Rev.George Adegboye is the President and Founder of Rhema Chapel International Churches with headquarters in Ilorin, Kwara State. He is an Apostle of the New Testament, with a mission “Take the Word to the nations of the World, emphasizing its integrity. He is the President of the Ever Increasing Word Ministries, also known as Rhema Chapel International Churches, with many branches worldwide. He is also the President of the Word of Victory Bible Training Institute and the Young Ministers Teaching School , which are the training arm of the ministry. He teaches the word extensively with a simplistic practical prophetic insight.He is known for his prophetic and peculiar anointing, especially at crusade grounds. He has a dynamic insight into the Word of God. His ability to memorize and quote the Scriptures copiously has endeared him to many Christians earning him the name “The Walking Bible”. Humble and down-to-earth , he is also been referred as one of the Fathers of Christianity as his ministry has produced a lot of the top pastors in the country such as Pastor Sam Adeyemi, Pastor Samuel Olubiyo, Pastor Victor Adeyemi and a host of others.
He has being instrumental in helping to birth, father, mentor, train, adjust, repair, place, encourage, motivate and send forth Men of God into the harvest fields of the earth. He has been used to impart and transform many young men and women into flaming fire brand ministers of the Gospel in several nations of the world.
He is happily married to Oloruntoyin Modupeola who is also the Vice President of the Ministry and they are blessed with three children; Faith, Faithful, Faithfulness. Recently, City People Fashion Editor BOLA AKINBOADE was in Ilorin where she had an encourter with this great man of God. And for the first time ever he opened up on his life, ministry, marriage and his TV ministry.
In the 90s, Rhema Chapel was a very big thing then and you were everywhere. All of a sudden you just went quiet. Why did that happen?
I always like to tell people that, I have never intended to be a General Overseer. I am an Apostle and my ministry is more of an iterant ministry. I am not like a general overseer who sits down with the churches he has established, I supervise pastors, I supervise program, and events. My heart desire from the beginning has always been to set up the church and release the church to be coordinated by a bishop, while I face my international apostolic traveling ministry which I believe that is what God called me to do. Because in December 19, 1981 when God called me, He said, I have called you; I have chosen you, ordained and anointed you, to take my word to the nations, emphasizing this integrity. So that is my calling, but the church arm became necessary because as I was training minister, I have to put them in places where they can have practical experience in terms of coordinating churches, holding ministry and organizing events. I am an Apostle and my work is interdenominational. And that is a lot of work; I have mentored so many pastors across this country and across the whole world. At least, at the last count I would have traveled to 121 countries. So I am not like a denominational person who stays with a church and set up only churches. And that is why probably you may not be hearing about me. But Rhema is still growing, we are still planting churches, we have a plan to plant a church almost every month this year in the various places across the country, depending on the area we feel our presence is needed. Our presence right now is not as we expect it to be, so we are planning to go into such areas.
Your TV ministry was also very big back in those days, so why did you stop?
We started emphasizing other areas of our ministry. We went into publication, we went into Church Planting, we went into putting structure in England for our international office, And so as we are doing that, we were not able to keep up with all the places we had opened,Lokoja, Abuja, we were in Ibadan,Lagos, Porthacourt, Ilorin,and so on and so forth. It was because emphasis shifted towards the other areas of the ministry then, and since then, we have not been able to come back like we want. And I think we are ready now
Now that we are coming back, what should we expect?
You expect us to come in a big way; in fact, part of our programs is also to be on satellite in the United Kingdom. So we are coming back in a big way, we want to come into Lagos again. We had a very extensive program on NTA then, and we want to come back to Lagos and go to other parts of the country.
TV Ministry obviously is a very big project, how do want to bankroll it?
This time around, we are trying to raise partners, we are trying to get people on board who are going to be committed and support the mission because of the peculiar nature of ministry God has given me, that is, to take his word to the nations emphasizing its integrity. So our believe is that because God has called us to eradicate ignorance in the body of Christ, that will be something that will attract the attention of several people. We want to go on satellite, which will probably catch many more people at the same time, but at the same time, we also want to go on some stations. Like now, we are in Ilorin and also on NTA Ibadan; those are the 2 we are running currently. The one in Ilorin, we have run it for 20 years and because we finance it from the church, there has been no problem because people we are supporting it here. But by the time we go on Lagos, Ogun State, Abuja and other states, that is what makes it a little bit expensive. So what we intend to do is to have partners in those catchment areas who will be able to keep the TV program on air.
But for a church like Rhema chapel which is believed to be financially buoyant, why the need for Partners?
Let me give you about 4 reasons why we need partners, number one, the scope of what we have to do, the scope of it in terms of number of places, is the sort that requires a big financial support. We want to go as many stations as possible, and we want to do other things like radio and outreaches, seminars, mentoring clinic. Then secondly, the intensity, we want to have many, not just having in many places, but we want to come up like 2 times a week, 4 times a week and probably go on daily. And you know that is very expensive. So not just in the scope in terms of coverage but we want to also be constant with it. Then the third one, I have come to discover that the ministry that God has given me is more than the financial support I have. I have supported this over the years myself, I have done investments, and I have individuals who are my partners who have supported me on their own, but I have discovered that with the scope of what we want to do, I have discovered that there is no way that I can do on my own. The capital on a TV ministry is so massive and you can’t put it on the church. And for what we want to do now, not even the present resources are enough. So we need many people who are going to hold our hands, who are going to work with us, who are going to get committed and assist us to be able to do. And fourthly, I have come to discover that generally Media is expensive, I know we need a lot of money, and we are going to be consistent, we they want to go and leave. And if God sent you to a place, God will send people to you, and I believe God will send people to me.
Apart from the TV ministry, which other area of your ministry are you reviving? Maybe you used to do it before and you have to stop it due to one reason or the other?
We are also going into publication of books. Quite a number of years ago, I was into publication of books, but I now have to go into mass production of audio CD, DVD which we distribute all over the world. We have been able to capture a major part of the world in our distribution of those materials. But we expect that apart from TV, we want to go into books, we want to go into bibles. I have been given a commission by God to have a little bit of bible commentaries, my own version of the bible which I have been studying 31 years and I believe it will help people to be able to read and understand in a simple way. So we want to go into some other areas like that. Then we want to have mentoring seminars, training institute for ministers which we do now in Europe but we have not been able to do in Nigeria. My burden is actually for young ministers, for those who are just into the body of the Lord. My burden is to make sure they have a good foundation, they start well and they can progress well along the line which I believe will help their ministries.
When you started Rhema chapel, it was just a small church in Ilorin but now you have grown tremendously with branches all over the country. So how many branches do you have now and how do you coordinate those branches?
What we have done in the case of Nigeria is to Zone the country to Lagos Zone, Ibadan Zone, Ile-Ife Zone, Abuja Zone, and others. And then, under each zone, churches that are there are coordinated by a Zonal Pastor. So it’s the Zonal Pastors that report to me directly. We used to have a Bishop which I ordained in 2005, but the Bishop absconded, I mean when we posted him to England, he went to England and took the church in England and fled with it. So we just use the zonal pastors to coordinate the churches.
Having spent over 2 decades in the ministry, what is the secret of your deep commitment to God?
There are quite a number of things one can look at that I believe maybe responsible for my deep commitment. The first one is, I have a real call of God on my life to do what I am doing, and the second one is that I was properly trained. And No.3 is that, I have come to realize what God has called me to do and I am attaching passion to it and if that is what God made me for, there is no other thing that gives me satisfaction than that, so I have applied myself to it. And then, I have been able to have so many helpers along the line, who have helped me at the various stages of my ministry. It was someone who introduced my ministry to the United States, now I have covered 48 states out 0f the 52 states in the United States. Someone also introduced my ministry to England in 1989 and by the grace of God since then. I have gone to Italy, Germany, and other parts of Europe. And various people have helped in various ways. God has given me men as gift and they have been instruments of blessing one way or the other.
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A lot of people are amazed with your ability to quote the scriptures off hand and often referred to as the “Walking Bible”, how did you come up with that grace?
(Laughs) When God gave me that call, the first thing I said was, God if that is the call you have given me, then you must give me special abilities through which I will be able to make an impact in the nations of the world. If you are going to have the commission that God has given me, you need something more than the ordinary. And I just trusted the Lord. So God told me he wants me to read the bible through several times which I started doing. At the last time, I would have read the bible through over 200 times now. And I have read it and studied the word of God. Along the line, I just noticed that there is this extra grace to read, remember with ease, recall and present it in a way that startled the imagination of people, and that will provoke them to receive the word of God in a different way. And since then, it’s been like that.
Your ministry has produced a lot of top pastors that are making waves both locally and internationally. How does that makes you feel?
It makes me feel that I am fulfilling my purpose and that I am working in line with my mandates. It doesn’t make me feel extra happy because I know many more are still coming. There are still so many young people, because our ministry is like God has given us the grace whereby young people come. So we are able to affect them when they are young, we are able to put certain foundation in place in their lives. And with that, they have been able to run with it. And I always say this to people, the people I have raised are nothing to compare to people I have not raised, there are still many more.
Some of those Pastors left years back to start their own ministry, was it a big thing when they left and how did you handle their exit?
It was a big thing when they left, but we have since matured. It was a very harrowing experience. It was harrowing because one just has this assumption that they were never going to leave, and that they are sons in the house and if they are going to leave, they will leave in a different way. But things happened the way they did, and it was a harrowing experience for me then. But we have since matured, have gone back to God, and have asked him if there is anything I did wrong. It was just that we didn’t manage the exit which we would have managed. And the reason was some other people got involve and they manipulated the situation and used it to their own advantage but I know God has punished those people in line with how he does things. But I have prayed for them accordingly.
What is your relationship with likes of Sam Adeyemi, Victor Adeyemi and others that have left your ministry?
My relationship with them is good. In the beginning, it was hard, but now, it’s okay. And moreover, I have matured and also grown. I have seen that some children will leave home and the fact that they have left home does not cancel them out as being children. Of course, you have to come to terms with that. There are those who are going to come and train in the ministry and continue, some will come train and leave, some will come, train, serve and leave. We have since matured and we have since been able to compare notes. Having gone to 121 countries, I have seen a lot, and I know that it wasn’t the way I thought then. Then I was still young, and my knowledge and wisdom was not deep and wide, but that has since change. And we are working in a different spirit right now.
The interesting about Adegboye family is that all of you are into ministries . Was it something about your background, maybe you came from a very religious home?
We didn’t even come from a religious home. My father was an idol worshipper to start with, he became a Muslim along the line, and then he joined the Methodist church and became a nominal Christian. And my mother died when I was very young, I was just probably 7 when my mother died. But the point was that when my father died, I was 16, there was nobody to look forward too, so we children grew on our own. And the fact that we grew on our own helped us encounter lives and helped us discover God. It helped us realized the place and the value of God, and so one after the other, from my sister who got saved at the age of 9, all of us started getting saved. And we are passionate people, whatever we do; we do it with all of our heart. It is “me and my household”, that is the way we operate in my family. When we were all in the world, we were all in the world, and immediately people started coming into faith, we started inviting each other. And before we knew it, everybody is now in Christ without any exception.
But according to what I heard, you practiced occultism for 8 years, how did that happen?
Between 1973 and 1980, I was involved in occultism. I finished from Offa grammar school in 1973 and I came out with the best result in arts. And that was the time that my father died. Before my father’s death, because I was very close to him, all of the other children went back to school but I decided to stay with him at home while he was sick, he was diagnosed with cancer of the Liver, so I stayed with him. Immediately my father died, the first thing that occurred to me was that, he used to be the person I looked up to, to defend me, protect me and keep me back from all manners of evil and all of that. So I felt very empty and alone. Towards the end of 1973 when my father died, I had a very terrible experience, a nightmare, whereby I saw myself been put into the coffin, then I shouted and came back. So I told my father’s junior brother about it and he said “ they want to turn you into a man”. And he said I need to now begin to become a man. I was only 16 years old then. So the man started introducing me to incisions, concotion, herbalists, and I started entering into it. By the time I was with him for 2 years, after then, I was into it by myself. And I started going around. All the time I was in the university, I was into it big time. And this was just because I wanted to sick for protection, because I thought that these people who killed my father are coming to me as well since I was very close to my father. And before I knew it, I was very strong, before I knew it, I was enjoying it, before I knew it, and I was getting more and more of it. And I have so many experiences; rivers, cemeteries junction, hamlet, swallowing, drinking, and so on. That happened between 1973 and 1980 and it was bad.
So what led you to Christ?
My been led to Christ was something that happened in stages. I was into cigarette smoking, alcohol excessively, and occultist practice. I wasn’t into womanizing, that is not my area. And the more I was going into these things; it was like there was no end to it. Then I got to a point that I had to ask myself, why did I keep doing these things, what is the end of it. So one day, I went to one man, I needed money for medicine and power. So when I got to the man and talked and all that, the man made a statement, and that was the statement that got me thinking, he said, all these things we have done is nothing , but that God, the God of heaven is one who will make them work. So I said to myself, I am wasting my time with these people, so why don’t I go and meet that God. So one day, on one of my drinking sprees, I left the beer parlor with the intention to go home, but I ended up in a football field, so I looked up to heaven and said God if you are there and there is something you can do with this life, please help me, I mean I was 23, and I was almost dying. Immediately I said that, there was this quite gentle presence that flooded me. But I slept that day on that field, woke up in the early hours of the morning and I was able to get my bearing, and that for me was the beginning of a turning point.
And that how I went for NYSC. When I was in NYSC, I went for a program in 1979, and I answered the altar call, but the people did not follow me up, so I went back. I was only a Christian for about probably 2 days. But in 1980, one thing led to the other, and then I gave my life to Christ. This time because I had support structure round me, I didn’t go back. And that is how I have kept it on for over 30 years.
Looking back now, would you say there is something you wish you would have changed or done differently?
So many things, the death of my mother and father, the lack of their presence in the early stage of my life, evidently did not make things work for me. And I did not have the opportunity my children now have, to have father, mother present, I would have been a different person today. But, I know, I have made the best use of what God gave me. And I am still improving.
You are one of the scandal free pastors, but last year, the ministry also had a fair share of negative press about crisis rocking the church. Where was that coming from?
One thing I have a problem generally with the press and all that is when, they hear things, the word of God says prove it, and then hold fast to what is true. Come and ask questions. I am not a press person as such but I like clarifying issues when things happen. But nothing was asked, statement were just made, written and presented. You know, it was a mixture of so many things; it looks like there is a little bit of truth, misinformation and all that. And that was my reaction then.
But what is the real fact that then, because you even mentioned earlier on how the Bishop absconded with the church members and I believe that was also the gist then.
You see, at every point in time, I always says this, when a pastor leaves a church, he may not actively take them, but people will always go with them and there is no way you can deal with that. But when it is said that I reacted in a particular way when I did not react at all, because by then, I had a grip on everything, I was more matured, I was wiser. Like if 10 pastors say they want to go today, I will pray for them, we have since sent fort pastors and gave them millions of naira to go and set up their ministries. But at that time, when that report came, you see, the worst that we will ever had was when Sam Adeyemi and Victor Adeyemi left on the same day. Not only him, our Port Harcourt pastor also left. Now, they were our 3 churches then, and there was no way, you know because of the kind of ministry they brought and the way I presented them to the people, most of the people followed. So the 3 churches that were our satellite churches almost died. And that was really bad, and I was not matured enough in 1994, 1995, my response and the things I said then, I shouldn’t have said anything. Now I won’t say anything if a pastor leaves. I have soon realized that a pastor leaving the church does not kill the church, and I have realized how to structure a church that when a pastor leaves, the church does not suffer much as it suffered then.
Another thing that always causes crises in a lot of the big churches in Nigeria is the issue of change of leadership when the founder or GO goes home. In your own case, do you have a succession plan?
Well, we have a constitution and the constitution tells the procedure if the baton is going to change. And that is what we are going to follow, if and when I go to my reward. I am not going to insist that any particular person except the Lord so instruct me. Because it is not impossible that God in his providence may instruct me directly to pick a particular person to take over from me when I go. But it’s not like automatically, it has to be my wife. No! My wife is the Vice president of this ministry and she is happy to be that. She is a British, she has lived with me in this country, and she would have gone back to Britain, she would have encouraged me to go there and lived there, but I said no, I will live here. This is where my destiny is, this is why I will live, serve God and go to my reward. But like I say, there is nothing automatic, who ever God wants to put there, let him do, but we have a procedure by which someone can take over. If the Lord instructs me differently, I will have to call a meeting of those involved and table it before them.
But does that different person mean your son as most men of God would always love their sons taking over from them.
I am not that crazy about putting my son in charge, putting my daughter in charge. If I am doing that, it’s not God. Jesus never handed his ministry to his junior brother. If it’s Africa, he would have insisted that he wants his junior brother to take over since he was not married. But I am not into all of that. My son has his own calling, upon his life. God told me about his calling before he was born. He is 24 years old and he is doing Medicine, he will have a trade, he is a Doctor, so he doesn’t need anything like that to survive, but if the Lord leads me and if he comes to work with us. He is not working with us now, my son’s vision is completely different, and if he is doing something different I can’t now bring him because I am going to my reward into what he doesn’t know anything about, what he has not been part of, it’s not easy. So many ministries do that, but I think I know too much.
Most Pentecostal churches always have the pastor and his wife as the face of the ministry, but in your case it’s quite different. You are the only face of the ministry. Why is it that your wife is not playing a major role?
My wife is not called into what I am called into. My wife takes care of the softer part of the ministry, children’s ministry. The children ministry has a daycare center, they have a primary school and secondary school, and she is doing a great job coordinating the children ministry. The bible schools, she is the director in those places. I told her and she told me when I said I am going to the nation and she is also going, she said to go and do what? You don’t have a call to the nation. It is not every wife that is called to the nations, or called to be like that with the husband. But many families because of their lack of understanding think that you have to translate it to that. But I am very secured in my call and my wife is secured in what she is doing. And she does not compete with anybody, she is happy with what she is doing.
But since you travel a lot, how have you been able to sustain your marriage?
The marriage is built on Christ and on the word. One thing about my marriage is that I courted for 3 years, before I got married and my wife is a definite specific choice by God for me. The only reason I married her is because God said, this is your wife, and this is my will for you. And she is a good Christian. I tell people she is my first baby. I groomed her. I taught her to preach, write and all that. And I always tell her when I am away; you do something with your time, because when I am around, she can’t do anything, she has to attend to me, 24/7. So by the time I leave, she is tired and need rest. And then she wants to reboot and get back on track. Because she has to pastor and oversee the church when I am not around.
How did you meet her?
I met her same place where I got saved in Ilesha. I met her in 1981 and I got saved in 1980. So I went back to Ilesha where I gave my life to Christ, and when I got there, I saw her with my own junior sister. Immediately I saw her, the Holyspirit said that is your wife. I said no it cannot be. Because in those days, whenever a woman is light skinned, you will always think that she must be possessed or be Ogbanje. So I fought with that for about 2 months. So I waited till when I was convinced, so I spoke to her and we courted for 3 years and got married 1984. And last year, we celebrated our 25 years, our silver wedding anniversary. We renewed our vows and exchange rings.
You have been rated as one of the richest and highest paid pastors, what is the secret of your amazing wealth?
(Laughs) Let me say this, I am just someone who has been favored by God, called by God to what I am doing. I believe one of the reasons why God has helped over the years is because he sees my heart. I do whatever I do sacrificially, I don’t bother what it costs me, and so far the work of God goes on. I thank God I am blessed and people have blessed me and when I go to preach in other ministries, I don’t charge anyone. But I trust God to touch people to meet my need and support in whatever I do. People have given me cars. One of my Jeep cars I have now was a gift. I went to a church in England, and I finished preaching, they brought the same kind of car to my hotel to come and pick me, so when I got to the church, the pastor said, do you like the car that they brought to the hotel to pick you and I said yes and he said I will send one to Nigeria, and that was it. I didn’t pray for it, I didn’t ask for it, such things happen in various ways.
I went to a church some years ago, I finished preaching; the pastor came and gave me $5,000 dollars, the next day he came in crying, I said what happened, he said God told him that all the money they collected during that program should be handed over to me. And I can tell you so many examples. So those are the kind of things that God has used to support me. God knows that I am here in this town; I could live anywhere in the world. But for me to stay here because I am convinced that I have something to do here is something I believe God sees and God has been able to help in such a way that though I am here, but, there is nothing anybody can do anywhere that I can’t do.
