Written by F. Shelton Gonkerwon cell: 0886526186 email: sgonkerwon.inprofile@gmail.com
Thursday, 21 June 2012 01:02
I was among nine other personalities selected by the Pastoral Board of the Word of Faith Ministries (King’s Chapel), Thinker’s Village ELWA, as Special Fathers of The Year 2012. I could not realize the awaiting grace upon receipt of the invitation from the church. The content of the invitation said my selection, like many others, was based on services I have rendered the Church and humanity as a whole. I received the invitation while sitting by fire side in back porch of my house where I usually sit, meditate and plan for the day’s hustle.
I first I thought of rejecting the invitation because in my own judgment and assessment, I haven’t done just what the church said. Beside driving the pen and writing on issues of societal concerns in my journalistic career, my financial capacity from time to time have not enabled me to contribute to any institution financially meaningfully although I am often obsessed with the wish to do so.
Journalists often sit at the back bench in society since they are not empowered even though they render sacrificial services all of the times. Like the greater society which often bends low under the weight of poverty, the journalists live in the same bed with poverty most of them living in the pockets of corrupt government officials.
And so my mind remained whirling and facing dilemma even up to the eve of the program. However, I was finally convinced to appear and be honored in line with what the church said I possessed.
I enveloped my widow’s might cleaving unto the conviction that my selection may not have been on the basis of financial strength. The pastor who had advanced my name for such honor happens to be not just my neighbor, but someone with whom I share opinions and discussions almost on a daily basis.
Hence, I felt he might have recommended me for the honor based on what I represent naturally in terms of my thoughts and philosophy in life including being an advocate of social justice, writing against ills in society; sharing love with others; being simple by nature; and above all my ability to withstand whatever conditions.
I strongly believed my selection was based on that and not on financial strength. My wife equally shared this belief and encouraged me to appear for the honor. My wife, myself and my widow’s might soon entered the church and placed strategically at the front where the Special Fathers would sit. The religious DJ and the praise singers began vibrating the air as a means of steering the souls. My colleagues (Special Fathers) have taken their respective seats. My conviction began to grow based on the selection by the church because none of my fellow honorees was in the class of the aristocrats. The aristocrats are the privileged ones in society based on nepotism, tribalism, favoritism and above all the act of corruption.
Hence, they appear like mountains in the eyes of many people in the society. They are often invited and honored not because in real sense they are honorable, but because of the lose cash they possess through insincere means. The poor and deprived people too have developed the strategy of inviting these so-called aristocrats, presenting them fake honors, making them Mothers and Fathers of the years as a means of getting their projects going. This was not the case with the Word Of Faith International Ministries (King’s Chapel).
Then came the Special Father’s Day Message from a young preacher, Alex Nyenapo who described Special Fathers as Angels. He said fathers are people imbued with the Holy Spirit, led by wisdom and bringing enlightenment and a sense of direction to others. He said a father should have independent mind in making judgment and setting agenda for the family and the society. He said fathers should be creative in doing something that would bring honor and glory to the families and the society as a whole.
The message was like an effective healing tablet. Then came the real honoring and certification segment. Lighted candles were presented to us respectively. The prayers that followed were graceful and truly sincere. The burning candles represented the renewed light in our individual homes in terms of prosperity, blessings, and long life. I appreciated this segment so much because I could feel new life entering in me hoping that God Himself will let the prayers and wish of the church come to pass.
It is also my hope that God would work on the minds of policy makers of the society to be patriotic and nationalistic in running the affairs of the nation. If the church and other institutions are to grow and develop as vital cream of national social and economic lives, the society must develop a realistic agenda whereby the generality of the citizenry would be empowered. When citizens are duly empowered they stand in the better position to contribute meaningfully to the work of God.
