Transcription
Foreign. [Applause] [Music] Welcome back to the morning show here on Arise News. Christmas is only one week away, and Christian faithfuls around the world are doing all we can to mark the Nativity in love, lots of fellow feeling, and celebration. In Lagos, later today, the Buga Christmas concert will be held, in the course of which a book, "Museums of a Preacher," written by Professor Kanye Ajayi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, will be launched.
To talk about this for a bit, we are now being joined by Yemi Osendera, a former Chief Operations Officer of Virgin Nigeria. Great to have you here on the show with us. Good morning.
Good morning.
Christmas, very catchy, isn't it? Tell us about that, please.
The Buga Christmas concert, our theme for this year's Harvest was "Buga: Chest Up for Christ." You all know the famous Buga tune from Kiss Daniel and so on. The last thing I thought about, exactly. So we adopted that. You know, you can do that for Christ as well. You know, just up for Christ, celebrate, and, yeah, and just have a, a wonderful time with friends, family, and loved ones. So we are holding the concert today, and it's 5 p.m. at the Terra Kulture. So right after the World Cup final, where hopefully we'll, well, hopefully we'll see, see the Blues go through, we will then go over there. You know, we can then see this concert, which will hold at Terra Kulture. We'll have a wonderful, you know, hymn singings, carols. And I mean, hymns is a really important part of the Methodist tradition, so it's always a wonderful time. The concert holds annually, and it will be a soul-lifting time and a wonderful time. So it's, come on, come on. We'll be having a book launch, as you talked about, uh, which will be launched by His Excellency, the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. And that book, "Museums of a Preacher," will be, it's, it's just a wonderful book about prayer and the impact it has on, you know, on your life, and the fact that you can pray in any situation, and it can get you through any period. Proceeds from the book launch will go towards our new cathedral, which we are building in Eko Atlantic City. And that, yeah, that, that promises to be a wonderful place for, you know, worshipping God and promoting Christianity.
That's cool. I mean, I know that, um, things are about to pick up. Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austen-Peters herself is coming up with, um, "Motherland: The Musical." So when I saw your theme, I thought, you know, it was part of the Terra Kulture thing. But it's, it's nice that it's coming from a church, and you're, you know, are taking it there. But my question to you is that your church is a Methodist, correct? Is that correct?
Correct.
So, in doing what you're doing, and ultimately moving your chapel to Eko Atlantic City, are you trying to Pentecostalize Methodist, or, you know, I mean, by saying that, I'm not, I'm not talking denomination, I'm talking creative approach to how you evangelize. That, that's, that's my interest in it.
Methodist Church traditionally, which, you know, Emmanuel Chapel is a Methodist Church, traditionally was in a way, you know, a different form of evangelism, um, as, as you talk about. And we're continuing that as well. Um, and first of all, Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austen-Peters is a member of Emmanuel Chapel as well. So she's a member of our church. That is a connection. Um, and, and thank you so much for her, you know, she's, she's been wonderful with all of the arrangements on, on this as well. Um, so, yeah, the, what we're doing really is just getting a new cathedral. There is no Methodist cathedral in, um, in, in Lagos outside of Tinubu, in Lagos Island, which was my childhood church, um, and my family church. There's none in Ikoyi, in VI, and, and so on, and Lekki, and so on. So this was a, um, this is us basically trying to put on the up, you know, a, a befitting place for our worship. We're on the temporary site now in Ikoyi, but this is a permanent site for the church, which, you know, is led by our chaplain, the Very Reverend Kanye, who is also the author of the book today, "Museums of a Preacher."
Yeah, that brings me to my other question. I would like for you to hear, and you can click on that link and purchase the book for 25,000 naira. Tell us the driving force for this book. What is the book about, and why should we pick it up?
Yeah, so the book is, is written by a Very Reverend Kayode Ajayi, and it's his musings and his thoughts on, on prayer, on the power of prayer, on the impact prayer has in one's life, and how it can get you through any circumstance that you are in, you know, and the fact that you should pray in good times and in bad times. Um, he has written a few books, and this will be the third one that I'm aware of on this topic. Um, he's written other books as well. He's a man of letters, you know, an SAN, yes. Um, and, you know, he's, but he's now driven by passion and, you know, the purpose. And, and that's what the, the book is. And look, I highly recommend it to everyone. Um, I will be picking up a few copies myself today and very excitedly looking forward to it. It's a concert, it's a full concert with some traditional carols, with some special pieces. We're having some, um, you know, I mean, music is such an important part of our worship in the church. We always have really powerful pieces. The choir is amazing, uh, in, in the church. And, um, yeah, you know, you are welcome to attend.
Can you, is it free for all, or do you just, you come in and pay for this?
It's free. And then we'll, we'll have the book presentation by the Vice President, and then you'll be able to buy the book, all right, at the event. But you can also buy it beforehand on the link, yes, which, yeah, which you already have there.
That sounds quite exciting. You mentioned it's an annual event, so you've done it every year. Is the book launch going to be a different aspect of what happened last year? What differentiates each annual event?
Correct. So, yes, the, the book launch is different, uh, this year, and the some of the performers will be different. So every year, we get different performers to come in, different choristers from other churches around the world as well, come in. So it takes a different flavor every year. But, yeah, this year will be, will be very exciting. It's a great package.
Okay, so it would be, it's a Christian thing. It's not like you, you will encounter some Buga mix there. I have seen a Buga gospel version online, I think it was a comedian. But yes, they just might be. I think if you, if you leave it at Buga gospel, that that will pass. But if you move it beyond that, if you move it to "cough," I think that that should be stretching it. Was the dance moves good?
Luck. All right, congratulations.