It is no longer news that Apostle Joseph Agboli of Victorious Army Ministries passed on to greater glory. He died last week, leaving behind his wife, children and a great followership.
His wife is Pastor Blessing Agboli, who juggles many roles. She is a Pastor’s wife, a mother, a Pastor herself and the women leader in the church. She is the pretty wife of Apostle Joseph Agboli, the General Overseer of Victorious Army Ministries in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos. She is an ordained pastor, a mother of 5 and a mother to several young people who look up to her in church and larger society which she mentors. She also heads the women’s arm of the fast-growing church. And she has played these roles successfully for decades.
So strong is her marriage that it has clocked over 30 years and still counting.
Not too long ago, City People spoke to Pastor Blessing about her life. She spoke about her marriage and revealed tips on how women can keep their marriage waxing strong.
She is a renowned author, conference speaker, businesswoman and a dynamic minister of God. As the wife of Apostle Joseph Agboli, she is the First Lady Of VICTORIOUS ARMY MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL where the lives of people are being changed, restored and prospered. Her commitment to helping others is evident through her lifestyle of service to humanity. She is in charge of Victorious Virtuous Women, a group for Single and Married women whose aim is to promote unity and love not only among sisters but in their respective homes. She organizes prayer and special bible ministration to empower these women thereby developing their ability ·to become economically equipped to assist their husbands in their various homes.
Mama, as she is fondly called, in collaboration with her husband Apostle Joseph Agboli, serve as an active mentor and sponsor to the less privileged in the society by providing food, rehabilitation, and granted many of them scholarship up to university level as well as resettlement of those who have no accommodation.
Her outreach ministration programmes at police cells and prisons have helped create a tremendous impact in the lives of inmates with many of them giving their lives to Christ in the process. As a minister of the Gospel and a certified Nurse, she takes delight in restoring broken family relationships.
With a Bachelor’s Degree in Law above all her accomplishments, she considers supporting her husband in the ministry and raising- Godly children as her primary purpose. Mama Blessing Agboli, a British Citizen, lives with her children In the UK but also comes in from time to time to lead the various groups here in the Lagos church.
Her late husband was the Founder and Senior Pastor of Victorious Army Ministries International. Before his death, he was the President / Provost of the VAM Bible School Glory and Virtue Bible Institute GLOVBI where men and women undergo ministerial and leadership training. He is known for his pragmatic militancy in prayer and his ability to communicate with humour the spiritual principles of God’s word in a much more practical way.
He is an apostle of faith, a deliverance giant and a practitioner of the kingdom prosperity. He is known for his popular saying – “I can never be poor again”, and strongly believes that “The best is before you”. His passion is to equip people to walk in the dominion power of God. In 1987, he received Christ as his Lord and Saviour at “His Grace Evangelical Mission” and eventually became an Evangelist under the same ministry. As a result of God’s anointing upon his life, he started preaching the gospel and this gave birth to the Victorious Army Ministries in 1995.
Late Apostle Joseph was the regular host of “Your Set Time for Miracles”, an International Television Programme reaching more than 80 million households both within Nigeria, the West African sub-region and beyond.
This weekly television programme is pressing towards the goal of preaching the gospel and demonstrating the liberation power of God. Under his ministration topics such as: The dynamics of praise; Grace for greatness, Enjoying financial harvest Prophetic prayer pattern, to mention a few have been preached.
Life–changing testimonies are indications that his teachings have helped thousands of people to experience restoration, healing fruitfulness and financial breakthrough. Below are excerpts of Pastor Blessing Agboli’s interview with City People a few years back.
Let’s have you share with us the new developments that your Ministry has experienced in the last few years?
We have moved more into healthcare and provided for the less privileged. I used to do what one will regard as Street Ministry, like Street Boys. We have been able to get a place for them in Ikorodu, which is under construction. I call them my boys. They are 1,484 in number which is huge. I want them to develop their skills and get people to come teach them. And also developmentally because they have been on the streets for so long.
What has been your experience?
My experience wasn’t pleasant initially. I came into the Ministry with long hair, long nails, many people didn’t quite understand where I was coming from. So, my experience wasn’t pleasant. I was misunderstood. Having been raised up by Pastor Tunde Bakare, there were things that I saw that I did not want to happen here. Under Pastor Tunde Bakare we were tutored to be disciplined, blunt and not to compromise. Some of those were things that I actually confronted for the first 10 years of my ministry. But as soon as I settled in, I began to manage it. I won’t say there have been no challenges but I have been able to manage it now, unlike before.
After you settled in, how easy was it to carve out your own area in the ministry?
I am married to a very good man. I am married to a friend. So when you have that foundation, it helps. My husband will always tell you if you don’t love my wife, you don’t love me. We have that kind of understanding since we are both one. So, I didn’t quite have any challenges doing my own thing or what God asks me to do. Whatever it was as long as God spoke, that was all. My husband will welcome it. We would pray, give it time.
What was the message God asked you to do?
My message is mainly on God’s Mercy and God’s Grace. I was a fighter. I used to be so short-fused that I hardly could withstand criticism and all that. But God changed all of these in me. God taught me how to be patient. God taught me how to take people from their level of understanding and just embrace my position as a mother and know that people can only talk from their position and their perspective about life.
Once that is well explained the way my husband has explained it to me over the years, I have now adopted the role of a mother, and secondly knowing that I am sent to be less strict. They are not many people. They are God’s people, to also know that they are bound to have one mistake or the other. That has been it.
How do you balance out all your roles as a mother, a wife, a Pastor, women leader?
When you do what you love, I think you won’t really know you are working. My daughters now manage my real estate business in London, so I don’t have to be present anymore. But I still visit every fortnight back and forth.
My Oil and Gas business is going on.
My sons have grown up. My children are there. I give them instructions online. We relate via email.
As for the running of the Church, it is not challenging but sometimes it is. How to catch up with the Nigerian system of timing is the most challenging aspect of Ministry not even the people. Sometimes when my jet is here, it is easier to move around the country.
How have you seen the growth of the church?
Maturity wise, I will commend them. We’ve matured. I think we’ve done so well.
Growth wise, we’ve done so well. We have branched out. We have now created so many House fellowships within Lagos and all the states where we have branched. We have now created so many house fellowships within Lagos and all the states where we have branches.
My next goal now is to begin to create hospitals. We have 4 hospitals that are almost ready.
The hepatica for the Women & children is my priority. I also noticed that when people with terminal illnesses want to go for checkups and tests, they don’t have those machines around. Those are the things I am looking at.
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