A former African chiefturned- missionary who gave up everything to follow Jesus Christ will be in town this weekend for fellowship, to share his testimony and to give information about his ministry.
On Saturday, Nov. 18, Memorial Baptist Church of Taylor invites the community to hear the personal account of Joseph Akakpo, a former Togolese chief who survived near poisonings and other attempts on his life after converting to Christianity in 1983 at age 23. He has since spent decades evangelizing and in youth ministry in two African nations. Togo is a nation in West Africa, also known as the Togolese Republic.
“Instead of dying, I am alive, and I am leading souls to heaven,” said Akakpo in a recent interview. “All those people who were chiefs in my time, all died … And I’m the only one alive now.
What’s the difference? Christ.”
Memorial Baptist’s Lead Pastor John Woods, who has known Akakpo and partnered with his ministry since 2006, said this visit was an important opportunity not only for his church, but also the wider Christian community in Taylor.
“I honestly think not enough churches are aware of the importance of mission work around the world,” Woods said.
“They don’t see and hear about it a lot. And so, this gives them kind of the hands and the face and the voice of someone who is actually there in a thirdworld country doing the work, reaching people for Christ, training parents, working with families, helping churches, helping pastors. It’s not just something they see in a picture or on the TV. It’s somebody that is a visual representation that this work is real.”
Courtesy photos
In addition to pastoring in Togo, Akakpo also served for more than a decade in the central African nation of Cameroon through AWANA, an international youth ministry, strategically reaching parents through close relationships with their kids.
“(The parents) They think, ‘Someone loves my children,’” Akakpo said. “When the children come to Awana, we share the gospel and the attitude of the child changes, positively, that they show obedience ... A lot of parents came to Christ because of that.”
These days, as part of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism and Live Global, Akakpo has returned to Togo to serve, alongside his wife Francisca Akakpo, in leading and strengthening youth and parent ministries in different local churches and engaging in various service projects, including building a church in an unreached community and digging a well to provide them with clean drinking water.
“Two weeks ago, we baptized 15 people,” Akakpo said.
Woods said this is an exciting opportunity for people to learn more about Akakpo’s missionary work and support his efforts.
“I want as many people as possible to be exposed to this because honestly the more people that hear and see his ministry, the greater the opportunity for him to have support monetarily, prayer support, people that will pray for them and encourage them,” Woods said. “His ministry is totally based on love-offering type of support, so the more people that hear, the more people who can be involved.”
For more information, go to j.akakpo@liveglobal. org.
Memorial Baptist Lead Pastor John Woods and Pastor Joesph Akakpo, who have known each other since 2006, reunite on a mission trip to Togo.
Pastor Joesph Akakpo, a missionary in Africa, will be presenting his testimony this weekend at Memorial Baptist Church.
