The General Overseer of Mountainof Fireand Miracles Ministries, Pastor D.K. Olukoya has observed that his ministry is seen as referral spiritual clinic or an intensive care unit by the rest of the church and the world because of its deliverance programmes, counseling sessions and its unusual prayers.
He made this observation while being honooured with John Wesley Award by the West Africa Theological Seminary.
In an acceptance speech read on his behalf by one of his pastors, Olukoya said the Lord has used the ministry to bring salvation to a lot of souls in the country and beyond noting that cases that have defied solutions and rejected as hopeless have often found solution at the MFM ground.
He thanked the management of the WATS for considering him for the honour stating that, “God must take the glory for what He has done”
While stating that he feels highly honoured to be considered worthy to be a recipient of the John Wesley Award, he said, “I am as attracted as to John Wesley is to music and spiritual songs, seen as a powerful amour of salvation, a lifter of the soul and an instrument of celebration and worship of God”
He described Wesley as a man of uncommon grace noting also that his ministry shares in all the ideals and legacies of the founder of MethodistChurch.
Olukoya further thanked WATS for making its institution available to his pastors and other denominations stating, “The training being received will no doubt deepen their spiritual growth and development, broaden their intellectual experience and maturity, expose them to more trans-cultural and spiritual illumination that will add greater value to their evangelical activities and outreaches.
In his speech at the event, the provost of the college, Dr. Williams Udotong thanked Dr. Olukoya for his vision and foresight in investing in the training of its leaders. He said the award was given to Olukoya for helping people to be freed from bondage of the enemy adding that the impact of his ministry has been “felt by all over our nation and beyond”
He also thanked the founder of the institution, Dr. and Mrs. Gary Maxey and all those who have been instrumental to the survival of the institution.
Udotong observed further that WATS is serving the fastest growing Christian segment of the Church. He said, “There seems to be much confusion in our land today concerning the meaning of Christianity and this is symptomatic of the crisis in leadership. I am convinced that the solutions to the problem is for church leadership to support institutions such as WATS that are committed to promoting the aggressive training and development of leaders.”
About 165 students graduated from the institution from different levels the masters and postgraduate programmes.
In an earlier press conference the institution’s director of academic affairs Dr. Femi Atoyebi noted that one of the greatest challenges facing the school was the need to make students see that reason and faith are not in opposition but complimentary. “Many people tend to see faith as different from reason but we try to make our students understand that the two of them should travel together.”
He added further that the institution has been useful in bringing peace toNigeria. “Many of the people we trained are out there and are making impact in their own little way. We make our products understand that the church is a preserver of peace. Some church leaders could have taken up arms in the face of provocation but for the awareness they have they refrain from taking such step.”
On how the school has been able to create a balance among the various denominations that come for training, the dean of Spiritual formation of the school, Dr. John Onwuka said “What we do is to look at the essentials and the things that bind us together rather than the things that divide us as a church. We try to expose them to the scripture and make them to see the scripture as it is while encouraging them to approach it with a plain mind and a willingness to learn. The result has been great. We do not hope to change people overnight but through discipleship programme, mentoring and our chapel services we have been able to make great impact on them especially those who may not subscribe to the whole counsel of the Bible”
A consultant from the US, Ray Easley who was also at the press briefing observed that one of the challenges facing the educational institutions in Nigeria is the tendency for students to copy largely from the internet while putting together their theses. Commenting on this, Dr. Udotong said WATS is at the vanguard of fighting plagiarism. “We have a mechanism that we have put in place to enable us to detect students theses that are products of plagiarized work and that has kept our students in check. We appreciate that many educational institutions are facing this problem and we can only say that we are up to the task in fighting plagiarism.
Pastor Oluwafemi Martins, who is the director of corporate affairs and public relations of the school, informed that the school trains students from 80 denominations and from 14 different African countries, “This institution is not opposed to denominational bible schools but we tell churches that after the training they get from these Bible schools they should come to WATS because in WATS they are exposed to some other level of theology and church work which they might not have learned in their denominational bible schools.”