Marital Status of Vincent
I married Rose Amevi Akouesso on April 6, 2002 and we are blessed with four children. Our first child, a son Samuel, was born in Togo, West Africa on June 20, 2003. Our second, a daughter Lydia, was born in North Carolina on April 1, 2005, our third, a son Emmanuel Joshua, was born in North Carolina on March 17, 2008 and our fourth, a son Joel Mawuko was born in Togo on February 16, 2010.
Religious Background of Vincent
I was born June 12, 1973 in South Togo, (West Africa) to an ungodly family. My whole family practiced Voodoo (the pagan religion also practiced in Ghana, Benin and Nigeria. I was 6 years old, when my father died so my Mother raised me. I was under the tutelage of my uncles and I had a miserable childhood because I had no support so my mother sacrificed herself to let me go to school. God is so good; He does not forget orphans and widows. The gospel news from the missionary, the late pastor Machett told of the love that God has for us sinners by sending His Son to come and to die on the cross for us and whosoever will receive him as their personal Savior will have their sins forgiven.
I received the message of Christ’s forgiveness with all my heart convicting me of my real nature as a sinner. This event happened when I was 10 years old. I gave my life to the Lord on January 1983 because of the good news of the gospel, which caused my family to persecute me. My uncles were against me, threatened me and wouldn’t let me leave the house because they thought I would go to church. I was summoned by my family and told to renounce publicly my faith in Christ. Instead, on the contrary, I confirmed my choice to follow the Lord and that nothing in the world would be able to separate me from the Lord who I came to know.
My uncles controlled my activities but many times I escaped through the window to go to church, which was, located at least 15 miles from my village. My brother, my two cousins, and I walked all of this distance to church. We are four members of the same family, and in our village that were following the true Lord and the true Adoration. We became as black sheep in the village. We were victims of physical and spiritual attacks. In our village there are only Catholic and Protestant churches. Our union and our determination for the Lord strengthened. The devil’s workers were against us. Eating was forbidden! My brothers and I had decided to remain true to the faith in order to be victorious in the Lord. On February 10, 1985, I was baptized at the same time as my brothers by missionary Kater of the Bible Baptist Church of Toloin-Solidarite. We are the first Baptist members. The total number of members at this time was 8 persons. Responding to the commandment of Matthew 28:19- 20, we proclaimed the Gospel and the Lord blessed our work.
From 8 members at the beginning, the church has experienced an extraordinary growth and a few years later, totaled more than 100 members. Realizing the expansion of the gospel, we had decided to bring the gospel to our own village. We decided to fast and to pray at length, and to ask the support of the Lord because the village is solidly fixed in the worship of Voodoo. Other brothers of the church and I had begun by proclaiming the gospel in the village of Agbalepedogan.
In spite of the mockeries and many attacks from Satan, the village began to receive the message and people give their lives to the Lord. Others gave their lives to the Lord because they observed that nothing happened to us despite the spiritual attack from Satan against us.
By the grace of God, we found a place where we met to worship God and study the Bible. In the space of some months, the number of worshippers increased. Other members of my family were converted to the Lord. The increase of the number of people who were converted caused us to ask the support of missionaries in order to take care of the ministry. When Missionary McMillen arrived, he was a great help to us because he organized the fellowship. He built the church called the Bible Baptist Church of Agbalepedogan, which is the second largest church in the city of Lome. I have done my entire ministry in this church until my leaving for the U.S.A.
These are the details:
Christian Experience:
Being born again in January 1983, I went through baptismal class for 2 years where I learned the teachings of the Bible before getting baptized in February 1985. As one of the first members of the Bible Church of Tokoin-Solidarite, we evangelized in this town where many people were saved and the number of members in the churches increased.
In 1986, my brother and I with my two cousins and other brothers in Christ started a Bible study group in our village, which was the beginning of Bible Baptist Church of Agbalepedogan.
In 1988, several brothers of the new church and I began an evangelism ministry which will be instrumental in planting more churches in the countryside. With this group we founded, Bible Baptist of Agame and Bible Baptist church of Agbelouhoin.
From 1989 –1996, I was a teacher of children and teenagers of Bible Baptist church of Agbalepedogan.
From 1995- 1998, I was a deacon; I served more than three years. My responsibilities were youth pastor, music director, and secretary of the body of deacons.
As head of the teenage ministry, I organized a group of teenagers to study the Bible; visitation, and preaching conferences, etc… When I was a head of teenager ministry I found many problems not only among the teenagers but also among the whole congregation. This situation led me to write a document called a covenant for the church containing the rules or the steps to follow in matter of engagement and weeding according to the teaching of the Bible.
As music director, I wrote for the music group the documents containing the rules of procedure and balancing their budget.
As secretary of the deacon board, I presided over the church business meetings, make the budget for the church, and assumed the duties of the church in the pastor’s absence.
As deacon, I initiated the tithe in my church. I remembered one day in our deacon’s meeting I asked the pastor, “Why do we not give the tithe?” The answer was, it was not an obligation for the Christian today to pay the tithe; and no American Missionary taught it. After much discussion and by seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the pastor was convinced about the doctrinal truth of this subject and agreed to teach the church to start giving the tithe. After the teaching of the church, all the members started to do it and still continue to do so after I left for the U.S.A.
From 1997 - 1999, I taught the class of new converts. When the pastor gave me this class to teach, it was a very big challenge for me because I had the big responsibility to teach these new converts how to live the Christian life, the separation from the world, the ways to pray to God, to learn the Bible.
From 1999 – 2000, I taught the baptismal class and I was head of the Sunday school. As head of Sunday school I found that many people did not recognize their spiritual gifts and they did not know how to use them. I found many that God called to be used as teachers and evangelists who wanted to be pastor; and others who did not heed any call. With the help of the Holy Ghost, I wrote the booklet “How to find your spiritual gift and how to use it". By the Grace of God, I taught this subject in three churches (Bible Baptist Church of Agbalepedogan, Bible Baptist of Kelegougan; and Bible Baptist Church of Anome) before I left for the U.S.A. This booklet tells Christian people how to identify their spiritual gifts and the way to use them.
Five years before I left for the U.S., the Charismatic movement had increased in our country and many of the brothers and sisters in Christ were taken away from sound doctrine. To fight against this movement, I started with some brethren the prayer ministry in order to keep my brethren in the true doctrine of the Bible.
In June 2000, I was called to assume the role of pastor of Bible Baptist Church of Anome. In the new church I was responsible for everything (Sunday school, the Sunday worship, prayer meeting, and the new believers class) God blessed the work and the first members baptized were 5, one man and four women. More than 15 persons were ready to get baptized before my leaving for the United States. The attendance every Sunday was 50 people and 60 children. While I was the pastor of the church of Anome, I assumed also the role of chairman of the committee of the youth for the seven Bible Baptist churches of Lome. During the time of my leadership, the committee organized the countryside by means of evangelism in churches of Lome to bring people to Christ. We had conferences with national pastors teaching the youth. In the course of my Christian life, I have helped plant several churches in the capital of Togo and throughout the country.
As I continued serving Christ, I felt God calling me to a specialized goal, but I didn’t listen because I thought that I was more called to be a teacher. This call was confirmed when I assumed the role of the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church of Anome. There are many things God used me to do, but I can’t tell all here. Sometimes it is not necessary to say or write everything God used you to do.
Religious Background of Rose
My name is Rose Amevi Akouesso, wife of Dr. Vincent Agbodo Akoumani. I’m from Togo, born May 23, 1976 in ungodly and polygamy family. My Father was married to three wives and has 15 children (10 girls and 5 boys). My whole family practice Vodoo religion but my father allowed his children to go only in Catholic Church. I grew up in this atmosphere in the Vodoo religion and Catholicism. I like to go to the Catholic Church if I have a new dress. To go in the church is simply for me to show off to other girls and teenagers my new dress. But one day, this situation changed when my uncle who went to the Baptist church came and asked all the children of my father to go with him next Sunday to the Baptist Church. The Next Sunday, we went with him and were surprised about the way of worship. When the preaching time came, the pastor preached the way to receive Jesus Christ, if not, you will go to hell. The message touched my heart, and I don’t want to go in hell and when the preacher used Rom 10: 9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” and when he asked who wants to receive Jesus Christ, I stand and give my life to Jesus Christ by confessing my sins and asked Jesus Christ to come in my heart. From this day God changed completely my life. I became a new creature. I find God doesn’t look on our dress but our heart. I gave my life to Jesus Christ when I was 14 years old (1989). My life was changed completely and this change touched my family (5 others sisters and two wives of my father were saved). One year later I was baptized.
I love soul-winning ministry. I take seriously the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20).
Teaching children of age 3-5 was my second major ministry in Church.
-Member of evangelism group, which take the gospel out every Saturday.