Pastor Okonrende, the pioneered Pastor of R.C.C.G Pavilion of Redemption will celebrate his 60th birthday on October 31, Cenews was with him recently, and he talked about his journey from birth to date. It was an exciting revelation from the highly disciplined man of God.
Cenews: Can we meet
you, sir?
Pastor
Okonrende: My name is Pastor Ade; well the Ade that everybody calls is Adesola
Adetuwo Okonrende. I was born in
Nigeria, in 1955, incidentally, my
father’s compound was in the very
location of the now Lagos University Teaching Hospital. The land before it was
acquired was called Igbo- Ayigbo Village, Edi-araba
.
So you are from
Lagos, an indigene of Lagos?
Well,
originally my parents migrated from Aramako Ekiti to Abeokuta in the 19th
century and then they settled there. My daddy moved to Lagos, so I was born in Lagos, but eventually I went back home to know
Abeokuta quite well, which is my home base.
Can you just tell us a little bit about your
growing up sir?
Well,
I grew up in “one of the best places” as I always jokingly say. I grew up in Mushin,
which was not a good place to raise a child,
but we thank God that the black cow that eats green grass can produce white
milk. Which is one of the mysteries of what God can do. I attended St. Michael
primary school, Ojuwoye Mushin. From there we moved to Lawanson. I attended LA
school Eleja in Itire Mushin Road. My
education was quite traumatic; we thank
God for who I am today. To God be the glory.
When did you get
married and how was it at that time?
Well,
my mother had a priority that is education, and going to school was my only
choice. I
was quite rascally when I was very young, and I had challenges in the
elementary and nearly part of my secondary school days.
But later on, when I became more articulate and focus, I didn’t
suffer any relegation in academics again
I eventually graduated from Ife with a very good grade. Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife.
Fine and Applied Arts was my area of study and I specialized in graphics. It
was very challenging as I had to leave
school at one time to get married. I was
a very indigent student, but we had to slog
it out by the grace of God to get to where we are today, and the experience has toughened me. I left campus so that I
might get married to my wife. We had a courtship of five years and one week. After
we had got married, I got her a job at the
same school where I was teaching and went back to the campus to finish my
program. I eventually became a lecturer
at the Federal college of education Abeokuta before I left. The marriage has
been very wonderful since that very time.
Let’s talk about
the children sir.
We thank God, by His grace we are blessed with four wonderful
children; Grace, Chosen, Choice and Royal, and as somebody said, when they look
at the names of the children and they take it from the last, it implies RCCG, and
there is no coincidence in God, it can only be a divine orchestration.
But we didn't think of that when the babies were being named. We have been very much involved in RCCG, including the children who have worked
with us from day one; from their pregnancy to their infancy. I mean they had no
other choice than to come along with us, we dragged them along everywhere we
went across the villages in Nigeria, England,
and America.
So they
have been with us and today by the Grace of God they are wonderful ministers of
the gospel as well.
Tell us about your
ministerial journey
When I gave my life to Christ; the very first church I associated
with was Foursqure Gospel Church, and Papa Gabriel Olu Farombi happened to be my
very first Pastor who later became the Superintendent or General Overseer of Foursquare
Gospel church in Nigeria.
On campus, I attended the Deeper Life Christian Ministries and to some extent connected
with Pastor Okumuyi. I eventually settled in a church, Foursquare Gospel Church
Karimu Street, Suru-lere Lagos were Pastor Farombi was the pastor. I was posted by my job to Ogun state and Pastor Grace
Agorum, my Sunday school teacher at that time, said to me one Sunday, Bro, you
always come from Abeokuta to Lagos, “go and grow where you are planted”. That was how I stayed in Foursquare Gospel
church Ita-Iyalode under Pastor Rufus
Owade. I became the youth leader and eventually became the district youth
leader of Foursquare Gospel Church in the western district of Nigeria and
pioneered the work to the glory of God out there. One Sunday in 1982, Pastor Owoade
said, “bro,
the van is not coming to your village to
take people to church, go and preach to them.” And then I got to the place, and I told my people the Pastor said the
van is not coming today, I should preach to you, and that was how I started
preaching.
I became
the Pastor of the local church there because
my pastor said go and preach to them. I was a youth leader, and I started preaching to them. To the glory of God, we
built a church in the village with solid blocks and the church is still
existing up till now. I am still working on that very church. I was still there
last year December to refurbish some things. The church was built in 1982; it is a
solid building, and it was packed with
people the last time I went. You see, there was a development because I belong
to the CRM - Christ Redeemers Ministry, of the then Brother Adeboye. We call ourselves Brother in those days, so we
don't work with any title such as pastor…
Everybody was Bro. or Sis.
Do you mean you were at the Foursquare Gospel Church, and you were still part of the CRM?
Yes the
CRM was not a church but an Inter-denominational Ministry.
Which means Redeemed
church was not in place
The
Redeemed church was in place. The Redeemed Christian Church of God has been in existence since 1952. But Brother Adeboye was a pastor in Redeemed but you see at
the CRM there was nothing like a pastor,
we called each other brother or Sister.
So he formed the
CRM?
Yes, Pastor
Adeboye formed the group. He got the approval from the founder of the RCCG to
start it. He said the Holy Spirit inspired him
that if the idol worshippers are celebrating, then we Christians should find
something to celebrate, and that was the
birth of the CRM.In 1977.
So the
CRM became a force to be reckoned with. Those
of us that were from other churches joined the CRM. We had meetings in many locations
in the South west of Nigeria - Lagos, Abeokuta, Agbor…, we called it Congress. So in 1981, he became the General Overseer
and whatever he does at the CRM, cannot clash with the Redeemed because he is
the same person incharge. Now whenever we go to the CRM program, and we return to our base,
we sometimes have problems in our local churches. My problem was all my converts; normally I will take them with me to
the CRM. Now at the CRM we don’t pay money for the camp, and everybody is fed
for free, but the study leaders contribute money. At the Foursquare Gospel Church
then we meet in our youth camp at Ajebo.
Whenever we go to the camp, we have to pay about 12 naira per head, and 12 naira was big money then.
So if you contribute 12 naira, for how
many converts will I contribute 12 naira
and I had a bunch of them that form part of the local church that I started.
Did the contact you
have with the CRM lead you to join the Redeemed Church?
Oh yes. That is the basis of my coming to the Redeemed.
Pastor Owoade said I should sell the same idea
that CRM had to the national level of the Foursquare; but they did not buy into
it, they did not agree with people being fed for free, and allocation of money
in that manner.
So if you want to
be precise sir, what exact year did you join RCCG.
I actually left Foursquare in 1983 to join Redeemed.
So you became a Pastor?
No, I
didn't join as a Pastor. I join the church as a brother. You see in those days, we were not after the title. Nobody wants to become a pastor. It was just;
we were convinced to serve God. Not a title
that people run after these days. So I join Redeemed, 1983 I left the
Foursquare because they couldn't buy into the vision of CRM. So I met Pastor
Adeboye that time, and we discussed the issue of the church built in the
village, and he said that is a sensitive issue, I should not get involved with
the Church and if we built it as a Foursquare Gospel Church , let it so remain .
It
remained a Foursquare Gospel Church till now and am still very much close to them.
Am still going there this December by the grace of God am still renovating it. When
I was about to leave 1983, I said I will not leave unless the state transfers
me. When the state transfers me on their own, it ended my service with the
Foursquare Gospel Church. When I got to Orile-Ilugun, between Abeokuta and
Ibadan. A crusade was held and some
converts were gathered together and I eventually became their Pastor. But I was not ordained yet, until 1987.
So you were a Redeemed
Pastor?
Yes,
I was pastoring the Redeemed Church as a
brother. So it was not until 1987 that I was
ordained as an assistant Pastor.
You mentioned
earlier about the UK. So let’s talk about
moving abroad, what was the motivation? Missionary or secular job?
Well, I
never wanted to be a Pastor. I just want to be a good brother in the Lord and have
my studio in Abeokuta.
Musical studio?
No, Fine
and applied arts. So I have my studio where I was practicing my “Batik-graphics
expressions that I started at Ife, in those days. I initiated it;
that is combining the batik and the graphics. There was a niece of mine that
was going to wed in London in 1990, so my wife spoke to them they should invite
me, and I was invited to attend the
wedding in the UK.
But my motive for going for the wedding was probably, I might
be able to connect with some galleries in the UK to sell my new expression in
art; which were call the batik- graphic expressions.
It was gradually gaining ground as at that time. I felt that; if I get in there,
I might probably find a good footing and make some money and come back to
develop my studio. That was why I travelled to England.
But God
has His own plan, when I was processing
the Visa, the Lord told me “I have need of you in the UK. “. Incidentally, it was a time that the Pastor in the
UK, Pastor Wole Hastrup, just finished his program in Birmingham and was going
back to Nigeria. So I just had to step into his shoes to pioneer the church in 1990.
Attendant of both adult and children were 53 to the glory of God. I arrived
London in 1990, July 26, and I left 1999 July
26.
Did the family join
you in the UK?
Yes,
they came to join me in the UK.
Did you go back to
Nigeria or you came to the US from the UK?
No,
we got the green card to come to the US
all the way from the UK.
On a pastoral
level?
No, the Visa
lottery.
When did you move to the US, where did you start from,
which of the churches? How long did it take you to start Pavilion of Redemption?
When we were being sent forth to England, we told Dadddy G.O,
and he connected with America and was told that there is a place called
Sacramento, they need someone there because the church started but scattered.
It was
very controversial, and it almost tore my
family apart, but I said: “I was sent
forth to go to Sacramento, and that is
where we are going.” We landed in Sacramento;
it was tough and rough and to the glory of God we survived everything. We
bought two freehold properties out there. They are doing fine today and in 2005
we were convinced to move to Houston. I
refinanced my property in California, real estate was good that time, so I
refinanced my property, and we pulled out
one hundred and four thousand from that
property. So with that money we came
down to Houston to set out to plant this church.
So tell us about
the challenges, moving from Sacramento down to Houston planting a church just
coming in newly.
Oh,
it was very challenging, very challenging.
I wish pastors would be more matured these days. We met with some very
tough resistance, both physical and spiritual, but the rest is history. And that is why I can never forget Pastor
Awobajo of RCCG Isaac Generation. . The support he gave us when we came, I can
never forget. I mean we enjoyed him so
much; he supported us when we started. Yes he started before us, he was five years
in the city before us, and he gave us every necessary support. One aspect that impressed me was the fact that
we were using a rental car which was very expensive and he let us borrow his daughters’ car for almost a whole
month. He supported us, and we are forever grateful for that
support, and I wish all Pastors are like him.
In Nigeria, Church planting is a combined effort of the area to put money together,
gather people and send them forth. But it seems that
Church planting in America; in Redeemed church has to be by the
individual and their family with no financial support. How will you describe this?
Well, it
depending on the person you are dealing with. You cannot access Redeemed
Christian Church of God as an organization based on the particular parish that
you have contact with. You see; Redeemed is a unique church in the whole world. We have different flavors but
just this same church. So if you meet
somebody who is self-centered as a pastor,
and he is not interested in you succeeding, he can frustrate you in Redeemed. But if you meet a pastor that is very open
minded he will receive you. I mean we plant churches here. We just started a church; the pastor came from Connecticut, Boston to be precise.
He told us why he came. We asked him to find the location where he wants
to plant the church and every Sunday up till now we dispatch people from here
to go to that place to worship so that the place will grow. But you
cannot say that is the practice of Redeemed
Christian Church of God because you are
basing it on what you have seen. So if you meet somebody who doesn't even want
you to succeed, he can drown your vision. But there is a standard, go and plant
churches. How you plant it is according
to the discretion of the individuals or
the respective churches. So you cannot
just say the system in Nigeria is different. It is supposed to be the same
system but people interpret that very
vision anyhow they like. The vision is “go
and plant churches.” So collectively you
can plant a church like the people that are going to the new parish that we
just planted, they go there; people in the Heritage right now started from
here.
People
from Pavilion of Redemption moved from here to Huntsville to go and make the
church happen and so on and so forth.
That is the way it supposed to be but the flavor may be different.
Ok, let’s talk about being sixty. Sir,
how do you feel?
Well,
I don't feel like am sixty anyway. I can't believe it that when people say that
I am sixty years old I can't believe it. Even in myself I feel I am not
sixty. I feel like, I can still do
whatever I like to do. I mean I used to be a very good athletes, I use to be a
good soccer, guy. I played for Anambra
state soccer team when I went to serve. I taught I was going to be a
professional soccer player. I mean, when
we had the last outing here; I played, and people were shocked that my reflex
was not too bad but when I finish playing that day my foot step changed, my
walking style changed I then realized that I am not growing younger.
Challenges in life
and then we talk about the achievement because I know you have a lot of
experiences. From birth to this moment, some certain things you will look back
and say it can only be God?
Who I am
today, it can only be God. I wish my mother is alive,
but she did not live that long. She died
at the age of 69. She invested in me; I
was her investment. As I said earlier on, I was very rascally, and
my father had no confidence in the prospect of my success in life. My wife still makes a jest of me when she sees me doing the concrete work here. She says:
“after all Papa said you should go and do
brick laying. So is that not what you have ended up doing now.”
So it
could only be God that I am who I am today,
and I give Him all the glory. When I was in the world, I was a very bad boy,
but Christ saved my soul, my thinking, He reoriented my life, and He gave me a new life. So He changed me completely, and people see me today they think “He
is a gentle man.” Well, I was rusticated
three times in my elementary school days; that tells you that I must be a very
wonderful boy. And then my secondary school days when I was in form one, I was
paraded at the assembly ground along with other boys who were truants. Because we leave our school, we go and play soccer with ordinary pant in Gaskia College Lagos.
I attended Gaskia College Cadoso Village Lagos, before I moved to Egbado high school Igbogila, now Yewa
High School. But my father was not
interested in my going to that school.
He expected me to fail the Entrance Examination, which would have justified
the reason I should go to learn
bricklaying.
So from Igbogilla I continued my truancy and rascality
until my mother called me, that’s why I said that she changed my life. She called me one night and put me to herself as if she were to be given birth to me, and she spoke to me and I cried and I
promised my mum I will change. And that was a turning point in my life.
So if you were asked just
to mention one major achievement in your life, just in few sentences
what it is going to be?
Well,
the salvation of my soul will be my major achievement because from what I just
told you, I was a write-off. So the
salvation of my soul will be my greatest achievement and, also, the churches that God has used me to plant. The salvation of my soul and planting of churches.
I know you are
still young sir, and you still have as
much as the years you have spent on earth…
(Cut-ins) No, I don't have it. I have no
ambition to be ninety. My father died at ninety
three, and I saw him a very active man until he was approaching ninety, and I
determine that the way I have been working very hard am not going to slow down,
I can only engage in a different activity. Like I want to round-off the “chapter concrete”
right now. When am done with the outdoor work I want to come inside, busy myself with writing books, do so many
other things and my regular leisure to keep in shape. But I don't want to go beyond eighty five. I
told my children when I clock eighty five,
for my birthday gift; I want a
casket. Because
what will I be doing after eighty five, if I go beyond eighty five every day
that I wake up I would say, Father, you must have a big reason I must still be
here.
And finally sir, Your advice to the younger people?
My
advice to the coming generation will be based
on the fact of what David said in Psalm 71. I determine to make know to the people, this
generation and generation yet to come to
the power of God. So if anybody says he is a Christian, they should be
determined to serve God with the whole of their lives.
I thank
God I gave my live to Christ when I was 22. And since that every time I have been
living as if Jesus is coming today. And I want to tell the coming generation that
if they have any pride it should be in Christ Jesus.
I have pride that I live to protect today, and that pride is: from the day I gave my life genuinely am not talking about the
first few counterfeit occasions. Deceiving, going to church, playing pranks. 23rd
of May 1977, I knew I met with the Lord, He changed my life that day. From that
very day up till now there is not one living human being that can say: “Ade, I will say this about you, and you will be ashamed. No, I will not do it, and that is what I call Christianity and
that is what I call integrity. Don't do
it if you cannot stand up to it. Anything you know you cannot say hey I did
this openly and believed is not going to
dent your image, don't do it. Though you are
going to be in the bad book of some people because they look at you as being
too strict, they look at you oddly, they look at you, you don't allow this to
happen. No, if I cannot stand to
it, I will not do it. That will be my advice to any Christian. Whatsoever you
cannot say “I did,” don't do it. And
don't indulge yourself. All my children
both biological and spiritual they know. I tell them that indulgence is not a
mark of love; it is a bate of destruction.
If you indulge yourself, you are destroying yourself. So don't indulge yourself, just do the best that you can do and be ready to answer for
you action.
Thank you very much
Sir and Happy birthday to you
God
bless you
Greater Houston Ministers Fellowship will be organizing a praise and worship service tagged Psalms and Hymns.
