Olamide Dawson Adekunle is a missionary with some panache. He is the founder of Pneuma World Outreach. He wears his love for God everywhere he goes making no pretence about the need to show people that he serves a God who is interested in the salvation of the sinner. Since he encountered Jesus as an undergraduate at the University of Lagos where he studied Geography and Urban Regional Planning, he has no other love other than to serve the Lord and bring people to His knowledge. He shares his about 20 years’ experience with Church Times on the mission field. Find below
What is your growing up like and how did you encounter Jesus in the first place?
I had my early nursery, primary and secondary education in England but came to Nigeria to finish off my O Levels at the International Secondary School, Ibadan. I never knew anything about a personal relationship with Jesus until 1989 through the fellowship in school then. But it was as a student at the University of Lagos that I encountered the Lord in my mother’s living room in a most definite way. And that experience changed every bit of me and gave me a new meaning to life.
But what was your ambition before you met Jesus?
I wanted to be a combatant army officer. But my mum refused because of fear of losing me at war or during any military operations. I just had this superman complex of wanting to help people and save them from being attacked or just to protect them. I believed God brought me to this world to do something sacrificial. But when I met Jesus, I transferred all that to my walk with Him. I just discovered that there was no life outside of Jesus. That was what drove me to evangelism and sharing the gospel.
Are you saying you have been doing missions right from the time you left the university?
I took up a teaching appointment when I left university. I did that for three months before I went to full-time evangelism. I was completely convinced about the reality of Jesus. In my experience of him, I came to understand that preaching the gospel was what I was called to do. It’s not about somebody prophesying to me, though some pastors had prophesied and told me God was calling me. But for me, it’s about an inner conviction. I remember Pastor Paul Adefarasin had prophesied that God had called me to missions but he said to me that I got to finish from school before going into ministry.
And that is what you did?
Yes. After graduation, after teaching for three months, I launched out to the field. I just started to tell people about Jesus. Anybody that came my way, I introduced to Jesus. It became a burden and a passion for me. Any opportunity I had was used to share the gospel. People thought I was mad. My mum in fact said her enemies had finally got her and that they have defeated her at last. She said they have turned her son to a mad man.
I can imagine what that meant to you then?
I did not take what she was saying to heart. I was concerned about what the Lord had called me to do. I just loved to preach everywhere. Talking about Jesus gave me a lot of inner satisfaction and peace of mind. And it still does. But I hated the aspect of ministry where you put on a suit and sit in the church waiting for people to come and meet you. That kind of put me off. Though I worked in the organized church system for some time, the most part of my life has been spent on the field doing ministry. I have been into full-time independent evangelism for 20 years now. On the field, people get saved and healed. I have seen God manifest in diverse ways. I discovered from my interactions with people and experience on the missions’ field that God is “crazy” about people.
The gospel gave me an insight into what God has really called me into. I discovered that people in the village understand the message despite the fact that I kept on carrying the concept of urban to the village. I have a teaching gift. Amazingly the people in the villages understand the simplicity of the gospel that I present to them. They flow with the message and that is why I get tremendous results whenever I go to the hinterland.
How was doing evangelism in the early days?
I did not understand the go in my spirit. The idea I had then was, get a church building and wait for people to come and meet you there. But because my natural self, did not seem to align with that style of ministry, I kept on clashing with that concept. So, despite the fact that I was in the city and was tied to a church setting, I heard this “go’ in my spirit and found myself going into the streets and to different churches. I started carrying the “urban concept” to churches that could not afford to invite somebody to preach. I preached in villages and campuses. That was the beginning of missions for me.
When did the idea of training missionaries come up?
When I came to one of the editions of Global Mandate Conference organised by Rev Toyin Kehinde of the Agape Generation International Church, God opened my eyes to a clear vision to train and send missionaries. There and then, I was able to recruit 10 Hausa speaking missionaries for a start. We were able to train them and sent them to the field. Those we recruited were Christians who had served previously in some capacity in ministry, who felt called and still had a heart for ministry but came to Lagos to ride Okada and do menial jobs just to make ends meet, especially with their family responsibilities. Many don’t know that there are many Christians even among the Hausas in Lagos.
Let’s talk about your marriage. When did you marry and how did you carry your wife along on the mission fields?
I had been active in missions for 8 years before I got married. I tried to marry about six times prior, which did not succeed because many of the ladies that came my way did not understand my love for missions. I had no ambition apart from preaching. My joy was to preach. As a matter of fact, I was in Zamfara planting churches when I met my wife. She loves the Lord and apparently has the same mind as I do. That makes our union easy and blessed.
Which ministry were you working with?
I was working at the time, with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG}. That was the church I joined in 1995. RCCG was taking me everywhere. I just had this “go” in my spirit. I had nothing to fear or worry about. Going around the country on the platform of the RCCG was really exciting for me and it brought me great fulfilment.
You said you tried to marry six times but those attempts failed?
Whenever I was interested in a woman for marriage, it crashed when the woman discovers that I was going to give my life to ministry. It became worse for them when they found that the kind of ministry was not the suit-wearing one. Some said I was under a spell. Some said I was deceived. Some said I should forget about ministry. I failed their expectations. For them my choices were wrong. In the end, I just said “nothing for women again”. I was planning to travel to South Sudan. I wanted to throw myself into missions. But then the Lord brought my wife my way.
So how come she now agreed to marry you?
Initially, I had no expectation of her. I shared my conviction with my prayer partner. I spoke with her pastor and later proposed to her. It was after she agreed to marry me that I asked for her surname. She turned out to be the person God had prepared for me. The relationship has been wonderful.
When did you now start Pneuma World Outreach?
I was transferred to Sokoto and made an area pastor in the RCCG, salary increased a bit. But I had to leave because I had this inner conviction that I needed to move to a new assignment. There had been a prophecy concerning that earlier. We got married and moved to Lagos. God began to speak to me concerning my ministry. All I knew was to preach to people. I also had this ability to organize ministry events. But this urban suit-wearing style of preaching always conflicted with my own concept of ministry. When I came to GMC three years ago my understanding became clearer. It was through my encounter with GMC that I was inspired to start training missionaries. Since then, the grace to establish churches has taken on an amazing life of its own exponentially, praise God. In the past three years, we have planted 20 churches and started two schools only in remote areas. I was in Kugiri village in Ghana early in the year and we experienced a tremendous move of God. We recorded 98 per cent healing in our meetings.
How do you operate specifically and how do you get sponsorship?
When I get to a village, we meet the village head and tell him we have come to pray with the people of the village for the healing of their community. We bring them gifts and we ask them to invite their chiefs and people around. They come and we pray with them and in the process, they get to experience the healing power of God. We then introduce them to the gospel. This method has worked in many of the villages we have been to.
We have opened schools in the process of the missions and have had to hand over the schools to existing ministries. On how we survive? We have a solid Partnership base made up of very close friends who have known and followed me for years and can vouch for my ministry. These people are not just partners financially but are co soldiers in the work we do. They serve as our Board of Directors with insight and input along with me as to the things we do on the Mission Fields. So you see, if you stick with it, God will send you helpers who have proof of your heart and your work, who will join you and support you in different capacities. But you must serve and be consistent with serving as unto the Father. At the end of the day, you are His workman and a labourer is worthy of his wages. He will not leave you without succour through your journey as His minister. Today, people come to us, who believe the Holy Spirit spoke to them about our ministry and they send support. I travel 10 months out of 12, for missions. I stay at home for only two months in the year with my family.
Adekunle could be reached on pneumakid@gmail.com +2348034684443