Some Holiday Humor

Nigerian Preacher Named #49 in Newsweeks' Top 50 Most Powerful People in the World

E. A. Adeboye

A Pentecostal preacher from Nigeria has made big plans to save your soul.

You may never have heard of E. A. Adeboye, but the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He boasts that his church has outposts in 110 countries. He has 14,000 branches—claiming 5 million members—in his home country of Nigeria alone. There are 360 RCCG churches in Britain, and about the same number in U.S. cities like Chicago, Dallas, and Tallahassee, Fla. Adeboye says he has sent missionaries to China and such Islamic countries as Pakistan and Malaysia. His aspirations are outsize. He wants to save souls, and he wants to do so by planting churches the way Starbucks used to build coffee shops: everywhere.

"In the developing world we say we want churches to be within five minutes' walk of every person," he tells NEWSWEEK. "In the developed world, we say five minutes of driving." Such a goal may seem outlandish, but Adeboye is a Pentecostal preacher: he believes in miracles. And Pentecostalism is the biggest, fastest-growing Christian movement since the Reformation.

One of the strangest images from the 2008 campaign was the YouTube clip of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in church, head bowed, palms turned up toward heaven, standing silently as Thomas Muthee, a Pentecostal preacher from Kenya, prayed for her freedom from witchcraft. The clip (and a NEWSWEEK article about it) triggered its own little culture skirmish, with secular observers calling Palin a "wack job" and conservative Christians responding "There's nothing wrong with her church!!!" Few commentators on either side noted how normal that scene was to hundreds of millions of Christians around the globe.

The world now has about 600 million Pentecostals, the largest group of Christians after Roman Catholics. In Asia, the number of Pentecostals has grown from about 10 million to 166 million since 1970, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In Latin America, Pentecostals have expanded from 13 million to 151 million; in North America, from 19 million to 77 million; and in Africa, from 18 million to 156 million. By 2050 most of Africa will be Christian, estimates Grant Wacker, professor of Christian history at Duke University—and most of those Christians will be Pentecostals.

Modern Pentecostalism was born in America in the early 20th century, when a former Methodist minister named Charles Parham began teaching that Christians who were filled with the Holy Spirit could, like the disciples of Jesus, speak in tongues. (The sound, for those who have not heard it, is extraordinary: like crooning or keening or jibber jabber.) From the start, the faith appealed across ethnic lines to the poor and the marginalized. Its lack of denominational structure meant "you didn't have to have a highly trained and educated clergy with a long graduate education," says Vinson Synan, dean emeritus of the divinity school at Regent University. "Common people [were] pastoring common people." Televangelist healers like Oral Roberts helped keep the movement growing.

Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit is always at work in the world and that certain people possess its gifts: speaking in tongues, the healing touch, the power to cast out demons and witches. An emphasis on prosperity and healing attracts converts without savings accounts or health insurance. The emphasis on Biblical inerrancy and on rigid social rules—no drinking, no smoking, no premarital sex—offers structure for people whose lives have been devastated by addiction or illness. In places like Africa (and indeed, like Palin's Alaska at the turn of the last century), Pentecostalism finds fertile ground among adherents of native religions who already believe the world is alive with spirits.

By Pentecostal standards, Adeboye is mainstream. Formerly a mathematics instructor at the University of Lagos, he began working at RCCG translating the previous pastor's sermons from Yoruba to English. He took over the congregation in 1981. His success, he says, is rooted in his message. "Pentecostals have such an impact because they talk of the here and now, not just the by and by, he says. "We pray for the sick, but we pray for their prosperity, for their overcoming of evil forces and so on. While we have to worry about heaven, there are some things God could do for us in the here and now." At a recent revival meeting in London, Adeboye and his ministers preached 12 hours straight to a crowd of 30,000. At the altar call, hundreds of people rushed toward the stage from every corner of the arena, visibly filled with euphoria. They call their pastor "Daddy."

Behind Adeboye's extraordinary success is his reputation for honesty. While other Pentecostal pastors (including some Nigerians) have been accused of financial misdeeds or faking supernatural powers, Adeboye remains above the fray. Nigerian government leaders seek his input on pressing social issues. He recently made a public-service announcement condemning discrimination against people with HIV. He distributes his message globally through Facebook and MySpace, a self-published magazine called "The Mandate," and a digital-cable channel called Open Heavens TV. His appearance is straitlaced: he always wears a pinstriped suit, a gleaming white shirt and a bow tie.

Adeboye experienced a miracle recently on a long and dangerous stretch of highway near Lagos, he says. His car was out of gas, and the gas stations were empty. Then God spoke to him, clearly, and said to keep driving. Adeboye drove 200 miles on empty. Could his gas gauge have been broken? No, he insists, God intervened "because of the need … in a crisis." Adeboye knows well what some in the West have forgotten: in today's world, everyone needs a Daddy.

SOURCE: Newsweek

African Music Original

Here's a nice music video. For translation please contact....

Empower 10,000 Students to Launch Social Businesses

I know some of you are looking at the photos and this takes you back to the time you were in "Grammar" school.
It's that time of the year, times are tough no doubt, but with a small donation you can make a difference.
For a worthy cause log on to http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2500/proj2470a.html

Made in Africa - Super Models

Drink your garri and eat your vegetables O!




Peter Kortenhoven of Sierra Leone



Aminata Niaria of Senegal

Miss ECOWAS 2008 Peace Pageant

For those going home, this is something to check out.

Log on to http://missecowas.org for more information.



The winners of the Miss Ecowas regional beauty contest pose for photographers on Saturday in the Ivorian capital, Yamoussoukro. Source: BBC

South African Companies Unlock sub-Saharan Africa

Versed in the highs and lows of emerging-market development, SABMiller, Standard Bank, and others are expanding across the continent and beyond.

Name a global economic woe, and chances are Charles Needham is dealing with it. Market turmoil has knocked 80% off the shares of South Africa's Metorex, the mining company he runs. The plunge in global commodities is slamming prices for the copper, cobalt, and other minerals Metorex unearths across Africa. The credit crisis makes it harder to raise money. And fighting has again broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Metorex has a mine and several projects in development.

Such problems might send many executives to the window ledge. Yet Needham appears unruffled as he sits down at a conference table in the company's modest offices in a Johannesburg suburb. The combat in northeast Congo, he notes, is far from Metorex's mine. Commodity prices are still high, in historical terms. And Needham is confident he can raise enough capital, drawing on relationships with South African banks. "These are the kinds of things you deal with, doing business in Africa," he says.

For the full article log on to BusinessWeek

It's A New Day O!

I took another personality test as part of the "Reinvention of me" program and I'm still "the glass is half full" kind of guy. I know things look bleak...credit crunch, mortgage crisis, massive layoffs, and the price of suya has gone up 500%.

Well, I thought I'll serve up this music video by Will.I.Am.



Never let up!

Femi Kuti's Day by Day album teaser...

Can't wait to get my hands on this album!! By the way, he is on tour. And will be hitting DC early January.

African Diaspora Film Festival

Very interesting line up of events. I've always envied New Yorkers...right in the heart of art, fashion and media.

For more information log on to http://www.nyadff.org

Botswana !Kung's Men & Women

I was reading a book and it mentioned the !Kung men and women and how they are still living their life in remote locations chilling away frm high tech society, Here are some pics i dug up...

West Africa's Next Top Model

The Nationally syndicated TV Show Next Top Model is schedule to begin in Africa in January 2009. This show will follow the same format as the original American’s Next Top Model created by Tyra Banks. West Africa’s next top model show will be produced by StatsMedia Group an international production company owned by Tope Esan and Martin Fayomi. Supermodel Oluchi Onweagba will be the host for the West Africa series. StatsMedia is the only company that was granted the exclusive rights the form CBS Paramount International Television to produce this reality show in Africa. CBS is the official licensor of the series format.

The format will be produced every season by region on the African continent with the initial start up being in

West Africa. True Love West Africa is the media partner and official magazine for West African’s Next Top Model. The magazine will commence scouting for the 16 contestants of the reality show in December 2008 in several regions in West Africa (Cote D’ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Liberia & Nigeria) with production scheduled for spring 2009. The show will air on major African networks and on cable TV. The winner will receive a lucrative international modeling contract, a cover of True Love magazine and numerous endorsement deals from various companies in the fashion industry nationally and internationally. This version of Next Top Model will not only highlight the models but the continent of Africa for its tourist attractions, cultures, values and its booming 21st century economy.

"War Child" - The Movie

Coming to a theatre near you.

Log on to http://warchild.reelufilms.com/ for more information.

Ghanaians Gear Up for Elections

Ghanaians cast their votes this Sunday for a new president.

Fingers crossed