HISTORY

Intimacy with Christ Ministries (ICM) was formed on the 29^th June, 2010, primarily as a Faith-Based Organization known as Believers Life International. The Executive Director, Pastor Raymond (then Bro. Raymond Odum) formally launched the group after a meeting with Sis. Eileen Nartey (Now, Mrs. Odum) and Bro. Daniel Ephraim; the group has its roots from a fellowship named “Soul Winners” in Aggrey Memorial SHS which sprang up after series of rival meetings that Bro Raymond organized in the school (2007-2008). The name of the group ‘soul winners’ was coined by students that were affected by the messages preached by Bro. Raymond.

In May 2010,whenBro. Raymond completed Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), The Holy Spirit instructed him to take full charge of the fellowship in Aggrey Memorial SHS and to transform ‘Soul Winners’ into Believers Life International with a vision of “BUILDING PEOPLE INTO CHRIST”.

During that season,Bro Raymond was given a mandate to bring the message, of the “RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF FAITH” with emphasis on the Person of the Holy Spirit and His Ministry to the saints, to his generation.

In January 2012, Bro Raymond had a meeting in Crown Apartment Hotel in Accra with a few of the members of BLI-Aggrey who had completed school and shared with them yet another vision. He shared his dream of spreading BLI into the Campuses, starting another fellowship within the organization dubbed “Workers Awake Fellowship (WAF)”.

The start of Workers Awake Fellowship was in response to a prophetic experience Bro Raymond had while having his National Service in Adjumako Mando, as a Teacher in Mando Senior Technical School.  He shared that the Lord’s desire in these last days was to see the lay Christian walk in the supernatural, even in their various work places. He shared that there is a coming move of God in the body of Christ, that will move lay men and women to walk in an anointing similar to the sent ones (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Teachers and Pastors); this he said is in accordance to the prophecy of Isaiah:

Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.  And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers [and] streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.  MOREOVER THE LIGHT OF THE MOON SHALL BE AS THE LIGHT OF THE SUN, AND THE LIGHT OF THE SUN SHALL BE SEVENFOLD, AS THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS, IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD BINDETH UP THE BREACH OF HIS PEOPLE, AND HEALETH THE STROKE OF THEIR WOUND. Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning [with] his anger, and the burden [thereof is] heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and [there shall be] a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing [them] to err.   Ye shall have a song, as in the night [when] a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.  And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. – Isaiah 30:24-30

For this to happen, Bro Raymond believed that the message of the Holy Spirit in the everyday life of the believer must be well understood. Hence, Workers Awake Fellowship took off on 25^thMay 2012, at the Conference room of Calvary Baptist Church. This meeting was constantly organized every last but one Saturday of Every Month in several locations till November 2015, during the transition of the ministry to incorporate the Church arm.

As the ministry was preparing to launch our Workers Awake Fellowship, Bro Raymond received an instruction from the Holy Spirit to start writing books to carry the message that the Lord Jesus Christ had entrusted to this ministry. The first of these books is the Volume one of “How I Became Anointed” –‘The Journey Begins.’ The book was to become the first of a series with seven volumes that detailed the message of the anointing in the life of the believer as well as Bro Raymond’s personal experience with the anointing. Currently, only two volumes of this series are out. Upon the release of the first book at successful book launch at Caters Hostel in East Legon, in December 21^st, 2012 another arm of the ministry called BLI- Publications (Now ICM publication was launched. After the first book launch, ICM-Publications have seen the release of 12 other books, 5tracts, and 1 Quarterly topical devotional.

In March 2013, ICM – opened its first Tertiary Campus ministry branch in KNUST at Providence Hostel Terrace. Later in October 2013 another branch was opened in Legon Campus at Pentagon hostel TV room.

In March 2014, towards the preparation of Bro Raymond’s second book –In the Belly of Fear- the Lord spoke to Bro Raymond to accompany the book launch with a campaign called “Overcoming Fear Campaign (OFC)” the campaign was to take place in secondary schools across four (4) regions; Greater Accra, Central, Western, and Eastern regions. By faith, the ministry undertook the project which went on from June, 2014 –November, 2015. ICM visited about 50 secondary schools in these regions and negotiated for platforms to share God’s Word to inspire the youth; to rise up and come out of fear that stops them from pursuing their purpose. The ministry distributed over 25,000 tracts authored by Bro Raymond. Some of the Titles of the Tracts were:

• My Closest Friend
• Why am I full of fear?
• My Decision My Success
• The Blood Has Made You Free

Some of the schools we ministered to were:

• Aggrey Memorial SHS
• Ghanatta Senior High School
• AME Zion Senior High Tafo
• Havard SHS Accra
• Fijai SHS, Takoradi
• NVTI, Accra
• Koforidua SHS and others

During the campaign, we organized an Overcoming Fear conference twice in Accra as part of our Workers Awake Fellowship meetings. In July 2015, the ministry went ahead to organize Kingdom Finance and Entrepreneurship Seminar (KFES) which was a 4-day camp at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Millennium City Kasoa. The camp was to guide young people with the desire of entering into entrepreneurship and to give them the mind of God for the Christian business man or woman. The ministry still undertakes SHS outreaches and this past years added schools in Upper East Region and Northern Regions to areas for SHS outreaches.   

In February 14^th, 2016 the first branch of the Church arm of the ministry (Intimacy with Christ Church-Eagles Mountain) was established at Former Prince of Peace School, Behind UPSA, Madina, Accra. The first official Sunday service was attended by 6 adults and 1baby in a nearby class room block on the UPSA campus since the auditorium for meeting was not ready as at yet.

In March 2016, the ministry started a devotional named Issues of Life Daily Devotional, the first year the devotional was primarily circulated in e-format on Facebook and Whatsapp. The devotional was circulated in hardcopy format October 2017, 500 copies of the devotional was released. The ministry since have printed and distributed 26800 copies of the devotional across the globe.

Other Activities:

Every October from the year 2014, the ministry has made it a point to reach out to people with the gospel in a massive manner dubbed “Operation Mimshach” the ministry distributes tracts and free books to people. Since 2014, the ministry has consciously preached in buses at bus stations:

• Kwame Nkrumah Circle station
• 37 Military Hospital station
• Spintex Station at Accra Mall
• Lapaz Station
• Kotobabi Down Station

This is mostly during the season of our Mega Outreach “Operation Mimshach”.

The ministry since 2015 organizes School of Life Camp, a camp solely dedicated to training its leaders and discussing the vision for the year. The ministry also believes in reaching out to the poor and in our small way has reached out to people who we encounter with genuine needs to assist them. This includes paying of school fees, rent, feeding and other donations to the poor at various places.

FINANCES:

Finances for our activities come from members of the ministry and other external partners that are spread across Ghana and other parts of the world specifically; China, USA, Canada, UK, and Australia. These partners are mostly past ICM members who have found themselves in these countries because of furthering their academics or job opportunities as well as others whose lives has been touched by the ministry of Rev. Raymond odum. The ministry isn’t financed or hasn’t sought for financing by any agency or well-meaning charity organization. We are exceedingly grateful to the Lord for the supply of finances to do the things we have envisioned all these years.