The General Overseer of Calvary Bible Church (CBC), Idimu, Lagos, Rev. Olumide Emmanuel says despite the lock down of churches all over the world in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic God was gracious to Calvary Bible Church with awesome testimonies. In the below interview with Christian Benefits, the entrepreneurial pastor takes the stock of God’s moves at CBC during the “Coro” year, and also unfolds what God has in stock at CBC for people in the new year 2021. He also takes swipe at churches to move away from been spectators to become active players and front line leaders in all spheres of human life including politics, economy, entertainment, media, sports and technology etc. Below are the excerpts.
Congratulations to you, your family, and church for outliving the year 2020. How will describe the move of God at Calvary Bible Church (CBC) in the just concluded year 2020?
2020 was no doubt a unique year globally for everyone but God was gracious unto us as a church and it was a good year for us. We saw souls saved, lives transformed and testimonies of all dimensions. God was indeed faithful to us and we are grateful.
Share with us some of the outstanding testimonies in CBC in the year 2020.
We had a lot of amazing testimonies of healing, deliverance and breakthrough etc. We had few couples who gave birth in 2020 as a result of our January 2020 night of fruitfulness after many years of waiting. We had a brother survive a ghastly motor accident where everyone else died and only he came out alive without a scratch. We had business people who made as much as four times the turnover of 2019 in 2020. We had many marriages restored as a result of the marriage series in February 2020 particularly a couple that had been at loggerheads for years. 2020 became their best year since they married The list is endless. God is worthy of all our praise
What were the targets of CBC in 2020, and how many of them did the church accomplish?
Over 80% of our targets were met and those that were not met were postponed due the COVID-19 lock down and uncertainties. To us it was really a Good year despite the challenges.
How will you generally describe the activities of CBC in 2020 and their impacts on the church members?
We are a balanced church and all our plan, programmes and activities are all geared towards ensuring we minister to the total man holistically. Like I stated above already the testimonies of impact are numerous e.g our series of unique teaching during the lock down really helped many people gain clarity and thrive through it all. We had series on: Corona lock down survival strategies for individuals, families and organizations, Freedom from depression, Freedom from financial lock down, My destiny is not on lock down, Wisdom for post-COVID-19 ministry, Is Jesus really coming back again ?: Eschatology series; and The new normal for individuals, families and organizations etc
Share with us how CBC responded to the lock down of churches last year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak all over the world last year 2020
We have been privileged of God to be a church that has proper systems and structures in place to minister to our people before COVID-19 outbreak because we believe that every church must grow small in fellowship as it grows big in size, and we also use all timely technology to preach the timeless truths. So all we did was shift into using other systems to reach and minister to the people. We used Face book and mixler for our service broadcast. We used WhatsApp group to minister and reach fellowships and units. We used the house fellowship centers to reach different members within their locality. All the palliatives and welfare provisions we gave to our members all through that period were also done via the house fellowship centers and the help of volunteers who became our essential services personnel to reach out to those who needed welfare support.
What are lessons pastors should learn from the lock down of churches?
I did a webinar on the effects of church lock down on the nation economy, and also wisdom for post-COVID-19 ministry to help churches during the lock down. Few lessons that I believe churches should learn are: take the use of technology serious. It’s a new world and while the message of God does not change the methods of God changes from era to era. A lot of ministers still operate in religious bondage and conspiracy theory; hence they see technology as the anti-Christ. Have an accurate database of your members. Many churches don’t have an accurate data of their members so they can’t even reach them outside of physical gathering which is an error. If you have your members accurate data, you can reach them by email, text, WhatsApp and calls and minister to them via those platform like we did. I personally called about 400 of my members one on one to check on them during the lock down and it was a major move that surprised many of them and really encouraged them. Position your ministry to be self sustaining beyond tithes and offering to avoid a financial lock down, and for those ministers who are still in the full time ministry dilemma. Please look for other things to do to make ends meet because I don’t believe any minister should go into full time ministry until their hands are full and the ministry can at least pay them minimum wage. If God calls you to be full time, did he also call your wife to be full time? If COVID-19 did not teach you to readjust … hmmm, it is well o! Government is powerful and can use political position to mess up the church so believers should break free from the religious deception of separation of church and state and go into politics to become kingdom ambassadors as salt and light in the marketplace. If politics is dirty, we are the detergent to clean it up. The church has been mostly idle in the marketplace and we have missed it for decades. When we were supposed to take over in politics, we called it a dirty game. When we were supposed to take over in economy, we said this world is not our home .When we were supposed to take over in media we called it the devil’s box. When we were supposed to take over in entertainment, we called it carnal. Today the church is a spectator of the major spheres of human lives. It’s time for a change!
Please share with us CBC programmes in 2021 where people should expect the touch of God with awesome testimonies in their lives?
This year 2021 is our year of KINGDOM ALIGNMENT. God spoke to me that the events of 2020 was a global shaking so that people can realize that God is really the master of the universe, and he is calling us to return, rededicate and realign this year. As we realign with God and His purpose this year there shall be showers of blessing. This year we have specific programs that will minister to our immediate constituency which is Alimosho. We have the following already planned for this year. The Alimosho Agenda (T.A.P.A), 6pm on Wednesday 27th January 2021. Alimosho Prophetic & Apostolic Vigil, 10pm on Friday 12th February 2021. Alimosho Singles Dinner, 4 pm on Saturday 13th of January 2021. Alimosho Couples Dinner, 4pm on Sunday 14th February 2021. Alimosho Skills Acquisition Programme Monday 29th March to Sunday 4th April, 8 am to 2 pm daily. We will be training 1000 delegates on 10 different skills free for one week, and also feed them and give grants to them. This is a major community outreach we have for 2021. These are just few of the many programmes for the year because the list is long all the way to December
How can people position themselves to be partakers of the great things that God has prepared for people at CBC 2021?
Follow me and the church on all our social media platforms to stay informed on all our events and also join any of our services either virtually online or physically.
SUNDAY: 1st service is 8am – Success Business and leadership service. 2nd service is 10am – celebration and prophetic service @ cbcnigeria on Facebook and @ calvary-bible-church on mixler
Can we have a look at the mandate of your ministry and the gifts that God endowed you for this mandate?
Our vision as a ministry is threefold: Recruiting men into God’s kingdom from the enemy’s camp – recruitment centre, Opening the eyes of believers to the reality of Calvary’s finished work – teaching centre, Preparing the saints for the second coming of Christ – laundry centre. Our mission as a ministry is: Raising a people of power, purpose, purity, maturity and dominion with a global mentality for the establishment and advancement of the kingdom of God. My main mantles and graces are in the area of relationship, finance and leadership, and God has been faithful to help me make a little impact in the body of Christ in these three (3) areas of my grace.
Apart from the spiritual, in what other areas does your church touch and transform lives?
We are a people oriented ministry and minister to the total man so we have numerous things in place apart from our weekly spiritual impact. E.g for the past 12 years our church shift outreach has been on every Sunday doing the following :
We visit hospitals every Sunday. We visit hotels and motels every Sunday. We go to police cells every Sunday and hold services and feed the inmates. We go to the main Ikotun garage weekly to host services and feed people etc. And all these have been done weekly since 2009 within numerous amazing testimonies of transformed lives of former prostitutes and garage Boys now saved and transformed. We also have the entrepreneurship academy where we raise a new breed of entrepreneurs and people can now partake of that online via www.teacademy.ng
Finally, how will you commend CBC members for their steadfastness in 2020, and what is your advice or word of encouragement to them for 2021.
Every true calvarian knows that they are greatly appreciated because we let them know consistently and via our quarterly workers class that they are valuable to the ministry, and we host an annual workers appreciation dinner to honour them. So, once again let me use this medium to appreciate all true calvarians and let you know you are greatly appreciated, and like I always say to you, the God who sees in secret will reward you in the open. To all the readers of this write up, please visit my website www.Olumideemmanuel.org to download your free copy of my latest book BIRTHING A NEW NIGERIA….A journey of national transformation. The #ENDSARS protest has come and gone but our dream of a new Nigeria remains alive so download your free copy and let’s all play our part. Happy New Year to you all. May this be a bigger, brighter and better year for you all.
