The psalmist was explicit on ways of praising the Lord God Almighty. He talks about using the voice, dances, the lyre, the flute, the timbrel, the cymbal, the psaltery, the harp, the stringed instruments and organs, etc, sparing nothing to give praises to God, the Most High.
Praising God with drums like Gangan(talking drum), Gbedu, Omele ako, Bata, Konga, Samba, Sakara etc is phenomenal in the C&S fold. They are one of the instruments used to worship and praise God, whereby when played, it sounds causes the waist and the entire body of congregants to move in an uncontrollable manner all in a bid to express their heartfelt thanksgiving and gratitude to God with awesome dances and footsteps
The use of these drums in the fold has spanned decades with her children taking this heritage to the world at large by the day. One of such offsprings that are using this instrument as a mode of worship is Seraph Olayinka Emmanuel Napoleon.
Seraph Olayinka Emmanuel Napoleon popularly called “Hollarpercussion” is the leader of HollarPercussion praise crew; a team of praise ministrels that ministers with the use of Musical Instrument Talking drum as lead vocal.
According to him, praising God with percussion was borne out of the trend of seeing people worship God with different musical instruments, which serve as a challenge for him to do likewise and even more. And this was, later on, backed up by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Seraph Olayinka is a man of the people, whom people flocked around especially when he is engaged in the works of the father and according to him, there has never been a time he was criticized or looked down upon for being a Seraph, he has a way of winning people’s heart, ” “The truth is people find it difficult to believe I attend white garment church until they engage me fully. But most comments I hear is you don’t behave like them… (Seraph) then I smile”.
“More so, the influence of my annual praise concert gives me good stand in the religious settings among other denominations within my environments. It is cool been known and proud to engage with them as a Seraph because I believe we serve one God despite the difference in our mode of worship” expressed Seraph Olayinka.
The Edo indigene has taken it as a duty to act as an image builder of the fold in his capacity by letting people know that the C&S fold is serving the living God “Am putting in my efforts in a bit, once in a while I do make people realise that all we need is to know the true God we are serving”. He also applauds the efforts of renowned icons in persons of Reverend Mother Ajayi and Mother Yomi Sholoye in remoulding the fold, “I thank God today for the new innovation through great people in the Holy order e.g Rev mother Esther Ajayi, Apparently Mother Yomi Sholoye etc, for their engagement most especially within the youth setting so as to tell the world that the C&S church is a Bible living and spiritual church as lead by the founder”, stated Seraph Olayinka.
The percussionist who also doubles as a singer is an active member of Eternal Sacred Order Of Cherubim & Seraphim Orisun Itura (New Jerusalem). He is the Choir Coordinator C&S Unification Mushin Local Division and also an assistant Financial Secretary of the local division of the General House Executives.
He is a graduate of Lagos State Polytechnic where he obtained both OND & HND in Business Administration. As expected, his love for our hymns cannot be quantified, his favourite hymn is hymn 150, “Ohun T’Oluwa yoo se” while his favourite scripture is Philippians 4:13.
August-born, he loves mingling with career-oriented folks and can’t withstand pride & non-transparency. He is fond of the parable “Make hay while the Sun shines”. Sadly, the memory of his Mum and Dad’s funeral still lingers.
Being an instrumentalist/singer isn’t all about Olayinka, he still desires to be an Entrepreneur and is presently a Warehouse Manager with a private firm at Lagos Island. As Seraph does not spare a talking drum when ministering, so does he not relinquish a plate of rice with garnished vegetables.
Seraph Tosin Akinsanmi is an entrepreneur and is into Fashion design. She loves Writing, Reading, Singing. Favourite Hymn: 444 – Aigbagbo bila! temi l’Oluwa
