The story of how God called the Presiding Bishop of New Birth Ministries Inc, Bishop Francis Chijioke Anunobi into ministry is one of confounding story that speaks of the magnanimity of God to choose his vessels irrespective of their background. The scriptures is awash with many instances of how God spotted out people of sometimes questionable characters for his service in an unusual manner and endowed them with an unusual grace to do unusual exploits in ministry. A major instance was how God arrested the once belligerent persecutor of the apostles, Saul on the road to Damascus, converted him to Paul and then empowered him with an unusual grace for unusual exploits in ministry as a preacher of the same gospel that he was formerly persecuting the apostles of Jesus Christ for preaching.
And just like Apostle Paul in the Bible, God also “arrested” a traditional Red cap Chief Francis Chijioke Anunobi, an acclaimed traditionalist, right inside the comfort of his bedroom to become a minister of the gospel, and then endowed him with an unusual unction that many have noted for speedy explosion in life.
“It was in 1996 while I was in my bedroom that I had encounter with Jesus Christ. Then, I was not even a nominal Christian that goes to church every Sunday. I was into traditional religion where my family was a major player. That particular encounter changed mt life. After the encounter I traveled to my town Ikwerre and called all the traditional title holders, the Eze-Nnozo group of which I was a frontline and high profile member and told them that I want to serve the Almighty God, and that I wouldn’t want to be part of them any longer,” Bishop Anunobi recalled his rebirth encounter in an interview with Christian Benefits.
Again, just like Apostle Paul in the Bible instantly developed a great passion and zeal for the preaching of the gospel abroad shortly after his conversion, Anunobi, without any formal training in theology and ministerial experience, barely two months after his encounter with Christ, also became very passionate and zealous for the gospel. He launched into the streets, sharing with other people the new life he had found in Jesus Christ despite his high profile traditional status as renowned and unrepentant traditionalist and a well known socialite in Nigeria and abroad.
Bishop Anunobi recounts the experience of his instant passion for soul winning thus: “The moment I received the grace of salvation and the enablement to accept it barely two months after that encounter we started an evangelistic outreach fellowship right inside my parlour with the pastor that preached to me. Oh my God it was a wonderful experience! When people saw me at the bus stop preaching the gospel they thought I was crazy. My passion for evangelism was so great that it was like I was trying to recover the lost years when I was in the world. We had centres of evangelistic outreach spread in Ikeja on Adeniyi Jones, Maryland and several open spaces in Ikeja. It was a wonderful experience,” the cleric recalled.
He subsequently took the good news of his new birth to his kinsmen at Ikwerre where he preached at a powerful 3-day crusade in the town to the consternation of his former members of the traditional title holders, the Eze Nnozo group.
By the following yearn 1998 it became obvious that the new birth Rt. Rev. Chijioke Anunobi has renounced forever his Red cap insignia of office as a traditional high chief to adorn the cassock of priesthood as a servant of God when the highly revered Pastor E.A Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God eventually inaugurated the church arm of the outreach ministry, New Birth Ministries International Inc.
And Like a wild wind in a harmatan season, shortly after the inauguration, the nascent church experienced unprecedented explosion in numerical strength. And in order for other ministers and ministries to tap into the grace of the young church and catch the fire of speedy explosion that God graces New Birth Ministries Int’l Inc, God through the set man, Bishop Francis Anunobi, created a platform called International Gospel Ministers Association (IGMA); a network fellowship of ministers of God with thirst and yearning for apostolic unction for global explosion.
Bishop Francis Anunobi’s grace for explosion was soon spotted globally in 2006 at Texas, USA, when he encountered Apostle & Rev. Mrs. Marcus Triplet, the founders of Global Apostolic Network (GAN), and the Tripletts gave him the mandate to establish a chapter of the global ministerial network in Nigeria. And within two years of his leadership as National President of Global Apostolic Network (Nigeria) Anunobi brought his peculiar grace of speedy explosion to bear upon Nigerian preachers, who are members of the global network and with unprecedented spread of the network in Nigeria with the creation of zones and chapters of the network in several states in the country, including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo Cross Rivers, Edo and Delta among other states in Nigeria