My Dream

I love sharing my faith at Babcock University, where I study law. Many of the students here are not Christian, and I frequently have opportunities to talk with them about Jesus. In fact, I had an opportunity a few days ago with a close friend whom I’ve been praying for.

I was on my way to the cafeteria when my friend Confidence* ran up beside me.

“Look at you,” he said, poking me with his pen. “You’re always going around like you’re so happy to be an Adventist.”

“I am really happy to be an Adventist,” I replied, curious as to where this conversation might lead.

“Tell me why.”

“Well, for one, I love the Sabbath.”

“And why do you believe in the Sabbath?” he inquired.

As I thought for a moment about how best to respond, Confidence tapped his foot impatiently. “Time’s up, Jemimah. What’s the word?”

“The Bible tells us that Jesus worshiped on Sabbath. As Christians, we’re supposed to follow His example in everything, right?”

Confidence looked at me through narrowed eyes. “Interesting,” he replied. “I’ll have to give that some thought.”

A few days later, Confidence and I were sitting together in our Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ class. When the teacher mentioned the Sabbath, Confidence perked up. He became animatedly involved in the discussion, using the very words I had when I explained why I believed Sabbath was God’s holy day. He’s talking like he really believes this, I thought. Does he really mean it?

Two weeks before the start of summer break, Confidence told me that he wanted to be baptized and become a Seventh-day Adventist. I laughed at first because I didn’t believe him. “That’s not possible!”

“Yes, it is possible,” he replied. “And the reason that I’ve come to this decision is because of your witness. You never wavered. You knew why you believed what you believed, and you weren’t afraid to share it.”

I was so happy for Confidence and humbled that God had been able to use me to touch his heart.

Despite being raised an Adventist, I had never been that serious about my relationship with Christ. But that began to change when I became involved with the Adventist Youth Ministry (AYM) here at Babcock. For the first time in my life I spent time in daily Bible study and prayer.

Last year, a member of the AYM spoke at our Youth Week of Prayer. I don’t remember what he said exactly, but it touched me deeply. I bowed my head and cried. He said, “There is someone here today who’s struggling,” and he proceeded to talk about exactly what I’d been going through. “Jesus wants you to give your life to Him,” he invited. I gave my heart to Jesus that day, and it’s made such an incredible difference in my life.

Helping me commit my life to Christ is one way the AYM has been a blessing to me. It’s also given me an opportunity to give back through wholistic ministry on our campus and to our community.

I am so excited about the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering project for Babcock University this quarter. Our AYM members currently don’t have a permanent place to meet for Sabbath School. We gather in small classrooms if they’re available or outside under the trees, which is a problem if it rains. We’ve shared our faith with the youth in town and want to invite them to attend our programs, but there isn’t room for them.

The new youth center will serve as our church home and a place where we can receive training in Christian growth and outreach. It will have room for our community friends and help us reach more people for Jesus than ever before.

I have this dream that one day these children from town will come to our new church and worship with us. They’ll say, “This thing that I believe in is real. I can see it in the church, in the lives of the people.”

I want to encourage you to generously support this project. I’ll be very happy to see my dream come true.

* Name has been changed.

Mission Message

Hello and happy Sabbath! This is Professor Ademola Tayo, the president of Babcock University. Our Adventist presence is small in Nigeria, but we have a fantastic opportunity to build the church by reaching the many non-Adventist students on our campus. Our Adventist Youth Ministry members are central to this outreach because they host almost all of our spiritual programs on campus. We urgently need a multipurpose youth center in which we can train our youth in planning and participating in worship and leading others to Christ. Please pray for our mission at Babcock University and generously support the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering projects. Thank you!