GOD's General has gone home to Glory
Tuesday June 9, 2020
Wilson Okotie, GOD's General who lived as a man drawn from the pages of The Acts Of The Apostles. Wilson died of Typhoid and Malaria on Tuesday June 9, 2020. He is sorely missed by all who knew him in Africa and the U.S. Only Heaven can reveal how many lives have been swept into the Kingdom of GOD, how many have taken up the cross in service for Jesus, and how many plans of Satan have been overthrown by the working of the Holy Spirit in Wilson life. We are hard pressed to find another like him.
I was introduced to Wilson in 2000 by my friend, Daniel Bernard. Daniel led Wilson to Christ nearly 10 years earlier, while living in Nigeria as a missionary along with his family. I was familiar with Africans and African ministers, having spent time in Nigeria and Ghana in the 1980s. But Wilson was something different. A divine mixture of deep sincere humility and intense Holy Ghost intellect and power. It was as though he had stepped out of the pages of the Gospel. I had known many who used the title of "Apostle" or had it conferred upon them by church agencies. But Wilson embodied the title. Yet he never referred it to himself.
As I sat and listened to Wilson speaking at Faith Christian Church in 2001, I leapt in my heart when I heard him talk about how GOD sent him down into Ijaw Land in the Niger Delta. And how was trying to win them to Christ while living among them. I'm sure the profound impact of that fact was lost on everyone else in the church that day. But I KNEW who the Ijaw were, having heard about them while I was in Nigeria in the '80s. Wilson had left the relative comforts of an African town and quietly traveled far down the river into the Egbema Ijaw Kingdom, back in the Delta bush. He was risking his life. Wilson was an Itshiki man, long tribal enemies of the Ijaws. As I listened to him speak GOD called me to go back to Africa and investigate what Wilson was doing. In 2002 I was with Wilson in Ijaw Land. He had made disciples of 3 Ijaw young men and began 2 small churches. Wilson and his young disciples were hungry and barely existing. But in the irony of Faith he had given his fledgling ministry the name, "HIGH IMPACT Christian Center". And GOD, who calls those things that be not as though they were, was about to release His HIGH IMPACT upon the Ijaws...
I was introduced to Wilson in 2000 by my friend, Daniel Bernard. Daniel led Wilson to Christ nearly 10 years earlier, while living in Nigeria as a missionary along with his family. I was familiar with Africans and African ministers, having spent time in Nigeria and Ghana in the 1980s. But Wilson was something different. A divine mixture of deep sincere humility and intense Holy Ghost intellect and power. It was as though he had stepped out of the pages of the Gospel. I had known many who used the title of "Apostle" or had it conferred upon them by church agencies. But Wilson embodied the title. Yet he never referred it to himself.
As I sat and listened to Wilson speaking at Faith Christian Church in 2001, I leapt in my heart when I heard him talk about how GOD sent him down into Ijaw Land in the Niger Delta. And how was trying to win them to Christ while living among them. I'm sure the profound impact of that fact was lost on everyone else in the church that day. But I KNEW who the Ijaw were, having heard about them while I was in Nigeria in the '80s. Wilson had left the relative comforts of an African town and quietly traveled far down the river into the Egbema Ijaw Kingdom, back in the Delta bush. He was risking his life. Wilson was an Itshiki man, long tribal enemies of the Ijaws. As I listened to him speak GOD called me to go back to Africa and investigate what Wilson was doing. In 2002 I was with Wilson in Ijaw Land. He had made disciples of 3 Ijaw young men and began 2 small churches. Wilson and his young disciples were hungry and barely existing. But in the irony of Faith he had given his fledgling ministry the name, "HIGH IMPACT Christian Center". And GOD, who calls those things that be not as though they were, was about to release His HIGH IMPACT upon the Ijaws...
Help us Support Wilson's Family!
Faith Christian Church & Nigeria Ijaw Mission have been supplying the salary support for Wilson and educational needs of his children for many years. And now Wilson’s wife, Nanaiye “Praise” Okotie and her 5 children need your help more than ever. The heavy responsibility for a growing indigenous church-planting movement, with a large headquarters church, 14 village churches, and schools, have fallen on her shoulders.
PLEASE consider either a One-Time donation or Recurring support, by using our secure online portal below. Write "Wilson's Family" in the message field and we'll send 100% of all donations to Wilson's wife, “Praise” Okotie. —THANK YOU and may GOD richly bless you for your kindness! |
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Wilson Okotie's Testimony
Wilson Okotie, Apostle to the Ijaws and General Overseer of High Impact Christian Center (HICC) told the amazing story of his call to go down into Ijaw Land, armed with a supernatural vision and call from GOD to take the Gospel to the Ijaw People Group of the Niger Delta. Wilson left all behind and quietly slipped downriver without any backing or covering, to the Egbema Kingdom of the Ijaws, to live among them as GOD's Apostle. What transpired next is legendary. This is that story.
See more about Wilson, HICC, and NIM on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NigeriaIjawMission/
See more about Wilson, HICC, and NIM on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NigeriaIjawMission/
Pictures From The Amazing Years of Church-Planting Among The Ijaws 2002-2012
During these years 14 churches were planted in the Egbema Kingdom under Wilson's leadership. Through the partnership of High Impact and Nigeria Ijaw Mission the indigenous Ijaw pastors were won to Christ through the village crusades and trained by Wilson. He wrote books on English grammar and taught some of them how to read and write. Along with discipleship and ministerial training he taught and prepared them to take and pass their high school equivalency exams. With help from NIM each new church was self-sufficient and the pastor self-supported within less than a year of planting.
When we began the King was the spiritual head of the Egbesu religion and opposed the Gospel. Wilson had been taken into the jungle and tied to a tree, to be martyred. But by intervention from the LORD he was delivered and allowed to remain, not only in the Kingdom, but living in the capitol village, Ajakurama. When we arrived at Ajakurama in 2002 we met with the King and Chiefs in a tense and critical meeting. At that meeting the LORD caused a supernatural event to convince the King that the Almighty GOD of Heaven had sent us, and he then and there decreed that the restriction he had put on Wilson to preach the Gospel was immediately lifted. And Wilson was totally free reign to preach throughout his kingdom. He then went on to decree that every village should donate land to Wilson's ministry so he could build churches. Within hours of our arrival at Ajakurama GOD moved on the King's heart, and flung wide the doors that would permit the great church-planting ministry that would follow in the next 10 years. These were the kinds of signs and miracles that followed Wilson's calling.
Less than 10 years later, that very king who was the head of the Ebesu religion, had ordered Wilson's execution, barred him from preaching, and later rescinded and opened the door for the Gospel, sat with us in his house and prayed with Wilson, crying out to Jesus, to be saved. Not long after the King passed. The King who is presently ruling over Egbema is a Christian, along with his wife. The Chiefs of all the major communities are all members of the High Impact Christian Center churches in their villages.
When we began the King was the spiritual head of the Egbesu religion and opposed the Gospel. Wilson had been taken into the jungle and tied to a tree, to be martyred. But by intervention from the LORD he was delivered and allowed to remain, not only in the Kingdom, but living in the capitol village, Ajakurama. When we arrived at Ajakurama in 2002 we met with the King and Chiefs in a tense and critical meeting. At that meeting the LORD caused a supernatural event to convince the King that the Almighty GOD of Heaven had sent us, and he then and there decreed that the restriction he had put on Wilson to preach the Gospel was immediately lifted. And Wilson was totally free reign to preach throughout his kingdom. He then went on to decree that every village should donate land to Wilson's ministry so he could build churches. Within hours of our arrival at Ajakurama GOD moved on the King's heart, and flung wide the doors that would permit the great church-planting ministry that would follow in the next 10 years. These were the kinds of signs and miracles that followed Wilson's calling.
Less than 10 years later, that very king who was the head of the Ebesu religion, had ordered Wilson's execution, barred him from preaching, and later rescinded and opened the door for the Gospel, sat with us in his house and prayed with Wilson, crying out to Jesus, to be saved. Not long after the King passed. The King who is presently ruling over Egbema is a Christian, along with his wife. The Chiefs of all the major communities are all members of the High Impact Christian Center churches in their villages.
Find Another Like Wilson...
In the 10 years that I traveled and preached with Wilson throughout the villages of the Egbema Kingdom I witnessed the finest living example of Christian love, character, and power, I'd ever seen anywhere. Wilson's very life inspired people to follow Jesus with a higher dedication than what was typically accepted. Yet he was incredibly gracious and kind, and selfless to the point where I had to anticipate his needs because he'd never so much as allude to them. His mind and heart were always on raising up others and the things of Christ's Kingdom.
Shortly after meeting Wilson he married the granddaughter of an Ijaw King, Nanaiye "Praise" Okotie. And Praise was and is a force for GOD. She and Wilson were perfect for each other. Praise was and is an amazingly effective minister in her own right. Often having to oversee a growing large ministry, and fulfill pulpit responsibilities when Wilson was away, she is mighty in Christ. The combination of the 2 of them must account for the remarkably bright, talented, and dedicated 5 children they have produced together. Three boys and two girls. 1st son, Dominion Wilson Okotie, 2nd son, Miracle Wilson Okotie, 1st daughter, Light Wilson Okotie, 2nd daughter, Fruitful Wilson Okotie, and 3rd son, Multiplier Wilson Okotie. The older children have so excelled in their education that 3 have been awarded full academic scholarships to universities and medical graduate school. All of them zealously serve the Lord in the ministry.
Wilson's passing brings forth a strange flood of emptiness and fullness mixed together. Emptiness because I'll likely never meet another fellow minister and partner in the Gospel who is like him. And fullness because in a relatively short span of years he has filled so many with so much. What more can I say, it's for certain that the fullness of GOD's work through his life overflows the emptiness of his passing. Sadly, at the passing of many people, one has to strain to find good things to say when trying to quantify the life that was lived. But with Wilson, the struggle is to find an end to all the good his living produced. So I'll just stop here and just let the fruit keep growing.
Shortly after meeting Wilson he married the granddaughter of an Ijaw King, Nanaiye "Praise" Okotie. And Praise was and is a force for GOD. She and Wilson were perfect for each other. Praise was and is an amazingly effective minister in her own right. Often having to oversee a growing large ministry, and fulfill pulpit responsibilities when Wilson was away, she is mighty in Christ. The combination of the 2 of them must account for the remarkably bright, talented, and dedicated 5 children they have produced together. Three boys and two girls. 1st son, Dominion Wilson Okotie, 2nd son, Miracle Wilson Okotie, 1st daughter, Light Wilson Okotie, 2nd daughter, Fruitful Wilson Okotie, and 3rd son, Multiplier Wilson Okotie. The older children have so excelled in their education that 3 have been awarded full academic scholarships to universities and medical graduate school. All of them zealously serve the Lord in the ministry.
Wilson's passing brings forth a strange flood of emptiness and fullness mixed together. Emptiness because I'll likely never meet another fellow minister and partner in the Gospel who is like him. And fullness because in a relatively short span of years he has filled so many with so much. What more can I say, it's for certain that the fullness of GOD's work through his life overflows the emptiness of his passing. Sadly, at the passing of many people, one has to strain to find good things to say when trying to quantify the life that was lived. But with Wilson, the struggle is to find an end to all the good his living produced. So I'll just stop here and just let the fruit keep growing.