AS CAMPMEETING 2011 OPENS WITH… BISHOP DAVID OLANIYI OYEDEPO

...In one of his jets

When Dr David Olaniyi Oyedepo, ministers tonight at Campmeeting 2011, it will be historic in many ways. Most significant of all is this: it will be his first time at a Christ Chapel event in about 20 years! This is inexplicable, because of the clear mutual respect existing between him and the CCIC set-man, Rev Dr Tunde Joda.  The enemy has lost again, did you say?! All glory to God.

To those who will be thronging the Gymnasium Hall to be blessed by the teaching of this man of God, this evening and tomorrow night, let’s remind ourselves that he turned 57 as recently as Tuesday, September 27.

A piece in the Daily Independent newspaper by Tiko Okoye captured in brief, the celebration, the man and his ministry. It should help us all to prepare the two nights – not for the man; but for the God who has made a worthy vessel out of the man…

“…Expectedly, thousands of members and well-wishers gathered at the world headquarters of the Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel) at Ota, in Ogun State, to celebrate the occasion in a blaze of glory. The event was transmitted via satellite to all branches of the church across the world.

“Although David Olaniyi Oyedepo was born on the second day (Monday) of the 39th week of 1954, in Osogbo, Osun State, Bishop Oyedepo is an indigene of Omu-Aran in Kwara State. He studied architecture at Kwara State Polytechnic and briefly worked with the Federal Ministry of Housing in Ilorin prior to resigning to concentrate on Christian missionary service. He is the product of a religiously mixed family. His father was a Muslim healer, who eventually converted to Pentecostal Christianity and was a very familiar face at most of the programs organized by the church, while his mother was originally a member of the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim (C & S), a branch of the Aladura Movement.

“But the person who had the greatest influence on him was his grandmother, who raised him in Oshogbo, and who he continues to eulogize long after transiting to glory. She it was who inculcated such important Christian virtues as tithing, praying and living a holy life in the heart of the young David.

“The second most important influence is undoubtedly one Ms. Betty Lasher, his secondary school teacher, who took him under her meticulous tutelage after leading him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal lord and savior. Oyedepo obtained a PhD in Human Development from Honolulu University, Hawaii, USA. In May 1981, he reportedly received a mandate from God through an 18-hour long vision to “liberate the world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the word of faith.” A few months later, he founded the Living Faith Church Worldwide (LFCWW).

“Two years later, on September 17, 1983, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Church of God (RCCG), was divinely led all the way from Lagos to Kaduna to ordain Oyedepo and his wife, Faith (then called Florence), as pastors, and commission their ministry.

“Apart from Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo counts Christian Fathers of Faith like Kenneth and Gloria Copeland as well as late Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Smith Wigglesworth, Kenneth Hagin and T.L. Osborn as his role models and mentors.

“If I were asked to pick just two distinctive attributes responsible for the tremendous success Bishop Oyedepo has recorded in his ministry, I would unhesitatingly pick constancy and wisdom. Constancy entails the ability to stay focused on a God-given assignment no matter the seemingly insurmountable challenges, well-crafted distractions and orchestrated criticisms. Wisdom, on the other hand, means the ability to know what to do (hearing unambiguously from God), and doing it at the right time and place, and with the right means and people. When the then fledgling Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) led by Archbishop Benson Idahosa was looking for a spirit-filled Christian leader who would constitute the arrowhead of its foray into the north, the lot easily fell on Oyedepo on account of the exploits that attended his pastoral work. In September 1988, he was ordained the first Northern Pentecostal Bishop.

“In September 1989, he readily obeyed a divine instruction to relocate to Lagos, despite his well-documented loathing for the city’s notorious gridlock, and noise pollution. Bishop Oyedepo is an uncompromising critic of corruption and poor leadership in government. He had long had a burning passion for the emancipation of Africa from the vice-like grip of poverty of ideas that has made the continent a basket case as well as a laughing stock of the international community.

“In 1996, he announced that the time had finally come to implement a divine vision to empower people in the African continent to live free from poverty, and the Africa Gospel Invasion Program (AGIP), under the aegis of the World Mission Agency (WMA), was born. The 50,000-seat capacity auditorium (called Faith Tabernacle) built by the ministry to accommodate the burgeoning number of worshippers is adjudged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest church auditorium in the world. Apart from being unusually built debt-free, construction of the breathtaking architectural masterpiece was completed in 12 months – something experts have termed a feat (or miracle) because such a gigantic project normally takes a minimum of 36 months to complete.

“The Word of Faith Bible Institute (WOFBI) is a Ministry/Leadership Training Center. To date, over 50,000 students have graduated from the numerous campuses all over Nigeria, while about 30,000 have graduated from different campuses in 35 African countries and the United Kingdom where WOFBI maintains a presence. There is also the Dominion Publishing House (DPH) that prints, publishes and distributes literary works associated with different arms of the David Oyedepo Ministries International (DOMI) – the conglomerate that, in addition to DPH and the Winners Chapel global network of churches, also comprises WMA, Social Development Missions projects, Covenant University (commenced October 25, 1999) and Landmark University in Omu-Aran (opened March 21, 2011).

“Those who criticize Bishop Oyedepo for ‘focusing’ on prosperity are clearly ignorant of the ’12 Pillars of Faith’ that constitute the foundation of his teachings. These are: Consecration (Holiness), Faith, Healing, Praise, Prayer, Prosperity, Success, the Holy Spirit, the Supernatural (Divine), the Word, Vision and Wisdom. By choosing to concentrate on just one pillar, they are guilty of unwittingly behaving like the three “blind men who described an elephant from their different narrow perspectives and experiences. Besides, unless you are one of those that do not believe that prosperity is an integral component of God’s saving grace, it ought to be manifestly clear to you that Bishop Oyedepo’s case is one of “So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead…Show me this faith you speak of with no actions to prove it, while I by my results prove to you my faith” (James 2:17-1 (The Roundtable by Tiko Emmanuel Okoye; Daily Independent, Wednesday, September 28, 2011)

Watch this space for more Guest Minister Focus and Briefs as Campmeeting progresses. Happy Breakthrough everyone.