The Right Worshipful, Mr George Cole, The Lord Mayor of Leicester, on Sunday eulogised the Senior Pastor of The Envoy Nation, Dele Osunmakinde whom he described as a godly man who preaches the Bible with great authority.
The pastor and the congregants were surprised when the Lord Mayor, who is Leicester’s first citizen walked into the service which held at the Mercure Leicester The Grand Hotel located in Grandby Street in United Kingdom.
Addressing the church, Cole said for unknown reasons, he had a great urge to fellowship and would have attended with his wife, the Lord Mayoress but she is currently recovering from an operation.
He also commended the church members for the atmosphere of warmth and sense of oneness which was evident throughout the service.
He said “For some unknown reasons yesterday, I had this great urge to come to this church. The Lady Mayoress would have been with me but she is recovering from an operation. But she does ask me to pass on her good wishes and blessings. Now she is a church-goer and it is my expectation that you will see her here at least once and it will be up to you then to persuade her.
“The sense of family is the first thing that I picked up as I came into this church. You will say you are entitled to say that since you are in a church. I don’t have to say that because I have freewill not to say it but I do choose to say it.
“It is the second time I am meeting the pastor and it is the same kind of warmth, camaraderie, godliness about him which I find very magnetic. He delivered the word of the Bible with such an authority by preachers and pastors that I have seen for many years. I do congratulate you for having a pastor who is a true believer and he doesn’t demand.
“The first time I met the pastor was at the East Midlands African Business Fair. I was surprised by something he said to me. He said ‘ I know you from somewhere’. I was thinking but I have never seen you before. He said I used to see you at Abbey Park going around, walking briskly around the park. I was thinking ;yes, I usually do that, but how did you see me? He says he also goes to the park some mornings for a brisk walk”.
“I was thinking to myself ‘isn’t life strange? There is this saying that no man is an island. And they say the world is a small place. I just felt the proof of that when he made that comment. But there is something I quite liked which he also said . He said he saw this old man walking very fast and he hoped that when he gets that old, he will be able to walk that fast as well.
“What my wife does says to me all the time is that age is just a number. It is really all about what is in your heart and how you share that humanity that we all have in a godly way.
“But nothing gives me the greatest of joy than to see a collection of black people together feeling good about themselves , wanting to rejoice about who they are and understanding that they are in a space that might be dominated by another race nation but they are confident in who we are and what it is that we are about,” he said.
