Drama ministry
The Founder of Mount Zion Faith Ministries, Pastor Mike Bamiloye has said drama ministers face three temptations. One of the temptations according to him is the desire for fame with an attendant craving for fans.
Bamiloye made this known on Monday May 25 on The Fathers, a programme aired on Dove Television and anchored by Pastor Dele Oke.
He said many drama ministers are susceptible to temptation for fame adding also that they are often faced with the temptations of lust and pride.
Bamiloye who is a front runner in the drama ministry in Nigeria however said the way to fight such temptations is to continually go to God for strength and help.
He said, “In the secular, the pursuit of some artists is to have money, fame and gather fans. But for us in the ministry the pursuit is different. Our goal is to win souls to the kingdom and direct people’s attention to Christ. So we don’t allow people to idolize us even when they want to. We don’t gather fans to ourselves but rather we gather souls to Christ.”
When asked if some of his associates have fallen to these temptations, he said, “I will not say they have fallen. What I know is that we get attacked spiritually given the kind of roles we play. So what we do is to continually go to God in prayers realizing that He is the only one who can keep us strong in Him.”
On insinuation that he quit teaching for drama because it was not lucrative, he said, “That is not true. I actually loved my teaching job. That is why I am able to bring it to bear on the drama ministry. God called me out of the teaching profession to do drama. I taught for three years before I went to the drama ministry full time. Usually, God calls his servants out of their professions. Peter was a fisher man when God called him to fish for souls. So it was not that I do not like teaching.But drama is more of God’s call for my life.”
He noted in the interview that many churches do not value drama ministry saying, “What many churches don’t know is that the drama ministry is about the most effective tool of evangelism.”
Audio visual generation
He said further, “We are in the audio visual generation. The acting industry is growing. People desire to watch things. Corporate organisations believe in drama, the government believe in drama but the church of God does not believe in using drama. The soft drink industry spend millions to advertise. But the church does not want to spend on drama.
“Drama can promote the gospel better. There are several churches that have television stations but don’t believe in drama. Drama brings to the subconscious mind of the viewers the message of the gospel more than verbal preaching.
“The beauty of drama ministry is that, though it is a ministry, it has entertainment value. People don’t forget the message of the drama. Some people can hardly remember the sermon they listened to but they don’t forget the drama they watch. Some people’s lives are practically demonstrated on stage so they relate more with what they see. We have been to many places and after drama we see people coming out from the choir stand to receive Christ and the pastor of the church would be wondering, but I preached on this same subject before, why is it that people did not respond to the altar call.”
While noting that there are lots of movies that don’t glorify God, he said his prayer for secular artists is that they will come to a point of realizing that God has blessed them with a great gift which they can use positively to change the world.