Bishop In Tears

DAG Heward-Mills, Presiding Bishop of Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI), last Saturday broke down and wept uncontrollably during the funeral service of one of his missionaries who was gunned down by four armed robbers a fortnight ago. The deceased, 26-year-old Pastor Peter Nii Addy, was a full time missionary at Enchi in the Western region where he pastored the LCI branch there. He was survived by a wife, Lily Addy, who is six months pregnant. There was a free-for-all shedding of tears at the Qodesh, headquarters of the LCI, where the burial, memorial and thanks-giving service took place as the congregation, pastors and family members of the deceased could not hold back their tears. Heward-Mills, a missionary himself, is known to have a very high affection for his pastors, especially the full-time missionaries and thus the death of one created a noticeable change in his demeanor throughout the service. What was even more noticeable was the encouragement the Bishop was seen giving the widow throughout the service. He literally held her close to his bosom all through and after the service. Bishop Heward-Mills described the late pastor as �a quiet and an unassuming gentleman- a classic missionary who gave his all to the Lord.� He continued: �Peter did not die accidentally. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints. The divine hand of the Lord has extracted Peter from the field of souls and translated him to glory that he might receive his reward before all of us.� In her tribute, the widow, Lilly Addy, expressed her deep love for the deceased and promised never to forget him. She recounted how and where they had met and later got married in 2007. The mortal remains of Pastor Peter Addy were laid to rest at the Gbawe Cemetery. Rev. Frederick Acheampong, the senior brother of Pastor Peter, gave a rather chilling account of what had happened on the night of the robbery attack. �One of them pointed his gun at my wife and clocked it so I started to beg them not to kill anybody. It was a pump action machine gun and when he clocked it the rubber of the last bullet fell. �They asked me to shut up and stop begging so I started praying and they asked me to stop praying and that if they searched the house and found any money, they would shoot us. �They removed our wedding rings, took our laptops, jewellery, some watches I bought from London and other things but they kept asking for �the money�. I even offered to give them my car so they do not kill any of us but they said they wanted money and not a car. �I was in the room when I heard the shot of a gun and I saw my brother drop. He did not make any sound so I thought it was a warning shot�when the robbers left, we realized they had actually shot him in the stomach so I rushed out calling for help but no one came,� Rev. Acheampong narrated. The robbers have since been arrested and arraigned before court.