Church Crawler duties are all fun and games when all you have to do is walk into a posh, prim and proper, AC filled, Queens English speaking church in the heart of the “rich” branch of Lagos. But, when confronted with a…. Never mind. Let’s focus on Church Crawler.

It would be nice to state at this point like we do all the time, that Church Crawler isn’t out to pull down any church/denomination. We are just reflecting the vibe and culture of churches in a very relatable and down to earth manner.

To the crux of the matter, Church crawler visited a church popularly known as MFM (Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries) headed worldwide by Dr D. K. Olukoya. The last time we wrote anything about church crawler on this page, it was as regards the surprising inclusion of worship concerts in their events. Anyone who is familiar with Mountain of Fire Ministries knows that organising a worship concerts and hosting an act like Frank Edwards is a great feat. Hence my enthusiasm to visiting the church was understandable. But, it wasn’t as I thought. Let’s just conclude that the wind of change (pun intended) had not gotten to that branch yet.

The praise and worship session was cool, except that they sang songs from way back. There were a few songs I knew and there were some I didn’t know of at all but, what can a poor Hillsong and Bethel music addict like me do, I just followed the vibe.

The multiculturalism of the church was really impressive. The church had a mix of Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa attendants and the praise team did justice to the mix by ensuring that no tribe was left out from the playlist. I couldn’t help but notice a few things though.

First, the berets of the music ministers covered the whole of their head. No comments about that though. Then, everybody seemed to be on a dose of extra energy.

The prayer session was right after the praise and worship that lasted for forever. It was then I knew I was in for it. We fought, killed, destroyed, damaged and whatever you can think of. Fam! Fall down and die is so real. At first, I stood still in my Pentecostal fashion just “worshipping the Lord”. 

Fast forward from that moment to the word and I almost felt at home. Although there might have been a few things I did not agree with, the delivery of the word was still on point. I am not sure whether it is a weekly occurrence at that branch or not, but we watched a televised broadcast of the General Overseer’s sermon during the word.

I forgot! Testimony time. The experience of the prayer session made my brain skip that part. It was fun. The typical Nigerian culture of sharing testimonies in details from the very minute miracle to the one I felt was exaggerated. We thanked God for them all and also prayed for the testifiers.

I didn’t even give myself the time to think about the first timers call. I shoved it off and even shook hands with those who signified that it was their first time at Mountain of Fire. Welcome to the club, fam!

I left the church with 3 things. A strong desire to return to my Hillsong and Bethel Music, a passion to study my bible more and a headache.

Till I attend that church and Church Crawler crawls into your church, better be prepared, “for the hour cometh…

Editor