Trip to Ghana

My recent trip to South Africa and Ghana went very well! I left for South Africa on Thursday, April 27, 2006 from New York and arrived in Cape Town, SA on the 28th.

I was able to attend a birthday party with close friends, do some ministry in Cape Town and then was off to Johannesburg to catch a flight to Accra, Ghana on the 4th of May.

The flight to Ghana was long but not as long as the usual transatlantic and transAfrica twenty-hour flight. Leaving Jo'burg we landed in Naroibi, Kenya where we had to wait six hours to catch a connecting flight to Accra on Kenya Airways.

Day 1   I arrived in Accra, Ghana on the 5th of May and was greeted at the Kotoka International Airport by an enthusiastic, smiling entourage of Ghanians wecolming me to their hot/humid and very beautiful country.

Ghana is a land of a few big cities and many villages. Accra is a very large and busy city which has a metropolitan population of almost four million souls. It is a bustling city with many street hawkers, western tourists and ordinary citizens going about their daily routine of life.

From the airport I was taken to my hotel which was located in the Osu area of Accra. The Osu area has many resturants, street vendors, hotels and retail stores. I liked the area very much. This district is teeming with people day and night.

Day 2    On Saturday Glad Tidings Church Fellowship, led by the wonderful and able Pastor Ezekiel Opoku, held an evening worship service where I was the guest preacher. I preached a message the Holy Spirit had given me which was entitled, "How to be Blessed". The people (about 100 or so), were eager to know how to receive the blessings of God into their lives. It was a powerful service indeed!

Day 3    Today we travelled out of Accra and though many villages to visit the region known as the "Gold Coast" of Ghana. The Gold Coast is where a few historic castles are, which were used in colonial times to hold captured slaves before being shipped off to North and South America. To say the least it was a moving experience for me and I am very grateful to have seen such a sight and learn more about the atrocities of the slave trade. I also thoroughly enjoyed the sights of the villages to and from the trip to the Gold Coast. Village life in Africa is quite different from anything we experience in the West. The people are very poor but they truly seem to be more happy than people in the USA.

Day 4   Today the Glad Tidings Church of Ghana held an outdoor worship service at an Accra park. Both Pastor Ezekiel and I spoke to the people concerning the things of God. I spoke about revelation of who Jesus is and then proceeded to lay hands on all the people and anoint the pastor and his support team. The Glad Tidings church in Ghana was birthed that day. It transitioned from being a 'fellowship' to a committed body of believers!

Day 5   Today was my final day in Ghana. Before we all left for the airport, I prayed with Pastor Ezekiel and exhorted him to remain faithful in the work of the Lord and assured him of our help in building the work of the Lord in Ghana. We aslo had lunch together with two of the church elders and then drove to the airport where they saw me off to begin my 15,000 mile flight home.

The mission to Ghana was a real blessing! The people were so friendly and genuinely recieved me and the ministry of Glad Tidings. I love Ghana and hope to return soon. Please pray for this missionary advance and support this great work in the nation of Ghana. Will you?

Pastor Brian

Comments

[ezekiel Opoku]

Hi, i am pastor Ezekiel,{Ghana} We thank the almighty so much God for such a rewarding time with The apostle of God {Pastor Brian}. The whole congregation of the Glad Tidings Ministies International {Ghana} has it on their lips how they were blessed by God through his servant.

They all eagerly are expecting the next time in the near future to sit at his feet to listen and be blessed.

For me, being with Pastor Brian for a short while has served as an eye opener in my walk with God.

[Scott Newman]

I am personally grateful for being used to link up two great men for the furtherance of the Gospel. God is moving by His spirit, through His faithful sons to bring about change of the knowledge and the power of the scriptures. Liberation only comes through the free gift of salvation to a people who long to see the risen Christ. Thank you Pastor Brian for being obedient to the call, the greatest call of all, to preach this Gospel of hope to the hopeless unto the nations.