I encountered The Carpenter’s Church in 2006 during my industrial training days and my life has changed for the better. I had asked my cousin about where I could worship on a Sunday morning in Port Harcourt and she said there was a church along the road called The Carpenter’s Church. When I came to church, Pastor Nkechi was teaching on the Life Lessons From Father Abraham series and I fell in love immediately. Love at first sight you may say. After graduation in 2008, I spoke with a friend whom I had arranged to stay with in Port Harcourt and he agreed that I should come. When I got to Aba on my way to Port Harcourt, I couldn’t reach him again because his phone was switched off. I stayed with someone I didn’t know for the first three days in Port Harcourt before I was asked to leave. I made some phone calls and finally got a place to stay.
I got a job of twelve thousand naira monthly salary, paid in two installments (six thousand naira on the first week of a new month and six thousand naira the following week). By the end of the first month, the salary was already spent even before I received it because I had collected some foodstuff from selling trader who sells in front of where I lived. After paying him the money I owed him, two thousand naira was left and my tithe was inclusive of that amount. It was a great battle to let the tithe go because I came from a church where the teaching on tithes was not done, so it was kind of strange to me. I deliberated over it for hours. Then I heard a voice ask, “If you hold on to the money, will it be enough till the next pay date?” I replied no and it said, “Why not give it?” I quickly bought an envelope and packaged the tithe. After paying the tithe on Sunday, I felt peace on the inside.
When I got to work on Monday morning, my boss informed me that I would be going for training in a multinational company that day. The only money I spent that week was the transport I paid to work on Monday. The company took care of my transportation and feeding until the end of the training. The man who invited me for the training gave me five thousand naira for coming and told my boss that he wanted me to represent his company where I did the training. So I became the company’s representative and was paid a thousand naira daily (Sundays inclusive) to buy airtime on my phone while my salary was still paid as usual. I lost the job in January last year and wondered if it was really “Our Year of Better Things,” but it was indeed our year of better things. All through the period without a job, God provided miraculously and I never lacked.
When the General’s Distribution Club was introduced, I made a commitment to give without having the money then. Towards the end of that month, I received an alert for a huge amount of money from a friend whom I called immediately to know what the money was sent for. He said my former colleagues decided to surprise me with it. I paid off my commitment to the General’s Distribution Club and still had enough money on me. I also made free phone calls which lasted until I got a job and received my salary.
I got a job for which I did not apply. A friend and brother informed me that he sent my CV to an organization in need of people with engineering background but when I asked for the name of the company, he said he didn’t exactly know. I was later invited for an aptitude test in which I was successful and then interviewed for the job.