MY WIFE AND I INITIALLY DIDN'T LIKE EACH OTHER!
Over the last few instalments of this story, I have made reference to my wife, and indeed, she is one of God's greatest gifts to me. But the funny thing is that, when we initially met, we didn't like each other!
/1 I met Adeshola Olafusi in 2006 in UCH Ibadan. I was pastoring a church on the campus and she had come to visit a patient in the hospital, whose brother was playing drums for us. So, she came along for a meeting in the church.
/2

THE JOURNEY HOME
Once my release from HarvestHouse Christian Center @harvesthouseng was graciously granted by Rev. Gbeminiyi Eboda, I began my transition into life at The Vineyard Assembly @tvanigeria.
/1





@harvesthouseng @tvanigeria My wife and I attended our first service back there on Sunday, 10 March 2019. Apostle Bukki Gbenro was not in the church that day, but we were recognized by Prof. Debo Olukole who introduced us to the church, and we were warmly welcomed by everyone.
/2

LEAVING HCC
Once I settled in my heart to say YES to the call to lead The Vineyard Assembly, I communicated my decision to the Founding Pastor, Apostle Bukki Gbenro @PsBukki.
/1

@PsBukki The next step was that my wife @MrsJeshurun needed to give her consent to me taking up the role, and her decision needed to be reached independently of mine, which consent she eventually gave after a couple of months of praying and weighing the decision.
/2

THE BOMBSHELL AT THE SHEEPGATE
After receiving the clarion call, as I explained yesterday, I knew WHAT God wanted me to do (return to pulpit ministry) and WHEN He wanted me to do it (NOW!), but I had no idea where or how.
/1 I had (and still have) no doubt in my heart that I am called by God -- it is one of the few certainties of my life. But I have never felt the urge to start a church. And I understand that NOT every genuinely called servant of God must start a church!
/2

THE CLARION CALL
As I wrote yesterday, I was having the time of my life at @harvesthouseng , serving with wonderful people under the leadership of a great Pastor in an awesome church. My tech business was thriving. I was planning to relocate out of the country. Life was good!
/1 @harvesthouseng As far as I was concerned, pulpit ministry was in my past.
I had obeyed God and lived that life. Now, I was going to live life on my own terms. But then, God's purpose intruded into my placid life once again and kicked me out of my complacent delusion.
/2

THE HCC YEARS
When we got back home after the cathartic experience we had at Alpha Cathedral on Father's Day, my wife and I compared notes and we concluded that we should give the church a try to see if we could settle down there.
/1 So, we started worshipping there every Sunday. But we kept a very low profile and just slipped in and out quietly while keeping to ourselves. But one day, while Rev. Eboda was preaching, he made eye contact with me and looked surprised to see me in the congregation.
/2

RISING FROM THE ASHES
Sometime in May 2016, while still mourning the cataclysmic events that presaged and culminated in my exit from my former church, I began to sense in my spirit that it was time to get back up and take my place again in the Body of Christ.
/1 As I was picking the signal, my wife also did, and she came to speak to me about it. Also, a couple of my co-ministers in my former church came to me with a direct word from God that it was time for me to arise and actively rejoin the community of saints.
/2

2016: MY ANNUS MIRRABILIS
To say that exiting KKM Inc. in 2016 was a traumatic experience for me would be as much an understatement as saying that the Sahara Desert is sandy, or that the Atlantic Ocean is wet.
/1 I am sure that many people, even those close to me, still do not understand just how gut-wrenching and devastating that decision was for me, and how leaving KKM was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life.
/2

The LORD your God is with you; his power gives you victory. The LORD will take delight in you, and in his love he will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you, as joyful as people at a festival." The LORD says, "I have...taken away your disgrace.
Zep 3:17-18
/1 As you go into this new week, The LORD your God will be with you. His Presence will abide with you. His glory will surround you. His Spirit will dwell afresh in you and on you, and His grace will partner with you in all your labours.
/2

MY DEPARTURE FROM KKM INC.
In all my years in the King's Kingdom Ministries, I never considered leaving the church for somewhere else. I had so completely bought into the founder's vision, even to a fault.
/1 I imbibed and embodied the values and the spirit of the church, and I basically built my life around it. The Pastor used to say that he could give me a task and go to bed because, come hell or high water, I would find a way to get it done.
/2

KKM: A TRAINING GROUND
Finally securing admission to the university did not in any way interrupt my work of ministry in KKM Inc., to which I so completely dedicated myself that many wondered if I was truly going to school at all.
/1 One of the things I will forever remain grateful to God for concerning my sojourn in KKM was the opportunity I got to do several things, thereby building a multivarious degree of competence in several aspects of Christian ministry.
/2

YINKA GOES TO SCHOOL
After my ordination in 2006, I felt that I had embarked on a path of life that was outrightly divergent from my previous dreams of academic glory and scholarly acclaim.
[A thread]
/1 I had finally reached a state of equanimity about my academic prospects. I had no more ambition in me for academic stardom or desire to break new grounds in the field of medicine. I was done with schooling, or so I thought.
/2

THE KKM CHAPTER
After accepting my calling into ministry in September 2005, I attempted to join TVA Inc. and SPCC, but God vetoed both moves. So, while still transitioning out of UCHCF, I kept asking God where He wanted me to serve. Enter Pastor Tope Opaleye.
/1 At that time, Pastor Tope Opaleye was Pastoring the Royal Worship Centre on the ground floor of HOR1 (House Officers' Residence 1) in UCH. The church RWC was an arm of his ministry (King's Kingdom Ministries, popularly called KKM back then).
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THE CALL
By late 2005, after the two destiny encounters I wrote about in the last couple of days, I had clarity about what direction my life was supposed to take. I knew and accepted that until I settled the issue of my calling into ministry, I wasn't going anywhere.
/1 So, my prayers changed.
I began to tell God in prayer that I was finally willing to do His will, that He should give me instructions as to what to do, and that I would obey Him.
I meant it, and God knew I did.
So, the call came.
/2

ANOTHER DESTINY ENCOUNTER
After the "Conquered, Crucified, Commissioned" experience, I got a new lease of life in my relationship with God, my optimism about my future, and my general outlook on life.
/1 Outwardly, nothing had really changed.
I did not immediately secure admission.
There was no abrupt supernatural intervention.
But inwardly, a change was afoot.
I had greater clarity about my life and the dark clouds of depression gradually began to dissipate.
/2

CONQUERED. CRUCIFIED. COMMISSIONED.
I was living life as best as I could, taking each day as it came. I was serving God in the fellowship, volunteering where I could, and learning various skills (graphic design, photography, web design, etc.), but I was still very unhappy.
/1 Then sometime in 2004, the fellowship invited Pastor Segun Ariyo @segunariyo4 for a 3-part teaching series. Now, I didn't know who he was. But in all my years in UCHCF, I never missed a single fellowship meeting. So, I was there on the first day of his series...
/2

THE UCHCF CHAPTER
My first introduction to the UCH Christian Fellowship was in 2000 when I visited my brother in UCH during my holidays (he was then staying in the old wooden block, H Block) and he took me along to the fellowship.
/1 Coming from a CAC background, I was absolutely enthralled with everything I saw that day - the heartfelt worship, the deep teaching of the Word during the Bible study session, the palpable presence of God, and the atmosphere of brotherly love there.
/2

MY JONAH EXPERIENCE (PART 3)
The disappointment I experienced in pursuit of my academic aspirations in 2003 left me irate at God, frustrated with life, and completely averse to the idea of ever doing ministry in my life.
/1 The unspoken resolution in my mind was, "If God thinks that He can strong-arm me into doing ministry, then I will show Him that nothing will make me bend to His will. I will have my way over my life!"
How foolish can a man be?
/2

MY JONAH EXPERIENCE (PART 2)
So, back to 2003 when my family had just been informed that I had been offered admission to study Medicine and Surgery in the University of Ibadan... to say that the entire family was ecstatic at this breakthrough would be a gross understatement.
/1 With joy brimming over in our hearts and our faces alight with happiness, my parents, with me in tow, headed over to our Senior Pastor's house (about a 10-minute walk from our house) to share the good news with him that his "son" was finally going to the university.
/2

MY JONAH EXPERIENCE (PART 1)
Once I finished secondary school with excellent grades both in WASSCE and UME, the expectation was that I would easily secure admission into my preferred institution of higher learning (UI) and for my preferred course (Medicine and Surgery).
/1 The weird thing was that, that was a season when practically every servant of God who saw me or who prayed for me always told me of God's calling upon my life and that God was expecting me to dedicate my life to that calling.
/2

I NEVER WANTED TO BE A PASTOR!
As a new Believer, I joined multiple departments in the church (I was an interpreter, I was in the drama team, the prayer teams - both senior and youth, and also a Sunday School teacher).
/1 Church was my life!
But was I consciously or actively planning for a life in ministry?
Far from it!
I never wanted to be a pastor!
/2