The journey of missions began in a season where Rev Nii John Garshong had no intention of missions or knowledge that God was going to use him in that area of ministry for that matter, although he had studied and read about the field. Without the slightest knowledge of Gods calling on his life for missions, he was by Gods design privileged to visit the town of Sogakofe in the year 1976, on a random friendly visit by the invitation of a dear friend the then Brother Maxwell Amewokpor now retired Apostle of the Church of Pentecost whom he had met during his University days.
The random visit to a town he had never seen and it’s quiet and neat scenery, led to a 21 day fast that opened the door to Gods leading to embark on a mini crusade in the said town Sogakofe. God mysteriously wove Rev Nii John Garshong into the world of missions with this mini crusade that initially saw just children showing up to the crusade he had fully armed himself for. Despite the disappointment of children only, he still persisted to obey the will of God and delivered the word God had ordained for him to preach. The miracle unfolded as he got to the altar call part of his message which surprisingly saw the town folk coming out of the dark to give their lives to Jesus Christ. What a sight and a wonder it was.
Their friendship grew from brothers in Christ to organiser and speaker as Rev Nii John and Brother Maxwell embarked on another crusade dubbed “MISSION 77” in the early part of the year 1977. After successfully executing “MISSION 77” they proceeded to Sogakofe Secondary school where they invaded the school with Holy Spirit baptism sessions in their dining hall and other spirit filled encounters remembered till this day. Sogakofe Secondary School saw God move mightily especially in the area of evangelistic seminars and missions.
The likes of Mrs Anne Marie Buxton Tetteh was a student at the Sogakofe Secondary School who later came down to Accra to join the team and is an eye witness to how mightily the Lord moved in Sogakofe. Lots of help was also received from Madam Fransisca Afanu now working at Sherfield NHS in England, not forgetting sister Elizabeth Bampoe and sister Happy Kporku who served tirelessly yet wholeheartedly. Kudos and a massive Thank you to major names who stood strong with Rev Nii John Garshong and Bro Maxwell including his mother and his auntie who helped however they could to push toward the success of Sogakofe missions.
The pillars that helped with organizing and evangelizing respectively and also welcomed Nii John and his team and worked hand in hand to execute the missions to the teeth are The likes of Brother Ernest Ajewu now Apostle Ernest Agyewu residing in Ho, and Jocelyn Hoh now Reverend Dr Joseline Fugar a Counsellor and preacher who also aided in the mission journeys and her father Mr Hoh who took his time to take Rev Nii John Garshong through Ewe lessons to equip him to communicate better in a land he had no idea he would be called to can never be forgotten. God works in mysterious ways.
Rev Nii John Garshong broke the grounds for others to enter freely into a land that had been seen as untouchable. He didn't do this alone. The strong team God blessed him with, which were mostly Christian students at the time, were trained to become intercessors, singers and counsellors. Thy were the Accra team that stood behind him and made missions possible.
May the good Lord reward REV. BEN ONYAA ADDY, PASTOR MRS JOANA AYISOE ADDY, ARCH BISHOP NII NABI APPIAKAI TACKIE-YARBOI, BISHOP GODWIN MAcCARTHY, REV MRS REBECCA MAcCARTHY, REV DR SAMUEL NII NMAI OLENNU, MR WOKO MAcCARTHY, MAJOR ADOTEI BROWN, MRS GENEVIEVE HANSON QUARCOOPOME, MRS HARRIET NAA ADJELEY TACKIE ALLOTEY, MADAM ROSAMOND BAAFUA BUCKLE, SISTER MERCY OLENNU OTOO, GRACE MINGLE and Mrs Stella Amparbeng of West African Examination Counsil among others for supporting the missionary call of GOD on the life of Rev Nii John Garshong as his dedicated team.
From Sogakofe we were led to do missions in various towns in the Volta region like Anfoega, Jasikan, Have, Bodada, Akatsi, amongst others. Our missionary journeys eventually led us in 2004 to DZODZE a town in North Tongu, where the Lord added a new dimension to our missions outreach.
Before Dzodze we were focused on crusades and pastors seminars. We expanded our seminars and involved more counselling seminars to help with initial and follow up counselling as churches won souls. We also taught prayer seminars on topics like “HOW TO TAKE YOUR TOWN FOR CHRIST”. We unfortunately encountered problems with church leaders in certain areas who felt we had a hidden agenda to build and take over their churches as we planted ours. They later came to embrace our vision after seeing the evidence of the sincerity of the heart with which we served the communities. We stayed true to the call of God and the true purpose of our ministry and never resorted to planting our own churches since God hadn’t led us to do so. During the era where HIV/AIDS was on the rise in Ghana, our missions team was amongst the first to sensitice the town folk on the Do’s and Dont's with in depth education through seminars on the prevention and less stigmatization of HIV/AIDS, spearheaded by Mr Andrew Osei then working with UNICEF and an elder of the World Bible Missionary Church. This was prompted by the return of Rev Nii John from a visit to the USA which gave him the privilege to bring down HIV/AIDS medication and equipment etc, that was later donated to the St. Anthony’s Catholic Hospital in DZODZE.
Dzodze was ground breaking for our social interventions and community work including childrens welfare and a children’s ministry after a massive crusade with over 2000 children from various villages who assembled and were fed and gifted with food, clothen and toys, the Christmas of 2004. Partners like Evengelist Mavis Nelson Cofie and Evangelist Rose Yankah,helped spearhead and fund this cause. Our heart for the children was based on how little they were catered for both spiritually and physically by the churches. Our belief was founded on the fact that a child who has a firm foundation of Christ teachings would grow with it and evolve into a responsible adult. The focus of Child Evangelism was further achieved in partnership with Dr Winnie Reid of blessed memory from the Calvary Baptist Church New York, USA who championed a cause together with our church to provide Sunday school teaching material for children in over 105 churches across Ghana. This led us in creating Sunday school seminars for teachers to train them on how to efficiently train up a child the way he should go as bible teaches us to do. It also served as part of contributing to helping and supporting the cause of Sunday school teachers across the country. We also established the local council of churches where our Head Missionary Rev Nii John Garshong was made LIFE patron. And still is till date. Since 2004 our missions team has made several trips and missionary journeys to various places to organize and monitor the progress and success of the local council of churches. Our latest trip in September 2019 was to induct the new leaders of the local council of churches into service to take over from the old. See photos below
In August and September of the year 2012, the World Bible Missionary Church together with the Local Council of Churches held seminars in Dodze focused on “MODERN GOVERNANCE FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT”. Topics included “Leadership Dialogue and Diagnosis with Community Leaders, Governance and Entrepreneurship and also Managing Conflicts in Ghana”. It was held at the auditorium of the Church of Pentecost Dodze. The seminars were broken into morning and daytime sessions with renowned keynote speakers and men of God like Professor Paul Buatsi, Executive Director AILF, The Late Dr Samuel C.K Buame of blessed memory. A former lawyer and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business school. Rev. Anibok Hawkson, Executive Director Caleb Institute. Professor Enoch E A Agbozo, Executive Director, Enoch Missions and GES. And ably hosted by Head Missionary and General Overseer of the World Bible Missionary Church, Rev. Nii John Garshong.
Giving honour to whom honour is due we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Rev Dr Solomon Paintsil of the Assemblies of God church who was the first president of the local council of churches, Rev Jacob Feli Egbede one of the presidents of the local council of churches who run for 8 years, Rev Theresa Sekey of the Faith Temple Church, Rev Trust Nunekpeku of the Royal Faith Church, Rev Innocent Agbenuvor of the Global Evangelical Church, Rev Astico amongst others who welcomed us to Dzodze with open arms and helped in diverse ways.
In 2007 Head Missionary Rev Nii John Garshong kept hearing a voice say “ADAKLU”. He didn’t know what that meant at the time. Having so many years experience with missions in the Volta region as far as the 70’s, he had a fair idea of the ewe language but wasn’t sure why “ADAKLU” kept ringing in his heart.
Upon feeling this strongly a while, and realizing that Adaklu was actually a town in the Volta region, Nii John contacted some leaders of the Dzodze council of churches. Rev. Solomon Paintsil, Rev Innocent Agbenuvor and Rev Jacob Feli Egbede and later together with the then Director of Missions Elder George Ansah Yeboah, went on a quest to find the place where God seemed to have been confirming as the next Mission destination.
The journey had them realise “ADAKLU” was far bigger than they had imagined. When they branched into the Adaklu junction, they drove about 14 kilometres. Nii John then asked the driver to stop at a small roundabout. He took a moment like he always did when he was nearing a town for missions, to seek Gods face in prayer as he sought aid with the right connections and whatever else God would use to divinely orchestrate a mission.
They came across a young teacher seated underneath a tree who led them to a gentleman who thought they had come on political errands and seemed quite skeptical. So missions director Elder George found a pastor named REV. SENYO K. ADU from the Ep church who came to meet them to enquire why they had come to visit their town. Upon hearing their mission agenda, he lay prostrate on the ground crying in awe of the fact that his prayers for years to see divine intervention in the town had been finally answered by God bringing much needed help through their visit. He began to narrate the problems the town was faced with and how he had been to major cities in search of whatever help he could find from NGOs and other major organisations to no avail.
Thats how he knew this visit was Gods intervention. This pastors prayers day and night could easily tie into the reason why Rev Nii John had been hearing “ADAKLU” ringing in his heart as frequently as he did, pointing at the fact that God indeed answers prayers without fail even if it tarries. Some of the problems the gentleman went on to state included no pipe born water, a rather unsafe river from which both humans and animals drank, no job opportunities, harsh dry seasons with no water for the crops, and heavy rainy seasons that destroyed crops amongst other things.
They were told that the land on which they had stepped was called "ADAKLU WAYA” one of the 40 communities of the “ADAKLU” district. The first trip was in the beginning of the year 2007. By NOVEMBER of 2007, all was set as far as groundwork to take off with the first mission trip. Pastor ADU who had prayed Gods intervention over the land of ADAKLU, was very instrumental in the organisation of the initial set of missions. The first mission was dubbed “THE NEW ADAKLU”. And was wrapped in a mixture of LEADERSHIP SEMINARS based on topics like PRAYER, EVANGELISM, COUNSELLING IN EVANGELISM, MANAGING CONFLICTS IN MARRIAGE AND SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP. Speakers included Rev Anibok Hawkson Executive Director of the CALEB INSTITUTE, Counsellor Ben Nartey of the Full Gospel Business Men International and Rev Nii John Garshong.
The mission trip concluded with a powerful healing crusade with great testimonies.
For the last 13 years, the missions in ADAKLU have seen, thousands of souls won, Boreholes for cleaner water, jerseys for youth interested in playing soccer and scholarships for bright students who couldnt afford tuition. We solicited the help of close acquaintances like Mr Henry Vanderpuye from HOLLAND, who came down with jerseys for football with balls and other sporten paraphernalia plus farming boots for the farming community as well.
He also had a company from Holland research on the soil type of the land for planting and eventually the setting up of a factory to be attached to the plantation. Also lending support was Madam Sheriann Rougiers from New York USA, who brought down books for the children and sponsored the first Borehole in ADAKLU WAYA.
Another strong supporter of the cause has been Evangelist Mavis Nelson Cofie who celebrated her 70th Birthday by throwing a kids party with a gathering of townfolk and churches that competed in special quizzes that earned them trophies and other cash prizes to encourage them to study. The celebration also served as an opportunity to share the Gospel and win souls as well.
cannot talk about ADAKLU without mentioning key names like TOGBUI LABLULU TEGBEZA 5TH and MAMA DZAKUIA chief and queenmother respectively. Looking back on the journey from the first time we entered the land, there were no tarred roads or factories but today ADAKLU WAYA can boast of well constructed roads and Ghana’s best rice producing factory to its credit.
We also hope to get sponsorship for a Memorial Library at Abuade, the home community of the Late DR BUAME, A Lawyer and Lecturer of the University of Ghana Business school, who handled Entrepreneurship during our sessions tailored toward MODERN GOVERNANCE FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. The Library would be in honor of his service to our missions.
We declared over the first place that we stepped foot in in ADAKLU that there was going to be “THE NEW ADAKLU” and it will be made a district. And true to our words,the very place where we stood to make that declaration has evolved over the years into “THE NEW ADAKLU”.
We are still hoping to touch all 40 communities in the disctrict with the True Gospel of Jesus Christ and development however we can.
Till date Rev Nii John Garshong is called “THE NEW ADAKLU’ because of his immense contribution to the development of ADAKLU.
Most of our missions would not have been made possible without the immense sacrifice, support and participation of key names that helped with both ground work and follow up like Rev. Albert Asiamah, Rev Frank Antwi, Administrator Richard Otoo Larkai, Elder Alfred Sowah, Mrs Felicia Otoo Larkai, Minister John Quashie, Minister Victor Quashie, not forgetting Rev James Akabu, Rev Alaric Omaboe, Bishop Sam Dzeagu, Rev Samuel Delali Marcells, Bishop Gideon Titi Offei, Rev Dr Theophilus Addo Mills, Rev Chris Ashie, Administrator Abraham Garshong amongst others. May the good Lord honour you as you have honored him.
