Apostle Dr. Samuel U Egbo: Founder, The United Church Of Christ (Fountain Of Peace)

Samuel U. Egbo -The Visitation

Then one night, I was in the storeroom wide awake at night and suddenly, the whole room was filled with light of blinding intensity. At first I thought to run, but I had been too dazed to make a move. I made to assure myself I was alive and awake. I began to open my eyes and right before me was a man immaculate as the sun, whose face I could not behold. Then I knew I had had it. All that I could vividly remember was that he poured some oily substance on my forehead and said “you will preach the gospel and you will be known all over the world”. He opened and showed me his bleeding palms and charged me with a piercing but gently voice “feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Feed my flock. The church would be known all over the world by miracle sign and wonder”.

 

Samuel U. Egbo shook the christian community of Nigeria, especially the eastern region at the end of the Nigeria Civil War (although his calling and ministry dates back to 1964 at Port Harcourt) with his passion for prayers and zeal for the work of the Spirit. He brought to the forefront divine healing and deliverance by shaking up a complacent Church and Christian population shattered during the bloody civil war that lasted between 1967 to 1970 and soothing the thirst of a battered society. He is known as the Healing Apostle and one of the foremost Pentecostal Deliverance Ministers in Nigerian History. Thousands came to the knowledge of Christ and the living power of the Holy Spirit through his deep conviction, unwavering faith, earth-shaking praise, prophetic and prayer sessions,  and expansive vision. Against hypocritical, opposing clergy, fierce slanderous reports and relentless campaign of calumny, Apostle S. U. Egbo wore his apostolic and prophetic calling as a crown from God, and his many persecutions as a badge of honor. Apostle Sam Egbo was a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria and in many foreign nations.

Born in 1937, Samuel Ugwadinobi Egbo hails from a humble home in Amuda, Isuochi, in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. He was the son of a prominent Chief of Isuochi Clan, who had a personal supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ.
Being a primary school leaver who passed his entrance exam into two post primary schools but never attended them due to lack of sponsors, he left home for Enugu to seek for greener pasture.

After initial difficulties and some penurious experiences, he was connected and miraculously rose to become an award-winning, best salesman of M & K vehicle trading company in Nigeria within a short time. But God's calling upon his life dramatically changed the course of his life's ambition!

The Revelation
 "I used to dream sometimes, but the dream I had that faithful night was as baffling as it was amazing. I woke up in the middle of the night not knowing what to make of a dream of white men speaking Igbo; my native tongue, who had clearly ordered me to leave Enugu for Port-Harcourt".

He was literally compelled to leave his blossoming sales job in Enugu for Port-Harcourt; a city he has not been to before. And there, God clearly told him that He was going to visit him.

Right in Port-Harcourt, God visited him and clearly revealed the Worldwide Apostolic, Deliverance and Prophetic ministry that He was entrusting into his hands, which would be known all over the world by miracles, signs and wonders. His ministry witnessed uncountable wonders from that first day with diverse manifestations of power and glory of God, which sometimes got him personally perplexed and scared. Notably among the first set of miracles was an instant supernatural transformation of water into a gel-like fluid just after a very short "I bless this water in Jesus name" prayer and it was miraculously used to cure an epidemic of conductivities (Apollo) in Okrika town. 

In his words "I was quite stunned and ran away in astonishment, but God had shown that he was alive and well and ready to honor his word. I began preaching repentance to anyone available anywhere I was. A church had begun and Port Harcourt had become my Bethel".

At the onset of the Nigeria civil war in 1967, he relocated to Umuahia where he along with his ever increasing followers found a demolished building which they rented, cleared and erected a temporary structure with zinc and wood at #34 Eket Street. And that was the first place they mounted the sign board of The United Church of Christ.
Soon after the war in 1970, he relocated to Enugu disheartened because of the loss of his father among many other things but he was able to pick up and sooner than later, the church became established at #41 Boardman Street Enugu.
Not being a graduate at any bible college, and being as it were then, a pioneer of a dynamic ministry, he had very little experiential knowledge to fall back to. There weren’t much church management literature at that time, nor were they privileged to have foreign televangelists to copy. Apart from the much he had learnt in the Assemblies of God, which wasn’t inclined so much to the divine ministries of deliverance prophesy and faith healing, he had nothing else to understudy.  He had made his Bible his map, and the Holy Spirit; his compass. In those days, he learnt to do whatever the Bible says was practicable. In his words, "If Christ said, “Go to the river and wash,” then since there was no river around, I created a pool and washed people. If Christ anointed the sick, I anointed them accordingly. If Christ laid hands, I laid hands. If he chased out demons from the demons-possessed, I did same. I stopped at nothing provided that it was biblical to do so. The word produced such wonderful results that I was at times overwhelmed by the testimonies of healing, deliverances and salvation that we heard endlessly".

By the middle of 1975, the church had had crusades in Lagos, Aba and Enugu and were planning for Kano; the Muslim heart land of Nigeria. By that time also, the church's facilities at 41 Boardman Street were bursting to the seams. Men and motor cars could find no place. Most times we had more men outside than we had inside the building. It was time to look for a larger facility and they found one at Obioma street Enugu, which still remains the Headquaters of the Church till date. 

But by middle of 1974, he had started building a bible school school on a gigantic expanse of land his home town gave to the church and in the spirit of the church in those days, the launching witnessed a tremendous outpouring of funds, building materials, and volunteers form backgrounds. Work began in earnest. 

But the devil crept in through some of the top ministers of the church who felt he sited the structure in his town for personal reasons. Some other close allies also claimed that his practices (anointing oil, healing with water, laying of hands and so on) were occultic. The image of the revered Man of God had been greatly battered. He had lost his self esteem and being not very enlightened to manage his public relations, lost his principle ministers, financiers and the bible school project among many others was stalled till this day. Notwithstanding the set back that the church experienced in completing the structures, the school has since the late eighties been training ministers for the church, as well as other ministries. It is note worthy also that on this college ground shall stand a miracle centre which shall be famous worldwide. This was supposed to be the very first church camp ground in Nigeria. 

Between 1975 and 1980, the ministry of Apostle Samuel U. Egbo had spread to almost every major city in Nigeria and plenty other branches at remote areas. It had re-ignited "fire" and fervency among other churches prompting his dear friend Arch Bishop Benson Idahosa to continually say when he was still alive;  

“The United Church of Christ is the godfather of Nigerian Pentecostalism.” 

 In fact his friend Benson told him once that it was after he watched The United Church of Christ singing praises to God and making melody with their assemblage of musical equipment, crude as they were in those days, that he decided to buy a band. He must have gone on to buy the best in the world market then. Benson always wanted the best, and God gave him the best, always.

Some of the prominent children of Apostle Samuel Egbo, who received the call of God, were ordained by laying on of hands and anointed with oil for service and served in his ministry from Nnewi to Umuahia, and those that joined at Enugu includes Bishop Mike Okonkwo of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission TREM (ordained as Evangelist Mike Okonkwo and was a resident minister at one of the branches of the church in Lagos ), Pastor Gab Halliday of Goodnews Bible Church, Port Harcourt, Pastor Lawrence Anyabuilo, who are all successful pastors of their own churches. There were others like very Rev. Chike Nwizu who rose to become an elder of the church later returned to their former Anglican denomination with the fire of the Lord. Other successful ministers of God who passed through his ministry are Prophetic Evangelist Ugo Wems, Elder Saint Okoroafor, Elder Moses Iloh, Pastor Reuben Okongwu, Goddy Onyebuchi, Chinyere Arisi, Eddie and Felix Ndubuisi Alajemba Unaegbu, Eleazar, Amadi, Chris Ujagbor, May Onyebuchi, Ezinne Okike and her sister Tabitha, and many others too numerous to mention who had become bishops of their own churches while some others are pursueing other calling while still serving God in earnest.
Unconfirmed reports has it that God's servant Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) disclosed in one of his yearly ministerial meetings (Shiloh), that he went and conferred with this heavily anointed servant of God; Apostle Samuel Egbo (as directed by the Holy Spirit of God) before he started his now, renowned worldwide ministry.

In the year 1984, Apostle S. U. Egbo was invited to the International conference of the intercessors international holding at Northern Ireland. It was a gathering of the world’s best known prayer warriors and he was privileged to be invited. They prayed earnestly for world peace, singling out troubled regions like North Africa, India, South America, etc. During the course of this prayer, God gave him a clear revelation about the sub-region. God asked him to tell the gathering that there was real trouble brewing in that area that required their intercession. In his words, 

"When I announced this revelation, it was welcomed with sneers by members from that region who attacked me and called me names. They made insinuations that portrayed me even as a false prophet. As a human being, I felt so frustrated. I went into the adjourning restroom and I wished I was dead. I cried to God in despair. I was sure He had spoken to me. I asked Him to confirm His words to save me from the shame. I came out of the restroom feeling so unwanted. It wasn’t quite some hours before the news of Indira Ghandi’s assassination came on the airwaves. The whole assembly received this shocking bad news with a hush. Someone remembered the revelation I had related. Soon the whole assembly was repeating in chain: “Brother Samuel said it, Brother Samuel said it.” I became the star of that gathering. They began to consult with me another serious matter. It was there and then that I was announced and dedicated the Director Intercessor International for Nigeria".

The evangelistic ministry of Apostle S. U. Egbo gave birth to TV and Radio programs in 1984, called "The Hour of Liberation" and it soon became a favourite and much sought after TV programme in the Eastern and middle belt areas of Nigeria as attested to by letters that poured in. He looked forward to the day that he would reach people across the globe on the Cable News Network (CNN).

This dangerously anointed Man of God; Apostle S. U. Egbo had the vision to build The International Miracle Centre (a massive camp ground for his ministry and the very first of its kind in Nigeria then) on the same grounds with the RECTHEO Bible college Isuochi. In 1995, he called for sponsors for the project and had many volunteers but he failed to do it owing to the bashing he had received in his years of tribulation about citing projects at Isuochi. He had become very afraid of men's criticisms and apparently suppressed the prompting of The Holy Spirit to commence the project in full, after doing the architectural drawing of the proposed edifice. 

Matters came to a head when he fell seriously sick and lay on his sick bed in a London Hospital. In his words, "the Lord rebuked me for gross disobedience in the miracle centre project. As I returned to Nigeria, I am at once consumed by my passion for this project. I have since visited the site at Isuochi since returning and on that spot, I prayed God to forgive me for not beginning work earlier, and promised Him that work will begin as soon as I am strong enough to move around again". 

He was married to Evangelist Ijeoma-Sam Egbo and they have 7 children. He quietly died in 1997 but his ministry; The United Church of Christ lives on.