THE ORDINATION OF FELIX NNANWOBU AS PASTOR:A TESTIMONY TO GOD FAITHFULNESS

AS MR. FELIX NNANWOBU IS ORDAINED PASTOR:A TESTIMONY OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS. BY JOHN MGBE A short while ago, MR.Felix Nnanwobu, the General Manager of Swintec Computer Institute, Owerri was ordained a Pastor.In this interview with John Mgbe, the new Pastor  opens up his testimony to the abiding faithfulness of God to all who accept Him as their personal Lord and Saviour. Please read on….. How do you want to be addressed? I am Pastor Felix Ikwunne Nnanwobu What is the name of the Church that promoted you to this level ? The name of the Church is Great Life Universal Church.The Church is located at Umuodu Mbieri in Ikeduru LGA,Imo State. What is the name of the  Head of the Church? His  name is Wisdom Etim Daniel. He is the Archbishop of the Church. Kindly give a brief account of your  conversion from a nominal Christian to an ordained pastor? In 1998, I became a  born again Christian by the Grace of GOD. Prior to that date, I was in a state of total  wilderness, so to speak, for almost 10 years. I could not get any bearing and I was at the  bottom of life. So, when I encountered God, He said: “Ok, young man, you have tried the world and you can see that the world does not want to help you.” When   you are in the world , you find out that the world cannot offer you any other thing than misery, problems and calamities. The world rarely gives you  a window of opportunity. I was in a world without window throughout  my life before I encountered Christ in 1998. What is this encounter with Christ like?Can you throw  more light? Well, the Bible says God will show mercy on whom he will show mercy. It’s not by power, lest any man should boast. The encounter was not consciously designed. I just walked into it.Of  course, the spirit of God touched me. I felt the touch and I knew that something great had happened in my life and I knew that I would never be the same again. At that point, I realized it’s a different thing to be religious and to know God as your Lord and personal saviour by obeying the words of God  and by reading the Bible and just being a nominal church-going Christian.. As you know , lawyers are used to the maxim:”Nemo dat quod non habet” meaning:”One does not give what one does not  have.” If you do not know exactly what the Bible says, you won’t be in a position to know whether you are obeying it or not. For your information, the first time I bought a Bible of my own was in 1998.Prior to that time, I never had an own Bible. Life just moved on as I was just living on the  flesh while answering  a Christian, even when I never actually cared to  know about the God I claimed to worship. So, from that 1998,I tried to live a righteous life as much as I could. I now became  conscious of making heaven. Usually, I would not go to a place when they were preaching the Bible or salvation message. I just didn’t get up one  morning to be a material in the  hands of the Lord. I started as a floor member from the grass roots. At every stage, I was given a  commensurate authority. So, the final bus stop was when he told me:”My son, I have tried you and it’s now time for you to be ordained pastor.” So, how do you feel now that you are given an uplift in the vine yard of the Lord? Well, it’s just the way you feel when you are given a promotion in every field of life in the secular realm. You normally feel a sense of joy when there is an uplift in your life be it in a spiritual or worldly  endeavour. You normally have a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. So, that is how I now feel after being promoted to a Pastor  in the Lord’s vine yard. The Bible says:”Whoever he calls, he picks.” You don’t just appropriate it; it must reflect in every aspect of your life. Now, I am conscious of the fact that I am bearing the  Body of the Holy Spirit.When God picks you, he will guide you through all aspects of your life. As the manager of Swintec Computer Centre, how has your spiritual life permeated the working of this organization?  Even here in Swintec Computer Institute where am the  manager, we dedicated this  organization to God and every Monday, we have a worship session. Whoever seeks our services  within the time  of the worship session  must  have to wait until the prayer devotion is  satisfactorily  concluded. It also reflects in my family life and in everything I do.For me, it’s a way of life to obey the teachings of the Bible. So, there is no other option. I still depend on the grace of God to keep myself at the level of living a Christ-centred life. Here, in Swintec Computer Institute,I am the General Manager but God is our foundation and is in charge of every aspect of what we do. So, we can’t afford to cut corners as may be the case elsewhere. Our focus here is to satisfy the customer without succumbing to undue pressure.Our target is to do that which can give glory to the name of God. So, as I said earlier , we adhere faithfully to the prescribed  rules that guide the Computer Based Test as prescribed by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB).  Now, talking of of corruption and fraud in the  CBT Centres, how has your Swintec Computer Institute  fared in combating this cankerworm of endemic corruption? Yes, we are the first Computer Based Test(CBT) centre that has been fighting the malpractice in the industry. I am glad that in spite of the initial misgivings, the public now sees why there is a need to insist on doing things  in line with set rules. I am glad to say that they are cooperating with us  now. This is unlike in the past when they derisively labelled our  Centre” AMA JEHOVA CBT centre”. We have succeeded in sensitizing our clients and patrons to the fact  that by cutting corners, we are destroying the youths who will eventually take up the levers of management in the future.We insist on glorifying the Lord in whatever we do here. Before  now, most of them used to avoid us on the grounds of our being stringent in complying with set rules and guidelines of JAMB. I am glad to say that today, they are all coming back in droves. It’s the doing of the Lord and it’s beautiful before our eyes. Here, we say a big “NO” to examination malpractice; we will never waver or compromise standards. We must insist on complying with the set guidelines until we achieve zero compliance to exam malpractice. Finally, I appeal to our people  to strive to know God and have a personal relationship with Him in truth and in spirit. Thanks Pastor on your time.    Thanks very much indeed. May the holy name of God be glorified.