Gentlemen of the press, and members of the broadcast media here present! It gives me great pleasure to announce to you the story so far of the Reach Out Nigeria Campaign by Christ Embassy.

The story actually didn’t begin three years ago when the first Reach Out Nigeria Campaign was organized. It began on the day God said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26). This thought of God encapsulates the vision of Reach Out Nigeria with Rhapsody of Realities. God has always wanted every man to fulfill the potential of divine authority that is in him from creation. At different times in history, this hunger in man to make his world heaven on earth has been expressed, more often than not, as a tainted corrupted desire to oppress and suppress other men and women and turn them to serfs and tenants without minds and ambition.

Rhapsody of Realities is a spirit-building resource that educates, inspires and motivates the individual that reads it to harness the divine nature in him to build his own world into an “Eden”, such that anyone who comes around him will look at and say “This is very good,” just as God said after creating the Garden of Eden: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good… (Genesis 1:31).

In 2007, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Christ Embassy decided (through the leading of the Spirit of God) to recreate a Nigeria that is built by every Nigerian re-creating his own life and everything that he’s involved with; having a new mindset. The logic is: if you and I will re-create our world, our country will be built piece by piece, block by block—by each one of us, and ultimately we will build the Nigeria of our dreams and make it a heaven on earth. If ten million Nigerians would rise up and take up the challenge  to do all that is necessary to influence the rebirth of our infrastructural system, our political system, our electoral system, our housing system, our health system, our tax system, our information system, our road networks, our industries, etcetera, what a country we would become! Many people think that only those in political and financial positions of authority can change the lives of others, but after reading and imbibing the truth in Rhapsody of Realities, they come to realize that they and they alone, have the ability to change their own lives.

The Reach Out Nigeria Campaign With Rhapsody Of Realities, though primarily evangelical, has a determination to kindle the passion of patriotism amongst Nigerians by urging them to delineate our national values in unmistakable terms. The message of the campaign is all encompassing, educating, inspiring and motivating, teaching everyone to contribute their own personal quota to build and develop a nation by piloting change and positive renaissance, thereby producing socio-political and economic recovery and rejuvenation in our country.

One interesting thing about the campaign is that the “messenger angel” Rhapsody of Realities—used as a spearhead in the campaign—introduces its readers to the divine influence and miracle-producing power of God. This influence will position the reader for the transcendent and victorious life that God ordained for everybody to live. This life translates the eternal gains of salvation to create a better present society—a nation where everything works.

This happened in 2007 during the Reach Out Nigeria Campaign to a “buns seller” (better known as akara) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, whose son was paralyzed, whose wife had left him and whose landlord had thrown out of the one-room apartment he was living in, hence forced to make a home in the corridor of the apartment. He came across a copy of the October 2007 edition of Rhapsody of Realities that was freely distributed and was reading one of the days articles where Pastor Chris recounted a testimony where someone was healed of paralysis, and in that day’s devotional, Pastor Chris taught that ‘you can have whatever you say or desire in your  life.’ The man looked at his son that couldn’t walk and thought to himself “what do I have to lose if I put to work what this man Of God is teaching? After all, my son is already paralyzed and it can’t get worse.” So he called the name of the boy and placed the opened page of the Rhapsody of Realities on him and said “Arise, Jesus Christ makes you well.” To his utter amazement, his paralyzed son stood on his feet and began to walk.

The “akara seller” decided that if this miracle could happen then the other things that Pastor Chris and Pastor Anita had talked about in the entire devotional definitely would also be true. Within a year of practicing the things he read, he had moved into a three bedroom apartment and his business had grown that he was now an employer of 9 staff. This story is just an example of millions of people all over the world, who have been changed as a result of Rhapsody of Realities and the Reach Out Nigeria Campaign. These people would never have gotten a hold of this life-changing periodical if not for the free distribution initiative. 

There are many others who because of what they learnt in Rhapsody of Realities have embarked on community developments by developing mobile schools and resource centers. Some others have given themselves to working in organizations or sectors of the society that have not been known to be money spinning ventures, but committed themselves to such endeavours because of Rhapsody of Realities’ definition of what true success really is. Pastor Chris has taught that true success is “impacting the world with the investment of your personality.” Little wonder that everybody acknowledges that Pastor Chris is in charge of the young people in our country today.

Reach Out Nigeria, as evident from the past two editions, has provided an avenue for millions of Nigerians to receive God’s Word in a way that not only energize them for greatness, but also stir in them an unmistakable patriotic zeal, while instilling in their hearts ardent love for the nation. The campaign has birthed in Nigerians a new consciousness of aggrandizing our nationhood and celebrating God’s blessings in a country so richly endowed with vast human and natural resources. Virtually every facet of our society today still counts the gains of the previous editions of the campaign.

Reporting the maiden edition of the campaign, a leading newspaper in the country described the campaign thus: “When an uncommon vision was birthed, that vision gave birth to a movement fired by the rebirth of a nation from the nadir of existence into the committee of the brightest and the best. That vision transformed this nation from the club of the ordinary to extra-ordinary. It took but one Word from God. One Word in many formats; one Word in many languages! One for each day, one for each person, all encapsulated in Rhapsody of Realities! And that weapon was chosen by God, to recreate Nigeria and bring it to what He desires it to be. Thus in 2007, the much expected change “to bless our nation with God’s Word” started. And that year, our nation was so blessed even beyond the comprehension of that word blessing. With the underlying aim to provoke a patriotic spirit within the citizenry, that singular act did more. It made Nigerians to see their country differently and positively.”

People might ask, “What is worth celebrating in 49 years of Nigerian independence?”  The answer is Nigeria is much more than a geographical expression. A nation is not the infrastructure or the systems, but the body or community of people. Reach Out Nigeria is a celebration of the Nigerian people—a resourceful people; a strong people; a happy people! Reach Out Nigeria is building a future and the Nigeria of our dreams. That future is worth celebrating, so on October 1st every year, we celebrate the Nigeria we hope for and which we have seen.      

With the feedbacks garnered, the Reach Out Nigeria Campaign has proven so successful in Nigeria that it has been replicated in South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Italy, Australia, USA, Cameroun, just to mention a few countries; targeting the citizens of those nations to ask not what their country can do for them, but what they (the citizens) can do for their country. In the following countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cameroun, Uganda, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Ghana, Italy, Australia and USA, the 2009 edition of Reach Out Campaign With Rhapsody Of Realities has already taken place. In these countries, hundreds of thousands of copies of the daily devotional were distributed both in English and other major languages spoken in those nations.

A popular question asked by people is “Why Rhapsody of Realities? Why not rather use the money used in sponsoring so many million copies of the book to build a school or a hospital or sponsor people to go for surgery outside the country?” The answer is, how many people will one hospital treat in a year? How many people will a school educate in a year? The school, the hospital or any facility will be situated in just one geographic location and can only cater for the people in that environment, but Rhapsody of Realities would inspire, educate and motivate different people in different locations in our country to build a school! It would motivate different people in different locations to build hospitals! It would motivate different people in different locations to run their businesses without the sole thought of profit influencing their decisions. It has caused criminals to change their criminal ways, it has inspired missionaries (and we have records of it) to go into the Niger Delta to open schools and churches in these areas that many say the Government has neglected.

This year, Reach Out Nigeria is here again to distribute several millions of free copies of Rhapsody of Realities throughout Nigeria, come October 1st. The devotional will be distributed to the highest authorities in our land, political office holders, communication moguls, captains of industries, student leaders, Christians, Muslims, Animists, and indeed to as many Nigerians as possible. It will be distributed from the metropolis of Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Bauchi, Port Harcourt, Illorin, Ibadan to the hinterlands of Bomadi, Ogoni, Kafanchan, Kebbi and every major city, town and village will be reached during the Reach Out Nigeria With Rhapsody Of Realities Campaign.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Christ Embassy is totally committed to rebuilding and recreating a World Class Nigeria that would attract investment because of its stability in every aspect of endeavour and infrastructure, and the citizens enjoy religious freedom of information and the country is Heaven on Earth.

Thank you. God bless you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!