At first glance, Benedicta and I could not be more different. She grew up in a village in Nigeria; I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. She is black; I am white. And she is clearly significantly younger than me. Benedicta preaches from her heart. She often prepares copious notes for her sermons, but when it is time to preach, she forgets the notes, moves away from the pulpit and lets it rip. I stay close to the pulpit, in fact usually directly behind it, and follow my notes carefully. She loves to laugh and I… well, I do too, but my laugh is not anywhere near the world class level of hers. 

But despite our differences we work well and minister well together. I have never tried to turn her into a version of me, and she has no interest in converting me into someone like herself (I would make a lousy Benedicta). And yet God has clearly drawn us together and used us to touch more than a few people. From the beginning of our marriage (in 2005) we began to do African missions as a team. It didn’t take me long to realize that Benedicta was a powerful preacher, anointed, effective, and touching. And being an African she can reach Africans in ways that I cannot. The Africans identify with her and she with them. When she gives an invitation to receive Jesus in Africa, there is no shortage of men, women, and children that come rushing to the front to pray with the tall, pretty, African lady evangelist. 

Our last personal mission to Africa was in January/February 2020, just at the time when COVID was making its terrible presence known in the world. Before that time, we had both had numerous dreams which involved us driving in a car and quickly needing to make a sudden U-turn. We both felt that the Lord was warning us that there would be a need for us to make a dramatic change in our ministry, but we weren’t sure what that would involve. When COVID hit the world, we realized we would not be traveling to Africa for a while, and shifted from personally going to Africa, to sponsoring African missions, evangelism, conferences, and providing free medical clinics and food for the widows, working with our friends and contacts we had made over the years. 

Benedicta and I have been having morning Bible studies since the beginning of our marriage, and now we felt led to make these Bible studies public by creating videos and audio recordings of them and putting them on YouTube or in the form of a podcast. And so, instead of making the long, tiring, expensive trips to Africa, we focused on creating videos and audio teachings and posting them on the Internet. And as we did this, we realized that this was a part of this shift, this “U-turn” that the Lord had foretold. And then I felt moved to create a special conference for African pastors and church leaders on video. We put together around 20 videos, all centered on JESUS – who He is, what He taught, what the abiding life looks like, and the absolute necessity of including Jesus in every sermon, every teaching, and every Sunday school class. We assembled two teams to conduct conferences, one in Nigeria and one in Kenya. We provide them money to purchase large, flat-screen televisions, speakers, and electric generators so that the videos could be watched without interruption, even if the electricity failed (which is often the case in Africa). 

God has placed a tremendous blessing and grace upon these video conferences, and Benedicta plays a major role in them. I do teach alone in a few of the videos, but in most of them we are together, studying the Bible at our dining room table. And the Africans love to see us minister together. Benedicta is really a kind of rock star to them, and is especially loved by the African ladies, who are thrilled that their African sister is playing an major role in an international ministry the way she is. 

I met Benedicta in November 2004. I had noticed her throughout the meetings I was doing in Lagos, Nigeria (you couldn’t help but notice this lady who was truly “drop-dead gorgeous). She had been videotaping the conference and evangelism over the previous days. She came up to the car where I sat with the local pastor after our morning session as we were about to leave. Benedicta asked if she might be able to interview me with her camcorder, to add to the video she was putting together. At the time, I was single and looking for and praying for a wife, and when she asked for an interview, I was thrilled and asked her and the pastor to join me the next day for lunch at the restaurant where I was staying and told her we could do the interview afterwards. She agreed, and the rest is history. 

I marvel at how perfectly we are matched for God’s kingdom purposes, despite our many differences. Surely Jesus does all things well!