CGMI Joy & Harvest and Church of God Mission International Leadership & Impact Conference
Message Note · Day 1 Friday 23 October 2026 · Houston, TX
Theme of the day

Born for
Impact

Christ-empowered leadership flows out of who you already are in Christ: a finished new creation with nothing missing, already blessed, already anointed.

Anchor text

"Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus… commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also."

2 Timothy 2:1–2

Bishop Wale Ajayi
Ministering

Bishop Wale Ajayi

Miracle Centre, Benin City, Nigeria

About these notes: This page provides a structured summary of the message and may not reproduce every statement word for word. Watch or listen to the complete message for the full teaching.

Watch or listen to the message

Setting the frame

Bishop Kingsley Ewansiha · Welcome

The Spirit that rests on Christ (Isaiah 11:2), the Spirit of wisdom, counsel and understanding, now rests in you (Colossians 2:9). Everything God has is in Christ; everything Christ has is now in you. Get filled Thursday to Sunday, then take charge on Monday.

What "impact" means at LIC

Bishop Wale set the definition from the General Overseer: impact is not monuments, cathedrals or acquisition. Impact is souls: people reached, saved and discipled through you, in whatever space God has placed you, including your workplace.

The teaching in nine movements

01

You are born for impact: spiritual birth, not natural birth

This is not a word to the natural man. Salvation is not bad people becoming good; it is dead people receiving life. Cornelius was devout, generous, prayerful and even saw visions, yet he still needed to be saved. "Not behaving, but believing." You can behave all you want and not be saved, but you cannot truly believe and not behave, because you have received a life.

Ephesians 2:10 · Acts 10:1–6, 43–44
02

You are God's masterpiece: nothing is wrong with you

"Recreated" (Amplified) in Christ; "God's handiwork", "God's masterpiece" (NLT). Whatever God does is forever, nothing can be added and nothing taken away. The new creation has no deficiency and needs no update. Gideon and Moses had excuses in the natural; the new creation has none.

Ephesians 2:10 · Ecclesiastes 3:14
03

Nobody can take what God has made: stop connecting to "altars"

Because nothing can be removed from God's work, no one can take your star or attack your destiny. You are the temple of God; He lives in you. No title gives any preacher more access to God than you have. Bowing to other altars is idolatry, and the "prayer industry" profits by making you think you lack what you already have.

1 Corinthians 3:16 · Romans 8:28–30
04

Justified and glorified: identity is the hinge of impact

Whom He called, He justified, declared righteous, holy, blameless, without a single fault, and glorified: everything in Jesus He put inside us. Jesus is the "firstborn" as the pattern Son, not the preferred Son. Impact starts, rises and falls on your understanding of your identity in Christ. Adam named the animals exactly as God had in mind; if the "dummy" functioned like that, how much more the real, the new creation.

Romans 8:29–30 · Genesis 2:19 · 1 Corinthians 1:9
05

Already blessed, promises already fulfilled

You are not going to be blessed; you are blessed already with every spiritual blessing. In Christ the promises of God are no longer promises: they have been fulfilled with a resounding "Yes" that never becomes "No." Protection, provision, preservation and favour ("accepted in the Beloved" = highly favoured, the same word used of Mary) are present-tense and operational. Your part is to agree, and when you agree you give God glory.

Ephesians 1:3, 6 · 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT) · Hebrews 13:5–6 · 2 Peter 1:3–4
06

Everything came "along with" Jesus: God is holding nothing back

"How shall He not, along with Him, freely give us all things?" When you buy a padlock, the key comes with it; only a wicked person sells you the key separately and only a foolish person buys it. Any ministry that makes you pay, in cash or in kind, for what God already gave in Christ is what Paul calls "dogs" in Philippians 3. Testimony: a childless couple heard this, stopped crying, and nine months later had their first child.

Romans 8:32 (NIV) · Galatians 3:1 · Philippians 3:2
07

You have His life, His operating system, His love and His anointing

The same life that took Jesus to the cross without shrinking back is in you. Under the law, turning from iniquity was man's job; under grace, God Himself turns us. "Work out" (not work for) your salvation, because it is God at work in you giving the desire and the power. It was God who put care for the people in Titus's heart. Christ's love, not selfish ambition, is what drives you. And the same God who anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and power anointed you: stop seeking an anointing you already carry.

Acts 3:25–26 · Philippians 2:12–13 (TLB) · 2 Corinthians 8:16 · 2 Corinthians 5:14 · 2 Corinthians 1:21 · Acts 10:38 · 1 John 2:27
08

The assignment is souls; the tool is one specific message

You do not need a title or "a big cross" to make impact; every believer is equipped. The call to ministry is the call to deliver a specific message: the forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus. God, whom we offended, carried the burden of reconciliation Himself, exhausting the judgment of sin once and for all in Christ. Justice demands consequences; grace means the one who sinned is the one God loves, so in His wisdom He became the Wonderful Counsellor who resolved it. Religion says "do"; the gospel says "look." We were saved by looking and we are changed by looking.

2 Corinthians 5:19–21 (TLB) · Acts 13:38–39 · Colossians 1:21–23 · Isaiah 9:6 · Romans 1:16 · 1 Corinthians 1:23
09

Stop advising, start announcing: the gospel is a trust and He is counting on you

When people bring you problems, God is opening a window; don't fill it with advice, preach the gospel. Nobody is saved just because Jesus died; people are saved when they hear and believe what He did, and they cannot hear without a preacher who is sent, and God has sent us. Paul held the gospel as a trust. If someone hands you $100 for the Bishop, you can hold it until he visits; if they hand you $1 million, you buy a ticket and go find him. That is the urgency the message deserves, yet we sit on it beside the same colleague year after year.

Romans 10:14–15 · 1 Corinthians 9:16–17 · Isaiah 53:5–6
Declarations made in the house

Say it until you believe it

"I am God's workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus. I am God's masterpiece. I know my identity."

"I am a new creation. I have no deficiency. There is nothing wrong with me. I am complete in Christ."

"I am blessed already with every spiritual blessing. All the promises of God are operational in my life now."

"I have His life, His nature, His love to motivate me and His Spirit to empower me. I can."

"I am anointed with the Holy Ghost and power. I do not lack power; the power of God is in me."

"I am healed, provided for, protected, preserved and favoured, in the name of Jesus. It is done."

"Lord, here am I. Use me for my generation. Help me tell people everywhere that their sins are forgiven."

Two testimonies of the plain gospel

The "Yahoo boy"

Bishop only read Isaiah 53 in a Sunday service: no mention of fraud or behaviour. A young man came forward: "I'm a Yahoo boy. I've been convicted. I want to stop. I just defrauded someone and I'm going to return all the money." He was led to Christ, handed to the leadership academy, and was in church the next Sunday.

The man in the bar

Near St Matthew's in Benin, Bishop sat with a stranger and simply shared the gospel. The man said, "I need to go and forgive my wife." No prayer was needed. When God is not holding your sin against you, how can you hold another's against them? The message did the work.

Go deeper

Study questions with answers from the message

Work through these alone or in your small group. Try answering before you open the answer, then check it against the scripture.

1. According to the message, what is impact, and what is it not?
AnswerImpact is souls: people reached with the gospel, saved and discipled through you, wherever you are placed. It is not building monuments, acquiring things or self-achievement. A new cathedral is good, but the testimony the General Overseer wants to hear is that souls were saved.
2. Why did Cornelius still need to be saved if he was devout, generous and prayerful?
AnswerBecause salvation is not behaviour, it is believing. Cornelius ticked every box of good behaviour but had not yet believed on Jesus for the remission of sins (Acts 10:43). Salvation is not bad people becoming good; it is dead people receiving life, passing from death to life.
3. "You are born for impact." Which birth is the Bishop talking about, and why does that matter?
AnswerThe spiritual birth, the new creation in Christ, not natural birth (Ephesians 2:10, "recreated"). In the natural there is everything wrong with us, like Gideon and Moses full of excuses; but the new creation is God's handiwork, and nothing God makes is deficient.
4. What does Ecclesiastes 3:14 teach about the new creation?
AnswerWhatever God does is forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. So the new creation needs no "update" or improvement, and nothing can be removed from it: nobody can take your star or attack your destiny.
5. Why did the Bishop warn against "connecting to altars" and the "prayer industry"?
AnswerBecause you are the temple of God and God lives in you; no title confers on any preacher more access to God than you have. Bowing to other altars is idolatry, and such ministries profit by convincing you that you lack what God has already given you in Christ.
6. What does Romans 8:29–30 say God has already done for every believer?
AnswerHe predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son (the pattern Son), called us, justified us (declared us righteous, holy, blameless, without a single fault, just like Jesus) and glorified us, putting everything that was in Jesus inside us.
7. Are you going to be blessed, or are you blessed already? Explain from Ephesians 1:3 and 2 Corinthians 1:20.
AnswerBlessed already, with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. All of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes" (NLT), so protection, provision and preservation are present-tense realities. Our response is to agree, and our agreement gives God glory.
8. Explain the padlock-and-key illustration. Which scripture does it unpack?
AnswerRomans 8:32: God did not spare His own Son; how will He not, "along with Him", freely give us all things? When you buy a padlock, the key comes with it; you never buy it separately. When God gave Jesus, everything came along with Him. God is holding nothing back, so no one should make you pay for what is already yours in Christ.
9. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." How did the Bishop explain this, and what makes verse 13 good news?
AnswerWork out, not work for: give expression to the salvation you have. "Fear" is reverence, not dread; "trembling" is a sense of inadequacy, which is why verse 13 follows: it is God at work in you, giving you both the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. The want-to and the ability are not yours to generate.
10. What did Paul credit for Titus's caring heart, and what does that say about you?
AnswerPaul thanked God, who put the same care for the people in Titus's heart (2 Corinthians 8:16), not Titus. As a new creation you have God's life to make you obedient, His love to motivate you (2 Corinthians 5:14) and His Spirit to empower you. What drives you is not selfish ambition but the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost.
11. Who anointed you, and with what? What should you stop doing as a result?
AnswerGod anointed you (2 Corinthians 1:21), the same way He anointed Jesus: with the Holy Ghost and power (Acts 10:38). The anointing you received abides in you (1 John 2:27). So stop seeking an anointing "on the mountain"; it is already in you, and everything Jesus accomplished, you can accomplish.
12. What is "the message" we are called to deliver, and why is the forgiveness of sins at its centre?
AnswerThe specific message is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting men's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19–21; Acts 13:38–39). The wages of sin is death and God is just, but the one who sinned is the one God loves; so God became a man, Jesus, and exhausted the punishment for sin once and for all. Now anyone who simply looks to the Son is saved.
13. What is the difference between religion and the gospel, in one sentence from the message?
AnswerReligion says "do something to be saved"; the gospel says "look to the Son." We were saved by looking and we are changed by looking, not by doing.
14. When someone brings you a problem, what is the mistake most Christians make, and what should we do instead?
AnswerWe rush to give advice ("you see, you see…") when God has actually opened a window and the person is ready to hear. Instead, put the gospel in: tell them what Jesus has done for them. Even the Bishop catches himself doing this when sick people call him.
15. "Nobody gets saved just because Jesus died." What completes the picture, according to Romans 10?
AnswerPeople are saved when they hear and believe what Jesus did. They cannot believe unless they hear, cannot hear without a preacher, and there is no preacher unless one is sent, and God has sent us. He is counting on you.
16. What is the point of the $100 versus $1 million illustration?
AnswerUrgency proportional to value. You can hold $100 for someone until you see them; with $1 million you buy a ticket and go and find them. The gospel is worth far more than $1 million and is what the world needs, yet we hold it to ourselves beside the same people year after year.
17. Why did the Bishop say "He has healed you" rather than "He will heal you"?
AnswerBecause healing and provision are promises of God, and in Christ every promise has already been fulfilled; they are operational now by what Christ has done. So we don't beg for them, we receive and declare them, and we praise, not to manipulate God, but to express confidence that it is done.
For personal reflection
Write your answersWho is the "colleague beside you" that you have been sitting next to with the message unspoken? What problem has someone brought you recently that was actually an open window for the gospel? Which of the declarations above do you find hardest to say, and which scripture answers that hesitation?