Members and well-wishers of the First Baptist Church, Miracle Cathedral, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, from far and near, recently gathered to welcome their substantive President, Rev. (Dr.) Emmanuel Adeyinka Aribasoye, who just assumed office.
Priests from across the world also came to witness the event.
Aside from the religious outlook of the event, it also showed that many Baptists are socialites, especially with the colour added to the ceremony by the church faithful. One could not expect anything less, considering the fact that events of such nature do not happen often in the Baptist circle.
Such events happen, as many would described it, “once in a blue moon.” Hence, the faithful ensured that they put up the best show.
The venue of the ceremony witnessed an unprecedented large turn-out of people as different security outfits, including the Royal Ambassadors, Lydia Auxiliary, traffic control officers and a host of others were fully on ground to ensure a hitch-free flow of traffic throughout the event.
Why this was so? The conference president of Ekiti Baptist is the spiritual head of all the Baptist faithful in the whole of the state. So, each local government and church was fully represented.
This is in addition to invited guests, who are not Baptists but graced the occasion, and this probably explains why there were so many people in attendance. However, with the colourful blend of guests, one could not but feel as if one was in a paradise of a sort.
In their characteristic manner, the church choir members rolled out inspirational and lovely tunes, occasionally and the priests, too, read the various creeds, when it was necessary. It was a fantastic experience, at least for many.
Speaking with our correspondent shortly after the event, the outgoing Conference President of Ekiti Baptist, Rev. (Dr.) Kayode Ayinde, expressed gratitude to God for keeping Ekiti Baptist Conference going in love and in peace.
He also appreciated the people of God for their commitment, saying, “If our ways please God, He will make our enemies to be at peace with us, because God brought us this far and we are grateful to Him. God has supported us, people make themselves available for God’s work to cooperate with us and that is why we have been able to achieve this for God. The success we have recorded is not for us but the Ekiti Baptist Conference as a family”.
He appealed to his successor to depend on God and trust the Lord for success.
He also charged him to embrace everyone in peace and love and put his total trust in God by carrying everybody along in love.
Ayinde added all the Baptist faithful in Ekiti State should give their total support to their new president in order to record another huge success.
“It is a mission fulfilled and mission accomplished, that the Lord made us to begin the whole exercise of looking for a substantive Conference President of Ekiti Baptist Conference and we were successful in it. We equally planned to welcome him and God has made it a reality today. We return all glory and adoration to God for everything He has done for us.
“God brought us in, we have the confidence in God that He will see us through in the assignment that He has committed into our hands. God led us to take up the assignment which was against our wish but we back it up with prayers, counsels and the secret of whatever success we have recorded is God,” he said.
