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I had a blast sitting by my friend Patrick from Nigeria.  We didn’t know one another until we sat together on the plane, but what a guy.  He was coming to Dallas for the Redeemed Christian Church of Christ out of Lagos Nigeria.  Pastor Adeboye is the one who started the movement 34 years ago when he inherited the church. They’ve been in the US and have started 350 churches in that time.  There are 5 million+ people a part of this church worldwide.  We talked about everything - here’s just some of it:

Bob:  What is the difference between the church in Nigeria and here in the U.S.?

Patrick:  Because this country has freedom, no one can challenge anyone about wrong or evil.  In Africa a child is raised by everyone - we speak into children.  Here, if you challenge someone you go to jail!  The entire community is responsible.

Bob:  What is the role of church planting in your church?

Patrick:  We want a church on every street - the smaller the better.  We have megachurches but we want everyone to be in walking distance of a church.  In America, no one cares about this much.  Mostly, just big churches trying to get bigger - even spreading out campuses, but not churches. 

Bob:  What is another difference you see in the church in Nigeria and here?

Patrick:  The Holy Spirit.  You have so many doctors here.  We have to believe in miracles.  We are desperate for the Holy Spirit just to survive.  We pray and involve ourselves in the Spirit.  You Americans have this power, you just don’t use it.  It’s the Holy Spirit. 

Bob:  Anything else?

Patrick:  Yes we pray until something happens.  You pray until your prayer is finished. 

Bob:  Anything else?

Patrick:  Yes we rebuke openly for sin and deal with it. 

There were lots of other things we talked about, but I was glad I didn’t get upgraded and that Patrick was right beside me.  I hope, Patrick, your conference in Greenville was awesome.