Background
My name is Abraham Saah Boimah James. Boimah is a native name from the Vai tribe of Liberia which means first child; Saah also means first child-a native name from the Kissi tribe from northern Liberia. I am my mother’s first child. I got married to my beautiful wife in 1998. I have a passion to minister in songs.
I met my wife in Ivory Coast almost 14 years ago. This was a learning period in my life. At the time, I was living with one of the resident pastors in a mission house of Action Faith Ministries. Once we became friends, I encouraged her to become a member of the choir. We got engaged in 1997and got married in 1998.
I moved back to Liberia in 1999 and worked for the first cell phone company in Liberia, I-COM, between 1998 and 2000. In 2000, I started working with Sabena Airlines as an accountant. Sabena was fun and engaging. I traversed West Africa and Europe for work and training. But in 2002, Sabena became bankrupt. They were bought over by another Belgium corporation and as God would have I was retained. I became the assistant to the resident manager from 2002 to 2003 when the civil war broke out again. Since I worked with the airlines, and I had American papers, I had the privilege of getting my family out of Liberia to the United States. My wife and the two children, Maima and Rachel left first and I came over 3 months later.
Once I got here, America happened. I started out working in a medical assembly plant (Boston Scientific). While at this, I was counting on God for a better job. And in 2006, I inched a step closer as I got a customer account executive position with a cable company, Comcast. A year later, I became a business banker specialist with Wells Fargo. God has been ordering my steps higher since.
Choir Leader
I left Liberia in the heat of the war with my dad. He was sick and we needed to get to Ivory Coast to seek medical attention for him. Once in Ivory Coast, all I did was stay by my dad’s bed side catering to him and praying for his healing. Unfortunately, daddy died. It was such a downer. It was at this point that one of the Pastors’ wives offered me living space in the mission house. That marked my introduction to Pentecostalism.
In the mission house I did whatever my hands found to do: washed clothes, maintained the yard and I joined the choir. It was easy for me to join the choir because I was in my school choir where I sang bass. That was the in-thing for “men.” But in Abidjan I was a tenor. Breakthrough came my way through a women’s conference where we ministered. I had to step in for the choir director and apparently God used me to minister extraordinarily. After the conference, one of the Pastors offered me a directorship of their choir. At this point, I was a novice in music in general. But I still got the position. From then on I started ministering in Abidjan. After the war I joined the Winners Chapel in Monrovia where I was the Worship leader from 1999 to 2003.
Effects of the Liberian War
The personal effects of the war to me are numerous. I lost my dad to the war. He couldn’t get adequate medical attention until we got to Ivory Coast. My academics suffered. Between 1990 and 1997 I was basically doing nothing professionally. Of course at some point I started ministering which helped plugged that gap somewhat. But all in all I wouldn’t look at it as a delay; it was a process.
Strong Tower Parish
My wife was already worshipping here before I came over. We used to worship at Speak the Word and I’d completed my membership class. Joanna Diabe had told my wife about this church and she started coming. I stayed back at Speak the Word and was actually about to get started in the praise and worship team when I came here for a special program. Pastor Leke Sanusi ministered. It wasn’t long after that I decided to come be a member here too, so my wife and I would worship at the same location.
2 Cents
I didn’t join this ministry so I could usurp anything. I came here because I wanted to help fulfill God’s vision. I believe we sometimes get ahead of ourselves when we start criticizing and analyzing when we’ve not been asked. The Pastor is the man God has given the vision; the least we can do is rally round and support him, not think we know more than him regardless of our know-how. I am always willing to serve with humility in what I do believing my lifting and blessing will come out of it.
Favorite song
There is a song for every situation. Sometimes because of the situation one is in, a particular song seems to be one’s favorite; that then changes once that situation changes. So it’s almost impossible for me to single out any song. But I’ll say this: I like to praise. And I therefore tend to do more praise than worship. I like to bring energy and be expressive whenever I lead any song. I thank God for the passion He’s given to me to minster in songs. I sing anywhere: I sing at home and even at work. People always say I’m light-hearted. Why wouldn’t I be when I’m always singing and praising my God? That’s why the Bible says the joy of the Lord is my strength, right?
Life Lesson
I have come to realize change doesn’t come easy. I have also come to realize in life sometimes things get unstable. I think there were some decisions I made that I might think twice about now. For instance, after I got to the States, my boss in Ivory Coast offered to reinstate me if I returned. He even said he would do all he could to help get my wife back into Ecobank, where she used to work. But I thought it was time for change. But in all these, I give thanks to the Lord. That’s what the Bible advises and I believe.
