The moment I saw the banner of the church by the road side, I immediately beckoned on the driver to stop and  heaved a sigh of relief. Getting to House on the rock, Kulende, Ilorin without getting lost or having to walk long distances was such a relief for me.

First, the Ilorin branch is not on social media. I can’t explain the reason for this as one would normally expect more from a church of that repute. Who does not know Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the mighty influence he pulls within and outside Africa and his beard gang that keeps us shouting “goals”?

Secondly, the address I got from the main address was not detailed enough so I had to do a personal research on Google which fed me with a  phone number from a data base on HOTR’s official website. I thought that was all until I dialed the number severally that morning and it was not reachable. Whether it was network or the number was truly no longer available, I couldn’t decipher. All that mattered to me was that I needed to attend church that morning and quite early enough. I made a few other contacts to some friends and in a little while, I got on my way to church.

I walked into the church very gallantly and with my full smiles, only to be welcomed by this overzealous usher. LOL. Well, maybe he wasn’t overzealous but was just doing his work as efficiently and effectively as he could have. I just found it very overzealous when he left his position to reach out for us. By the way, who says you can’t be overzealous with your Father’s work.

Praise and worship went on well. The 5-man choir served us a delicious delicacy of praise and worship spiced with some “skabashing”. We did not forget to join our hands together and raise our voices to God in prayers for our nation. This warmed my heart so much knowing that a group of people regardless of their number are committed to praying constantly for our nation.

It was time to listen to the special presentation from the choristers. Although, it wasn’t pitch perfect, it was good enough for a 5-man choir. It was at this point, I was able to properly scan the auditorium. HOTR Ilorin is a relatively small church and I seem not to understand why knowing how much crowd this church pulls in various cities. Flashback to when I walked in, I noticed a signboard of an October 2016 event still hanging outside the church. What happened to “old things have passed away?” The church holds her services in a small building which has been well furnished enough to pass for a church building and hosts about 45 members every Sunday.

The 55 minutes sermon [not like I was counting] was titled: “God will not quit on you”. The message spoke of restoration, the inner workings of God, how He brings solutions to our problems, a couple of digressions and a few tell-your-neighbours. Tell-your-neighbour is that moment or moments during the sermon when the pastor tells you to look your neighbour in the eye and tell him/her a few statements. Luckily for me, I went with a friend who was sitted right beside me and whom i would smile to whenever the tell-your-neighbour line came up.

As soon as the sermon ended, the pastor led us into a prayer session for financial restoration as he claimed the grace for restoration of finances and miracle money was in the House. Hallelujah! I joined to raise my hands in fervent prayers. Who wouldn’t want to have a restoration of finances and miracle money? Definitely not me! And not my friend either. The lead pastor [whose name I forgot the instant I left the church] came up for the announcement and informed us that the church would be moving to her “permanent site” from the coming Sunday hence we were privileged to be at the last service on that ground. I was indeed glad about this. Hopefully, things would take a new turn for HOTR at the new location.

First timer? I didn’t raise my hands for first timers; neither did my friend [please, don’t ask me why].

As soon as the service ended, I packed my belongings and we started our journey home. HOTR Ilorin was a mixture of several experiences.

Till I attend that church and church crawler crawls into your church, better be prepared, “for the hour cometh…

Editor