Shey Babalolas

About

Seyi’s (Shay) Testimony
I was born in Nigeria. My father served as assistant pastor in a conservative church, so I grew up hearing the gospel. But as a boy, I thought Christianity was about living a morally good life. Then in 1996, while attending a service at Victory Independent Baptist Church, I came to understand that Jesus Christ was the only way to heaven—that I could never be good enough to get there on my own. There at the age of twenty-one I was saved and baptized.

I had earned admission to the University of Ibadan and was to begin studies in pharmacy in the fall of 1998. But I began to sense an inner urging by the Holy Spirit of God. I read my Bible daily listening to God speak to me through His Word; and I heard challenging messages by my pastor, Robert Smith. Soon I was compelled to submit my desires to God's will, and I surrendered my life to preach God’s Word instead.

When I shared with my pastor what had happened, we prayed together and then he encouraged me to seek God’s will in what my next steps should be. He then urged me to tell my parents about my change of plans. With apprehension and after much praying and fasting, I told them about my decision. Thankfully, my parents and my church gave me full support to obey the Lord's command and will for my life to preach. In 1999 I enrolled at Blue Mountain Baptist Bible College in Ogbomosho, Nigeria and graduated in 2002.

Abigail’s Testimony
I was born into a Christian home. My father was a missionary pastor, and our family attended church faithfully. Although I prayed the sinner's prayer during Children’s Sunday School time taught by my mother, I did not understand what I was doing at the time. Then several years later during a church revival meeting with the theme, “Prepare to Meet Thy God”, I was convicted of my sin. It was then that I clearly understood my need for salvation. I was reconciled to God by accepting the gift of eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. I was baptized by immersion and have been growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior from that time forward.

As a girl, I dreamed of becoming a missionary, so I could travel the world. But as I grew in the Lord, I realized that a missionary’s real purpose was to share the message of the gospel wherever God sent them. One day I felt God’s call upon my life and surrendered to be used of Him in whatever way He chose. I continued serving in my home church and earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Ilorin.
When I met Seyi, and we married, we began serving the Lord together.

Our Story
The Babalolas (Shay, Abigail, Barnabas & Christabel).
“But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand,” Romans 15:21.

Seyi and Abigail Babalola are native Nigerians. In 2012 God opened the door for them to come to the United States. Six fruitful years have passed and now the Babalolas seek your prayers for God’s provision and direction as they return to their homeland to share the gospel among a people they love.

The Babalolas know that this work cannot be accomplished without putting aside all fear and hesitation, but they cannot stand by and watch people die without Jesus and not do their part to stop it. Seyi and Abigail deeply desire to return to Nigeria as missionaries—to go out and reach out—because God is still seeking people today.

As ambassadors of Christ, Seyi and his family have surrendered their creature comforts to go to their native country, Nigeria. They are constrained by the love of Christ to take the gospel back to their people and preach. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth,” Acts 1:8.

Seyi and Abigail believe that God has given the local church the great commission to proclaim the good news to all nations, tribes, cultures, ethnicities, and language groups so that lost souls might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. They know that it is God’s desire that the whole world—nearly 8 billion souls—hear the true gospel. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 15:21, “But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.

During Bible college, Seyi served as an intern at Bethel Baptist Church and was actively involved in soul winning/evangelism and church growth. He met his future wife, Abigail immediately following Bible college graduation and they were married in December 2004. They continued to serve at Bethel Baptist where Seyi now pastored and Abigail participated in children’s ministries and women’s Bible studies.

In 2007, Seyi and Abigail started Liberty Baptist Church as a church plant. It was about eight miles away from Bethel in a town called Otamokun. They actively built a congregation there until 2012 at which time a new pastor replaced Seyi, and God opened the door for the Babalolas to come to the United States.

Right before the Babalolas relocated to America, they moved temporarily to a city where Abigail was transferred because of her job at the bank. They soon realized that this city had no fundamental Bible teaching church. Seyi's soul-winning efforts there revealed the many religious but sincerely wrong and unsaved people around them. God began to burden Seyi and Abigail’s hearts for the people in this city who trusted in personal works to earn heaven.

Once in the U.S. and through a series of circumstances of the Lord’s leading, Seyi met Pastor Kevin Schaal and the Babalolas began attending Northwest Valley Baptist Church in Glendale, Arizona. In 2013 God supplied funds for Seyi to enroll at International Baptist Bible College in Chandler, Arizona to work on his Master of Arts in Bible, while at the same time attending Northwest Valley and doing his internship there. He became involved in the church’s Sunday afternoon ministry at an adult senior care facility. He was also elected as a deacon and more recently was asked to start an adult bible class on Sunday mornings.

The Babalolas first born daughter, Melissa died of cerebral malaria at seventeen months of age. Seyi and Abigail have two children: Barnabas aged ten and Christabel aged seven. Abigail was able to lead both Barnabas and Christabel to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Seyi is currently in IBC’s graduate program working toward his Master of Divinity degree.

Abigail continues to be involved in ministry as she supports her husband as he leads an adult Bible study class. She assists with a Sunday School class for 4th through 6th grade girls and sings in the church choir in addition to working on her Master’s in Education degree online through Maranatha Baptist University.

Seyi and Abigail seek to rescue lost souls in Nigeria from certain death one family at a time.

“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled,” Luke 14:23.