Nigerian Leaders Give ICM Ministry Away

Maybe you have heard about the scams or even received those strange e-mails about having millions of dollars stowed away and if you would help you, your family, church or ministry would reap the benefit.Nigerians are known as con men, scammers, dishonest, rough, etc., etc.But I would like to introduce you to Rev. Francis Olubambi, the architect of the largest ICM program in Africa.He and his team have moved from being unknown five years ago to being the largest provider of conference training in the largest country (by population) in Africa!Now read how he and Elizabeth gave the ministry away.Read the “rest of the story”

Nigerian Facts

Most Populous Country in Africa – 130,000,000

Second Largest Economy in Sub Sahara Africa

7^th Largest Producer of Oil in the World

The largest Churches in East and Western Europe were started by Nigerian

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS

Roger: I read that in Nigeria ICM is known as VICM?Why?

Answer: When Rev. Olubambi went to register ICM he found there was already an ICM registered.As vision is an important part of Francis Olubambi he registered the organization as VICM.

Mary: I thought Nigeria had a large Muslim population?

Answer: This is correct.Nearly ½ of the Nigerian population is Muslim.But the Church in Nigeria is very evangelical and is reaching out to the Muslims.

Email your question today at mailto:info@icm-intl.org

Rev. Francis Olubambi is a large Nigerian man who is sold out to Jesus.Francis is married to Elizabeth and they have three sons.Elizabeth helps keep Francis tethered to reality with her practical, steadfast approach to ministry.Together they form a well balanced team.Five years ago neither one of them would have believe you if you told them they would have an international ministry reaching across Nigeria and into neighboring countries.But that is exactly what they have.

According to Francis the ministry had grown steadily until last year when it hit a plateau.Funding became a real issue.Funds from the USA were limited as were funds from Nigeria.Their just was not enough money to hire regional representatives to keep the ministry expanding.Francis and Elizabeth prayed about what to do and God gave them a very unNigerian answer to the problem.

Give the Ministry Away

Many of us try to consolidate power and responsibility.This gives us maximum control over how things are done and the power to do it a certain way.ICM has some key values that seem to counter this.We believe in Servant Leadership, partnership, and innovation.Francis put all these together and decided to given the ministry away.He selected key leaders from various regions and told them he would train them, them with materials, and help them where possible.The end result, they owned the ICM ministry in their regions and expanded it much faster than a paid staff could ever do.

Because Francis was willing to give the ministry away:

590,931 Nigerians attended 6,251 Bible courses held by 5,234 ICM trained leaders.The real news is that this was done in the third quarter of this year (July, August, September)!So far this year, first three quarters of 2006, 1,195,892 Nigerians attended 20,555 Bible courses conducted by over 16,000 trainers all in one country, Nigeria!