Depending mainly on church financing for living can’t sustain any minister -Cleric

 

Pastor Oluwaseun Oluwatunmibi

Pastor Oluwaseun Oluwatunmibi is the District Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church, Unchangeable Changer District, Christ Family Zone, Lagos. CAC Unchangeable Changer District headquarters recently held 30 days programme which ended with a Marathon Praise programme. CAC News had an exclusive interview with Pastor Oluwatunmini at the programme. EXCERPTS!

This kind of a programme can't be organised by human knowledge. What gave birth to it?

In one of our Revival programmes in March this year, the Holy Spirit instructed that we should hold a 30-day revival and He gave us the theme which is “Pursue, Overtake and Recover all.” He told us specifically that on the last day of the programme we should give Him marathon praise for His goodness. And I can tell you that this is the first of its kind in the history the church. Though we have held 30 days vigil programme at our former place of worship in Ojodu Berger before we moved to the permanent site. 

During the course of the 30 days, what was the feedback from people?

The feedback from people was wonderful. There is a woman who joined us about two months ago and she has been trusting God for a car. She said she told God that if truly God is in Unchangeable Changer she wants to buy her car before the end of the 30 days programme. Lo and behold, she bought the car before the programme ended. There are people who have even travelled abroad during the course of the 30 days programme. There are testimonies from people for whom God fought in their dreams despite the efforts of the enemy.

I can observe that there is a lot of development going on in the church. What really inspired you to engage in building this kind of worship centre for the Lord?

From my youthful days I have always being a lover of God's work. I learnt it from my biological father. I could remember when I was young I used to join him for the construction of our church in Igbajo, Osun State (which is now a Zonal Headquarters). Since then working for God has been part of me. When God called me into the ministry, the vision He gave to me is very huge and I thank God for His faithfulness so far. When we moved to this worship centre, I'm always being overwhelmed by vision God gave me and it has also been my prayer that God should give me the enablement. The vision spurs me to start the building and considering the fact that I have a bit of Civil Engineering education. I'm the engineer of this construction work. I bought the 20mm iron three years before we started the building. When COVID-19 lockdown started last year, people were thinking it would be impossible for us to do the work, but I told my members that Holy Spirit told me that when people are seeing casting down, I should be seeing lifting up. I told them that none of them should be frustrated during the lockdown. We did all the major work during the lockdown. People were surprised seeing us doing the work despite the economic situation of the country during the lockdown. It can only be God's doing, not man.

You are a District Superintendent in CAC, a Prophet and God also gave you a Music Ministry. How do you balance the three?

It is the Holy Spirit that helps me. At times He will wake me up within the hours of 12 to 3 in the night and give me songs and I record it immediately on my small phone.  When I get to the studio I will record it. I have an album in the studio presently that I will launch during our 15th anniversary in September.

The Evangelical and Prophetic gifts are both of God. When God wants to work in your life using the gifts He will do so.

I have listened to some of your songs and I discovered that they are in line with the Scriptures which is against what is obtainable today in the Nigerian gospel music industry. What is your assessment of the Nigerian gospel music industry?

That is why God has sent me to Gospel Musician Association of Nigeria (GOMAN). Maybe you don't know I am the Vice President, South West of the association. We have been doing a lot of restructuring and you can see that all the Gospel Artistes we invited for our programme didn't sing worldly songs. We won't invite gospel artistes who sing worldly songs to our church. Many of them see gospel music as a means to earn their living. They don't see it as Ministry to evangelise the people and populate God's Kingdom. They see it as a means of accumulating wealth. I always preach to them. Some of them tow that line because they don't want to do any other work with gospel music ministry. 

Young ministers should not absolutely rely on what people are giving while doing the work of the ministry. As a Pastor you can't send your children to school considering the salary structure of ministers in CAC. Unless there is a destiny helper who is taking care of the children school fees, house rent and others. Being a minister of God doesn't mean you should not have another source of income. The major reason why God punished some people is that when He called them, they failed to obey. They failed to be obedient to God's call because of what they were enjoying or because they had a suitable job. I heard the call of God when I was ten years old. I told God that He should allow me to do my work alongside the ministry because I don’t want to be waiting upon any man before I will provide for my family. Which church can pay me or any minister of God to his or her standard of living?  Considering the standard of education in Nigeria, as a minister you may not be able to send your children to private universities because you can’t afford them. If you are looking up to the church member to earn your living, you won’t be able to preach the right message given to you by God because you won’t want to offend them and that is what I hate in my life.

What is your advice to ministers, particularly young ministers who still believed that they can’t be doing another work or have another source of income together with the ministry?

I want to advise them that they should have a vision and set a standard for their lives and see whether the income they are receiving from the church is enough to cater for their needs or vision. They should also consider whether they can do without stealing the church money and whether they can survive without telling lies. They should choose between being hardworking, spiritual, focused and make heaven than to be myopic and go to hell. 

What are the businesses or investments that young ministers can venture into that will not affect their ministry?

There are lots of businesses they can venture into and it will not affect their ministry. They can invest in farming, animal husbandry etc. If you are doing farming you don’t need to be the one to do the cultivation. You will look for labourers to cultivate, you just supervise. There are a lot of agric products that you will no longer be buying because you have them in your farm. You will be eating them free of charge. Rearing of snails is another lucrative business ministers can venture into. You can also invest in rabbit rearing. One rabbit can give birth up to ten children at once. You can also do fishing and it will never affect your ministry. You can be a contractor or a supplier. You can also engage in real estate business. People are buying and selling house every day. You will get your 10 percent after doing it. It is a clean business and it won’t affect your ministry. 

The Nigerian Gospel Music Industry has produced the likes of Baba Ayewa, Mama Bola Are, you and many others. What does the future hold for the industry? 

We are breeding a lot of gospel musicians who have a brighter future. They sing from the Spirit, though there are some who are entertainers. We are doing our best to ensure we encourage them to sing songs that will glorify God. We thank God for our mission, CAC, we have a lot of gospel singers who are doing well for the Lord. We can help them by encouraging them to do better. 

What is your advice for our leaders in CAC?

We thank God for their lives, particularly since the beginning of this new administration; the Church of God has been witnessing a lot of positive changes. Our prayer is that God will continue to grant them the needed wisdom to pilot the affairs of the in line with His plan and purpose for the Church. 

I want to humbly advise that they should make our Sunday School pamphlet and Living Water a yearly booklet. They can increase the amount even by 100 percent people will buy it because it is very loaded with content that transform lives. They can break the Sunday School pamphlet into two part inside the same booklet. This will even save our people from the stress of looking for Sunday school pamphlets twice a year. 

I also want to advise that we should have a centralized Bible Study Pamphlet. This will guide and help some of our Pastors who are not sound in teaching. If we have a single Bible study pamphlet in CAC it will guard against false teachings by some ministers. This will make us grow faster than many denominations. There are so many denominations that use our Sunday School Pamphlet because it is loaded with message from above that transforms lives.