| By Josephine Akaure.
Babcock University held its NOVA Baccalaureate Sabbath today at the University Amphitheatre with an attendance of over 2,500 students, faculty, and staff. The service set a reflective tone for the graduating class as they prepare to transition into the next phase of life and service.
Delivering the sermon was Pastor (Prof) Joseph Ola, former Pro-Chancellor of Babcock University and retired faculty member. Anchoring his message on Acts 3:1-10 — the healing of the paralyzed man at the Beautiful Gate by Peter and John — Pastor Ola titled it “Once Upon a Time”. The message drew attention not just to the miracle, but to the unseen formation behind it.
Pastor Ola reminded the congregation that when the religious leaders saw Peter and John, they perceived them as “unlearned and uneducated.” What they did not see was the private wrestling: nights of hunger, moments of doubt, the shame of Peter’s denial, and the decision to stay with Jesus when everything fell apart.
“The healing was public,” Pastor Ola noted, “but the formation was private. God does His deepest work before He does His greatest works through us.”
From Struggle to Service: A Personal Witness
Bringing the text close to home, Pastor Ola shared his own journey as a Babcock student (then ACWA, Adventist College of West Africa) from humble beginnings who often struggled with financial clearance. From those early challenges, he rose to serve the institution as faculty and later as Pro-Chancellor, and today serves as a Professor of Homiletics. His testimony resonated deeply with many students facing similar challenges.
“The gate looked closed,” he said, “but God was doing the depositing in secret. Your current struggle is not a full stop. It is a semicolon in God’s story for your life.”
Wrestling for a New Name
The message further drew parallels with Jacob, who wrestled with identity, his brother’s birthright, family manipulation, and his father-in-law’s schemes. At Jabbok, Jacob stopped wrestling with people and circumstances and wrestled with God. He walked away with a limp — and a new name.
Pastor Ola urged students to bring their own wrestling to God: questions of identity, provision, purpose, and calling. “Before God deposits something in your hands for others, He deposits something in you first. In the struggle, He prepares you for impact.”
The service concluded with Prof. Afolarin Ojewole, the President/Vice Chancellor's charge to the students and community members to reflect on one question: What would I want God to deposit in my life?
Three responses framed the charge:
- Steadiness — to remain faithful even when it is uncomfortable
- Compassion that heals — to see people at the gate and not walk past them
- A new name — to reject old labels of lack, fear, and “not enough” and walk in God’s identity
The NOVA Baccalaureate Sabbath blended worship, testimony, and Scripture to remind the university community that God specializes in turning closed gates into gateways, and struggles into testimonies.