Bishop Tackie-Yarboi turns 50

Saturday, November 15, 2008 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
At Awoshie Baah Yard, a suburb of Accra, is a beautiful building painted in a warm shade of purple. But for the activities of big tipper trucks in the vicinity it would have served as a major landmark in the area. It is the Victory Bible Church International, Dominion Centre, which is headed by Bishop Nii Nabi Apiakai Tackie-Yarboi.
Guess what! Yesterday, November 14, Bishop Tackie-Yarboi celebrated his 50th birthday. For the pastors and congregation, 50 years was very significant and a good way to celebrate it was to sponsor a surprise publication on a man, who would naturally shy away from the media.
“I give thanks to God Almighty for His abundant favour and grace over me. I am also grateful to God for His call over my life,” Bishop Tackie-Yarboi says of his birthday in an interview with the Mirror.
Although Bishop Tackie-Yarboi is celebrating his 50th birthday, he is not oblivious of the forthcoming elections in December and therefore stressed the need for politicians to conduct their campaign devoid of insults and acrimony.
“Politicians must conduct peaceful campaigns and even as they preach peace they must be seen to be backing their words with actions.”
Recalling events that led him into the pastorate, Bishop Tackie-Yarboi said although he had a strict Presbyterian upbringing, he made personal life choices which were leading him to destruction. He therefore made a decision to join the Scripture Union to reform while he was a student at the Ebenezer Secondary School at Mamprobi, Accra.
Between 1975 and 1976, he was led to accept Jesus by one Peter Dzandza.
“He taught me what it meant to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and I can vividly recall how sinful and spiritually naked I was then,” he narrated.
That day marked a turnaround in his life.
“I had a simple divine encounter of knowing that I was going to do God’s work but never knew how.
“After praying the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and invited Jesus into my heart, I saw the room brighten as if an extra light had shone but I did not understand it then. But now I can testify that it is God’s way of commissioning me into His work.”
Following this encounter, he had a new motivation to read and seek to understand the Bible.
He said God brought various people into his life that greatly influenced his spiritual growth.
After his ‘O’ Level in the 1978/79 academic year, he continued at the Accra Polytechnic for a year and then to the Workers College for his ‘A’ Level.
He had his primary education at Osu Darley 2 and middle education at Osu Presbyterian Middle Boys and Apenkwa Shiayenno.
Realising God’s call early in his life, he entered full-time ministry in 1983.
Prior to that he fellowshipped with the Ghana Evangelical Society and also joined a student/area fellowship (Jesus People Fellowship) at Kokomlemle.
With time, he started fellowshipping with Christian Evangelical Fellowship under the leadership of Rev John Alex Cofie on Sundays at the Oxford Cinema Hall at Accra New Town and with Jesus People Fellowship on other days.
On May 26, 1985, Bishop Tackie-Yarboi was prayed over and released from the Christian Evangelical Ministry (CEM) and he started Jesus People Outreach Centre. He later changed the name to Victory Christian Centre and now Victory Bible Church International.
“My commission in ministry is to raise the foundations of many generations,” he said.
Presently the church has more than 100 branches all over Ghana and 15 in the USA, UK, The Netherlands and Germany.
Bishop Tackie-Yarboi expressed the hope that he would be able to plant more churches, build more educational institutions and create more opportunities for the youth.
What the church is embarking on at the moment is a church-community initiative where the church develops a closer relationship with the community in which it operates.
Consequently, the church puts up a school in the communities in they operate.
It has also adopted a village, Avesive, in the Volta Region where it has built a school and takes care of the teachers’ salaries. There is also a scholarship fund for needy, brilliant students and a revolving fund for widows of the church.
“We believe in missionary work as well as meeting the needs of the people,” he emphasised.
He said he had no regrets for being a pastor and that “if there was anything like another lifetime, I would want to be a pastor but maybe do things differently such as raising more leaders.”
BishopTackie-Yarboi called on Christians to make time to discover from the Bible what they have been taught to affirm that it is Biblical and to know God for themselves.
Additionally, he said Christians should “endeavour to be one in essentials and the non-essentials and be accommodating of each other.”
Born to Nii Amugie Sorse Tackie-Yarboi and Vivian Atswei Sowah, both deceased, BishopTackie-Yarboi is married to Rev Mrs Dora Tackie-Yarboi, who is the President of the Women’s Fellowship of the church.
They have three children, Nii Sorse, who is studying medicine in Ukraine, Nii Dromo and Naa Asharday.
He has authored six books namely The Believers Mind, Dreams of the Night, Overcoming Depression, Fulfilling Your Destiny, Financial Empowerment and Making the Most of What You Have.
“Jehovah is the one and the reason for my being. He made me and because He did, I am not my own. I am His and the sheep of his pasture” were his final words.