Pastor Adeboye prays for his enemies

THE 64th Annual Convention of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God, RCCG, which began on
Monday, August 1, came to a spectacular end last
Sunday with the ordination of 867 pastors to
swell the number of ministers ordained during
the convention to 10,852. Theme of the
convention was AMEN!
After the
ordination service
came the farewell
service which
featured the
General Overseer,
Pastor Enoch
Adejare Adeboye,
his wife, Pastor
(Mrs.) Foluke
Adeboye, their
biological children
and grand children
as well as other
relations thanking
God for the
success of the programme.
Adeboye and his family went on their knees while
one of the earliest leaders of the RCCG and
retired member of the Governing Council of the
church, 92-year-old Pastor J.H. Abiona, Adeboye’s
deputy since 1981 when the latter took over the
mantle of leadership of the church, prayed for
them.
Abiona also prayed for three sets of ministers -
pastors ordained in 1986, 1996, 2006—which
included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as they
filed out for their special thanksgiving for the
Lord’s provision since their commission.
Thereafter, Adeboye, dressed in white suit, came
back to pronounce his end-of-convention
blessings, declaring that many people had earlier
expressed concern before the convention,
especially because of the security situation in the
country”. But God took control. We thank You
Lord because You took control. Many people
asked me how will you be able to do this? And I
simply told them that my people are praying to a
God that answers prayers”, the General Overseer
said.
He then prayed for different categories of
persons not forgetting those he described as
“those who do not like me,” maintaining that their
dislike “has compelled me to stay closer to God.”
“I want to thank God for all He had done during
this convention,” he said, adding that inspite of
the multitude of saved souls, the miracles that
happened and the unending stream of
testimonies during the convention, God has
promised him that next year’s version will be
greater than this one. According to him, the
theme of next convention will be “Halleluyah!”
The Annual Convention may have began on
Monday, August 1 but to the thousands of church
ministers, it actually started four days earlier on
Thursday, July 28, when they gathered for the
pre-convention Ministers Conference.
The occasion afforded the ministers the
opportunity to be prepared and have a foretaste
of the teachings on convention theme, make
reports on activities from the various fields and
receive blessings for the RCCG year. New RCCG
year begins in September every year.
One of the highlights of the annual Ministers
Conference, which also serves as the annual
general meeting of the church, is that policy
decisions are revealed while corporate goals and
directions are charted. During the 2016 event, the
General Overseer appreciated all the ministers
and commended them for the successes
achieved in the outgoing year and charged them
to brace up to do more, especially in view of the
mandate given to all the provinces and parishes
to double their membership.
Match-making outlawed
One of the major highlights of the meeting was
that pastor should stay away from match-making
members of the church.
Adeboye warned pastors who are fond of ‘match-
making’ brothers and sisters to get married to
desist from such practice, declaring: “Don’t be
entangled with marriage among members
because you will bear the consequences. It is not
your duty to arrange a brother and a sister for
marriage because you cannot arrange their
fruitfulness. Don’t get involved in marriage by
proxy. He advised pastors to teach their spiritual
children to seek the face of the Lord in marriage
because every marriage has its ups and downs.
Seven new AGOs
Seven new Assistant General Overseers (AGOs)
were announced to take over from the six
Assistant General Overseers who retired.
The new AGOs include: Pastors Ezekiel A.
Odeyemi, Elijah O. Daramola, Johnson F. Odesola
and Joseph Obayemi who are presently members
of the Governing Council of the RCCG and Special
Assistants to the G.O.
Others are Pastor Olu Obanure, Pastor Ayo
Adeloye and Pastor Peter Amekhienan who are
presently Special Assistants to the General
Overseer in West Coast 1, East Africa and
Southern Africa Region 1 respectively.
Kalejaiye, Oyitso, others become Special
Assistants
Pastors Johnson Tomisin Kalejaiye, Brown Oyitso,
Okey Mofunnaya, Peter Olawale and Belemina
Obunge were appointed Special Assistants to the
General Overseer. Kalejaiye, a Regional Evangelist
is now the Special Assistant to the G.O. on
Evangelism. Oyitso, Chairman of Central Missions
Board, is now the Special Assistant to the G.O. on
Missions while Mofunnaya, Head of Security, is
now the Special Assistant to the G.O. on Security.
Olawale, National Prayer Coordinator, is the new
Special Assistant to the G.O. on Prayers while
Obunge, in charge of Youth Affairs, becomes the
Special Assistant to the G.O. on Special Duties.
Adetola takes a bow
Having attained the retirement age of 70 years,
Pastor (Mrs.) Oretayo Adetola, Special Assistant
to the G.O. on Women Affairs, Pastor Gbadebo
Lawal, Special Assistant on Prayers and some
others were retired.
Others who retired include Pastors Peter Egho,
Olonode Babatunde, John Adewunmi, David
Taiwo Ajose, Oludele Olatunji, Pastor (Mrs)
Funmilola Ishola, Pastor (Mrs) Deborah Folarin
and Pastor (Mrs) Bolatito Bamishaye.
Ekiti becomes Region
The five provinces of the church in Ekiti State,
hitherto under Region 3, have now been set
aside as a Region, the General Overseer
announced.
Eight new provinces were also created in the new
Redeemed year to join the 209 provinces
currently in existence bringing the number of
RCCG provinces in Nigeria to 217.
Naked community
Another highpoint of the convention was the
revelation that missionaries from the RCCG had
discovered a primitive community where
residents, until recently, were going about their
daily activities naked. Ankoko community
belonging to the Kembiri tribe, according to the
missionaries, can be found between Niger and
Kebbi states in North-West Nigeria.
“Civilization is far from this community as its
women and girls still move around barely naked.
Their children have neither sighted a school nor
the women visited any maternity clinic for child
birth or received my medical attention. They have
never seen electricity let alone good roads to
access the location. Wearing of clothes is strange
to the inhabitants of the community; only the
men are known to wear some form of clothing
because they go out to neighbouring
communities to sell their farm produce—millet
and maize,” a report by the missionaries said.
According to the report read by Pastor
Ahanaonu Vincent, Co-ordinator, RCCG Kebbi
Province Missions, the church’s Central Missions
Board discovered the community and has begun
the process of rehabilitating the people who were
neither Muslims nor Christians by building the
first ever school complex and a teachers’ lodge to
flag off the first phase of the multi-faceted
programme.
Speaking on behalf of the newly appointed
Special Assistant to the General Overseer on
Missions and Chairman, RCCG Central Mission
Board, Oyitso, the co-ordinator assured that,
subject to availability of funds, the second phase
of the rehabilitation of the community, which will
include the construction of a maternity centre/
clinic, market stalls and an agricultural support
scheme, will soon commence.