Barr. Onofiok Luke.
Ubong Sampson
I recall how I started singing in the church choir again after I heard how the then president of the United States, Bill Clinton, was a Sunday school teacher. I felt so stupid that as a child who could barely make 10 naira to buy his own biro pen, I was backsliding in a role I was so privileged to play in church. If you’ve ever thought of your services in God’s vineyard as anything short of a privilege, then the present times when the law is against people freely congregating to worship God should compel you into a rethink. Back to the issue!
Bill Clinton’s humility story was strange and I guess to us (me and the children around the neighbourhood) unprecedented… unprecedented apparently because of the realities around, or maybe because children are naturally myopic owing to less exposure. Growing up, however, the sight and perception has changed. Big/rich men do serve God, but the ones with political power?
Like Clinton, there are a number of political top shots genuinely running after God and the works of his vineyard, even so from their top leadership positions. This is way different from having regular church attendance record and offering big financial contributions. Rather, these ones give in their manpower to go with their financial efforts. Of course, what would we think of God’s power if He could not raise men from His fold to top positions of authority? Or what would the bible say about this generation, if God could not raise other Davids and Solomons out of it?
READ : Memoirs of Onofiok Luke
Like Barr Onofiok Luke had stressed while hosting a christian youth group of Qua Iboe Church namely, Nka Edimenere about exactly this week in 2019, the polity will be more decent and more positive strides achieved if more Godfearing persons aspire and make it to leadership positions. Conversely, except God has no business in the affairs of men, He must be raising leaders into every power and decision making bloc to continue doing His will. As much as God can force anyone to do His will, He however makes outstanding leaders out of those who subject themselves as willing tools for His use.
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According to John Oswald Sanders in one of his classic works on spiritual leadership, “authoritative leadership falls on someone who years earlier dedicated themselves to practice the discipline of seeking first the kingdom of God. Then, as that person matures, God confers a leadership role, and the Spirit of God goes to work through him. When God’s searching eye finds a person qualified to lead, God anoints that person with the Holy Spirit and calls him or her to a special ministry/assignment”.
Explicitly, when it comes to leadership, God bestows influence and authority on those who have proven to be faithful stewards of smaller responsibilities. When leaders in this description step into any fold or setting, they are known and differentiated by the positive fruits they bear according to the bible in Matthew chapter 7 verse 20. Every step they take is directed by God because they never go without first consulting Him; and every situation, no matter how gloomy, eventually works for their good, because they are always conscious of the fact that their life affairs are only manifesting God’s with them.
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When talking about being in a better position to give advice, Onofiok Luke was apparently in such position when he advised the church group on the importance of serving God diligently even when in highly placed positions. Reason being that he has seen himself moving through life in strata, with God ruling chiefly in his affairs. The courage he wears in his gloomy situations starkly exemplifies a man who knows his life is a covenant with God… the events of 2002, 2014 and the last days of 2015 might serve as good reference points.
This piece is from the Amazing Grace series. A spotlight on Barr Onofiok Luke, former Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and currently member, House of Representatives.
