Our community service is aimed at winning souls the Jesus way-Julius Bamibe (Texas)

Pastor Julius Bamibe is Nigerian Servant Leader of Comforter Christian Centre International, Texas, USA; a mission with focus on impacting local communities across the globe; including Nigeria, with free distributions of foods, clothing, shoes, cares, empowerment, vocational training, adoption, sponsorship and health delivery services etc. Pastor Bamibe, a physiotherapist, presently in Nigeria with his lovely wife, Jizell and adorable son, Josiah, takes Christian Benefits through the mission, the impacts and the Igando (Lagos) facilities of the Texas-based community-focused missionary church. Excerpts.

Please, can we meet you sir?

I’m Pastor Julius Bamibe from Ibadan, Oyo state. We are located in Texas, United States. We were in New York City for about 30 years before the Lord moved us to Texas to start a new mission work. We have been in Texas for a couple of years now.

Briefly share with us the mission of Comforter Christian Centre, Texas, U.S.A

One of the focuses of Comforter Christian Centre is impacting local communities through the love of Jesus Christ. Basically, we look at meeting the basic needs of the people in specific communities. What we used to do before now was shipping containers of goods that include foods, clothing, shoes and school supplies etc to Nigeria for pastors to distribute them to the people in their local communities.

Pastor Julius & Mrs. Jizell Bamibe on mission to Lagos, Nigeria

How long has the mission been shipping goods to impact local communities?

We are about 30 years of doing this mission. We are doing the same mission work in the United States. If you visit us on Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms you will find our activities and the impacts the Lord is making through us in local communities. We give out a lot of trailer loads/truck loads of free foods and other material supplies to local communities in the United States. We ensure we meet the needs of the locals. Whatever needs they come to church for, we meet those needs. We are there to direct them, refocus them and help them gain grounds.

What is the motivation of the mission’s free supplies to local communities?

The motivation is salvation. It may be difficult to reach someone’s heart without first meeting the person’s physical needs. The natural is first before the spiritual. If you cannot meet the natural or physical needs of people, it will be difficult to meet their spiritual needs. If people come to you in the name of I’m hungry; I don’t have a place to sleep, my children are hungry or I’m a widow, and you are not helping those categories of people but just want them to believe in Jesus; they may follow you emotionally but their hearts would not be there. Our purpose is to win souls into the kingdom of God the Jesus way. Jesus Christ did not come to the world to share bread and fish. But when the need arose he met the need. And that need that he met caused more people to follow him. That is the method that we use to impact various communities. We go to other countries but Nigeria is our major heartbeat.

Tell us the impact of the distribution of goods to Nigerian local communities

When we visited Nigeria, we discovered that pastors through whom we shared the goods to their communities were selling the goods to their members, communities and marketers. I found out from a lady that she purchased the clothing and knickers her children were wearing from her pastor’s wife. When I asked the pastor, he said he sold the goods to fund his church. Such pastors did not have a penny input in the consignment. We paid their shipment and clearing. All they have to do is pick up the goods and share them to the people in their respective local communities

Comforter Christian Center Int’l (Texas, USA) consignment on mission to Lagos, Nigeria

Who are the major targets of the mission’s foods and other material supplies?

We target the old people as we call them in Nigeria. We call them senior citizens in the United States. We target widows of three different categories. We have a list of widows in Nigeria that we credit their accounts monthly. There is a category of widows whose husbands died at a very young age; leaving behind for them little kids. Aside empowering such widows we adopt some of their kids and bring some of them to the U.S to school. There is a category of widows who have no child for their late husband and are rejected by their late husband’s family because they had no child. We empower and encourage them to move on. The third category is very old widows whose children have grown, gone their ways and never looked back. We also target the handicapped and the physically challenged who suffer shame, neglect and rejection by the society; even from their parents and family relatives.

Clothing and shoes for distribution to local communities by Comforter Christian Centre Int’l  (Texas, USA)

Some food items for distribution to local communities by Comforter Christian Center Int’l (Texas, USA)

Clothing and shoes for distribution to local communities by Comforter Christian Centre Int’l  (Texas, USA)

What are some the challenges that the mission faces in the work?

One is untruthfulness, dishonesty and lack of fear of God; as I said earlier of some pastors diverting the mission supplies put in their trust for free distribution to the needy in their local communities. There is the challenge of people looking for what they can get from you rather than what they can give to the people. Ministry is two ways like a cross. One is vertical; connecting the earth to the heaven. The other is horizontal; connecting man to man. What most people focus on is the vertical, but they are not fruitful because they are not faithful. There is no way you can be connected to the throne of God (the heaven) that you will not be connected at the vertical level. If you are not wholeheartedly connected to the heaven, you will just be playing games, fooling yourself and putting up a front as if you are connected to the heaven. That is the reason in Nigeria today churches are not giving to the people. They are collecting from the poor, the rich and the famous. Some of them have schools that their church members cannot afford to send their children.

How does the mission now distribute its supplies to communities in Nigeria?

We have shipped in a big pickup truck for the distribution of the mission supplies to the local communities in Nigeria. God has also given a place at Igando, Lagos we are developing as our home base in Nigeria. I left Nigeria’s shores very long time ago. While we were working in the U.S, Mexico and other countries the Lord was dealing with my heart, why are you not giving back to where you came from? So, I told my wife, look we need to look back to the home base. So, we flew down to Nigeria and met with some couple of pastors. I was already a pastor in Christ Apostolic Church before I left Nigeria. I used to have some catechists that worked under my ministry back then Nigeria. Many of them are now pastors of big churches. I contacted some of them and shared the desire of our ministry to work in Nigeria. And many of them gave me a lot of promises, including my elder brother. I told them for now we don’t have any home base; that is a place we can work from. So, whatever we ship down to Nigeria has to go to somebody for distribution because then we didn’t have any storage facility to keep our consignments. But today we are grateful to God that he has given us our home base at Igando to keep and distribute directly the mission consignments to the local communities in Nigeria.

(L-R Dr. Wole Olarinde, Publisher, Christian Benefits magazine Mrs. Jizell Bamibe, Master Josiah Bamibe and Pastor Julius Bamibe during Comforter Christian Centre Int’l (Texas, USA) mission to Lagos, Nigeria