Life & Biography of Pa S. G. Elton

                                              

Pa Elton, as he was affectionately called, left his native country, England, to come to Nigeria in March 1937, in response to a divine call to be a missionary to Ilesha. Since that time right up to his home call 50 years later, Pa Elton was always at the centre of revival, playing one key role or the other. He discipled a lot of the men who led and still lead the Pentecostal revival in Nigeria. He was part of the on-going revival at Ilesha (Spearheaded by Apostle Joseph Babalola). In the 60's he provided a platform for international evangelists like Gordon Lindsay, T.L. Osborne and others seeking to carry out evangelistic work in Nigeria.

In the 70's, he became the father of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement that emerged in the nation's campuses; in the 80's up to his passage in Jan. 13, 1987, he concentrated on teaching prophetic truths about the Kingdom of God and the emergence of the end-time overcomer company.

Pa Elton's only child, Mama Ruth Elton following the footsteps of her parents, remains in Nigeria, as a missionary among the middle region of the nation. She’s standing on behalf of her father for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ECU Reunion Conference 2011.

The ECU is an acronym for the Evangelical Christian Union, one of the foremost and oldest campus fellowships at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. It is a fellowship reputed in it’s almost fifty (50) years of existence to have produced leaders in almost every sphere of human endeavor – ministry, business, education, corporate and public governance, technology, ICT etc.
Pa S. G. Elton influenced those who shaped that fellowship in her early years. He lived a few kilometers away in Ilesha from the Ile-Ife campus where the fellowship is located. And now, he is being honored even in death, because his legacy endures!
Indeed, “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.” (Proverbs 10:7) FAME without a NAME is LAME. It does not endure! Solomon, ancient king of Israel put it this way, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22:1)

As leaders, we must not get it wrong! Our mandate is to build an enduring legacy. And the surest way to do that is by pouring our lives in service into other men. Monuments will fall and crumble, wealth and riches will fade but he that lives on in the hearts of other men truly lives! I agree with Edwin Markham, American clergyman of the 19th Century who in effect said that nothing really is worth the making if it does not make the man.

Investing in people is a costly and risky business; in fact it’s plain hard work. But that’s where the real joy and fulfillment in leadership comes from. In the long run, no one will remember you for the number of cars you had or the kind of automobile you drove. They will care less how many countries you visited or the size of your business organization or ministry. Only your deposit in people’s lives is what will endure after all is said and done.
See, “One of the outstanding ironies of history is the utter disregard of ranks and titles in the final judgment men pass on each other,” Samuel Logan Brengle (1860 – 1939) said. “The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart,” he concluded.

S. G. Elton had followed in the footsteps of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Paul, the Apostle from Tarsus and many others like them who though may be dead yet their legacies live on through the lives they have touched. They are my heroes and I say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” (Numbers 23:10)