The 27th of January every year marks a special day in the life of the General Overseer of Faith Revival Ministry World Outreach aka Victory Christian Church, Apostle Nkechi Anayo-Iloputaife, which is her birthday.

And for the past five years, she has been marking the occasion by spending time with a particular section of the less privileged and orphans.

Each year she chooses an orphanage to spend her birthday. This year, Apostle Nkechi who is simply called mum by over 10,000 worshipers both within and outside Nigeria, was at the Arrows of God Orphanage, Lagos, in the company of some church members.

With lots of activities and funfair, the occasion turned out to be a celebration/carnival of some sort, for the children at the orphanage.

There were food, gifts, dancing and lots of activities that marked her presence at the orphanage after which she spent time praying over the lives of the children, prophesying greatness into their future. It is very rare to see someone with such a busy schedule and the responsibilities attached to her office spend so much time in such a relaxed mood, interacting with the children and staff alike, one would be tempted to believe she would rather be there with these children than anywhere else.

To this she said, “You should invest in a life and always strive to be part of something bigger than you, that is what Church is all about”. She was described by her church members who spoke during the celebration, “as a unique leader that has always taken up the course of the less privileged as her own. She was married to the late founder of Victory Christian Church, Bishop Harford Iloputaife, who coincidentally, the church is celebrating the 25thanniversary of his passing this February. Apostle Nkechi has truly lived a life of service as she has dedicated most of her time and resources to giving back despite the pressures of the ministry.

Leadership was entrusted on her suddenly with the untimely death of her husband yet, she has led the ministry to the success we are seeing over the past 25 years. Being a woman in a male-dominated sector, her effort is nothing short of remarkable.”

With the way Apostle Nkechi has structured the ministry since the death of her husband the founder, one can see her passion for the less privileged, especially children. She has over the years provided scholarships to no fewer than 20 children. According to her, “Money should never be the reason for a child not to go to school”. These children are mostly children of widows for which she has established a unique program she calls “Jesus Ladies”.

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The program is dedicated to helping widows overcome the challenges of living and raising their children after the death of their husband, without the support of family members. She has setup vocational and business training for them and provided finance for small business startups. Over the years, ‘Jesus Ladies’ has assisted over 5,000 women and children in various capacities.

Another unique initiative was the creation of a program called “Shalom Shop”. This is a shop where you can purchase anything from food, clothes, shoes, electronics etc without money. The shop also provides school items such as books and writing materials, and is funded by Apostle Nkechi and runs on the back of donations from church members. It has been in existence for over 7 years and is now being replicated by other churches and NGO’s.

“No family should go to bed hungry”, Apostle Nkechi said on the essence of the shop. The Shalom Shop for the less privileged is open every month at Victory Christian Church but is currently open  every Sunday in February as part of the celebration for the 25thanniversary of the late bishop and founder of the ministry.

Watching Apostle Nkechi with the children at the orphanage, one would see a different kind of leader, compassionate, down to earth, sharing jokes and simply having fun. It was her day and she chose to leave the title of General Overseer just to be a Grandma, Mum, Big Aunty and Friend to these children; an experience the children will surely never forget.

Vanguard