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Post-training, alumna Power Tanga from Nigeria declares that when it comes to the Gospel, she now simply “cannot keep quiet”.
According to the calendar, mid-2007 might appear like a long time ago, but to Power Tanga it seems like yesterday. For that was when she had her “soulful sojourn” in Maui, when she was trained in advanced leadership skills for evangelism at Haggai Institute’s Mid-Pacific Center.
She remembers with clarity that “on the last day of the seminar, four of us from Nigeria looked at each other, and there was only one thought in our minds – 'We cannot keep quiet; from here on, we have to share the Gospel wherever we go, whatever we do.’ It was a mountain-top experience, but we were aware that the valley we could not avoid was a demon-possessed world. However, we were no longer afraid. We were now armored and equipped with the Haggai Institute training.”
In Power’s life, the most intense change she experienced was her change towards her culture. She says truthfully, “Before the training, I had neglected and despised my culture and my people because of the wrong ideas/teachings they clung to. After the training, I realized they are not the enemy, they are souls that need the light. Haggai Institute taught me to enter into my people’s culture and their world, understand why they believe what they do, start with any Christian belief that could be mixed up in their bag of beliefs, i.e., start with the familiar, and then slowly use the association to communicate the Gospel relevantly and reverently.” She discovered that this was not compromise but compassion for what they believed had been handed down to them when they did not know better.
But the one thing Haggai Institute impressed upon her heart more than any other was, “In order to be effective in my ministry, I have to keep developing a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, through regular prayer and study of His Word.” She realized it was an anomaly to say that one wanted very much to do God’s Will…and then not read one of the primary vehicles (the Bible) through which He communicates His Will. She adds: “I am constantly reminded of the ministry of Christ. He left us an example of how to spiritualize even common things; how to convert ordinary conversations into spiritual conversations. The morning devotions at the seminar were life-changing. I still remember the mediation of 11th June, 2007, when I was reminded about God’s purpose for my life being found in I Peter 2:9; it emphasized that God has chosen me for a specific purpose and that I have a significant role in His master plan.”
The specific goal she made during the training is being accomplished in an almost miraculous manner. “Since I do not have a training organization, I was wondering how I would meet the target of souls I had put down in the H.I. goal form. I discovered all that God wants is for us to be willing and available with all our hearts. I have been invited to several places to teach and preach. I taught from the book of the prophet Micah in a new church that has just been inaugurated. I have also been widely involved in one-to-one discipling and counseling.”
What motivates her is the fact that Haggai Institute invested so much in her. She says, “I have to be faithful in the ROI (return on investment).”
She cannot – simply will not – keep quiet about the Gospel, in and out of season.
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