After the just concluded 50th Marriage Anniversary and 75th Year Birthday of Papa Osueke, I went home reflecting on the life and times of Papa Osueke. I then came to a conclusion that there are no better words to describe Papa Osueke than the words “Generational Thinker”.
Papa Osueke is like the Apostle Paul & Caleb, who dared to push for more during his active days in ministry. He was committed to Kingdom living without any form of reservation and made a global impact.
Papa Osueke is a Generational Thinker. A generational thinker is one who is able to sow seeds for the future. A generational thinker is a person that empowers the next generation. Generational thinkers think beyond their personal needs.
“A Generational Thinker is like a tenant who leaves a rented apartment better than he met it for the use of the next tenant”
They don’t run for themselves alone, but they run so that the next generation may run better. Their impacts outlive them.
Papa Osueke laid a solid foundation in Assemblies of God Nigeria, which we are still enjoying today. When I was growing up in AG, I use to hear about Mission Gongola, Mission Ife, Mission Bida and so on. These were Mission Projects launched by Papa Osueke during his tenure as GS to expand the Kingdom of God and increase the numerical strength of AG Nigeria.
Papa Osueke established Ministers Benefit Scheme, which has as its subsidiary AG Mortgage Bank Plc; Evangel University; Evangel Camp; Bible Schools across the geographical divide and the purchase of the National Secretariat Building. Above all he enthroned high dimension spirituality in AG Nigeria. None of these things he did to benefit himself personally, but for the benefit of those coming after him.
Papa Osueke’s footprints can never be deleted in history. His life is worthy of emulation by all. Papa Osueke is like Tetteh Quarshie of Ghana who traveled to the Island of Fernando Po (now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea) in 1870 and returned to Ghana in 1876 with cocoa pods. Mr. Quarshie planted the cocoa pods in 1879 and today Ghana as a nation has benefitted from it. More than 40% of Ghana Export earnings are from cocoa and Ghana has become the leading producer and the world’s largest exporter of cocoa in the world. Cocoa has also constituted more than 10% GDP of Ghana.
Tetteh Quarshie can be described as a great generational thinker just like Papa Osueke because he carried the economy of a whole nation on his shoulder. He is a good example of not only living for today but for tomorrow.
Barr Joel Ejiofor is the National Press Secretary of Assemblies Of God Nigeria and he wrote from Enugu,Nigeria
