How it All Started
Growing up, I had challenges I had to ride through, my well-rooted Christian background notwithstanding. My strong moral position and what I turned out to be today are sheer acts of God. I had little or no counsel as to how to live as a youth. I made mistakes at various times and also learned from them.
Specialized youth counseling was very rare for the young folks of my time. The only sources of counseling I got were the teachings at the Scripture Union (SU) fellowship and my parents, of course, which were pivotal to my spiritual development and character. God was always watching my back, I can say!
Youth at every given time and in every generation go through pressures. Today’s youth are not exempted from these pressures. They are continuously barraged with varying strains, ranging from negative influences from social media, entertainment, dysfunctional homes, religious bigotry, identity questions, etc. These realities elicited the fervor in me to reach out to the youth in Nigeria and, by extension, the world.
My passion for the youth was further intensified and broadened while pastoring at different times. I had to personally counsel and educate them as they approach my desk for spiritual direction as their pastor. The burden to reach out to them became increasingly wrapped up in my heart, which naturally exerted a pull on the young folks towards me.
Looking at their pathetic state, like sheep without a guide, their lack of direction and inability to decipher between truth and falsehood, their seeming over confidence and assumed utter control of their lives, I became relentless in reaching out to them with the intent of deploying helpful hints towards tackling their numerous queries and those issues that relate to them in the light of the word of God.
While observing my quiet time in March, 2012, I had an experience that further made clear the vision and mission of Pinnacle Youth Outreach. It was divinely and unequivocally enunciated to me in its entirety. It was so strong that I had no speck of doubt about what to do and how to go about it. The vision ‘restoring the dignity of the youth’, became very clear to me. Here we are!