Pastor Wale Adeduro does not come across as your regular kind of pastor. He has loads and loads of experiences in business, God’s vineyard, and in day-to-day living. The experiences are enough for a lifetime of study.
His story is a classic; starting from when he first met Christ in 1979 while in secondary school to when he backslid and joined the Palmwine Drinkards Club while at the University of Ibadan and then to when he decided to stop playing games with God during his NYSC days.
By the time he decided to give all to Christ, he began another journey that had seen him through turbulent seasons and circumstances. In about six years, before and after the Covid-19 season; he experienced a series of health challenges that should have confined him to history. But he came out of them all; to the glory of God.
Apart from surviving a motor accident during which he had a C. Fracture, breaking his spinal cord, he had also survived kidney failure, diabetes, prostrate enlargement, heart enlargement, and a string of other sicknesses.
He has robust marketplace credentials. At 23 he had already become the pioneer Head of Administration in Zenith Bank Plc. He was once the Ag. General Manager of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON Centre) and was part of the restructuring team, as the Group Head of Corporate Resources (incorporating HR, Admin, and Corporate Affairs) of ACB International Bank Limited in the year 2000.
He was the founding Chairman of the defunct Cashcow Microfinance Bank Limited and also the Founding CEO of Thrones and Tones Consulting.
He is the Protem Chairman of Redeemer’s Business Academy.
Presently he is about to host a global launch of Canary Software, a Membership Integration Tracker for Churches and Non-Governmental Organisations. The launch is slated for November.
Fondly called Dr. WÁÒ, Adeduro is Africa’s doyen of productivity who is a validated life, business, and ministry results maximiser. Many individuals and organisations have benefitted from his productivity coaching and strategy sessions.
He is also an accomplished Agribusiness Consultant with a specialisation in incubation who has trained and activated over 200 Agripreneurs since 2020. Some of the businesses are now exporting their brands with products registered by the Food and Drugs Administration, USA.
Since year 2022 Adeduro has facilitated the training of over 50 greenhorns who are now Certified IT professionals.
An alumnus of Lagos Business School, Pastor WÀÓ is a Maxwell Leadership-certified coach, Speaker, and Trainer from the USA. He is also a mentor trained by the Christian Mentoring Association, UK, and a Certified Management Consultant. He is a Fellow of several Institutes.
He is a trained journalist and writer whose works have been published since 1986 in several newspapers and academic journals over the years. He is the author of six books including “Billionaire Goes to School” and Founding Chairman of Council of Lagos School of Mentorship and Productivity Limited.
Beyond his exploits in the business world, Adeduro is the President of Pastoral Mentorship Academy working with mentees and Churches across Africa, Europe, North America, Canada, and Australia. He is the Provincial Pastor of Lagos Province 76 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
In this interview with Church Times (part 1), the RCCG pastor who has a string of degrees including PhDs gives a rundown of his life in faith, his victory over sicknesses, and his perspective about the happenings in the Body of Christ. It is a compelling read.
Good to have you do this interview after several attempts. You have put in over four decades in the RCCG as both a member and pastor. How did you become a member in the first place?
I think I was favoured by God to be invited by one of my classmates at Saint Joseph’s College, Ondo; by name, Lawrence Adepeko to the RCCG in Ondo State in 1979. This must have been the first Sunday in April of that year. The branch of the RCCG was at Olufemi Soro Street in Ondo Town, Ondo State. That was the first time I would be attending a church with a wooden structure and a small church for that matter.
I was born and raised practically as an Anglican at the St David’s Anglican Church in Oke Suna, Lagos. I used to be in the choir as a young boy up till 1979. But this RCCG parish was a different environment. They were speaking Yoruba and interpretation was being done in English. It was bereft of all the things I used to know in the Anglican Church.
Pastor M. O Ojo was the one who preached that day. He was talking about heaven and that it does not matter what church you have been to or what you do in church, if you don’t give your life to Christ, you have wasted your life.
And he said if you don’t want to go to hell fire, you need to give your life to Christ. The mention of fire caught my attention. That prompted me to immediately surrender my life to Christ because I don’t like fire even now. That Sunday I surrendered to Christ and went back to school with my friend who is now known as Lawrence Crown. He is now of the Anglican Communion and lives in the US.
When we got back to school, my friend encouraged me to join the Scripture Union in school. But apart from the SU movement which I joined, I was going to the RCCG parish while in Ondo. When I came to Lagos, I also had the privilege of worshiping at the Ebute Meta headquarters of the church. The late founder, Pa Josiah Akindayomi was from Ondo town so there was that natural inclination towards him. Baba’s son and I became friends about that time too. That was how the journey started.
So how was it in those early days of the RCCG when you joined?
I came back to do a second A/levels in Ondo and joined the scripture movement again. Because I was young there was no effective follow-up. My parents were not born again at that time. So, I was left to make decisions that I thought were okay. But then I was with believers and fellowshipped with them regularly. We had this strict approach to matters of faith. That was the trend then.
Eventually, I was admitted to the University of Ibadan and joined the Varsity Christian Union. But then, I went back to the world. The backsliding was very funny. What happened was that we had this crusade in UI and the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa was invited to minister.
He came with some form of different gospel as it were. I had this puritanic, ascetic outlook to life because of my background in RCCG. But Idahosa came talking about God not being a poor God. He was showcasing his wife and telling us being a Christian does not translate to looking weird.
Some of our friends who felt we were extreme started making jest of us that we were not reflecting the glory of God. But that put a question mark on my faith and on what Idahosa came to preach. We had expectations before Idahosa came. But his message did not tally with our expectations. As a result, some of us left the faith. We decided to go back to the world.
Looking back, I think I was childish and did not have a deep understanding of God. I went to join the Palmwine Drinkard Club. But the surprising thing was that I did not join them in taking alcohol and did not do all they were doing. The only thing that excited me about the club was the gyration and their songs. Each time they sang, Yetunde O, Yetunde me da, Yetunde, I would be very happy because my younger sister bears that name.
I was part of the group for a year. I was always going for gyration and that affected my studies. By the time I realized that I had missed it, shame would not allow me to go back to the fellowship
But I had learned to pray, fast, and read the Bible. And at that time, people were already calling me pastor. Back in Lagos, I enjoyed reading my Bible and my books even at social events.
By the time I went for my NYSC, it was easy for me to integrate back with believers. I became stronger in faith. I became more active at the Ebute Meta headquarters of the RCCG in Lagos. I remember going to the easter programme of the RCCG in Ebute Meta in 1989. At that event, the pastor I met said I would be a pastor. But I never liked the idea of becoming a pastor I wanted to be a journalist and a high chief that is a Christian. I knew If I became a pastor, my ambition of becoming a high chief would not materialise. So that made me reduce my commitment to the service of God.
So how did you now become a pastor?
I got married in 1990 and my wife and I went back to Church. It dawned on me that God was the only option I had. I was living in Mile 2 and would go to Ebute Meta from there to worship every Sunday. But because of traffic, we began to attend the RCCG in Apapa. The Apapa family of the RCCG had just started. We went to worship there. But what I saw the first day we went there did not tally with the RCCG I knew. We left the place during the Sunday School. I was judgmental and wondered about the kind of Christianity they were practicing essentially because of the way they dressed. Ironically, I was working in Zenith Bank at that time. We went to work corporately dressed but we did not think we should be corporately so dressed on Sunday.
So, we were back to Ebute Meta but because they kept putting the pastor thing to me, I did not want to be committed. But at a point, I had to make up my mind to give all to God. This happened in November 1990.
At that point, I rededicated my life to Christ and became a strong member. We had moved to Akoka and were still going to Ebute Metta from there. But there were persistent robbery incidents on our way to Church at the front of UNILAG then though we never fell victim. That made us look for RCCG in Akoka. It was there the Area Pastor, Tayo Allen encouraged us to enroll at the RCCG Bible College. At the end of the Bible College training, we were to start a parish as our project. That was how I was made the acting parish pastor
So, you have been pastoring in the church since then?
Something happened in 2000. I had become a parish pastor. But I got to a point where I felt I was no longer interested in being a pastor because of some development. My wife and I wrote to the authority of RCCG that we wanted to exit the church. We left in October 2000. When we left my wife asked where we would worship. We said we would pray and felt we should attend another church in Aja. But one day, the Lord spoke to me during a 7-day dry fast.
Let’s talk about the 7-day fast. You mean you did not take anything including water for those 7 days?
It was a fast without food and water for the first three days. After the third day, I started taking water but still without food until the 7th day. So, during this fast on the 6th day, the Lord asked, where I was going? By then I had learned that if God asked me a question, I must have been doing something wrong.
I knew God was not pleased with the action I took to leave RCCG. I asked for forgiveness. And the Lord said to me that no matter where I go, I would still come back to RCCG and die there. But then I could not just return to the church out of shame. I also did not tell my wife about my encounter. But after about two weeks, she said she had a dream and requested that we should go back to RCCG.
But then some of the practices in the Pentecostal church we attended in Aja when we left the RCCG came to us as a shock. My wife said to us that God does not want us to be in that church. Eventually, we went back to RCCG and joined Resurrection Parish in Lekki
You said you never wanted to be a pastor. Now you are a pastor and you have been involved in many productive ventures including mentoring pastors and helping to grow people’s ideas and businesses. How did you come about all that?
It will amaze you to know that I had wanted to be a journalist. I believed being a journalist would make me impact the world more. I was also very much interested in teaching and counselling. I remember counselling a lady who was my classmate during my A/levels. She asked if I had read the book, Power of Positive Thinking by Normal Vincent Peale because some of the things I said to her were in that book. I also have been trained by some Catholic priests on how to serve people.
Before I became a pastor, I already started consultancy services as far back as 1991. I had already been doing consultancy and training for people. I had also had other trainings in other ministries and churches. So, when I became a pastor, the first thing I did was to start Timothy Prayer School. In July 2000 God told me to preach the gospel of fruitfulness and he told me clearly that I should train people and support Christians in business to develop their skills. As I grew in the ministry the number of people we train multiply. Today we now assist pastors and churches across the world.
My sickness
In 2020 I had three COVID-19 attacks. I had had a weak kidney before then and eventually had kidney failure. I was bound to bed for months. In 2022 after my transplant surgery, I started online training for pastors. It was free. Before then we had registered the School of Mentorship and Productivity. We turned this to pastoral mentorship. From there, word spread around that I could assist pastors and people generally.
Canary Church Membership App
Now we are about to launch an APP called Canary Church membership App. The App will help pastors maintain and manage their members. It will be launched this November.
How does the App work?
It is designed in a way that enables the pastor of a Church to keep tab on all members of the church. With the App, the pastor will monitor attendance in the church including house fellowships. The App is configured in a way that when a person joins the church, he will sign in electronically. And the data of the person would be imputed in the device. It will go to the central database. Members will be required to sign in when they come for programmes. If a person does not sign in, it shows the person did not attend service.
The App is a membership growth device. It takes a record of every member and other vital statistics about each member. At a glance, the pastor can see the consistency of members and those who are occasional attendees.
We have been working on it since 2022. It is going to be launched in November. What we have in many churches is that records of members are done manually. But now it will be automated. If an App like this was there when I gave my life to Christ, it would have been easy for the church to know when I stopped coming to church and they would have followed me up.
Follow this link for part 2 of the interview:https://churchtimesnigeria.net/my-sojourn-in-rccg-and-the-hand-of-god-upon-my-life-pst-wale-adeduro-2/
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