Stacy Long
AFA Journal staff writer
Above, listening to a Radio La Grace broadcast while repairing another radio.
November 2016 – “It is not by any accident that I find myself here this morning,” he said. And so Coku Loku, pastor from Togo, Africa, shared in AFA’s morning devotion how a journey begun 15 years earlier had led him to Tupelo, Mississippi, and the generous heart of AFA founder Don Wildmon.
It was an encounter with the living God in a land of voodoo and animism that began that journey.
The call
“I have a friend named Simon who was born to a woman we called Madame Voodoo, which means she was born to an idol god and raised in a voodoo shrine,” Loku began. “You don’t mess around her with the Word of God. She said, ‘Don’t ever take my son around a church building, pastor, or Bible.’
“But then Simon told me he attended an evangelistic meeting conducted by an American missionary and got saved. I said, ‘Simon, I’m not interested. If you’re really saved, go tell Madame Voodoo.’”
Soon Loku found himself heading to confront the missionary, armed with arguments from the educational heritage of the former French colony. But all his confident preparation went out the window as soon as the missionary opened his Bible.
“In French, I was hearing something like this: ‘Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. …’ (Ecclesiastes 11:9).
“And I was wondering, is the Bible encouraging me to do just the things that I do now? But then the last part of that verse cut to my heart: ‘[K]now thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.’ All my philosophy questions disappeared, and it was then I gave my life to Christ.”
Loku then came to the U.S. to attend New Orleans Theological Seminary and began making connections that would eventually bring him to Don Wildmon and AFA.
The gift
Returning to his home country to do pastoral work, Loku was appalled at the syncretistic blend of voodoo and Christianity that passed as Christian preaching on local Christian radio.
“When you live in a country that has no television, no cell phones, nothing – radio is the way to go,” he told AFA Journal. “And I said to God, ‘If You can give us radio, that would be good.’”
The government was granting licenses for Christian radio, and with $2,500, Loku was able to get the last license. But he had no radio equipment and no money left to purchase it, so it was only a matter of time before the license would be revoked.
That’s when God completed that extensive network of Christian friends that finally brought Loku to the doors of AFA in Tupelo. Hearing the need, Wildmon realized AFA had exactly the equipment Loku needed to put Radio La Grace, a gospel-preaching radio station, on the air in Togo. Without second thought, AFA donated the equipment to Loku.
“Now, every day, somebody will call and want to get saved,” Loku said. “I know that some preachers exaggerate; I am not exaggerating now. The truth is setting many people in West Africa free as a result of what God is doing with this radio station.” 
Pray for Togo
Corruption – military dictators oppress and exploit the people.
Poverty – average income is $70 a month, not enough for a malaria treatment.
Missions – few missionaries remain in the country, leaving a need for more missionaries and native-born ministers like Loku.
