Prophet Samson Ayorinde is a well-respected man of God and crusader of Christ in the land. He is a top prophet whose prophecies always come to the past. He is the Founder and General Overseer of the World Evangelism Bible Church (WEBIC) with headquarters in Ogudu, Lagos, with quite a number of branches all over Nigeria, Europe, Asia and the USA.
The lecturer-turned-clergy came to the limelight through his miracle service which started as a counselling unit in 1996. Hence, he became a renowned Televangelist. He has a unique but subtle style of preaching which pierces the heart and makes it surrender to Christ.
On June 26th, 2022, the church had a convention service at its headquarters in Ogudu. The programme was massive as one of the guest ministers of the day was the highly referred Archbishop Mike Odafe. The entire church auditorium was filled to the brim as people from all walks of life came to partake in the programme. Immediately after the service, City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and his reporter, JAMIU ABUBAKAR approached Prophet Ayodele to engage him on how he has been running the church for the past 27 years and his plans for the church in the future. Below are the excerpts. Read and enjoy!
What are the take-homes from today’s Men’s convention?
Number one is that we have been able to mobilize men. Men are very difficult to mobilize in many churches. Globally, we have been able to bring men back into the ministry after the COVID. And once men start; the church starts. Men are the moving force in any church, in any society, in any community. The second thing is that; this is the first time that men are doing conventions and we have opened their eyes to humanitarian and making people feel comfortable. Being able to care for the needy and oppressed is a major part of my ministry. We take care of the widows and orphans. We have an orphanage home in Ibadan. It’s quite alarming at the way people come in with the conviction that if any child gets to Ayorinde, their lives will transform. It will amaze you that people would even come and drop 8-day-old children in the church. If Baba Ayorinde can take care of my baby, she would be alright. Lots of them got that result as we established them. So we want to amplify that for our humanitarian ministry. In those days, it was what the people would do to the church but now, it’s what the church can do to the people. The other take is the publicity we got for this convention through the media. The service has already gone globally with adequate coverage from City People and other media at the programme. It was very active. People joined the programme from all over the world and they were part of the service. I didn’t put a single input in the convention; the men did the planning from A to Z.
What has been your reflection of the church over the years?
God has been gracious. It’s been 27 years since we have started WEBIC right in our parlour in Ogudu. From there, we moved to the verandah and then we moved here. God has been gracious with the government helping us to dualize the Samson Ayorinde road. It has made this place become a major altar and prayer centre within the city of Lagos. The first year, we had a huge crowd. The second year, we almost hit 7,000 and by the time we started doing the Anointing Night, the stadium is always packed. The crowd here is 7,000 and it wasn’t too healthy pastoral-wise. Now we have about 25 solid branches. This place will not take us if we have combined service here. God has been merciful, in the last 5 years; I have not been able to run the Men’s Convention because of some of my travelling after which the COVID and lockdown came. So, this is the first successful convention in the last 5 years and this is really a turning point.
During the convention, the guest Minister said something striking about you being the first Nuclear Architect in Nigeria, can you tell us a bit about that?
I studied Architecture and I was the first nuclear architect that Nigeria has ever produced. I have a case study in Shiroro Dam, Minna in Niger State. Then I propounded a Nuclear power station for Nigeria. Nigeria has a lot of Uranium in Kebbi State. There is an international Atomic Agency in ABU, Zaria combined with its Physics Department. Much of my materials were brought in from Russia. I was able to propound something for us that is safe and clear. The government has not been looking at this area. We could be selling energy to the whole of Africa if we are really serious. One nuclear station can supply the whole of West Africa so that we will make money to be self-sustainable. So anything that I do, I will like to know it and to be sound in it.
Tell us a bit about how you got your calling?
When the Lord called me, I was doing my Masters. I heard the audible voice at Block F2 Room 15, Sulaimon Hall, ABU in Zaria. This was in February 1986. I heard the voice asking me to go and preach. Of course, I knew that I was called to preach before that. There is a bell that is associated with my calling before my birth. So this distinguished my calling from any other. I don’t know about the bush when I’m called. I don’t need to argue about it. I don’t have to talk about them because the result is a way of announcing itself. There are lots of miracles and healings, breakthroughs with signs and wonders. Even then I used to receive calls from Saudi Arabia to pray for them.
What have you been doing recently?
After the COVID lockdown, I came back home and saw the need to upgrade the infrastructure of our stadium. That’s what we are doing now. And when we finish that, we will launch back the Anointing Night into the stadium. Then we will be doing that regularly. Then in those days, we used to do the Anointing Night every 6 weeks. This was too choking and very expensive. Now, we will be having it maybe once or twice a year and we will strengthen our areas for the crusade. Our crusade work is gradually starting but we need to make sure that the infrastructure will retain the congregation. Especially with the construction of this road which has opened up this site, it’s very imperative that we have infrastructure that can retain the crowd. Being an architect, I have the knowledge of organizing the people without becoming a nuisance to the community. Those are the things we are going to do by the grace of God; it’s going to be done.
People see you as a very humble man of God, how do you react to this?
It’s one of my areas of strength and a kind of security. I can pass through a crowd without you knowing and I would have passed through before you notice it’s me, I would have gone. It has a way of helping me in terms of protection. I don’t like carrying guns around me; I’m a friend of the people. I’m a prophet of the poor, I celebrate the needy. I make myself accessible to them as easily as possible. With all these, I thank God for the grace of God that has specially helped me. Because I fast a lot; for 40 days virtually like almost 6 times. This year, I did 50 days non-stop with only water. It made me know the meaning of the anointing, putting it across the people of God. And it’s my belief that in these few years to come, there are greater exploits and miracles that are going to be happening. So many people in their hundreds of thousands if not millions are going to testify to these via the television and internet.
During today’s service, you mentioned that people have always doubted your capabilities and God has proved them wrong. Can you tell us a bit about this?
When I started preaching in Zaria, people would say; oh, you can’t do anything because I am soft-spoken, I don’t like screaming either on Television or talking to people. I like talking to people with respect. They keep saying I can’t do this, I can’t do that. So I kept quiet. When it is time to work, God will show up. The Lord told me that I should move down south and that problem is coming to the North. It was in 1992/1993 He told me that. And He said I shouldn’t move suddenly and that I should learn church administration for 2 years. So in March 1995, I came to start. Between 1992 and 1995, I was going around on itinerant preaching and crusades, studying church administration. And since 1995, the rest are testimonies. Every time they say; how will he get this land? I got this land. They say; how will he build it? I started building. They later say; how will he fill the stadium, he can’t fill the stadium? People will always say contrary things. When they find out that I’m not the type who runs around to people. With all due respect, my call is direct and very sacred to me. I just go back to the one that called me. I’m a very reserved person. I enjoy being alone with God. It helps me with the ministry to be able to focus on and build on. My next move is that finish building this place according to the plan. And then we will run satellite crusades in about a hundred locations. Spot’s crusade in 100 locations then we pull the crowd to the stadium with BRT buses and that will fill the stadium like never before. By the time we finish, we will pull the crowd back here and then we will run the Anointing Fire Crusade in all the states and many other African countries. Here is a radio station, an FM studio. It covers a radius of 100 kilometres. The next room is a television studio. This is a penthouse. Now when the church is finished, the auditorium is rising and the Television station and the radio stations are running. I have gotten all the required licenses. I can broadcast from here to the whole world. That’s the plan. I like to do things one step at a time. If you run faster than your leg can carry you, you will fall. So I learn to take it easy because there’s time for everything and season.
You have a training centre where you tutor people for evangelism; can you tell us more about that?
The idea is to raise more men. The Gideonite Training Centre is like a Bible College. It’s a theological seminary to raise more men because revival is coming. Later on, we are going to expand it to other churches to be able to come in for our Bible school and get impacted to be able to re-launch. When the crowd comes, we will need trained hands to retain them so that the crowd does not overrun the spiritual structure on the ground. Unlike the first revival, when we finished in the stadium, we pulled the crowd there. Before our workers got to the church, everything was already packed. So when the members came, they had to be sitting outside. They said; they’ve taken over the church from us. So this time, we want to pay more attention to training people through the Gideonite Theological College (GTC). I run the school of supernatural evangelism and I have now added more courses so that it becomes a degree-awarding institution to raise more men and send them to the field.
There’s ongoing construction in the church, what will it look like after its completion?Â
We have a master plan for it. We are looking at building an auditorium with a 10,000 seating capacity. This would enable us to run about 2/3 of services. The expansion of the new road construction along the church has really made us think through how to structure the car park. Most of the pillars you are seeing go to the 6 floors down. We need piling to be able to go to the 6th floor. It’s possible and we are going to do it. We will buy a couple of buildings around and demolish them so that we can have space. If we don’t prepare for the crowd, there can be stampedes. So we need to prepare for it. Of course, how to get a crowd is not always my problem but we can retain it. So I’m gradually training them through the GTC to safely be able to accommodate what we can take at a time. Â
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