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‘Moody Radio Speaks to Your Soul’

After years of arguments and abuse, Buki Abioye’s marriage had ended, and suddenly she was a single mom with four children and little income to support them.

“Sometimes I would work at my father’s Nigerian restaurant in Chicago,” Buki said. But that wasn’t enough to make ends meet. When a friend suggested she become an Uber driver, she balked. She didn’t want strangers in her car. And there was something else.

“I never saw myself being someone else’s driver,” she said. But providing for her children was her first priority. She took the job.

Those were difficult times for Buki and her kids. Her youngest, a toddler, was in daycare, and he was often sick.
 

Introduction to Islam and Christianity

Buki is no stranger to hardship. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, she and her sister were left with their grandmother when their parents moved to Chicago in the late 1980s to earn a living. “My grandmother was a devout Muslim,” Buki said. “She prayed five times a day. She had been to Mecca. She registered us to go to Islamic classes where you learn how to read the Quran. But it was so strict, and I did not want to go.”

Fortunately, Buki’s grandmother didn’t require her to attend the classes, so Buki started visiting different churches with Christian friends from the neighborhood. “I didn't go because I wanted to go to church and wanted to know Jesus. I went because it was a better atmosphere than going to that Islamic school.”

Buki and her sister moved to the US in 1992, joining their parents in Chicago. She soon made new friends, some of whom were Christians, and often attended church with them.

“I even got baptized. But I don't know why I did it,” she said. “It wasn't because I knew Jesus. In the Muslim household, we recognized Jesus as being a prophet but not as the Son of God. So anytime the church pastor would talk about that, I just rolled my eyes.”
 

Difficult home life

Buki loved the sense of family that she experienced at church. At home, her family situation was chaotic and traumatic. Buki’s father worked long hours at the restaurant and was not a dependable presence in the family. Her mother suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that would not be diagnosed until years later.

Though she attended a church for several years, Buki didn’t stay. In 2003 when she was 26 years old, she met and married a man who was not a Christian. But the relationship devolved into more patterns of abuse and finally ended in divorce.
 

An offer she couldn’t refuse

By that time, Buki hadn’t attended church for several years. A friend often invited Buki to visit her church, but she declined. Finally, the friend made a new offer. She would pick up Buki’s children and take them to church even if Buki did not want to come along.

Reluctantly, Buki agreed to bring her children and visit the church. “I decided to go just to shut her up,” she laughed.

Something wonderful happened on their first visit. “I loved the church! My kids loved it!” Buki recalled. “We got to the car after service, and they wanted to know when we were going to come back again.”

Buki got plugged in to some small groups, professed faith in Christ as her Savior, and was even baptized again. “This time, for real!” she noted.
 

‘Moody Radio speaks to your soul’

Over the years, Buki had heard about Moody Bible Institute and Moody Radio, but she didn’t know much about either one. She began listening to Moody Radio in the car while she drove for Uber.

“I don’t know exactly how it happened or how the radio landed on Moody,” she said. “It's so amazing that, sometimes, whatever I'm going through will be the topic that one of the pastors will be speaking on. It could be about peace, or it could be just encouraging words. I listen to Moody, and I hear exactly what I need to hear. It’s so encouraging and nurturing and godly. Moody Radio speaks to your soul.”

For Buki, one program stands out as particularly special to her—Open Line with Michael Rydelnik on Saturday mornings. “He had a lot to do with my spiritual transformation,” Buki says. “People would call in asking about the Bible with the same questions that I had and the same doubts and everything.”
 

Uber-exciting evangelism opportunities

Though she kept the car radio volume down to avoid offending her Uber riders, she said Moody Radio was often an open door for spiritual conversations. “I tried to fight (the Uber job). But the more I think of it, it really became like a ministry for me.”

In her native Yoruba language, Buki’s given name, Oluwabukola, means “God has added to my wealth.” Though Buki and her family have been through difficult times, God has always provided.

“If someone offered me $20 million and said, ‘I don't want you to follow Jesus anymore,’ I would say, ‘You can keep that money because I don't need it!’” Buki said. “I tell my kids that I’ve done life without Jesus. I know the difference. I’m doing life with Jesus. I know what Jesus did for me. God said, ‘I want people to be with Me.’ He sent us Jesus. I wish everybody could really know that.”

The gospel changed everything for Buki. As a Moody Radio supporter, and through your Share gift today, you’re a part of that transformation.

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‘Moody Has Been a Huge Part of My Life’

After overhearing an argument in which both of his parents said they didn’t want him, 14-year-old Saulo’s heart was broken. He stopped caring about life. He started robbing houses and stealing cars with other boys.

“I got suspended from school, and my mom and dad had to face a hard choice about what to do with me,” Saulo recalled. “Neither of them wanted to live with me. That really affected me, and it filled me with rage. That was a pivotal moment in my life, and I decided I wasn't going to care anymore.”

He began spending more time with friends drinking and hanging out on the streets. Soon, Saulo began running with a group who robbed houses and stole cars.
 

Life-changing moment

On February 2, 1996, Saulo’s life changed forever. He and two other juveniles planned to rob a convenience store. One friend robbed the cash register, and the other shot and killed the 61-year-old man behind the counter. Saulo, the only one of the three old enough to drive, drove the getaway car.

All three boys were eventually caught and tried for their crimes. At that time, trying Saulo as a juvenile would have meant a sentence of only five years. The judge chose to try him as an adult, which meant life behind bars in an adult facility.

Saulo would later learn that he was the only one of the three co-defendants for whom the victim’s family tried to advocate, asking the court not to try him as an adult.

He vividly remembers the night before his sentencing. “I was in the holding cell in the county jail, and I was just so desperate, so afraid,” he said.
 

Listening as God speaks

During his waiting period at that jail, Saulo had been given a Bible. “I remember sitting my Bible down on this concrete bench against the back wall in that cell and then kneeling down in front of that Bible and just crying and pleading with God to have mercy,” he said. “(The Bible) fell open to Psalm 27, and when I got to the last two verses, it said, ‘I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.’ I took that as God's promise that He wasn't going to leave me there to die in prison and that He would show His mercy and His grace toward me.”

Not long after beginning his life sentence at Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon, Michigan, Saulo found Moody Radio. He remembers moving the antenna of his small radio around to try to get better reception near the tiny window in his cell.

“(I was) listening to the sermons and the music and just allowing that to saturate my spirit, my mind, and my life in a place like prison,” Saulo said. “To me, listening to godly men and women was a model for me of who I should be as a Christian.”

One night Saulo heard a song by Third Day, “God of Wonders,” that lit a spiritual spark in his heart. As he grew spiritually, Saulo began learning to play the guitar and eventually helped lead worship in prison church services for nine years.
 

Unexpected decision

Michigan laws were changing regarding the sentencing of minors to life in prison. Saulo had been behind bars for 23 years with three years of disciplinary credits for good behavior when he learned that he could possibly be resentenced from a life sentence to 25 to 60 years.

When his parole hearing convened, all 10 members from the parole committee for Saulo voted to commute his sentence and grant him a four-year parole. After completing a specialized six-month reentry program, Saulo was free.
 

Entering full-time ministry

Not long after Saulo was released, Mary Engle, then an area director for Prison Fellowship, saw Saulo at a job fair. Mary had begun working with Mel Trotter Ministries, a Christian outreach addressing the needs of the hungry and homeless in Grand Rapids. She introduced him to MTM’s supervisor of security, and soon he was hired.

“Despite my background, they’ve entrusted me with so much,” Saulo said. “I went from being a security person to being the director of intake services. I get to make such a good impact on our guests. It’s been a huge blessing.”

Mary Engle isn’t surprised that Saulo has blossomed at Mel Trotter Ministries. “He sets the example for all who struggle to leave behind the ugliness that life can bring,” she said. “With his experience and his desire to treat others with dignity no matter where the guests are in their walk in life, Saulo can talk to the guests or to staff from a place where many cannot. God chose him to leave his prison cell to show others what God can do.”
 

‘Moody has been a huge part of my life’

Saulo was blessed with many merciful experiences while he was in prison, but one experience stands out above the rest.

“To meet the family of the man that we murdered,” Saulo said, “to see them face to face in the visiting room and to hear them say, ‘We forgive you, and we expect great things from you.’ For me, that was like a chance at redemption.”

Moody Radio is still regularly ministering to Saulo’s heart. “I still listen to Moody,” he said. “Moody has been such a huge part of my life. It's made an impact in my life, and it continues to do that with its messages, its music, and its commitment to being a source of inspiration to so many people who are seeking.”

The gospel changed everything for Saulo, and it continues to transform lives daily. As a Moody Radio supporter, and through your Share gift today, you’re a part of that transformation.

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