MEET OUR VISIONARY
“GOD’S MAN OF RADICAL VISION ON A MISSION”
J. RAILEY GOMPAH
LIBERIAN-AMERICAN LEGENDARY BROADCAST JOURNALIST
[AMERICA’S HISTORIC “MOON LANDING” SPECIAL NEWS COVERAGE CO-ANCHOR AT AGE 22]
“Where there is no vision, the people perish. Write the vision, and make it plain…” (Proverbs 29:18 & Habakkuk 2:2, KJV).
“THE GOOD HAND OF GOD”
“The good hand of his God was upon him [because] Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people…” (Ezra 7:9-10, ESV & NLT).
ABOUT J. RAILEY GOMPAH
J. RAILEY GOMPAH — Liberian-American scholar, educator, faith-based diplomat, nonprofit executive, and community development professional — is a man upon whom “the good hand of his God” has been from the very beginning up to now. Born to rural West African Maan tribal parents in historic Nimba County (north-central Liberia), he was nurtured, mentored and educated (in Liberia and the United States) by a succession of Irish, British, Canadian, and American Protestant missionaries to Liberia. Also a protégé of American Peace Corps volunteer teachers to Nimba County (Liberia), “J. Railey” (as he is popularly called) is today the most prominent of West Africa’s centuries-old Gompah Family Dynasty (a Maan tribal family name literally meaning “a man’s love for his homeland”); a family line which is indigenous to neighboring Guinea and Liberia and today has members scattered in West Africa, North America, Europe and elsewhere. Articulate, brilliant, balanced and bold about matters of faith, values and human dignity, he is a Liberian historical figure and Liberian-American Diaspora Protestant missionary statesman in the United States for nearly four decades. J. Railey Gompah comes highly recognized, commended and recommended by a stellar array of prominent American public officials, Christian leaders, and missionary mentors. His extensive background can be summarized as follows:
- Born in Flumpa Town (present-day Flumpa Headquarters, Leeweihpea Administrative District, Nimba County, Republic of Liberia) — a rapidly emerging city of over 14,000 residents in a post-conflict rural community; now on the verge of sustainable transformation.
- Young Liberian Presidential Scholar (to the University of Liberia) — selected, recognized and sponsored by then Liberian President William V.S. Tubman after graduating as class valedictorian from the famed Sanniquellie Central High School (Nimba County, Liberia); where he was dubbed “99 Gompah” for intellectual brilliance.
- English Language News Director (anchorman, documentary producer, media staff supervisor) at American-owned Radio Station ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) near Monrovia, Liberia, for nearly 13 years (1969-1981) and spanning his formative years (ages 22-34).
- Early NASA Era Celebrity (at age 22) — co-anchored Radio ELWA’s special news coverage of America’s historic “Moon Landing” (on 20 July 1969) beamed to the African continent out of Liberia.
- “West Africa’s Walter Cronkite” (dubbed after America’s iconic broadcast journalist Walter Leland Cronkite Jr.) — the late CBS Television news anchorman, with whom J. Railey Gompah collaborated in relaying, to Liberia and Africa, news and sounds of America’s life-changing moon landing event and the memorable words: “That’s one small step for a man; a giant leap for mankind” (American astronaut Neil Armstrong, after stepping on the moon on 20 July 1969).
- “The Man with a Golden Voice” (so nicknamed by Liberian radio audience from 1969-1981) — in reference to the captivating news reader and producer (originator and narrator) of Radio ELWA’s longest-running news documentary, “The Week In Review” (1970-1981).
- Presidential Press Attaché (to three successive Presidents of Liberia) — during an impressive, globe-trotting broadcasting career in Liberia (1969-1981).
- Young Presidential Orator (1974) — delivered a spell-binding extemporaneous welcome speech on behalf of Nimba County at a “Presidential Honoring Assembly” in honor of Liberian President William R. Tolbert Jr in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County, Liberia; an event which helped launch a long-standing “Tolbert-Gompah friendship” that gave the youngman an immediate national platform.
- Liberia’s Youngest Commissioner (at age 27) — appointed by then Liberian President William R. Tolbert Jr. to the famed Deshield Commission On National Unity (1974-1978) almost on the brink of the devastating 24-year-long Liberian revolution (1979-2003).
- Special Liberian Envoy to Europe (at age 31) — represented the Republic of Liberia at the Berlin Trade Fair and International Journalists’ Symposium in West Berlin, West Germany (prior to “German Reunification”).
- Honored “For Distinguished Services to Liberia, Africa and Humanity” (at age 33) — jointly by the governments of the Republic of Liberia (West Africa) and the Democratic Republic of the Sudan (Northeast Africa).
- Presidential Press Secretary to the Liberian Head of State (at age 34) — served in the Executive Branch of the Liberian Government (The Executive Mansion, Monrovia, Republic of Liberia) prior to the on-and-off Liberian civil wars (1989-2003).
- Liberian Historical Figure (see Historical Dictionary of Liberia, 2000, page 108) — listed among notable Liberians who made some significant impact on the Republic of Liberia and the Liberian people. Authored by Dr. D. Elwood Dunn (a retired American university professor and one of Liberia’s most outstanding scholars), the Historical Dictionary of Liberia is an informative publication described as “a rich and colorful mosaic of Liberia’s past…for those seeking to understand Liberia’s present predicaments [and] lessons from its past that might be usefully applied to solving some of its current problems” (Editorial Review).
- Honored by the Liberian Legislature (House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1970s) — by naming, for him and the Gompah family dynasty, Gompa City (Nimba County, Liberia); now post-conflict Liberia’s fastest growing commercial community which had been projected to become “one of the most developed and commercial cities in rural Liberia” (Foreign Broadcast Information Service).
- Co-Founder & President (BASILEIA MISSIONS INC, USA & Republic of Liberia) — founded along with his wife Esther G. Gompah in 1982 in Western New York (USA).
- Founder & Executive Envoy (BASILEIA CHRISTIAN EMBASSY) — The Diaspora Liberian Faith-Based Diplomacy Network (“Trustworthy Envoys”) impacting Diaspora Liberians and their host communities within reach; while helping bring lasting healing, health, hope and wholeness to Liberia and the Liberian people through Faith-Based Citizen Diplomats (non-state actors, NGO workers, religious leaders, private citizens, etc.) who are adept at solving human problems in ways secular diplomacy and diplomats cannot understand.
- General Executive Minister (BASILEIA VICTORY FELLOWSHIP… or BVF) — “THE NIMBALAND GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF FAITH” (Galatians 6:10, MSG) — an outgrowth of BASILEIA MISSIONS INC (USA & Liberia); primarily reaching and impacting all of historic NIMBALAND (the ancient tri-border region linking Anglophone LIBERIA with Francophone GUINEA and IVORY COAST).
- Founding Chancellor (BASILEIA INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY) — Liberia’s first and premier “Faith-Based Tuition-Free Work-Intensive Polytechnic University” (of Judeo-Christian tradition) — now being developed on a two-tier (double-location) American Technology Campus (ATC) in Western New York (USA) and Nimba County (north-central Liberia). This new Christian polytechnic university requires of every student enrolled (male or female) Supervised Student Labor (related to each Academic Major) as opposed to Traditional Student Tuition Plan (BASILEIA Poverty Eradication Strategy) modeled after America’s highly productive Work Colleges known for their “purposeful integration of Work-Learning-Service while helping to reduce the cost of education” (Work Colleges Consortium, USA).
Personal Claim to Fame: “All things considered, birthplace included, I was born to lose; but, by the grace of God, bound to win” (J. Railey Gompah). For more, click on What Others Are Saying.
“A LIKE-MINDED MINISTRY YOU CAN TRUST…”
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