Written by: TWR
Article source: JOY! Magazine
At TWR, we’re beginning a year-long focus on how God is using our media ministry to bring hope within reach. We’re showing how hope is within reach in places of conflict, specifically in Nigeria. Conflict can mean war, but it also can take place at a much more individual level.
Hope from prison
“If I had known this path earlier, I would not be here today.” “Here”, for Gilbert*, means the Aba Correctional Center of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Before his mandatory change of address, Gilbert considered himself strong, a fighter, a man of the streets. In prison, he discovered he was lost. The truth came to him through TWR Radio 1476. The hope found only in Jesus entered his prison cell, and then it entered his heart.
EMAW in prison
If Gilbert had to be in prison, he was in the best possible prison for a new believer. Abia State was the first in Nigeria to approve the Every Man a Warrior (EMAW) curriculum in its prisons, and Aba Correctional Center was the first with an EMAW group. The discipleship programme, which is associated with TWR, shows men how Scriptures can help them in practical areas, such as money, marriage, rearing children, sex, and going through hard times.
Bringing hope in darkness
Founded by Lonnie Berger in the United States, EMAW (with TWR) has reached men throughout the world in varying circumstances. That includes prisons. In Kenya, as in Nigeria, EMAW started in one prison. Now, chaplains in all of Kenya’s prisons – about 125 of them – have been trained to lead the curriculum.
Deliberate discipleship
In Nigeria as a whole, more than 75 men have been through the entire curriculum, said Joshua Irondi, director of TWR’s partner in Nigeria and of EMAW in Nigeria. The two-year process takes men through three books. Gilbert was one of seven inmates in the first EMAW group at Aba Correctional Center.
A new way of life
Early results are promising, Irondi said. “These men boldly share their experiences in quiet times, memorise Scriptures, and have started an entirely different way of life, which others testify to,” he said. Whether inside or outside of prison, conflicts can strike close to home.
Conflict is ever-present
In June 2025, EMAW had a training session for leaders in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. But one of the leaders had to return to his home in northern Nigeria, said Wayne Craig, EMAW director for Africa. The man had gotten word that militants had attacked his village, and one of his children was injured. (The child was released from the hospital after a few days to continue recovering at home.)
Though conflict is ever-present, EMAW’s leaders in Nigeria aren’t discouraged, Craig said. “We don’t allow the current evil being poured out on the Nigerian people (and other countries in West Africa) to distract us from the work the Lord has prepared for us to complete,” he said. “God has given us wisdom and a discerning heart to follow His guidance as we move forward in the ministry work of West Africa.”
A great revival
From small beginnings, Irondi believes the work of EMAW in Nigerian prisons will lead to changed men, changed homes, and a changed society, he said. “I look forward to God using some of these men to begin a great revival in the land by the time they are out.”
This article is featured in the January issue of JOY! Magazine. Read a digital version of this magazine here: joygifts.co.za
Click here to KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE weekly newsletter.
> Please support Christian media and journalism in South Africa. Help us to spread the Word of God and take a stand for the truth by making a donation to our ministry. We appreciate your support. Click here to take hands with JOY! Magazine.
Date published: 30/12/2025
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only.
DISCLAIMER
JOY! News is a Christian news portal that shares pre-published articles by writers around the world. Each article is sourced and linked to the origin, and each article is credited with the author’s name. Although we do publish many articles that have been written in-house by JOY! journalists, we do not exclusively create our own content. Any views or opinions presented on this website are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.
