Bible Teacher. Pastor.Educator.

Unplanned Pregnancy!! False Accusations! Grace upon Grace. Married this fall! May and June 2022 Ministry Report

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I want to use this opportunity to thank you all for being part of my life. The past six months has been a very difficult one for me, but also a blessing in disguise. During this time, God has really surprised me. 

In February of this year, the young lady I had been courting for five months (I met her in October 2021) informed me that she was pregnant with another man's child. This broke my heart deeply and I refused to embark on my search for a godly wife.

         However, in March of 2022, I was privileged to meet a young lady whom I proposed to in May.

By God’s good grace, we will be getting married this fall.

Our engagement video..

 

She is a lovely woman who loves Jesus deeply and desires to serve Christ with me. She's twenty-eight years young and sixteen years younger than I, but loves the Lord. 

She is a fantastic  young lady with a passion for ministry. She has some experience in youth ministry in a local church. She is also a college graduate from a Nigerian university. She is very passionate about reaching the next generation in Nigeria. I had the privilege of visiting her family; they all love me and I love some of them. But I am grateful that God has brought Olabisi and I


Truth is, the pregnancy of my ex-fiance by another man was a heartbreaking experience. It made me very upset and depressed, but God encouraged me, especially through my sister, Flora. She has been a blessing to my life. She's one of my biggest cheerleaders in the world and as I write to you, I am grateful that God used her to encourage me during this very dark time of my life. I am very grateful for her. 

        Every summer, for the past 15 years, God has provided the doors to preach at Summer Camps to teenagers and children.  Camp Awana in Wisconsin has given me the privilege of preaching annually at their camp while covering all of my traveling expenses. Preaching to young people is something the Lord has allowed me to do for the past twelve months in Nigeria and it has been awesome to see over two dozen teenagers give their lives to Jesus Christ. Over the past 24 months, we have witnessed over a hundred students give their lives to Jesus. This past week (June 20th -June 24th 2022), our ministry team has witnessed over fifty students’ response to the gospel at the camp.

               God has given me a ferocious passion to continue His works in Nigeria as I return this August to continue our Nigeria for Jesus Campaign. We will be launching events and clubs at our church and local schools to reach young people. This past school year, we reached over 500 students in our community. Our Nigeria for Jesus campus outreach saw over 100 students attend each of the events we hosted. We provided over 100 students with school supplies. I am very grateful to God for what He did and for your willingness to support me while I was in Nigeria this past year. 

Our small church is growing!!!! Since January of 2022, we have seen over a hundred students walk into our doors every Sunday.

We have also seen our Nigeria for Jesus campaign to high school students and middle school students from age thirteen to seventeen become tremendously great. We've made a big impact in the lives of students. We are excited and blessed to have a team of four paid adults to help us magnify Christ and proclaim Jesus as the only answer to our problems in Nigeria. Nigeria for Jesus is a campaign targeting students in Nigeria and to raise them up to be Christian leaders in Nigeria.

We have Nigeria for Jesus conferences, we have Nigeria for Jesus outreach monthly events and in the future, we want to launch Nigeria for Jesus clubs in public schools this fall. 

These monthly clubs will be led by student leaders, to empower them to disciple their peers. Please, continue to pray that God will give us the resources to have more staff and continue His works. This will allow us to send three teams to three different schools at once.  Every time we go to a school, we take school supplies, backpacks and snacks while providing transportation for our staff who would also take snacks with us. So, Precious Saints of God, continue to pray for us that this experience will go from strength to strength and yield good disciples. One of the schools we go to regularly is Adeniran Grammar School. If you follow me on Facebook, you will see this school always featured in our future. This school uniform is green and white. 

God has allowed us to host monthly events in a local church that is next door to the school. So as a result, we have seen over a hundred students attend those events. We are praying for God to give us four people who'll adopt each school. We are really excited about the opportunity to serve Christ in this way. Please, continue to pray for us.

We are praying that God will allow us to take this message and serve other schools in Ogbomoso for His glory.

 Our dream someday will be to take Nigeria for Jesus campus outreach team and be able to serve four schools every month. So, your prayers would be key for us in achieving this. 

Bridge of Grace Baptist Church, the church I planted in September, is growing and we have an average attendance of thirty people every Sunday.

We also have weekly events every Sunday night to reach children and teenagers. On any given Sunday night during the school year, from September to June, we've had over fifty children from age six to ten. On Wednesday nights, we have an environment for middle school students from age eleven to fourteen. We currently have over forty students attending that event every week between September and June. On Friday nights, we have high school students, aged fifteen to eighteen, attending our events. So, all together, we have a total number of over hundred students attending Bridge of Grace Baptist Church whenever we have our yearly student events every September and June.

We are grateful to all of you for your support, prayers, investment and word of encouragement. We are grateful for telling your family and friends about the ministry, especially for your phone calls in Nigeria and your willingness to partner with us. We love you dearly. 

Please, send your donations to us at the address below and we'll be glad to make sure you are part of what the Lord is doing in Nigeria through our ministry. Thank you for your kindness to me. In the memo: Nigeria for Jesus Campaign.

Please issue all checks to: 

 

Missionary James Owolabi 

Mail the check to: 

Baptist World Outreach Ministries.

3102 Brainerd Rd, 

Chattanooga, TN 37411,

Thank you again for your willingness to help me reach the next generation in Nigeria. 

Respectfully,

James Owolabi

Pastor, Educator and Evangelist.

www.nigeriaforjesus.com

It is a privilege to be a part of your life and an honor to serve Christ with you. 

 

Thanks for your prayers and support.

 

Respectfully,

Pastor James Owolabi.

 

September and October 2021 Update from Pastor James Owolabi

Dear Colaboures in the Lord’s Vineyard,

         ​Thank you for being a blessing to my ministry in Nigeria. It has not been easy relocating to Nigeria. Smooth seas don't make good sailors. No doubt, 2021 was a difficult year for but God has truly been faithful. Over the past 10 months, since the sudden and unexpected home-going of my father, I have seen God move in amazing ways and use us to change the hearts of young people in Ogbomosho. 

         We held a conference for preteens that challenged them to embrace the skill of setting goals and reaching their God-given potential.  Each speaker at this event challenged the teenagers to discover their God-given plans for their lives and pursue it with discipline. Over 100 preteens attended this event. Students were challenged from the word of God to embrace a lifetime of discipline and hard work.

          In September of this year, I started Bridge of Grace Baptist Church in Ogbomosho. Bridge of Grace is growing steadily, especially in our children’s Bible club and Wednesday night teen outreach sections.

             I was privileged to preach at the Commerment services at the Bible College which was started by my father and currently under the leadership of my brother, Missionary Ezra Owolabi. Indeed, it was a bittersweet experience but God was glorified. During the program, I challenged the graduates of the Bible College to relentlessly pursue humility in every area of their lives.

Our outreach to public schools is being used by God reach the hearts of many teenagers.  God has also opened the door to serve Christ at a local public school and to host one of their off campus Christian events. Last month, over 100 students voluntarily attended our outreach.  It was a joy to be used by God to change lives, and your prayers and financial support are being used by God to change lives.

Our church needs a bus. 

         We already have $1000.00 for the bus and we need extra $5000.00 to be able to get the project done. Please pray that God would supply the resources to purchase this bus.  I love you and pray for each of you.

Respectfully

Missionary James Owolabi

www.jamesowolabi.com/donate

September and October 2020 Ministry Update from Evangelist James Owolabi

My heart is broken and my heart is sad....... Two weeks ago I got the tragic news that one of my team members suffered a major health setback.
Andy has been my executive assistant and one of my virtual editors/content creators for the over five years. Andy has edited all my sermons, all my articles and has been a major contributor to my ministry while choosing to be behind the scenes. For the past fives years Andy has been a faithful friend, patient mentor, personal coach, intelligent friend and passionate supporter of my ministry. I love him so much. Please pray for my friend Andy and for God to heal him. Our God is a healer. Andy is just irreplaceable .......but  God is a good God and a wise God! I am really sad ..... PRAY FOR ANDY.....

On a positive note this past two weeks has been a wonderful week filled with God’s blessings and goodness. 

20 students praying to receive Christ in Chicago and preaching seven times in two different states to seven different audiences has been a real joy to my soul. 

God was SUPER kind to me this October and November and the people of God were generous to me. God reignited in me a passion for the word of God and a passion for itinerant ministry to serve the body of Christ globally. Pray for me as I serve  churches & youth ministries in the next 12 weeks across the country.

I love you all dearly and thank you for your monthly financial gifts and incredible words of encouragement to me. May God bless you. Your investment in my life and ministry has been a blessings to my soul.
Because JESUS MATTERS

Evangelist James Owolabi

www.jamesowolabi.com

Christmas Letter 2019 from Pastor James Owolabi

Merry Christmas Family,

    The holiday season is upon us and this is probably one of the busiest time of the year for most people.  It has been a year of amazing transitions and “mind blowing doors” for ministry. God has been opening great opportunities, orchestrating events and allowing these things to happen in order to increase my leadership capacity for ministry. The ministry Slingshots a teen after school drop in center (Slingshotschicago.com) that I formerly worked with is now going to be under the umbrella of Youth for Christ USA.

Starting next year, I will be leading this teen center on the Northside of Chicago, while continuing to host mentoring events on the southside of this beautiful city.

My home church on the north side of the city became part of a vibrant growing neighborhood church movement (the bridge.church) which retained me twice a month as one of their teaching pastors.

This will increase my ministry footprint and expand my influence in the Chicago land area. I also launched a website (www.jamesowolabi.com) under a new ministry  “Grace for Life” that will allow me to continue to travel and preach around the world.

 I consider it a privilege to be promoted to Director of City Life for the city of Chicago and to serve as one of the teaching pastors at The Bridge community church.

            I’m going to be spending the holidays with my immediate family, excluding my parents in Nigeria, right here in my home on the southside of  Chicago! The capacity to be the host this year is not something that I take for granted. I want to fully enjoy this space that God has blessed me with.I am excited to share the space with my siblings for Christmas. 

   This Christmas my best attempt to being a perfect host I started to plan and make a lot of lists to ensure that everything for the holidays would be perfect. You can probably relate; guest lists, when everyone is arriving, grocery lists, gift lists… and more. I realized in all of my movement and list making that I was losing sight of the true meaning behind Christmas. More importantly than having the “perfect holiday” and getting everything on my list was actually the need to focus on the original guest list of Christmas day; Mary, Joseph, and Jesus! 
    Jesus is the reason for the season of course, but as I reflect I couldn’t help but feel there was a lot to learn from His mother Mary! What can we learn from her? She’s not Jesus-- however she has a lot of qualities that I admire! Mary was a young Jewish girl who probably couldn’t even read or write, but yet she was seen and valued by God. He knew her heart and chose her specifically to be the person that would bring our Savior into the world! When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her of God’s plans she immediately said “I am you servant, let it be unto me”! Mary was a young Jewish girl that probably couldn’t read or write and yet, but her faith in God is unmatched! She reminds me of myself when I’i'm excited about what God is doing. Her response to the angel, “I am the Lord's servant let it be unto me”. Her willingness to let God hijack her life causes me to reflect. I'm sure she had dreams and plans, but allowed the Spirit of God to take her future reputation. The pregnancy was a scandal and disgrace in that society. A surprise pregnancy did not establish her reputation as Godly Jewish girl! She surrendered her personal life completely. Her response:

         “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”    

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1:38‬ ‭

           Wow!!! What a response!!! The word servant is a word for a slave, a female born slave. Mary was offering her life as a living sacrifice. There are not many of us that would’ve been so willing and unquestioning. She gave up the potential of her relationship with Joseph. Although we know how the story ends, Mary had no clue what consequences or further sacrifices would have to be made. She was excited about marriage, fully betrothed and then BOOM -- an angel comes! This could have been tragic to her dreams as i’m sure all Jewish girls looked forward to the seal of marriage. That was everything a woman desired in that culture but, she gives her body and allows it to be used to bring forth the line of David. How complicated, crisis inducing, and uncomfortable, however to Mary it was exciting. 

 

Her reaction lets me know that she spent time in the Word of God. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord he has looked upon the humble.” - Mary

 

Instead of being further consumed with lists and scheduled, I’ve begun to slow down and focus on Christmas story and all that can be gathered from every piece and character involved.You my dear friends have given me visible examples of  the characteristics that Mary displayed. Thank you for your prayer support and your sacrificial financial support that has enabled me to serve Christ in this great country.

I always pray for you all every day. You have all been a gift all year long by being present in my life, and helping me sustain my ministry. I am so grateful to God for you. Merry Christmas!

 

Love,

Pastor James Owolabi

July & August 2019 Ministry Report from Evangelist James Owolabi

July & August, 2019 Ministry Report from Evangelist James  Owolabi

Dear Friends and Family,

Hallelujah! Praise God! Praise the wonderful name of Jesus! I am so excited to let you in on something exciting that God has been doing in me, and through me. It is awesome!

Over the last 90 days, I have spoken to over 2000 people in five different states all across the United States. Over the past twenty years, God has given me unique, amazing, and great opportunities to serve churches, camps, schools, and Christian organizations as a guest speaker. I have been blessed to serve the Body of Christ in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, the Island of Dominica, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington. These opportunities have also complimented my responsibilities with Youth for Christ to teenagers on the southside of Chicago.

Many of you have supported me prayerfully and financially in this endeavor. You have also encouraged me to pursue more opportunities to serve the Body of Christ as a traveling Bible teacher.

As God continues to bless my ministry efforts in Chicago, He is also leading me to start a nonprofit, which will expand my preaching and teaching ministry beyond North America, as well as supplement my income as I travel across the world.

Here are some ways that you can pray for me:

• Pray for opportunities in developing a strong online platform, a podcast, and that thousands of people will visit my website daily: www.jamesowolabi.com
• Pray for 100 monthly donors to help me start and fund this ministry
• Pray for the Lord to somehow provide me with $2000 to file for a non-profit status
• Pray that God will also provide me with another $5000 to purchase equipment for recording my sermons and capturing photos.
• Pray for more speaking engagements to come my way outside of Chicago.   

Lastly, please let me know of any opportunities that arise among your network of Christian organizations and local churches that might need a guest speaker for a special event or church service. Please continue to pray with me that God will continue to open doors for me to teach the Bible around the world!  James Owolabi Ministries is the name of the nonprofit that will allow me to serve the Body of Christ across the world. Join me in praying that the Lord will lead and guide me in this endeavor. Also, would you consider calling me and letting me know if you would like to be a part of this vision that God has given me?

Thank you for your prayers and support over the past 10 years!

Respectfully,
Pastor James Owolabi