Preaching at the annual gathering of Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) congregations in the Midwest, Akinola spoke of the life-changing power of the gospel, and an uncompromising stance on sin and redemption.

The AMiA describes itself as "a missionary movement of Rwanda committed to reaching the unchurched in North America."

Speaking to 1,500 evangelical and charismatic Anglicans gathered in Wheaton College's Edman Memorial Chapel for the Midwest Anglican Awakening, Akinola said: "Whoever loves God will obey God. Whoever knows God will do what God wants."

Unity with God comes through the transformative power of the gospel and not through our personal agendas, said Akinola. To be transformed by the gospel requires total obedience and rejection of sinful actions, he said, whether these be "little lies, blackmailing, gossip" or "committing fornication" and engaging in adultery. There is no room for ambiguity, he maintained.

"If you do it, you go to hell unless you repent," warned Akinola, prompting a scattering of applause. Throughout his 15-minute sermon, Akinola kept to his message of spiritual transformation through biblical conformity, and avoided any explicit reference to the tensions in the Anglican Communion and the actions of the Episcopal Church. Nor did he acknowledge gay and lesbian advocates protesting his appearance outside the chapel.

The assembly included young families and middle-aged couples from 20 Anglican-oriented congregations in the Chicago area, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota. The assembly was mainly white, but included members of several African Anglican and Latino congregations.

Two dozen members of gay-advocacy groups, including the Gay Liberation Network of Chicago, gathered for a demonstration on the sidewalk outside Edman Chapel during the service. Waving a rainbow flag for gay liberation and the green and white Nigerian flag, the protestors called for solidarity with Nigerian gays and lesbians.

"We cannot allow this man to just get away with saying these fictional accounts of what the Bible says," said Max Smith, a member of ADODI, a New York-based advocacy group for African gay men. "The Bible is about liberating the oppressed. The Bible is not about creating new classes of people to oppress."

For the Rev. Liz Stedman, the Canterbury chaplain at Northwestern University in Evanston, who is living in a committed same-gender partnership, the AMiA gathering stirred up questions and concerns because her grandfather, V. Raymond Edman, Wheaton College's fourth president, founded the chapel in 1940 and died there September 22, 1967 while preaching from the pulpit.

Though he was a dedicated evangelical and not likely to have supported gay advocacy, her grandfather would not have cared for the way Akinola has wielded Scripture against gays and lesbians, said Stedman.

"The one thing I am pretty confident about is that my grandfather would not have approved of appropriating the Gospel in the service of human cultural wars," she said.

Having had the Archbishop of Canterbury in New Orleans for dialogue with the House of Bishops during the bishops' fall meeting is a sign of hope for Stedman.

"I wish in this gathering that we were coming together in a similar way, really to listen to each other," said Stedman. "And it saddens me here at my grandfather's chapel that they are in there and we are out here, and the two sides aren't able to come together."