Chapter 20 - Can We Really Make This Happen?

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With

men this is impossible; but with God all things are
possible.”

—Matthew 19:26

The church in Aboisso grew, and we soon

needed a church building of our own. Everyone
agreed but said it would be impossible to construct a
building before the beginning of rainy season. Two
major obstacles lay in our way. First, we had no land.
Secondly, it was only ten days before rainy season
set in, and that would mean four whole months of
nothing but rain, rain, and more rain.
    In spite of the obvious difficulties, everybody
agreed we should move forward by faith, and all
agreed to help. The assistant chief immediately
said he knew about a parcel of land that he could
get from the mayor. “I will go see him today, right
after the service,” he promised. The mason said he
could be ready to start work in the morning if we
could obtain permission to build on the land. The
carpenter said he would make himself available as
soon as the mason finished his work.
    With the plans already taking shape, we headed
off to see the mayor, a good friend of the assistant
chief. The mayor offered us a warm soft drink, and
we asked about the land. He drew up a paper giving
us the land and granting us permission to build on it.
We left rejoicing in the Lord!
    The very next morning we began the project. The
mason began digging the foundation even while the
land was being cleared. Some other men and I went
to pick up cement block, sand, cement, and gravel,
using a Volkswagen van and a small trailer. We
went first to the block factory, about an hour away,
and filled the trailer with block. However, when
we started the little four-cylinder van, it would not
budge an inch. The load was too much for such a
small vehicle. We had to unload half the block
before we could get underway, thus necessitating
two trips.
    After unloading all the block at the construction
site, we had to obtain the sand and gravel. We
loaded the sand by shoveling it up from the sides
of the road. It was the most perfect sand I have
ever seen. We loaded that little trailer until it could
hold no more. About halfway back to the construction
site, the trailer gave way with a broken axle.
We unloaded the sand and headed off to see John,
a welder. At that time, John was a member of the
church, but later he became pastor. He installed a
larger axle on the trailer to correct the problem. This
enabled us to carry a full load in the trailer, even all
the gravel we needed. The mason finished his work,
and it was time for the carpenter to begin.
    But now the devil reared his head. The leader of
one of the other churches in Aboisso came to see
me and said, “We want to have a meeting with you
and the men of your church tomorrow.” I told him
we would be there. The next day we arrived at the
meeting to find all the pastors of the other churches
in and around Aboisso present. I asked why we had
been called to this meeting, and the spokesman for
the group stated, “We want you and your church out
of town.” I was taken aback, and the men of the
church was speechless.
    Why do these people oppose our church? I did
not know the answer, but I knew one thing and I
spoke it out. “I do not know why you do not want
us in town,” I began, “but I know this for certain
that God has called me here to preach the gospel,
the president has given us permission to be here, the
mayor has given us the land for our church and the
permission to build it, and that the assistant chief
has granted us permission to be here. I believe by
God’s grace we will stay! Meeting adjourned!” We
got up and left, continued with the construction of
the Lord’s church, and never heard another word
from those people.
    We had already treated the wood needed for construction
with twenty-five gallons of termite poison.
The carpenter and his helper then set to work, and
in a few days, they were ready for the roof to go on,
which did not take long. It was now the tenth day
of construction, and we stood on the road looking
at what God had accomplished in such a short span
of time. It was Saturday, and the next day we would
have our first service in our own building, built by
our own hands, where we would thank the Lord
who had supplied all the material and strength to
finish the task in only ten days.
    The church was filled to the limit on Sunday
morning. People were standing everywhere, even
in front of the church outdoors. We began the service
with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for
this-His new place of worship. We sang heartfelt
songs of praise, and what a great service we had!
I preached the Word of God, and John translated
into the Twi language, which was spoken by all the
Ghanaian members of our church.
    Halfway through the sermon, the rain began to
pour. The people outside ran in for cover. It rained
so hard that I had to stop preaching because neither I
nor anyone else could hear above the rain pounding
on the tin roof. We had not yet experienced a rainy
season in Africa, and boy, did it rain! It poured for
almost an hour before we could continue with the
service.
Ten days of construction and on the eleventh
day, right on target, the rain came like a flood. The
Lord reminded us on that day that all things are possible
with Him.

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)