Would You Take A Trip With Me? Part 2

In Nigeria ethnic, tribal and family relationships provide strong structural unity for groups within the country. For Nigerians unity within the group gives individuals the opportunity to thrive together, each one helping others, and in turn being helped, themselves,  to reach their full potential. Psalm 133:1 serves as an excellent Baptist High School verse which illuminates this challenge: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” It reminds me of my Algebra teacher in high school, Mr. Edgar.  He practiced this process quite well. He taught us the lesson for the day, and then allowed us to work together, through problems as we practiced the algebra concepts for the day. We thrived in that environment, helping each other and so, helping ourselves truly grasp the material. At Baptist High School I met a school community built on the foundation of Christ and God’s Word, learning to live in unity, learning, working, playing and growing together. In a boarding house school, having such a shared emphasis on becoming godly men and women, supporting and challenging each other along the way, strengthened every student and gave them the encouragement and discipline they needed to reach their full potential as God had gifted them. I appreciated how we talked much more in terms of “we” and not so much focusing on “I.” In the end, most students discovered that practicing the acronym JOY, (That’s Jesus, others, then yourself.) would make them much more successful even as individuals. I particularly enjoyed seeing this unity in practice as I was given the privilege of serving as a housemaster in one of our three dorms.

I had the privilege of spending a school year
in one of three boys dorms
serving as a housemaster.

During my time as the Whirley Housemaster I learned more about Nigerians and Nigerian boarding house culture than in anything else I ever did at Baptist High School during my eighteen years as a teacher, a discipleship leader, a drama group leader, Vice-Principal, and then Principal. Each dorm room balanced older with younger students, encouraging mentoring relationships and friendships across the classes. Many of the boys formed life-long friendships as they shared small spaces and definite responsibilities. Boys washed their own uniforms in buckets, and were expected to keep them neatly ironed. They cleaned the dorm themselves, and divided responsibilities. Admittedly older boys sometimes crossed the line as they were tempted to use the younger boys to do personal tasks they did not want to do for themselves. All in all, the godliest seniors did the best in this area of Christian mentoring. My housemaster role gave me a unique opportunity to model Christ-like leadership. I remember how the Senior Prefect (the student leader for the entire school) surprised everyone in Whirley House when we cleaned the showers and the toilets one time. No one wanted to do those jobs. This experiment led to many conversations about Biblical leadership.

All boys and girls at Baptist High School rose early each morning, around 5 A.M., to do their assigned tasks. They also had to shower  or take a bucket bath before their first classes which began at 7:20. They did not have their breakfast until 9:00. They had classes until 2:00, then lunch, followed by  a brief rest, and games from 3:00-4:30, along with lab classes for the sciences.  They played basketball, volleyball, badminton, and participated in various track and field events. Then they had dinner, followed by Prep Time back in their classrooms, until 9:00, when they headed to their dorm to prepare for bed. It was a long, demanding day, and the younger students, some of them 11 or 12, were worn out by the time lights-out came. One of my biggest challenges was getting the less exhausted older students to settle down so that the younger students in their rooms could rest. On Wednesday afternoons there were no games, but students participated in one of the choirs, R.A.’s for boys and G.A.’s for girls, and the Torchbearers drama group. R.A.’s and G.A.’s provided missions education, with students being given opportunities to advance through levels of Bible, mission study, and missions service projects. As a housemaster, I occasionally had to make sure older students did not take extra naps in their rooms while others attended the required clubs and ministry opportunities. The Baptist High School schedule provided days filled with community  based activities, but not much private time. This was at that time a reflection of Nigerian values based upon strong family and cultural relationships.

I had the opportunity in Whirley House, where I served, to lead a discipleship group for older boys, who had not had the opportunity to join any other discipleship group. They would gather in my room as others were getting ready to end their day. I particularly enjoyed their openess to this time to grow in their Christian faith through Bible Study, prayer, and sometimes challenging, always lively discussions about the issues they were facing as teenage boys, pretty much the same as boys everywhere. These boys’ lives proved how powerful God’s Word could be as the Holy Spirit worked in them as they dealt with the challenges they faced in school, their preparing to qualify for further studies, friendships, and family. God often answered their questions which might have seemed to them unanswerable, through His Word.

I learned a lot about myself during this time living with about eighty boys, but I learned even more about how beautifully He worked in each of these young lives—preparing them to become godly Christian men in their future lives as professionals in many fields, including medicine, law, engineering, teaching, banking, ministry and so many others. One particular student kept me on my toes, and taught me to be humble in making my own presuppositions. He was hard working, godly, cooperative and lived a good example in every way except one. He had not had the advantage of some of his dorm-mates as far as his primary school preparation was concerned, He really had to work hard to succeed, and so he worked throughout the night, too often for his physical and mental well-being, as far as I was concerned. Often at night I would check the rooms to make sure everyone was getting some sleep. Too often I would catch him out in the circle studying one subject or another. I would send him to bed, but he always spent, in my opinion, too much time “burning the midnight oil,” as they say. He never reached the top of his class during his years at Baptist High, but he made steady progress. He later studied at the Nigerian Baptist Seminary. Then, he taught at a Pastor’s School. Next, he went back to Seminary and earned an M.Div. Finally, he persevered and earned his Ph.D, again at the Seminary. At times his health did, indeed, become an issue, but through God’s grace, he is now teaching at a College of Theology and is also busy going among his own people in his area of Nigeria, evangelizing with Holy Spirit inspired zeal, even though travel in those areas where he preaches the Gospel are less than save. He has taught me that humility, hard work, commitment, and faithfulness make a person a powerful tool in the hands of our Lord.

I thank God for all that he and hundreds of others godly boys and girls, along with their faithful teachers, taught me in my time at Baptist High School. It just goes to show that God knows where and when we need to be serving Him, as we do, He blesses us so richly we can hardly find words to adequately praise Him. He holds us each in His sure and mighty hands, and we find how mighty is His Kingdom as He leads us among His people and continues to build that Kingdom wherever He leads us.