TB JOSHUA PILGRIMAGE
There is nothing pleasing like being invited to attend a celebration gathering. What more if it is a thanks giving ceremony where you are called to party in honour of someone that you hold to the highest esteem.
Yes, the celebration date and time, could not have come at a better time than the month of December which is associated with Christmas. This is when all sorts of decorations are displayed all over, be it in front of business houses, inside and outside residential as well as streets.
The invitation was for me to attend the first
Synagogue Church of All Nations ( SCOAN) thanks giving ceremony, scheduled on 4Th December 2022, in honour of the late founder of the church, Prophet Tomitope Balogun Joshua. This was a special service held at the building also known as the Arena of Liberty since his passing on the 5th of June 2021.
Credit must be given to Nigerian leadership for reserving a terminal for exclusive use by the pilgrimage. The staff upped their game and were hospitable and friendly for both arrivals and departures. The other positive thing was in line with the COVID- 19 protocols; they had kept the crowd away from the door steps of the international terminal. There was a new parking lot where officials easily escort you to reach the place. In the past, a visit used to be crowded by all kinds of characters wanting to offer their services such as foreign exchange, transportation or some trading. In fact, there is a joke in Nigeria that an Igbo entrepreneur can sell and make you buy a fridge without a door. However, the good thing is, if you are a visitor for SCOAN, protocol officers are always at your service.
Having manoeuvred the heavy traffic of Lagos, serenaded by the great gospel tunes on the bus, we finally reached my favourite street in Lagos, 1 Segun Irefin Street, Ikotun- Egbe, the very street that houses the all SCOAN building. My host did not disappoint, in youth lingo ‘ the street was lit’ or looked dope. It was clear that Christmas was around the corner. The street was well decorated and I could bet with anyone that it has the world’s most towering man- made Christmas trees, as long as a double story building, just to add flair and colour. The SCOAN leadership has honoured their father and founder TB Joshua by permanently displaying his canvass gigantic portrait pictures along the church street walls, inside the church and at the prayer mountain. Each time when you walk around, it is like he could say, “hey you, come here. Or look at me,” which is what he used to say many times during deliverance.
Honouring the invitation gave me more than what I bargained for; I attended three different services - healing and deliverance on Saturday and Thanks giving celebrating his life with dance and song, save for the speech made by church leader, Pastor Evelyn Joshua, and the last one being a thanks giving for the elderly on Monday where all elders were given presents in the form of food hampers and cash.
TB Joshua’s legacy will leave forever. His dream and vision has come to pass for he transformed a bush, where his church started with the Edge community, into a multimillion *
Dollar structure named the Prayer mountain, built around water and with a helipad. It is not only the home of Emmanuel. tv studio where all church programmes are beamed live, But, a place where pilgrims go to pray preparing themselves for their healing and deliverance. In there, there are hostels where visitors are accommodated, and a huge prayer garden with a 1.2 kilometres prayer walk path around the water. Pilgrims kill two birds with one stone through meditating and exercising at the same time. The thanks giving service remains indelible in my mind.