To many in the church, he may be a stranger. Grace and Robert J. Wieland have probably known him longer than others in the church because they were the first Seventh-day Adventists he became acquainted with. He was their non-Adventist neighbor who lived across the street in Nairobi, Kenya, in the 1950 s. A successful young architect, he was caught up in the whirl of Nairobi secular society. Wieland has described what happened when the neighbors became acquainted:
"I was serving as president of the Central Kenya Field, working directly for the Africans in 'Section One' of the mission program. I was trying to help the African pastors who used bicycles to visit their churches 40-50 miles apart, by getting motorcycles for them. We had no money to buy new ones so I scrounged the junk yards for used machines (one was burnt!) that I could fix up. Jack was a motorcycle enthusiast. Out of neighborly kindness he would come across the street and help me make the old machines run. He told the family where he lived, 'That priest over there really does love the Africans!'
"Through a providential circumstance (he says I 'caught' him with Paul's 'guile') Jack attended an Adventist meeting. I had asked him would he please chauffeur a neighbor lady to the meeting, who had no other way to get there. Being a kind-hearted neighbor, he could not bring himself to refuse. Although up to that time he had shown no interest, he found himself sitting in the back of the little chapel where Elder Dale Ringering was explaining the 2,300-year prophecy and the investigative judgment. Jack became interested. Eventually it became my privilege to baptize him (two others of my neighbors were baptized also, including the lady), but I did not instruct him. In fact, my duties occupied me with 'Section One' work with the Africans, and Elder Ringering and Jack and these neighbor ladies were in the 'Section Two' category, beyond the sphere of my ministry. My contribution was only our neighborly friendship.
"As we knew Jack in those early days, it seemed impossible to conceive of him ever becoming a preacher. Later he responded to a conviction that he should attend a Seventh-day Adventist college, and then came a conviction that he should prepare for the ministry. He rode his motorbike up through Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, the Middle East, the continent of Europe, finally arriving at Newbold College in England where he was promptly refused admission. Later he was accepted. He worked as a colporteur selling Seventh-day Adventist books in Scandinavia where he learned Swedish. In college or the Seminary he heard my name bandied about as one of the authors of '1888 Re-examined,' and wondered if that could be the same person who had baptized him in Nairobi.
"Quite independently of anything I may have said, he became interested in the 1888 message of Jones and Waggoner, recognizing its value and the significance of its history."
Elder Sequeira began his public ministry as a missionary to the Africans, speaking to thousands in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. His communication skills were honed by the discipline of making the Seventh-day Adventist message simple and clear to Africans. Born in Kenya and knowing how they think and feel, understanding Kiswahili, he knew how to reach them. They were arrested by the freshness and vitality of his message and by his loyal friendship.
He has won thousands of Africans not merely to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church but to an enthusiastic love of the Adventist message and a vital spiritual experience. He was particularly successful in attracting African university students when he served as their chaplain. In meeting rebellious, threatening students in a Communist land (Ethiopia) who employed violence, he fearlessly confronted them with the gospel and saw its good news truths awaken love and win their hearts.
But from the 1970 s he directed his special attention to explaining to die Africans why the popular "new theology" is not true Adventism. (Those who criticize his book as being disguised "new theology" may not realize that the focal point of his ministry has been to clarify the issues raised by the "Reformationist theology," using its vocabulary to overthrow its error). Because the vast proportion of our Africans do not possess the Ellen G. White books, he has concentrated on Biblical exegesis. Indeed, if we as a denomination are at last to meet the Evangelicals on their own ground, we must use Scripture as our "sword of the Spirit," rather than relying on Ellen White to articulate our ideas for us and save us the bother of deep Bible study. Her writings are to lead us to the Bible, to sharpen our Biblical exegesis, and certainly not to take the place of the Bible.
Sequeira would doubtless have remained in Africa except for an unusual circumstance. As a missionary residing outside his native country, he lost his Kenya citizenship by default, not being resident at die time the nation became independent. Then he was expelled from Uganda by the insane dictator Idi Amin. A man without a country, in desperation he appealed to the American Consul, and was finally granted citizenship provided he spend some years in residence in the United States. Thus without a personal choice on his part, his path led to pastorates in America, where his message has stirred a deep interest, as it did in East Africa.