Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Okpara.
Joshua, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
While on campus, Pastor Joshua Okpara started worship nights with a vision to create a safe place for students to gather together, pray, worship, and be healed through the power of the Holy Ghost.
His vision was to promote Christ on campus, spreading the Gospel to the students and encouraging them to be plugged into the local believing churches. This vision led to hosting worship nights bi-weekly to 200+ students for over 3 years.
We were fortunate to serve the University of North Texas for over 3 years, and in this time period, over 1,000 college students were converted into the faith. Some are even from other religious backgrounds such as the Islamic faith. Then on April 18, 2018, God called Him to launch the Faith-Filled Church that birthed out of Worship Night with a mission to reach college students and college campuses nationwide.
Our vision then morphed into building Kingdom men and Kingdom women to establish God’s purpose on the earth. Our mission is to be the solution to the world’s earthly needs while pointing them to the source of their spiritual need. We want to be a well-grounded church that provides resources in addition to the world of God. resources such as food & clothing banks, financial literacy, counselors and therapists available, jobs, housing, etc. We want the kingdom of God to be represented here through the needs of others being met.
On February 2020, we launched our “Givers initiative “, where our goal was to bless a community member on a monthly basis.
We started out in February by giving away a brand-new MacBook computer to a local UNT student who needed a computer and was a media art major. Since then, we have been able to offer food, clothing, rent assistance, and even bought a car for a community member in need of a means of transportation.
Partnering with local businesses, and business owners, we have been able to serve the Denton County community effectively. We have been able to host financial literacy classes at our Lewisville location, and now we offer free therapy sessions to our members through from a licensed therapist. Our goal is to partner with more local businesses, entrepreneurs, and business owners to better serve the community, locally and internationally.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. We started from the ground up. I started the ministry in my final year of college and had to take summer classes and pastor at the same time. I had never been a pastor before, and neither did I know how to be one. funding was next to $0. The only musical equipment we had was a toy keyboard gifted to me as a kid, and a Bluetooth speaker I had in my bedroom in college. We literally had nothing and had to make it work. There were some months where I had to borrow money from my dad/sister to pay the church rent. I was homeless for about 2 Months three months after starting the church. Living with a college friend while trying to figure things out.
We had to struggle to deal with college students who typically left during the summer, causing us to be empty. there were Sundays where the only people I preached to in attendance were my wife and a friend, and this went on for months.
fast forward to 2020 where we had to pastor while my wife was on bed rest, in the middle of a pandemic. it was very devastating. in addition, our son was born prematurely, and we still had to pastor through that.
The road to here was the toughest anyone could imagine. words cannot express how difficult it was to run a ministry during a pandemic, but we made it through God and the power of consistency.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the senior pastor of the Faith-Filled Church located in Lewisville TX. Our mission is to build Kingdom Men and Women to establish God’s purpose on earth.
Partnering with local businesses, and business owners, we have been able to serve the Denton County community effectively. We have been able to host financial literacy classes at our Lewisville location, and now we offer free therapy sessions to our members through from a licensed therapist. Our goal is to partner with more local businesses, entrepreneurs, and business owners to better serve the community, locally and internationally.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love how close it is to everything, the food, the lights, and the minimal traffic. I also love how people here seem more friendly and approachable.
Contact Info:
- Email: Pastor@Faithfilledministry.com
- Website: https://www.faithfilledministry.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/faithfilledchurch_
- Facebook: facebook.com/faithfilledchurch
- Twitter: twitter.com/thefaithfilled
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Txp5ZEo3pKagd41CfpkkQ
Image Credits
@nwokocha__
