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Fellowship Bible Church approaches Global Missions a little differently than the norm among American churches, but not through any wisdom of our own. God has given us the connections, the resources, and the vision to partner directly with pastors and church leaders in local churches around the world. So much more than the typical "map and budget" missions program, we invest, equip, and help establish already existing national churches so they can reach their communities for Christ.
In this podcast, you'll hear stories of what God is doing all over the world as Scott and Jim, the Global Missions pastors of Fellowship, discuss recent trips, testimonies of life-change, and updates on how we get to be involved in the world.
If you're a part of Fellowship Bible Church, you are directly involved in what God is doing in the Global Church. Subscribe to discover how!
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Welcome to the FBC Global Church Podcast. I'm one of the global missions pastors at FBC, Scott McManigal. And we are here on site this week in Kaduna, Nigeria for a Knowing God conference with a large group of ECWA pastors.
wanted to take the opportunity to, we've got Simon Yako here with us, who's a longtime friend of Fellowship Bible Church. He needs no formal introduction. Everybody knows Simon. And so I just wanted to take the opportunity to just have Simon join our podcast, tell us a little bit about what he's up to. We also have one of his longtime friends and
And now, co-worker in the ministry, they're working together, but I'll let them tell you about what they're doing. But first, Simon, why don't you give folks a little bit of background of where you're at these days, how your ministry has changed, and where God has placed you. Yeah, thank you very much. Scott, just as you have heard, my name is Simon Yako and I'm really very excited to...
speak a little bit of what God is doing in our lives. As you all know, I've been a of the Fellowship Bible Church for many years.
By the grace of God, we served in Togo as missionaries, and now our service in Togo came to an end of year 2025. And by the grace of God, he is leading us, he has led us into another ministry in a seminary where I am privileged to be one of the lecturers there now, and that is another face of the ministry.
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To the glory of God, we have a lot of young people that are from different facets of life or who are in the seminary learning about God and learning and preparing for the ministry in the future. And I am privileged to be with my long time friend.
whom we have stayed together. We've been friends for 38 years as friends in the ministry. We met each other when we were still young and we went to the Bible school together, went to the seminary together.
You know, but at the point we have that I know he went another side. went to the other side, but still in the year. You were in each other's weddings. Yeah, definitely. We got married the same day we got married. A week after, you know, I was his best man. He was my best man. And God bless us with three children. So who got married first? was the one since I was the oldest. So he was my best man.
He was and I was his best man. So you had to cut your honeymoon short to go be his best man. Yes. And that's a real friend. And what happened is my wife is his language. They have the same language with my my wife and his wife. We are the same language with his wife. So and then God gave us he blessed us with three children. I had the first born a
a male. He has a firstborn male. I had a daughter. He has a daughter. My wife has miscarriage. His wife had miscarriage. And then I had the lastborn boy. He also has a lastborn boy. and that is how what God has been doing. And just at the last part of last year, know, definitely I had the burden of returning back home to Nigeria. And then he really fell, you know, deeply.
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a feeling it had for me to come back to the seminary for us to continue the ministry together. So we prayed about it and really God put it in our hearts to return back to the seminary to train young generation for the ministry in the future. And for the aspect of grace, I just want to thank the Fellowship Bible Church for the privilege of learning grace. Because all this while, I didn't know really what grace
was all about in essence because I was so legalistic, was so self-dependent, but God through His grace made me on the way and that burden was lifted from me and it affected my life, it affected my family and as we went to the seminary I've been sharing with my long-time friend about what God has been doing and this time I happen to be in the seminary and then
now, thank God that God gave us another opportunity that Scott and Jim are here in Nigeria, you know, in this program of grace that we're having with many pastors here. So it is a privilege. I talked to my friend who is an associate professor now, who is the provost of the seminary, where we have about 700
Students so now I was talking about him to him about the grace message and God really put it in his heart he saw the need of coming for the conference and we are here with him for the conference and definitely God is doing the new thing in what God is doing in his life, too So maybe he will have your word to say yeah, so give us a little bit of background about the seminary How long you've been there? How long you've been the provost of the seminary?
Wow, I'm Associate Professor Eliazar Daila Baba. I was born on the May 25, 1967.
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The Lord has helped me thus far to go through my elementary school and to the university level where I majored in missions. So my life as an individual has been a transition. Having had a contact with the Lord in the year 1979 and I had
my second call to Christian ministry in 1984. And again, I've had opportunities to serve.
as a missionary with EMS of ECWA for 17 years. Thereafter, we had a conviction to go back to the church where I served as a resident pastor for 11 years. And thereafter, I served as a district church council chairman for five years.
It was after then I was elected to go to the General Church Council as the Assistant General Secretary of ECWA. We have a membership of over 10 million. And so it was a privilege for me to be part of the team that the Lord was going to use. And I was grateful to the Lord for that. I am married to Rebecca. She comes from Kaduna State and from Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
with it the year 1990 on the 22nd December and the Lord has blessed us with three children Elijah 33, Esther 28 and then Emmanuel who is the last son of the family is 23 and the two of them are graduates and the last one is about to go to university
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Actually, it's been a transition working with the Lord and I've seen God walk in my life in a way I have never expected. My father was a chief cook with the whites that came to the school where I'm heading at this time. He was the chief cook to the missionaries that came from Canada and thereafter, you know, they gave birth to me.
on that same field. So I went back to Kauru ECWA Theological Seminary after 58 years of my life.
This time is marking the third year of my service as the provost of the seminary. The school was established in the year 1938. 1938? Yes, 1938. And it's been a dramatic movement. The Lord has really used this institution to produce manpower for the church and society.
in time past, the military personnel, have had politicians, we've had businessmen and women, we've had individuals that have had a conviction to respond to the call of God upon their lives for ministry. And so they found our institution to be a suitable institution where they can come to find their training, get their training that we keep.
them to be able to go out there and serve God using their various vocations in life based on the calling of God that the Lord has given to them. Now it's been a wonderful thing for me when the Lord took me to Karu as the head of this institution. I began to ask God why are you taking me back to my people at this time? Because all this while I have done ministry outside my people.
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And so he said, I would like you to develop the people before you passed on to Glory. It will surprise you to know that those who are ahead of me are invested less in my life.
I did a lot of things to be able to train myself theologically because the church did not see a reason why they should encourage me to this training that will help the church and society. And so I had to do many jobs to be able to earn my tuition. And because I had a calling and I remained focused on this calling, the Lord kept me and He sustained me.
I was able to finish my Turkish God Training. And now I am back to help my people.
And so what I see in Karu, I see God raising the generals that will serve in these vineyards that is so difficult and so hard and frustrating. But I feel and feel convinced in my heart that God is going to use me to bring and to train and mentor, you know, those who take after me after I'm gone. Now, this is what my
my seniors did not do that feel that you know this is an opportunity for me to you know come up with something that we have to groom the younger people. Now my friend Reverend Simon yako is been a friend. We've been friend for very long time. By age is my senior. But by leadership is my he respond to me.
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He reports to me. Yes, I remain his leader. And again, when we are in the office, I remain his leader. But when we are outside, he remains my senior. And again, I just felt that we began ministry the same day after our training. And we got wedded the same month, the same year.
And so when I was in the office as ECWA Assistant General Secretary, there was a need for someone to come ahead the mission department of ECWA. And ECWA has a very good mission department, very large mission department. And because Simon has served as a missionary who is so passionate, you know, for soul winning and to see how churches can be planted, churches taken to the unreached people groups in Nigeria and beyond Nigeria.
So I recommended him to come as the director of these mission department and Simon did wonderfully well and He kept records that can never be erased and because he did well You know anywhere I go I feel that Simon is someone I need to draw to myself so that we can do ministry together I felt that he has to
just two years to retire, but he needed to come over to Karu Theological Seminary to transfer his experience to the younger people, develop the young people that we serve in this ministry. And that's why I encouraged him to come. And he felt led also to also come. So we are doing ministry together with Simon Yako, and I'm happy to have him around me. He shared with me concerning
So a month or so ago we were together in Malawi and you shared with us, you've been talking with provost about the metanarrative and knowing God and all like that.
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And so tell us a little bit about that, how that has gone. And then when we were coming to have this conference, you said you wanted to invite him and some of the other staff to come and join. tell us about that and how that went and just what you had to do to twist his arm to get him to come to the conference. Really, it is to the glory of God. Because when we were in Malawi, my going to Karu has been an open
for me, especially for all the things I've been learning through Grace Message and how it has helped me personally, helped my family and even in the area of my ministries. I feel that God also taking me to Karu was an opportunity that this opportunity could be extended to the seminary. And from my courses I've discovered that the meta-narrative of the
work of Christ really has served as a tool that people understand they are calling better.
their lives and relationship with God better and then them growing in grace and in knowledge of the Lord. know, mostly people have been teaching legality and legalism. You know, you have to do this, to do this, you have to do this. then, but I definitely saw that the need that this aspect could be related. So I've been sharing with him our ministry. We travel to different places to be able to share this
message with many people. Why not in the school? So I shared with him and I shared about the conference I will be having here in Kaduna and I tell him, look, we need this. So he saw the need and he said, yes, since I have told him this thing, he was going to see how he will organize himself and some of his staff so that they will be live, you know, be present live and also listen to the message and then prepare to
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see how they will extend it to the remaining part of the body of the seminary. So I am really very excited because he's here first hand in order to hear what we have been telling and teaching other people about the new truth about God and how we need to trust and depend upon God and to work with God because that is where we find our rest in the Lord. When we trust him and we depend upon him, we rest and we will not struggle to live Christian life. So I'm happy that
he's here this week with and some of the staff, the management staff that are here who have also been testifying about how this conference has been so rich and for what they have learned from the conference. So definitely I'm very excited and I'm happy that the Provost is here and that he has the passion now that this could be extended to the body of the seminary but to the student and the staff. So the two of you, you came with three other
Three other members, well two other staff members and the wife of one of them who she's also involved in ministry. So we're on day three of the conference and how about if you guys share with folks just what your impressions have been, any benefit, any value you see.
We met together yesterday. You have vision for moving forward in a partnership. Why don't you share a little bit about just your thoughts in all this and just what God's laying on your heart. Yeah, I'm excited. Actually, to hear messages about grace message. Someone has told me much about this.
But first I would like to appreciate the church back in the US for this vision.
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and the mission department, you know, for you to be here and to take on with this vision of this church. We are so grateful. I think there is a change. The narrative is changed. What I heard from the past two days about my theological views, I think there is a change in my understanding, my concept, you
My PhD was major in missions with major in intercultural studies, but my approach has been something different comparing to what I have listened to these past two days. Today they're making the third day.
I think I see a lot of contextualization in the way the stories in the scripture has been narrated and how it's been applied to the church and to individuals and families and communities and society. I think that these new knowledge I have acquired, I cannot keep it alone. And that's why I'm asking if we can pass
not together with this church that you come and spend a week with us.
I will organize the faculty, the staff and the students so that you come and, you know, impact this community with this new knowledge I have acquired. And that is why I felt that there was need for me to come not alone, but to come with some of my staff and they're obliged to come. By the time we met yesterday, I'm sure you listened to them as they spoke, they shared their experiences and they were so,
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excited. I want to believe that I see this relationship going beyond you're just coming this next year so that I give you this platform as an institution and as a church to come and do ministry because the classes of people or the group of people coming for training
They are scattered all over Nigeria, but they come representing their tribes, their classes of, you know, places of work in that institution. So I feel that if you come and give a continuous training, you're reaching Nigeria as a whole. And so I see this relationship, this partnership, you know, extended, not just a one time kind of relationship and partnership, but it's going to be a life.
partnership. And so I have gained a lot. And if we are to talk about what I have benefited, I'm not sure if we'll be able to leave this place in the next two or three hours. And so I'm so, glad and I'm so, excited. This, the lessons actually, I'm not sure if
By the time I go home, my wife will see immediate difference. Because talking about the love of God for humanity, even for what I don't deserve, this is what he designed even before my creation. And if this has been demonstrated to me...
then I need to do the same to my wife, to my children, to my institution, you know, and to the society where I do ministry. And I feel that this impact will not be let down. I'm going to carry it on. I thank you for this opportunity and for those who have taken time to pray, for you to come, those who have taken time to give.
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for you to come and you'd have, you've made time to come. Despite the harsh weather, despite the fact that, you know, you really surprised me. You did what missionaries in the early days did. When they came in the year 1893, 4th December, they dwell among the natives.
They ate the food that the natives were eating.
I see when you came, I thought you were going to be lodged outside this community. But you know, you are lodged together with us here. And you eat, we go to the same place to eat with you. And I have not heard you complaining. You are truly missionaries indeed. We did come by airplane though. We didn't come by sales ship. No, no, no, no, no, know, these early missionaries came flying before they now got to. So again, once again, thank you.
You know, it's a little backstory. When Simon, after Simon left Togo, he became the EMS director.
And then you were that role for four years. Six. Six. years. Yeah. And then after that, went back to Togo. Yeah. And you were, while you were back in Togo, I remember you had shared with us, you had a real heart for Uganda. And then in 2024, we got the opportunity to go around to the different EMS fields, which Uganda is not one of them, but because of your heart for Uganda and your connection with
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with Bishop Emmanuel there, you got a big Knowing God conference set up and we went to Uganda and met Samuel and then last January went back to Uganda, had two more giant conferences in different locations. But when you told us that you were gonna be leaving Togo and coming to a seminary,
We really thought you were going to go to Uganda. we were honestly, the truth be told, we were disappointed. We were really hoping you were going to go to Uganda. Just because the field was so big and these guys needed to be discipled and there was just so many people and there was just such hunger. And we're like, oh, to be stuck away in a seminary somewhere. But to come here and meet provost and the others
to hear of just the potential for impact that that seminary has. You were talking 700 students. yeah. And just to be running as long as it has and to be the potential to have the influence that you have on politicians and businessmen and along with pastors and...
Jim and I, we've come full circle. We realized God was really in this. And like it says in Proverbs, man makes his plans, but God directs his steps. And so we're so thankful that God led you there. We're super excited about this.
potential partnering together and coming next year to spend a week teaching the students and the staff through the Meta-Narrative and knowing God and just really super excited about that. But I just wanted to tell you guys the truth here while we're on record. But we really see God's hand in this. Thank you very much. Definitely. I am just excited. One good thing that Grace Message has taught me.
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whatsoever is the will of God for me, there is peace. So going to the seminary, we had the peace. We prayed with my wife and we trusted the Lord for the next step. Even our thoughts for Uganda.
You know, we wanted to go to Uganda as missionaries and at all costs, we were still trusting God to go to Uganda. the way God answered it, God answered it in a different perspective. Our purpose of going to Uganda was to go to Uganda and start churches, know, to start a church there. But the way God changed the narrative that you accepted for us to go to Uganda was a fulfillment in my heart. Instead of going to stay to plant a church, now God gave us
opportunity that we reach as many pastors as we could not reach. If I was to be in Uganda, I would not do that. But the opportunity and the ground, you know, the privilege that God gave to you two to accept us going to Uganda and then finding Kabonga and then Samuel and even Kabonga, took the issue, you know, beyond what I can have. He's still going, teaching about grace message even though we were
thinking that he would take it easy so that we move along but the thing he was
Overwhelmed. Yeah, and he's teaching everywhere. He's going is teaching grace message now and And I just felt anyway, at least the light has been enlightened in that place Even if I don't return back to Uganda at least people have understood the grace message and they've understood The love of God and the need for them to trust in the Lord Yeah, so coming to Karu to is I I didn't just want to be there for being sick Yeah, so it's one of the areas that I'm really very
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excited seeing the Provost now having the boarding and what he has gained in it and how he wants this thing to continue. And the seminary setting, this will continue because different people will keep on coming. Imagine what will happen in the next years to come. They are coming, learning this, returning back, teaching them to their families, teaching them to different kinds of people and people coming from different facets of life.
police, the immigration, the military, the Air Force, different people are coming and even people, other people who wants to continue their studies too, you know, because they want to leave the school to the doctoral level. So if the foundation is really established, that we don't know how far this could go. So it is a privilege for me and thank you for giving me, for allowing God to use you to give me that privilege. I'm really satisfied.
My wife is happy for me being in Karu. She is really having peace and she is really excited that I'm there. Receiving the testimonies from what is happening in my classes with the students, it is just God. Thank you very So Provost, would be some of the main prayer requests that you would desire our church to be praying for for you all in the seminary?
Where one of it is that we continue to grow in the grace of God and in the knowledge of the Lord, both as faculty, staff, and students. Two, we are believing God that the seminary will impact the community more than before.
because we can be located in that strategic place and yet we are not making any spiritual impact. And that's why I feel that your coming is going to add value.
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you know, to us as a seminary. And this value is going to be extended to the community where the seminary is located. Number three, we are trusting the Lord to see how, you know, the physical structures can be developed. We have, you know, staff quarters to develop.
We have student accommodations to develop. We have chapel, you know, where students can go and worship. Where we are is a little bit small compared to the number of students. Where we can go and worship God. And also that we remain in a secured place where...
you know, pastors on training and pastors who are already in ministry when they come that our lives will not be threatened anymore because of issues of insecurity in Nigeria. Our prayer is that we remain focused, secured so that we can meditate and concentrate instead in the word of God. We have never had attack from anywhere within that community. So our prayer is that we will continue to enjoy this
security from the Lord. These are the major prayer points I feel that we have and if the church can continue to pray with us and for us, we'll be very excited and be glad. Thank you.
Well, I think that'll wrap up this episode of Global Church Podcast. And I want to thank you both for just taking the time to share with our church and share the testimonies of the faithfulness of God in your lives and in your ministry and just the way that God in your later years has brought you both back together again and just the impact that you're having together. And it's an amazing, encouraging testimony.
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And so thank you all for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode. Thank you.