Poor people are those who don’t have eternal life- Rev.Sadiq
Rev Sadiq
Reverend Folajinmi Sadiq is the founder and senior pastor of The Impact Church International a.k.a. He was born in 1970 into a Muslim family in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He had both his primary and secondary education in Ibadan before he proceeded to University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) where he obtained his Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering.
As a lover of education, he bagged two Post-Graduate Diplomas, one in Financial Management, University of Abuja before he moved to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, where he acquired Master Degree in Business Administration. As a prerequisite for impacting life in His vineyard, he also earned Diplomas and Post-Graduate Certificates in Theology from Babajide School of Prophets and Evangelists, Ilesa, Osun State, Institute for Church Growth, Lagos and Mission Institute, Sword of The Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, Oyo State respectively.
He had worked in and Engineering Outfit, Cedar Jebif Nig. Ltd Abuja and established his own engineering company before he answered the call. Sadiq who was ordained by Bishop Francis Wale Oke of Sword of the Spirit Ministries in 2011 at Ibadan, recently marked his 10th anniversary and convention with the theme: “Blessing of the Lord”.
In this interview with Wilson Adekumola, he says prosperity is good but it must be in tandem with God’s word. Excerpts:
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. 10 years down the line, how has it been doing ministry?
We thank God for the journey so far. The church actually started on December 27, 2008 in my living room but it was inaugurated in September 2009. I came from Abuja to Lagos on divine order and started the church with my family alone in my living room. We had to go from house to house for evangelism before it was officially commissioned. We had our first anniversary in 2009 and that is where we started counting from.
What would you say has been the impact of your ministry?
Well, by the grace of God we have indeed impacted lives according to the name of the church. There are lots of testimonies concerning how God used us to enhance the life of people. My members are all over the world. We have trained quite a number of ministers of God who are making exploit where they are. They were sons and daughters of this ministry but they have established their own ministry because of the need to relocate. Thank God for the period they were with us we were able to trained them as vessels of God that will be useful not only to the church but to the society. So, we have a lot of them who are serving in various capacities in their respective churches today both home and abroad. Many of them are in UK, US and other European countries where they are propagating the gospel of Christ. Some are in different part of Nigeria changing lives. We are really contributing to the growth and development of Christianity. They are not serving under the name of the church because we have not opened branch anywhere. This is the only place we have. On the other hand, we are gradually becoming a household name in this community because we have great relationship with them and they are part of us.
There are some landmark events in the past 10 years; can you share them with us?
God has been faithful to us I must say. During the anniversary I shared some landmark events. I believe there is the presence of God in our midst for what he has done for us. I believe if God sends you, you must have the time. He said we should go to the world and preach the gospel. I am of the opinion that if you don’t take your time to follow God and obey His instructions you may not enjoy His promises for you. So we have the time and He has always made provision for our needs. I can tell you that when we wanted to move to this place we are now, we needed about N4m and we did not even have 4million kobo. But He is a merciful God. The money we used to move in here and paid for five years lease God provided it. The structure on this land is over 2million naira but God also raised help for us. He supplies all our needs. Before then in 2010, the Lord did a tangible project for us in Diamond Estate, from canopy church to building a place of worship around my premises here. Those are landmark for us. We needed N2.8m within three weeks and God did it. He has been magnanimous to us. As if that was not enough, recently the renewal of this place was increased from N1.5M to N5M suddenly by the owner of the land for five years lease. We did not even have the initial N1.5M let alone N5M but God intervened when we told Him in prayer to influence them so that they did not collect more than N2M. God answered our prayer. So what you see on ground is not our own making but the Lord’s doing. We give Him all the glory. Those are some of the landmarks I can mention.
You have a Muslim background, what informed your new faith?
Yes. I was born into Muslim family. My dad was a Muslim but I did not meet him practicing it. My grandmother was a Muslim to the core. You can understand what I am talking about. But at the early stage of my life my desire was not religion but to know God more. Christ is life. He is not a religion. He is the truth and life. No one come to God except through Him. I wanted something beyond religion. I want to thank God for satisfying that crave in me. He quenched my hunger to know the Lord. I knew the Lord at early stage of my life. As a matter of fact, my biological mother was a Muslim but my mother that nurtured me is a Christian. I tied to her apron string from my childhood. She was my motivating factor. I was not close to my biological mother because my father married another wife after my mother. I grew up with that my other mother. I thank God my father died as a Christ believer. He was an elder in the church. My grandmother also received Christ before she died. As matter of fact, I was close to my other mother than my biological mother. She was the one that influenced my faith. She played a crucial role in my entire life. I met Christ in 1985 while still in secondary school. I gave my life to Jesus at St. Annes Anglican Church, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo State. I got baptized in that same church. So, I thank God for my mother who God used to push me to Christ. I thank God also that all my siblings know Christ. They are all children of God.
We know that life is full of challenges, what challenges have you encountered in His vineyard?
Like you said, life is full of challenges. I have my own share. When you decide to follow Christ most especially or attempting to be great you will encounter a lot of challenges. But when you ask me for my challenges what comes to my mind is the testimonies because I know challenges are inevitable. We have them every day. When you overcome one another one will come up. But when you have Christ in you your victory is ascertained. I may not be able to recount all the challenges but I will share some of them with you. When we were in Diamond Estate we got letter from different angles that church should not be located at where we were. When we moved here again to erect this structure it was another face-off. Now to renew the rent again was a confrontation. You just find out you have challenges every now and then but you will overcome them. I don’t think of my challenges what is paramount is the testimony.
What is the focal point of your church?
It is a transformational church. We believe that as you are part of us your life must get transformed after the likeness of Christ. The original intention of Christ for you will be a reality. Since He is the one that calls you there is glory in you. Whatever is your glory in Christ you will receive it. Whatever he calls you for there is a reason for it. So, call it The Impact Church International, the transformational church. We are committed to impacting lives. We are concerned about winning souls. We ensure that souls that are won have no reason to go back to their old ways of life.
It really appears you have burden for soul winning, can you give us an insight into how you do it?
I believe in evangelism a lot. Our church started in an estate of over 500 houses. I knew all the houses because I have taken the gospel to them. Every house in that estate received my knock on their door between 2008 and 2011when we were still there. My wife would accompany me before some members began to join us. This church started with direct conversion growth. I don’t believe in running after members of another church. I wish you well wherever you are serving the Lord. All I want to know is that you receive Christ as your saviour. But if you feel you want to join us so be it. Many people came when they saw that what we do here is to prepare them for heaven they were encouraged. Some came because they never knew Jesus Christ where they came from. Others changed their places of worship when they experienced deliverance ministration. It is not a political party. It is about eternity and God’s mandate in people’s life.
Sir, do you agree that wealth for the believers is the hallmark of good relationship with God. What is your take on this?
Well, I don’t believe that wealth indicate your relationship with God. The right motivation for serving God is eternal reward. Anything we have in this world will be left here. If wealth comes or not let us be sure that our labour to serve Him must not be in vain. Anything that we do that does not give us eternity is rubbish. That is the essence of life and serving God. I don’t know about the more you serve Jesus the more money you have. But what I believe is that the more you serve Jesus the more your eternal reward. It is very bad to note that some pastors have undue obsession for wealth. The ones that are to lead by example engage in worldly things. This irritates me a lot and I cannot manage relationship with such people. When you judge me with one car I have, it’s foolishness. What is important about me is my life with Christ. I believe when you have more than one thing you can give out the extra to establish others. For instance, I had four cars in my garage, I gave three out. I have also blessed them so that they too can be a blessing to others. God has made me to be a blessing to them. If you think you are richer than me because I have one car and you have plenty you are wrong. I am only trying to lay up for myself the foundation of heaven. It is because some church leaders want to revel in ostentatious life, that is why they exploit their members. Let us place our emphasis on salvation of soul. Don’t mount pressure on church members to go look for money at all cost. You are sending them a wrong race. Whatever accrues from the kingdom should also be deployed to the kingdom you claimed you represent. If you believe God really calls you walk the talk then.
But prosperity seems to be topical issue in the church today, from your perspective how will you describe prosperity?
Prosperity is living a godly life. We need prosperity only to fulfill our divine assignment. Prosperity does not only mean material wealth. It is all round. Somebody that is sick but has plenty of money is not prospering. Somebody that has plenty of money and has not come to know the Lord is still poor. In fact, he is the poorest and most foolish person. Because if things shut down he is going to eternal damnation. Bible says, what shall it profit a man that gains the whole world and loses his own soul? I believe no man can gain the whole world even because everyone has his or her portion. So if your soul is not intact in eternal security you are the poorest. Then, health is wealth. If you are healthy you are wealthy before we can come to material things. Prosperity is soul, body and material. However, we need material wealth to be spiritually flourishing. They are complementary. We need material wealth to fulfill both our physical and spiritual obligations just that we must not let the love for material things overwhelm us. You need material wealth to be a blessing to others. I need to have food before I can give food to others. You cannot give what you don’t have. Prosperity is not to compare you with another person. You need to know whether you are improving spiritually or not. I believe the people you help or transform their lives are relative to your prosperity. Prosperity is good but it must be in God’s way. God must be in control. You must prosper to adequately propagate the gospel.
The Transformation Church is located on KM 2, Isheri –Igando Road, Opposite Diamond Estate, Main Entrance B/Stop, Alimosho-Lagos
