What defines you? What’s your philosophy of life? Your generic values asa man of God?
(Laughs). There was something inside of me while in Ile-Oluji. I would write at the back of my books, No King as God, One with God is a Majority. My friends would call me, Joseph Olawole Oladiyun alias No King as God, when they hail me, I would say, No King as God, One with God is a Majority. I would mobilise my mates and they would be drumming for me, calling me Jagunlabi. eni to jagun lo ibi koja. I am an embodiment of grace, hyper-grace, I know, because my life is not normal. Two, I believe that with God, everything wiII happen, if you want it. I over-trust God, I over-depend on God. I like hard work and smart work. I believe in continuity. I believe in nurturing people, I believe in human capital development. I was doing that when I didn’t know that anything would come out of me. During the summer holiday in lIe-Oluji, I would mobilise my friends and go to all the secondary schools, teaching them Physics, Maths, Additional Mathematics, etc. I believe in benevolence. Giving is the easiest thing for me in my life. Money, service, myself, that’s my life. I don’t look down on people, I believe that tomorrow is a weapon that can make the table turn, so for the person you look down on today, anything can happen. I also believe that there’s no age that God cannot lift you. At 50, I had my Master’s degree, I could have had that when I had a scholarship for Structural Engineering when I was practising Engineering, but because I was training my siblings, I decided to forgo it. I wanted to do a Master’s in Structural Engineering and a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering, to lecture and to practice.
So having my PhD now, makes me happy, fulfilled. I know when I am not doing well, and I quickly adjust. I am a learner, and I am willing to be corrected in love.
Awesome! What does success look like to you?
(Laughs) My brother, success is sweet o. Success is sweet, it is also a dynamite, it can blow you if it’s not well managed. Success is good, if you are selfish about it. it will blow you, if you mismanage it, it will blow you up but success is good and it’s given by God.
I know you’ve said this several times but maybe there are new things you want to add. The impact of your parents in your life, especially growing up, because we want people to learn from your success story I want to thank God for my parents. I didn’t have that choice, I found myself there. I want to thank God for what my father witnessed in his family, the Fagbamiye family that made him leave for his maternal lineage. He then embraced Christ so early, at a time when being born again was not popular. I thank God for being born into that family. It was tough, it was like a punishment, it was a harrowing experience, but we didn’t know they were building our future. I met my parents as business people in their little way, buying and selling, which has influenced me to date. I have a penchant for multiplying money even as I am here now (laughs). Then I thank God that before my dad went to be with the Lord. he handed me over to Chief David Adedimeji Adewakun. popularly called Jawando, the father of Pastor Tade Adewakun. He taught me ethics. etiquette. money management. bookkeeping. and all other things. I thank God for my parents for embracing Christ. They gave us good values, that’s why I honoured them with that Samuel and Dorcas Maternity. I thank God. According to Psalm 16: 5-8, the lines are falling unto me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage.
So, if you were to come to this world again, would you still choose this path?
By the grace of God, I will choose the path of being a minister because it’s something I enjoy doing. I will choose the path of Engineering, I just love engineering, and I don’t know why. I will choose the path of blessing the whole world, yeah I love blessing people, blessing cities, blessing nations.
Are there things you would have loved to have done before now? I know you can still do them, but probably, in the last 25 years in CLAM, what are the things you think you should have done, or even in your own life?
If I say I don’t have any regrets, I am joking. The first regret is not having adequate knowledge about people management. If I had adequate knowledge in that area, I could have managed some people better. I have repented, I have asked God to forgive me, and He has forgiven me. I think that literacy was missing at the beginning. Also, I think I had a false sense of who I was at the beginning because I believed with my brilliance, that everybody must be brilliant (laughs) and that was a fallacy, a misconception. So, I didn’t have the knowledge of temperament and people’s personalities, so I thought
everybody must be like me but it was a great regret. Well, now. I thank God that along the way, I have made up for that and God is helping me. Going forward, I want to manage people better. Two, I regret not being able to teach. I love teaching, so that’s why I thank God, that the university where I had my Ph.D .. has appointed me as a lecturer, pro bono. I want to teach, I like teaching. When my son was in
engineering school, we did it together for four years. I have an active brain, hence I want to impact knowledge.
It was from you I heard for the first time about having a rigid focus in life. I often wonder, I know you are versatile, but how do you combine the things you do? You are meticulous, and thorough, manage your time very well, and it shows in the outputs. You write books and prayer bulletins, all of these come to you with ease. In between that, you minister and manage people and resources. How? What’s the secret?
The first thing I would say again is to give thanks to God for His grace. God has enabled me to juggle things. I have about 10 balls, I throw one up, and throw the second one, juggling them, but how He is helping me. I cannot say. My wife will surprisingly tell you that I don’t joke with my rest. If you look around this place, you will see books. I have written a bulletin since I arrived. I am already planning for 2024. I thank God for the ability to utilize my time well.
Have you always been this diligent and versatile since your youth or did you pick it up with time?
Since my youth, it became more pronounced when I got the opportunity to go to school after serving as a houseboy. I intensified studying and in my second year in secondary school, I won a scholarship, and that further motivated me. Pastors Imoh Ekpin and Fernl Olubakinde were a year my junior in secondary school. I was helping them to solve Mathematics problems. Since then, something inside me has been saying you must do well in life, just maintain your focus and concentration. So when some things are happening, you will see me smiling but behind that smile, I would be analysing things. I am a survivor somehow.
So, what would be your advice to budding ministers who want to surpass the mark that you have made in ministry? What Is the success principle you want to offer to them? What counsel?
Number one, the God factor. If they disconnect from God, everything crashes. Number two, they must have a success mind set. Number three, they must understand that ministry is not a hundred metres dash, it’s a marathon involving a process, and there are too many ropes to be learnt. Number four, no minister will do well if there’s no quality family life style, let me just elucidate further on that one. Bob Marley said this. I just forwarded it to my wife, and I am going to forward it to you. He asked if there was a perfect woman. Who cares about perfection? Even the moon is not perfect, it is full of craters, the sea is incredibly beautiful but salty and dark in depth, the sky is always infinite but often cloudy. So everything that is beautiful isn’t perfect, it is special.
So, any minister who wants to do well must have the back office or a partner. The next one is that they must have it at the back of their mind that their ministry will be tested. This person is making waves on the internet, this and that, hrnrn. that is not success. The ministry of that person has not been tested, let’s see what happens in 20 years’ time. Will the ministry be there? Tests in various form, their personality will be tested, integrity will be tested, in the area of women, wine, money, they will be tested, and so until you pass the test, you can’t say you are successful in ministry.
Then, they must not lose focus. You see, Elijah and Elisha, they must go and read that story very well. that’s in 2 Kings Chapter 6, that story. Anyone that wants to succeed in ministry, they must go and study
Elisha serving Elijah. When Elijah was about going, he said Elijha I am going somewhere, wait here; His master tested his followership, but he said wherever you go, I will go, so he passed. The sons of the prophet, they said, do you know your master will be taken away from you today?
He said, keep quiet. I know; so, counsels will come, suggestions will come, you must profile them. They must not be distracted, their focus will be tested, their perseverance will be tested, their tenacity will be tested, their integrity will be tested, their being Godly will be tested; so they must get ready, and the test will come in various dimensions. Another thing is that anyone in ministry who does not have financial literacy must go for it. They must come under the tutelage of someone like me; let me sharpen it for them, otherwise they will be stranded.
That last point, it’s as good as saying Pastors must build tents that is they must have something they are doing in addition to Ministry.
That’s where I am going. Pastors must be financially viable, so as to overcome temptations. You must build things, you can’t say you are a full-time minister, and you don’t have anything you are doing. They must be tent makers, tent making must be an integral part of their ministry. They must go and learn branding. Every ministry has a peculiar voice, that peculiar voice that comes out of the trumpet of the ministry is your brand. They should pay professionals to manage their brands. MFM and CLAM both have apostolic backgrounds, but our brands are different. No two brands are the same, no matter how similar they are. So, they must learn branding, administration, and finance, and they must know how to enjoy their rest.
What legacy are you planning to leave behind? What do you want to be remembered for?
I want to be remembered for being an imperfect servant of God who tried his best, who acknowledged his human frailties, but surrendered to God to bring out the best in him. I want to be remembered for my acts of benevolence. I believe in leaving quality legacies that people can build on. I want to be remembered
for my tenacity, and perseverance. I want to be remembered as a lover of God.
Apart from Chief M.O Adewakun, the late Baba Salaja, and Chief Jawando Adewakun, whom you’ve always given credit to, who are the other peop e God has used in your life to get you to where you are today?
My parents. Then, these 4 people Ambassador Joseph Akinrinmola Adewakun, the father of the current Olori (Dr.) Adetokunbo Adetimehin. He was the one that took me out of lIe-Oluji to Ibadan. Olori and I grew up together; chief Michael Akinjisola Akintomide, Chief Moses Oluremi Adewakun, and Chief David Adewakun (Jawando). Those 4 were the ones that made it possible for me to be educated. I want to give credit to one man, when I had no place to stay as a day student, he took me in and was feeding me. He is a Pastor in CAC today. I am training one of his children in CLAM as a Pastor. His name is Pastor Olasode Adegboyega. We were classmates, but he is older than me. Ooh. that was a critical time in my life. I had no place to stay.
In ministry, by the grace of God, reference must be made to the founder of CAC, Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola. Then of course, those people with me in ministry, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Pastor Leke Sanusi, Apostle Dele Johnson, Baba Oyedepo, and Pastor Dare Fasipe. Even my son in ministry, Pastor Peace Akingunsoye, The Revd., Canon Michael Soledayo Fagbamiye, and Pastor Isaac Temidayo Akhajeme.
On succession planning, do you support that children should succeed their parents in ministry? Do you subscribe to that school of thought. or it should be left to the Holy Spirit to decide?
Yes and No. Yes, if God has said so and No, if God has not said so.
