORD replied, “My precious child, I love you and would

Never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when

You see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

The Men Who Shape Nigeria

“Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression…the word ‘Nigeria’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not.” Awo.  A political icon two decade after his death Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo remains a larger than life phenomenon, as he was a political enigma during his lifetime.

There was no alternative to self rule the British style of direct rule was in his own assessment was evil and anti-African in his path to Nigeria’s freedom his first book which he wrote in 1985 in that book he unleash a several blow on the British policies of indirect administration and called for rapid moves towards self government and Africanisation of administrative post in Nigeria, he also advocate for federalism as a system of government best suitable for a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic landscape like Nigeria another significant land mark was the establishment of the Action Group in 1950 which made him to participate in the Western Regional elections of 1951. Today Awolowo’s legcey remain a reference point in all spheres former head of State Ibrahim Babangida summed it up in his words: “Awolowo is the main issue in Nigerian politics, you are either for or against him,” though dead, his values remain relevant and the element of him in almost every present day politician in western Nigeria.

“I have one advice to give to our politicians. If they have decided to destroy our national unity, then they should summon a round-table conference to decide how our national assets should be divided before they seal their doom by satisfying their lust for office.” As a young man studying in the United States, Nnamdi Azikiwe was an ardent student to Greek Philosophy. He also devoured writing from notable author as Marcus Garvey, and William Du Bois some of the books that define his ideology were Du Bios’ The Soul of Black Folk and possibility of The Negro and The Advance and Guard of Race these books shape his consent about political leadership and ignited the passion for change.

A Nationalist when eventually he took off as a journalist his articles fostered nationalism and challenges for improved country. He was the founding editor of The West African Pilot, Accra and later founded the Zik group of Newspaper, which later form the pillar for modern day journalism. Sadly, most of the ideas he fought for are far from reality as a huge percent of the leadership struggle to fit into his shoes of selfless leadership, vision and transparency.

He is a scion of the legendary Jihadist and reformer, Uthman Dan Fodio in his bid to become the Sultan of Sokoto, the dogged Bello, like his grandfather, would later become a legendary political icon and a father of the northern Nigeria. After his return from England to Nigeria where he had successfully earn a degree in Local Government administration he was nominated to represent his province in the house of assembly he is referred to as Ahmadu Bello A Unifying Force.

Here are the catelogue of men who shape Nigeria;

Chinua Achebe, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Hubert Ogunde, F.R.A Williams, Fela Anikulapo Kuti These are men who have leave their footprint on the sands of time so you leave yours on the sands of time.

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.

TIME HAS MADE A CHANGE

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Soccer’s superstar players never materialized here at the World Cup. The game’s best – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, etc. – often failed to lift their play and, in turn, their teams, to a level this grand stage demands.

The conventional wisdom on why: They were too selfish, unable to adapt to the team concept of a national squad.

Then there’s Diego Maradona’s take: Unlike the past, the stars weren’t selfish enough.

“Today the players are more collective, more team players,” the Argentina coach said after his own star-studded team was bounced from the World Cup. “They want to do everything with their teammates. It is a different type of game right now.”

This goes against so much of what we’ve come to believe, and expect, in sports. The reason that Uruguay and the Netherlands square off here Tuesday in a semifinal is because they embraced selfless, team-oriented play.

Such a mentality is celebrated.

What Maradona is suggesting is that this line of thinking has become so widespread it’s actually killed the star player, who no longer acts like a star player. Rather than demanding his place in the natural pecking order of pure talent and past performance, they sink back into the pack.

Such thinking would carry little weight except it is Maradona who said it. Who could know more about what’s needed for a talented player to morph into a larger-than-life superstar and dominate the World Cup? No one owned this event the way Maradona did in 1986 when he led Argentina to the title.

His implication is that the star needs to act like the star. That he is better than his teammates is a given. Rather than apologize for it, he must remind them of it, make them respect it. He must lead not by being one of the guys but by being above the guys. It’s the cult of personality, if you will.

“I think we were more selfish,” Maradona said, which has to be the first time an old player said that about a bygone era. “Maybe before it was about being selfish players who [made the] rest of the team work for us.”

Today’s players receive remarkable hype – television commercials, video games and media attention. They are single-name personalities around the globe.

Yet you’d never hear one say that the rest of the team works for them. They’d be vilified. Instead today’s stars go out of their way to support their teammates and talk publicly about how no one player is more important than the other.

Only some players are more important, Maradona notes.

Consider the most competitive environments on earth – the military battlefield, the flight deck of a commercial airliner or a hospital operating table.

This is where failure is not an option. In those cultures, the delineation between the star (the general, the lead pilot) and the others (private, flight attendant) is clear. Often socialization between classes is prohibited – enlisted men do not dine with officers – and the word of the higher-ranked person must be respected.

When having open-heart surgery, no patient would care if the lead surgeon is friends with or helps empower the nurse. In fact, the idea that the nurse would fear disappointing the lead surgeon and would clearly defer to him at all times might be considered a positive. You’d want the most brilliant talent to be the leader.

In Maradona’s day, he says, that carried over to a soccer team. He was Diego Maradona and they were not.

“Time changes in life,” Maradona said.

In this time, the star player must be humble and supportive. And not just on the field, but in all parts of team life. Obviously all players know they need others to make them better in the game. Someone has to pass them the ball. Or receive a pass. But off the field, is one for all, all for one really the best concept?

It’s difficult to say. Maradona only knows the mentality that made him lead a country to World Cup glory. It certainly isn’t the only way.

Perhaps it is one of them, though. And with most of the world’s top individual players home watching the semifinals, with criticism of their selfish play ringing through their heads, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe they weren’t selfish enough.

Maybe Maradona’s correct. Maybe the soccer world has gone soft.

Mary Kay Ash: The Woman Who Burn the bridge behind her.

MY STORY:WRITTEN

This is the story

It all begins with the passion bore out of love

And grave for written with so much to give

A burning desire to showcase the world at large

The power of the pen so burning within wants to be hard

Cos am voice in this world I deserve to be hard

Am a sun that will sat and shine one day up there

Like a diamond in the sky.

Thou the road will never be easy

Discouragement will come form friends and family

Love ones my soul mate the one I cherish most

But I will never give up my dreams

Of been the outstanding writer of my time

With God by my side all things are possible.

It all started some years ago while I was in JSS3

From exercise book into a n hard cover note book

From there to go in online in the year 2009 Feb. 13^th

Today my works that was regarded as trash now

Commends commitment from all people

All over the various works of life.

In spite of the ups and down

Here I am today the dream has come true

Thanks be to God for is unfailing presence

Ever abiding presence that has never left me

To my own self thank you Lord.

Friends says that am just wasting time

Some say you have enough money to throw away

Some say you posted trash

Hmmm! Through many dangers

Toils and snares have already come

It’s grace that brought me thus far

And watch out for the best writer of the decade

Welcome to my story