about our pastor

The congregation of Holy Nativity Lutheran Church officially installed Pastor Andrew Okai as Senior Pastor on September 20, 2009.

Pastor Andrew Okai was born and raised in Buchanan City, the second largest city of the West African nation of Liberia. Liberia was established by freed slaves from the United States in 1847 and its language, laws, and flag reflect the nation’s historical connection to the United States.

While Pastor Okai initially studied music at university, the spiritual gifts that would equip him for his pastoral call were already evident to his own pastor and others around him. After hearing the call of the Spirit, Pastor Okai enrolled in the Monrovia Bible Training Center in Monrovia, Liberia and graduated two years later with a Theological Diploma. He was ordained to the public ministry in May 1990.

He was then called to be Assistant Pastor of Immanuel Christian Church in Liberia where he served until coming to the United States. He was called as Senior Pastor of this church in 1993. This congregation, a non-denominational church of 150 members, saw enormous growth under Pastor Okai’s leadership. This was also where he met his wife, Precious Neufville Okai, to whom he has been married since 1994.

Pastor Okai and his wife moved to the United States in 1997 in response to the political and economic disruption in Liberia following civil war and the election of infamous warlord Charles Taylor as President. They lived in Brooklyn, New York for one year before moving to Silver Spring to join Pastor Okai’s sister. After moving to Maryland, Pastor Okai served as Assistant Pastor of Seed Faith International Church in Landover, MD, and Associate Pastor of Word of Faith Christian Church in Riverdale, MD.

In 2001, Pastor Okai met Fred Hedt, pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church in Landover Hills, MD, who was involved with LCMS’s African Immigrant Missions. After much prayer, Pastor Okai decided to join Ascension and work with Pastor Hedt in establishing a sister congregation reaching out to the local African immigrant population. This new congregation is known today as Lamb of God Lutheran Church. In addition, Pastor Okai enrolled in Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, through its Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) in 2003 in order to prepare for LCMS ordination. He completed his four year studies with Concordia in 2007 and was formally ordained as a LCMS pastor in 2007.

Pastor Okai was introduced to Holy Nativity through our former pastor, Al Behnke. After Pastor Behnke’s departure, Pastor Okai initially covered Sunday services and eventually served as Interim Pastor for one year until being formally called by the congregation as Senior Pastor in June 2009. He and Precious live in Severn, Maryland, with their daughter Andriel and son Andrew. They are expecting a third child in February. Without any question, the congregation of Holy Nativity has been blessed by the grace of God for Pastor and his family’s calling to our church.