Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002406B
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00:08 Welcome back to San Francisco.
00:10 And behind me, you can see the very impressive City Hall. 00:14 Well, next up, we hear the amazing story 00:16 of Elder David Babcock, Pioneer Missionary to Nigeria. 00:21 My guest today is Dr. Onaolapo Ajibade 00:24 from the West Central Africa division. 00:26 Dr. Onaolapo Ajibade is one of the regional editors 00:29 for the encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, 00:31 overseen by the office 00:33 of archive statistics and research, 00:35 this new reference work 00:36 will feature thousands of entries 00:38 from around the world on a variety of topics, 00:41 including articles on mission work. 00:43 Dr. Ajibade, Thank you so much 00:45 for joining us on Mission 360 TV today. 00:47 Thank you for having me. 00:49 Now, you'll be sharing some stories 00:51 on a few missionaries who served in your division. 00:54 Could you tell us a story about these missionaries 00:57 who served in your division? 00:58 I'll have to tell you the story 00:59 of how the message came to Nigeria. 01:02 Great. 01:03 The first missionary to come to Nigeria 01:07 was David Cladwell Babcock. 01:11 He came there in 1914 with his wife and children, 01:15 and he settled in a town called Erumu. 01:19 Erumu is about 16 miles 01:23 from the capital of present... 01:27 Now in those days, 01:28 the various denominations shared the territories. 01:32 So when he came, in fact, when Babcock came, 01:36 the first missionary for any Christian group 01:40 had come 50 years earlier. 01:42 So relatively we were late, 01:44 so he couldn't get any of the cities. 01:47 So he had to go 01:48 to a fairly remote place called Erumu. 01:51 That was where he settled in 1914. 01:54 And within one year, 01:55 he was able to make seven converts. 01:58 And then from there, 01:59 he went further north to another place called Shao, 02:03 there he established a school 02:05 and train the first batch of workers, 02:08 gospel workers, indigenous workers. 02:11 So he established church there too. 02:13 While he was there, 02:15 he was invited to yet another town, 02:18 about 78 miles to the second city 02:22 that he went down there. 02:24 They had heard about the Sabbath, 02:25 he went and preached 02:27 and there he had 78 people 02:29 joining the church at the same time. 02:31 Wow, that's amazing. 02:33 So between 1914 and 1915, 02:38 he was able to establish three churches. 02:40 One in Erumu, the second in Shao, 02:43 the third in Iputi. 02:46 So that was what happened. 02:47 So within this time, he was able to establish. 02:49 Now he had a school also and trained local workers, 02:54 which was very, very good. 02:55 Right. So that was what he did. 02:57 And now and that is western part of Nigeria. 03:00 Western part of Nigeria. 03:01 Now we believe that today we have a university 03:05 named after him, Babcock University... 03:07 Right. 03:09 With a student population of 10,000, 03:11 one of the largest Adventist universities 03:13 in the whole world. 03:14 That's incredible. 03:15 So what I thank the Lord for the work that Babcock did. 03:18 Now Nigeria is a very big place. 03:21 One missionary is not enough to cover the entire country. 03:24 Therefore, that was for the West. 03:26 Now another missionary went to the eastern part of Nigeria. 03:29 His name was Jessie Clifford. 03:32 He went 1923 03:34 and he had established the church there. 03:36 And the church has also grown 03:38 to become a union conference. 03:39 If be about 158,000 members right now. 03:43 Praise God. 03:44 The university is birthed there too 03:46 called Clifford University. 03:48 Also named after him. 03:49 Also named after the missionary. 03:50 The third part of Nigeria 03:52 is the northern part of Nigeria. 03:55 Again, another missionary went there. 03:58 His name was J.J. Hyde. 04:00 His wife was a nurse. 04:04 And incidentally, 04:05 the medical ministry was the best tool 04:08 to win the people. 04:10 Now because his wife was a nurse, 04:12 he began to treat patients within one year, 04:17 that is 1932, he was able to treat 04:21 nearly 9,000 patients. 04:22 Wow. 04:24 And through the medical missionaries, 04:25 we were able to win souls. 04:27 Again, Northern Nigeria is not a union conference. 04:31 So in Nigeria, we have three union conferences, 04:34 one in the west, one in the east, 04:36 and one in the North. 04:37 I want to thank God for these three missionaries 04:39 who came in spite of all the odds, 04:42 established the church 04:43 and the Lord has used them wonderfully. 04:44 Right. Right. Exactly. 04:46 And that's incredible to hear 04:47 of how these missionaries were able to reach 04:51 really the whole country 04:52 or at least try to reach the whole country, 04:54 and that their impact is felt even now, 04:56 as you mentioned, with the two universities there 04:59 and just the Union Mission that has been established 05:02 with hundreds of thousands of members, that's incredible. 05:04 Now did they face any challenges 05:07 while they were there? 05:08 Oh, Babcock faced health challenge, 05:12 in fact, he had to go back in 1917, 05:17 he had to go back 05:18 because he had a disease called sleeping sickness. 05:23 So he had to rush back. 05:25 And when he was going back, 05:27 it was during the First World War. 05:30 His ship was torpedoed, but God saved him miraculously. 05:34 Praise God. So that was what happened. 05:35 And the rest didn't have that problem. 05:38 But they went at the right... 05:41 They were not attacked by... 05:43 They were able to withhold all the hazards, 05:46 but Babcock could not stay long because of disease. 05:49 Right. 05:51 Well, thank God that 05:52 they were able to still minister 05:54 and serve despite any challenges 05:55 that they might have faced. 05:56 They did. They did. And the work is still going on. 05:58 Right, exactly. 06:00 It was a mustard seed, now it's a big, big structure. 06:03 Right. And it's still growing. 06:05 We what want to thank the Lord for them. 06:06 Definitely. Definitely. 06:07 Their spirit is very, very inspiring. 06:12 The kind of spirit they had is very, very inspiring. 06:15 And we wish we could have as many missionaries. 06:18 Of course, we have become missionaries ourselves. 06:20 Right, exactly. 06:22 Was there on any part of these missionary stories 06:25 that you've particularly found inspiring for yourself? 06:28 Oh, yes. 06:30 All of them, the sacrifices they made, 06:32 can you imagine going to a place, 06:34 I mean, you don't eat your food, 06:36 you don't know the weather, 06:38 you don't even know how they will receive you, 06:39 but because God said go, you went. 06:41 That is most inspiring. 06:43 And right now, 06:45 there are still many unentered places 06:46 in the world. 06:48 And we need the spirit, the heart, 06:49 if the work is going to be finished. 06:51 Right. 06:52 So the spirited heart to go to an unknown place 06:55 because God said they should go 06:57 as Abrahamic faiths, which inspires me a lot. 07:01 Definitely. 07:02 And we should all have that faith 07:04 if the work should be finished. 07:05 Right, and it's hearing these stories of mission work 07:08 that happens throughout the world in the past that 07:11 inspires me and others to want to finish 07:14 that work too and continue that legacy... 07:16 Exactly, exactly. Of missionaries from our past. 07:18 Thank you so much, Dr. Ajibade, 07:20 for sharing these stories with us today. 07:22 Thank you very much. 07:24 Reporting for Mission 360. My name is Chelsea Tyler. 07:28 Next up, we traveled to New Zealand 07:29 and meet a woman who was searching for answers 07:32 and found them. 07:35 In 2011, I lost my partner. 07:39 And then 2014, I lost my father. 07:46 I started becoming more curious about 07:53 where God was in my life. 07:58 My name is Adelaide, and this is my story. 08:02 Started flicking through all the channels 08:05 on the TV and Hope, I would flick it on. 08:10 And I had all these questions and just, 08:13 wow, I was amazed because questions 08:16 I had in my mind were being answered more or less 08:20 when I switched the channel on, and that was the amazing thing. 08:24 And I've got to a point 08:26 where I would tell my daughters, 08:29 "Hey, remember that question I just asked about God, 08:33 guess what? 08:36 It's just been answered. 08:37 You have to come in and see, 08:39 you have to come in and listen." 08:41 It just became the only thing that 08:44 we would be watching on TV. 08:47 I had questions about where my father 08:50 and my partner really were. 08:54 So I went pretty deep and quiet on that one. 08:58 And then I thought, "Ah, tune on the channel 09:01 and see they had an answer." 09:05 Once I had found the connection with the Seventh-day Adventist, 09:10 I said to my girls, 09:12 "Well, I'm sure there's the church 09:15 down the road. 09:16 Let's go and have a look." 09:18 So from then on as I stalked, 09:24 I call it stalking, 09:27 I staked the church for three months, 09:29 while I was having Sabbath at home 09:32 with the channel, with Hope channel. 09:35 Once we came and we all got shy, 09:40 we went down, we came down, 09:42 drove around and then went around 09:47 the block again. 09:49 Third time we came, 09:51 we were all dressed and prepared. 09:54 We took a deep breath outside the door 09:56 and we just said we're gonna do this. 09:59 All right, let's do this. 10:02 And then we walked through the door 10:04 and we came in and sat down 10:08 and it just felt like home. 10:12 What I have learned 10:13 since coming into the Seventh-day Adventist 10:19 about death is that they are asleep 10:25 and it feels I'm really peaceful 10:28 with finally knowing the truth. 10:30 Quite interesting to know what she'd learned 10:33 through Hope channel, 10:34 not only about the Sabbath 10:36 but also about what happens when someone dies 10:38 and that Jesus is coming again. 10:41 I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 10:47 I was happy that 10:50 I'd finally got a diagnosis, 10:53 didn't really understand the diagnosis. 10:56 So when I got off the phone, 11:00 I got down on my knees straight away. 11:03 I just said, "Okay, Lord, 11:06 thank you, thank you for that. 11:10 And I know that I asked you to help me lose some weight, 11:16 but I didn't think it was going to be like this. 11:21 But that's okay, it is what it is. 11:26 Now I'm going to do this with you. 11:30 And we're going to do this journey together." 11:42 Our mother showed us the path to follow, 11:44 and we will try to remain on that path 11:49 so that we can meet her again. 12:05 I would love my children to know that 12:08 God is real and that He loves us. 12:21 Well, thanks so much for joining us today 12:23 on Mission 360. 12:25 I hope that you're inspired 12:26 and challenged by the stories that we saw and heard. 12:29 The story of Adelaide touched through the ministry 12:32 of the Hope Channel. 12:34 And the story of David Babcock, 12:36 what an amazing venture in faith there in Nigeria 12:39 in the early days of Adventist Mission. 12:41 I want to thank you 12:43 for being a part of Adventist Mission, 12:44 for your prayers, for your financial support, 12:47 your donations to Global Mission, 12:49 your personal involvement. 12:50 They do make a difference for Adventist Mission. 12:53 I'm Gary Kraus. 12:54 And I hope that you can join me 12:56 next time right here on Mission 360. |
Revised 2021-02-05