As Sow Wheat International Ministry Celebrates 10 years of One of its Arms, Preserving Our Heritage, in Ibadan
On Saturday, September 10, 2022, Sow Wheat International Ministry, an Ibadan based missionary outreach celebrated the 10th anniversary of one of its arms, Preserving Our Heritage (POH). The celebration was held in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. PTL News had a chat with the Visioner and the set woman, Pastor (Mrs). Kikelomo Tinuade Adekola (Nee Bamgboye). She spoke extensively on the grand vision of Sow Wheat International Ministry, its different arms and what the Lord has been doing through them all these years.
Congratulations on the celebration of the 10th anniversary of your ministry, tell us how it all started ma.
We are a total missionary ministry. We were called The Soul-Winners’ Team when we started, but at the point of registration we had to change the original name, because there are so many soul winners across the world. So we adopted Sow Wheat International Ministry when we were about to be registered.
Sow Wheat International Ministry started in 1985. It was incorporated in 2014 when we changed the name. In 2011 we agreed together to bring our children members together so that we could advise them with fundamental Biblical Truths as laid down by our fathers in the faith. We don’t want such heresies to grow with our children in the church. What we are celebrating its ten years is what we called Preserving Our Heritage. It is one of the arms of Sow Wheat International Ministry activities. In 2012 God gave me Passion For Soul Winning and the Motto Rescuing The Perishing, Shaping Lives and Sharpening Visions. We believe in full time missions and not for short time.
Later God gave me another vision for women when we started going to the rural areas, we discovered women needed training. In 2012 we had two other women, we were praying for churches and ministries. In 2012 I discussed with the Board of Trustees to extend it to the children and bring in the women from various denominations. It is a non-denominational ministry from all churches.
Our Vice Chairman is a minister in the Baptist Church, the General Secretary is from the Methodist Church, Treasurer is from Assemblies of God Church. We are interdenominational. From 2012, we called it Christian Women Commission. We have travelled to rural areas meeting women and Preserving Our Heritage organises this every year. It is the anniversary celebration of Preserving Our Heritage.
What is Preserving Our Heritage all about?
We had a vision to gather our children together so that they would not fall into wrong hands and heresies. It is aimed at teaching the whole truth with no adulteration. It is the Preserving Our Heritage that is clocking 10 years. It is an arm of Sow Wheat and Christian Women Commission.
Our focus is on parents, children and youths. We gather parents, youths, teenagers, and feel parents must be involved. What we see in the villages are alarming. We see that children are grossly endangered in the society today, and the blame can be traced to their parents. Where you see an elderly man molesting an innocent girl, who do you blame? It is even worse in the villages than in the cities. You would be surprised to see many of them in the village engage in hard drugs. So the villages need missionaries’ attention as in the cities.
We need to educate the parents and the children that are youths. What we do is to have them in a camp meeting from Thursday to Saturday to thrash many things with practical discussions. For this year it will be a one day affair so that people will come to celebrate with us, and in consideration of the state of security in the country.
So far how will you like to talk about the measure of success recorded?
We cannot measure all these physically, people do give testimonies of what the mission work has done in their lives. There are testimonies of how people were before they started attending our programmes and the changes the parents can see in the children. We tell them to be friendly with their children. We can also testify that families without altars then began to raise family altars. We can see the positive impacts in people’s lives.
Most of the children that were coming then were not serious with their education. We decided to hold our programmes in higher institutions, in the University of Ibadan and the Ibadan Polytechnic so that our children would be challenged academically, most of them today are graduates, some in Nigeria and others overseas. One travelled outside about three weeks ago. God has used us to start schools where you see 15, 18, years old not going to school. God has been helping us.
How about your needs?
Of course, we need help, especially financial. Some of the students in secondary school attend free of charge. We have seen occasions where people bring their children to Preserving Our Heritage, and that is our joy.
Where will you like to see the work in the next ten years?
By the next ten years God will help us to touch more lives. Some parents’ lives have even changed, to their spouses, wayward and unfaithful wives and husbands have changed positively. God has been faithful to the children and we promise job for them after their degree. It has been paying off.
What about your challenges?
Our major challenge is about finance as earlier mentioned. We have been running Preserving Our Heritage by contributions from members, and there are some of us who pay more than the required levies to assist the organisation. Most of our venues are used for free. Only one or two places demanded for money, and God has been very faithful. We look up to God to provide.
What about the membership strength of Preserving Our Heritage?
It’s not all that big. We thank God for both the financial and non-financial members that pray and give moral supports we are about 50 now.
Do you get supports from Churches and larger ministries? How do you raise funds to meet your programmes and mission works?
We have not been going cap in hand begging. God has a covenant for us to look up to Him rather than looking up to man begging. Anybody that wants to donate can do that through our website.
Tell us more about your works and activities in the field.
The new Committee of Preserving Our Heritage has to be organised more in the rural areas, among children and their parents. We want to have more mission fields. We have worked with the Tivs, the Yorubas in the interior, we have started among the Ibariba, the Fulanis and Tankita in the Republic of Benin. We are involved because they cross to Nigerian borders to the Togolese in their territory. God has helped us to have them as members in Nigeria and they are functioning well.
We started as freelance, we didn’t plant churches, we donate the converts to the churches we thought could adequately groom them. But in 2015 God gave me a clear revelation of what Christ said we should do in Mark 16, 15-20, Matthew 28, 17-20. Jesus is expecting us to teach people to make disciples among nations. It is like training them. Three months is not enough like he taught the disciples, so Jesus told us to organise and teach disciples. That was when we began with raising Churches.
We are still new in Church planting. When we go to Missions, we don’t call it as a Church we call it a Family of God Assembly, like we have the Grace Spring Family. God will help us with it, like a fellowship. We are praying that God should help us with more schools and clinics with portable drinking water. We are trying to provide them well in one of the villages by the border. When digging they got to a rocky level, they are still expecting us to give them boreholes.
In the field we train our members how to do first aid treatment among the villagers. We have a medical mission team. We go out together. We want to have more fellowship centres.
How about your other programmes and activities?
Under Sow Wheat Missions International we have Christian Women Commission, with Rural Integrity Conferences and Gospel Women Conference. On Thursday we hold our media Prayer Meeting from 9 to 10 pm, we have regular programmes like Sunday Services, Bible Studies and Prayer meetings. We are planning to have 3rd Friday to bring them to vigils.
Do you have mission schools?
We have just one operating. We have another base in Pora. We have students who have passed primary school to secondary school. We need those who can help us in the rural areas. It is like we beg the children to go to schools. The parents allow the children to go to school from Monday to Thursday, and they say they would need them on Friday for their farm works.
For instance, the problem with the Fulani converts is lack of education and we are trying to educate them. One or two times God has saved us from the bandits. They once came for my husband but God did not give him to them. They challenge us for teaching their children. We thank God for all we have been able to do. Preserving Our Heritage’s annual programme comes up every first or second week of September.
Where do you have your Mission Fields?
We have one at Alaadorun Aje in Ola Oluwa Local Government Area of Osun State, in Aganran in Iwo area of Osun State, Apata Modingbin, Oyo area from Iwo end, Baruten Local Government, Kperakpera, Udura Baruten Local Government of Kwara State between Nigeria and Benin Republic, Ajuba, God is helping us to restart all over there, we initially gave out the converts to a particular denomination and it was not well managed.
Tell us how you have been doing it.
Daddy, I mean my husband and myself are involved in the field. I am a full time minister. Daddy was working. We need to be wise. I worked with a mission as a Pastor for 20 years. I wanted to stay there but God said we should start So Wheat. It started with youth. I was attending Bethel Christ Gospel Church and my colleagues in the University of Ibadan and the Polytechnic later joined and we were going out with intercessory prayers.
By the time I graduated and got married I continued to work with the denomination. Because of the passion and the burden God gave to me is about mission, I answered the call into full time ministry. The church released me in 2017.
How about you and the ministry?
I am Pastor (Mrs). Kikelomo Tinuade Adekola (Nee Bamgboye), married to Pastor Ezekiel Olusoji Adekola, a Pastor and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, he retired into the ministry. I have Masters in Social Works of the University of Ibadan. Sow Wheat has a Board of Trustees. I am the Chairperson, the Vice Chairman is Rev. Adegboyega Abifarin of the Baptist Church, the General Secretary is Sister Ladun Olaniran from the Methodist Church, Treasurer is Sister Morenike Omoju from the Assemblies of God Church, and Mr. Patrick Umezurike of Covenant Church. We have two advisers in persons of Pastor Paul Kayode Esan from The Redeemed Christian Church of God, and my dear husband Pastor Ezekiel Olu Adekola.
How about your operational base?
Our operational base is not all that stable for now because we go into the mission fields. Our missionaries out there need our presence and we have to be with them. Before the end of the year we will have a base in Ibadan. Presently we are at Fakayode Village on the way to Akanran in Ona Ara Local Government. For contact we still maintain 11, Babatunde Oyerinde Street, Off WAEC, Ijokodo, Ibadan near Celestial Church of Christ. We can be in Abuja, Ibadan or Iwo. Account details. Website www.sowwheat.org, E mail- sowwheat@outlook.com, Phone number +234 803 311370, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: Sowwheat Account details: First Bank Plc 3119999935. SOW WHEAT INTERNATIONALMINISTRY.
Thanks for reading this. Please like it, comment and share this story. Also follow Julius Adegunna, and PTL News on our Social Media handles or call 234-8033260387, 8120969883. If you have been blessed by our website, you are free to bless us in return. Reach out to the Publisher for donations and supports. God bless you.
Leave a Reply