9
I. O.
I am not a member of the Covenant Nation but I have attended WAFBEC from the beginning and every year since then. I have received a lot of blessings from God through this conference but the one for me that is the most impactful was in the very first WAFBEC.
I remember when I watched the TV advertisement for the programme. I was home, no work and I just thought to myself, “I can attend this programme, I’m not doing anything currently and I would definitely learn something from the teachings”. That was all the expectation I had, it’s a Christian conference, I’m born again and I have the time, that was all the thought I gave to it.
A little background, I was experiencing spiritual dryness at this time from falling into sin and thought that there was no way I could be forgiven by God. I believed my sin was unique all by itself and there was no one who I had seen evidence of in the bible that committed this sin and was forgiven. This bothered my thoughts and translated into my spiritual life. I didn’t think I was worth anything good happening to me, that I was going to live a substandard life. Worship, prayer and bible reading times left me empty unlike my earlier experiences as a Christian. So when the WAFBEC advertisement came on, I thought okay, I’d try this, maybe, just maybe there might be something there.
So I began the conference, it was going good. My plan was to attend just the morning and afternoon sessions leaving out the evening sessions. I followed my plan for 2 days and then ran into a friend on the 3rd day and during one of the breaks we were talking about how wonderful the programme had been and I mentioned I was not attending the evening sessions and she looked horrified and said I was missing out a lot. She pleaded with me to make sure to attend it that it was worth the wait. I promised her I would from the next day. All I can say is thank God for planting her at the conference and making us run into one another because the first evening session I attended was a blessing, and I made sure to attend the whole day from then on.
On one of the morning sessions close to the end of the conference, Rev. Scott Webb was ministering and while he was, the Holy Spirit ministered to me in the sweetest ways. He gave me an example of someone in the bible who God loved and committed the same sin I did and was forgiven. I felt such a relief after I heard His voice, I was lighter and free, I cried and laughed at the same time. The message from Rev. Webb was not about sin or forgiveness but that was when I received the word. What God began with this ministration, He concluded on the Holy Ghost service on Friday with Rev. Webb again. I was so overwhelmed by His presence that night and left a different person.
I had no idea how much had changed that night until I was at my church for the Sunday service following the conference. As usual, service begins with worship and without even realising it, I was worshipping God in Spirit just like before, it felt like I was literally seeing Heaven and was in His presence. The worship session was almost over before I even realised what had happened. God had completely restored me to Himself again, my heart was filled with joy. Till date, worship is always a beautiful experience for me and I am so grateful for that.
At the next WAFBEC, I was still out of work and made plans to attend but I felt sick in the days leading to it. It was a funny kind of sickness and to date I am not sure what it was. No fever, no indication of any usual symptoms, just weakness of the body, it felt like the littlest thing I did, took up all of my strength. So I decided I would not attend. When the same friend I ran into the previous year did not see me at the conference, she called to ask and I told her I was sick and broke and couldn’t attend. She pressured me again and said I should try my best and that she would help me with some cash. I couldn’t refuse her and so the next day I picked myself up with all the strength I could muster and made it to the conference. I met her and we enjoyed the service together. On my way home that very day I realised at some point I wasn’t weak again, strength had come into my body and no prayers or ministrations was done that day for the sick, I didn’t even pray for healing. God healed me while I was just sitting and listening to His word and partaking in praise and worship. I didn’t feel the weakness again for the rest of the programme and even afterwards.
I began working in June 2014 but made it a duty to keep attending WAFBEC yearly, I would take my leave to coincide with the programme dates. Sometimes I couldn’t take leave for all the days but would make sure I am physically present at the last 2 or 3 days and then purchase the messages for all I missed. I just concluded my Masters outside the country which I prayed for and confessed during the 2019 conference. Dr. Cindy Trimm had asked us to do an exercise where we wrote down 5 things we wanted to achieve that year and go round and partner with someone and pray about each item. Going for my Masters was one of them and in September 2019, I left to begin the programme.
This and many more are the blessings I have received from God through the WAFBEC conference, I joined online in 2020 and plan to do so as well come January 2021. God bless you for all that you do and the team that works tirelessly with you to bring us this God sent programme.