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Wife, FOLU ADEBOYE (Mummy G.O) Recalls
There is no doubt about it, the most popular Mummy G.O. on the planet today has to be none other than the highly revered wife of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer Of The Redeemed Church of God.
Everybody calls her Mummy G.O. Many have even forgotten her real name. Others never even bothered to know her real name. Her name is Pastor (Mrs) Foluke Adenike Adeboye. She is a televangelist, a conference speaker and shining light to most Christian women. She helped her husband transform RCCG and take it to the phenomenal height it has reached today. Through thick and thin, they endured the most torid moments of their evangelical careers and today, they are probably the most adored and followed African couple on the planet.
There is no gainsaying that, though there have been hundreds of wives of General Overseers who are now fondly called Mummy G.O. by their members, the woman who elevated the title and gave it a lot of respectability is Pastor Folu Adeboye. Over the years, she has proven beyond all doubts that she is one of the strongest and fiercest female soldiers of thye Lord. She is an incredibly virtous woman who never jokes with anything that’s remotely connected to the work of God.
Those who know this incredible woman will tell you she is one of the most compassionate and unassuming woman of God you will possibly ever meet. She does not carry herself like she is the wife of the General Overseer of the biggest church in the world. She is quiet. She is soft spoken. She is strong. She does not compromise righteousness and holiness. With Mummy G.O., it is either you’re fully for Christ or you’re against Him. And if you’re not for God, you can’t be her friend. Her strength of character is one of the reasons why Pastor Adeboye never jokes with her. Apart from his God, Pastor Folu is his world. She is his pillar, the woman with whom he has survived the most gruelling days of his life.
Mummy G.O. rarely grants interviews. She rarely speaks openly about her husband or the special relationship that exists between them. But she broke the rule not so long ago when she revealed a whole lot of things many do not know about her beloved husband, Pastor Adeboye. She spoke to the RCCG Media team not so long ago and revealed in the video some of the things Pastor Adeboye went through when he became G.O.
While answering the question regarding the early days of their relationship, she was asked, what she saw in him when she was married him? “When we got married I could see some kindness in him. I could see compassion. As a teacher then, and he is still a teacher now, he used to be with his students, especially when they were in the boarding house. He was always running up and down to make sure they were healed back in the secondary where we were working immediately we got married. He showed a lot of kindness not just to the boarding school students but even at home. He is very caring. His activity before he became the General Overseer, as a university lecturer, is related to the university life. He was always lecturing.”
“One good thing about him was that hardly would you find any of his students that failed their exams because of the way he teaches. I, myself, had interest in Mathematics because of the way he teaches. In those days at the university, he would stay with the students until they pass the exams because he will teach, he will give examples, he will come back again until you understand the concept. So, that kind of activity which he brought into the Gospel helped him to grow. Once he found he did not understand something after he became born again, he will study the Bible like he was studying for his Phd. and that has really helped him to grow and look for more avenues to know more about the depth of the word of God. He has shared the testimony of how we went to America and people were asking for some things and asked for a double portion of the knowledge of God’s word, that is how much his depth and love to know more about Christ was and which he carried until today.”
What kind of opposition did they experience when Pastor Adeboye was made General Overseer of the RCCG? “There was no opposition physically, but in their body language, action, the adage says action speaks louder than words, there was opposition. You could see it in the body language of the people we met there. And you cannot blame them. Somebody that has been in the church for over twenty something years and somebody just came from nowhere, somebody who has only spent maybe about seven years, now becoming the General Overseer. We expected the oposition. But thank God for the spirit of humility, God has given him and the endurance to endure those times because it was not easy. But finally, we got over it. We are still getting over it because the area where we expected we would receive the attack and opposition is where we received it, which I’m not going to mention. Some of these things are still coming up once in a while but with the help of God we are overcoming them because we knew, we were convinced, that it was God that called us. I know this because three times God showed me, myself, so that is why we can’t go back and we can’t complain because our lives now belong to Jesus and as a result, whatever God says we should do is what we will do. We can’t run back, we can’t say no to our maker.”
Pastor Adeboye who became General Overseer when he was 39 years old, also shed more light on his humble beginnings. “If I am to give a summary of what the journey had been like this past 40 years, I will be lying to you that things have been easy. The journey has not been easy. There have been times of agony, sorrow, and betrayals.”
He however said what has kept him going is the ability to hear from God and get direction from him at every turning point. “One thing kept us going. The Lord gave us the ability to hear from him.” He said adding that “You need guidance for a road you have not walked before”
While thanking God for the journey so far, he paid glowing tribute to his wife describing her as a great pillar in his ministry. His words, “Today, I want to really thank God for a new beginning. I want to thank God for my wife. You can’t ask for a better wife. If you have a wife that is better than mine you should be afraid. Maybe the person is not a human being. The Almighty God gave me the best wife. I am saying this because God knew I could not possibly have done this work with another woman. If a different woman had been my wife, I won’t be here today.”
Adeboye who will be 83 in March said when he took over as General Overseer, there was a handful of staff, recalling that they had to pray and fast to pay their salary.
“My wife was still working so you know who was feeding who. I sold my car when I became G.O. I was riding a Toyota crown. When I was paid my Gratuity, I was happy that it will keep me going. But then I recalled that I was under another master. I then asked God what he wanted me to do with the money. He asked me to divide the money into three. He said, give one third to this ministry, the second part to another ministry, and the remaining one to another ministry.”
He said that instruction left him in shock but God soon comforted him by telling him he would his source. “When you see me today and you are envying me, you need to know my source. I was living in a room in Mushin after I became G.O. When it dawned on me that my wife and children would be joining me, I began to pray to God to at least let me build a boy’s quarters.
“But God said don’t ask me for a house because I have decided to build for you a city. Today we are in a place called Redemption Camp. It has its own power system, water system, clinic restaurants, and many other amenities.”
On some of the challenges, he has had to face he said, “After about two years of being G.O I saw crisis upon crisis. The 39 parishes we had then were 39 problems. There was crisis upon crisis. Before we had meetings at the then supreme council I had to fast three days. Suddenly I discovered that I was having grey hair. Then God told me I was carrying the burden that should not be mine. He said, I was just using you as camouflage to do the work, that he is the one doing the work. When I realised that, I said to tell myself that I will never worry again.”
-WALE LAWAL
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