CHARACTER SKETCH 12: PASTOR SOKOYA

I'd like to introduce you to the next character of my first unwritten novel, 'Redemption - Ideal Life'. I hope you find him interesting.

A gentle and spiritual man, Olu Sokoya had achieved his life long dream of becoming a pastor. He’d moved from Lagos to London together with his wife and children. Now his focus is on expanding his ministry and bringing more souls to the Lord. His unselfish and down-to-earth nature ensured he was held in great affection by all who met him. A slim and unassuming man, his heart was good as gold. He led without seeming to do so, always encouraging his associate pastors to play a greater role in the church.

His congregation loved his effervescent and infectious style. He was quite modern in his approach to ministry and was good at putting people at ease. He had the knack of getting people to open up to him and he was always willing to help.

When Vanessa Edwards turned up at his church, asking for help in salvaging her marriage, Pastor Sokoya resolved to do just that with God’s help. He was in no doubt as to the size of the task as he believed Larry had been attacked by the Devil himself. He was pleased that God had given him this challenge to hone his counselling and mediation skills.

He gained Larry’s trust through long distance telephone conversations between London and Freetown. As Frank was in a confused state , he was able to reassure him and convince him he was better off in London with his family. He ultimately succeeded in bringing Larry back to London. Although Frank did not move back into the marital home, Pastor Sokoya was more confident that would change with time. He however could not imagine the size of the task he faced in reconciling Larry and Vanessa and quickly realised this was one of the greatest challenges he'd ever faced as Larry was in love with someone else.

Pastor Sokoya faced other challenges. His church was held in a community centre building which increasingly became inappropriate as his ministry grew. He needed to move to better facilities, which meant he had to foot the bill as the ministry was not yet strong enough to meet the expenses.

He had worked too hard to settle for less. So he put the comfort of his family at risk by making financial decisions which would create short term pain. He believed God would convert that to long term gain. His sacrifices touched the heart of his congregation, who went to extraordinary lengths to help him achieve the dream of a bigger church. The congregation were helping to build their church but they were also convinced they were helping a man whom they held in great esteem and reverence.

Pastor was pleased with his achievements at the end of the story. He had achieved his ambition of moving to a bigger church and in his opinion he was close to passing God’s test in counselling and mediation with the Almighty’s help of course.