Dr. James Akanbi has described as an aberration untrained ministers of God calling themselves coaches and professionals in ministry. The general overseer of God’s Mercy Revival Ministries (GOMERM) says the “Building the Builders” ministers conference holding during GOMERM’S ZION 2023 annual power conference is aimed at helping and training ministers to become worthy of their respective callings into ministry.
In this interview with Christian Benefits, Dr. Akanbi also assures that God is set to reverse the irreversible cases in the lives of the participants at this year’s power conference, with the theme, The Unlimited God, starting August 14-20, 2023 at Mercy Revival Centre (MRC), Ikotun, Lagos, and featuring Archbishop John Osa-Oni, Bishop Abraham Olaleye, Pastor J.F Odesola, Pastor John Oluwadare, Dr. Francis Akin John, Pastor Samson Ajetunmobi, Pastor Olaitan Aromolaran, Apostle Dr. James Iyanda, Rev. David Amosu and Dr. Gbenga Olubukola. Excerpts.
Congratulations, on the coming ZION 2023 annual power conference of God’s Mercy Revival Ministries (GOMERM). Sir, please, what is this yearly meeting all about?
God’s Mercy Revival Ministries (GOMERM)’s annual power conference has specific purposes in the mind of God. It is a time of evaluation of our activities and God’s impartation of mercy power. Mercy power is different from ordinary power. Mercy power is where God reaches out to the unqualified; those who do not have enough faith to grasp the things of God. Mercy is not predicated on anybody’s merit. It is predicated on God’s own merit. The power conference is also a sort of home coming for the church members from all the branches to come together for a joint thanksgiving and celebration unto the Lord for His faithfulness to us in the ministry.
How will you describe the impact of the power conference over the years?
It has been achieving its specific purposes over the years. The impact of a thing is measured according to the purpose of that thing. The purposes of the annual power conference are evaluation, examination, extension of God’s mercy, home coming of members, identification of what God called the ministry do and harvest of souls. We have been able to measure and achieve all these five purposes over the years.
How does the conference purposes relate to the mandate of the ministry?
In every ministry there are general and specific mandates. The general mandate is for everybody to go and win souls; the GOYE mandate (Mark 16:15). The specific mandate of this ministry is “countering the devil’s revivals at this End-time.” And we see this mandate conspicuously fulfilling yearly in the purposes of the power conference. For instance, on harvest of souls, we record hundreds of new converts every year into the ministry during and after the power conference. We see the general mandate bringing souls, and the specific mandate bringing souls. Some of our branches were planted as a result of the soul harvests at the yearly conference. We have lots of testimonies of hundreds of people about the miracles, signs and mercy wonders that God did in their lives at each of this yearly power conference.
The ZION 2023 annual power conference is around the corner. What informed the theme of this year’s conference, “The Unlimited God: From Minimum to Maximum,”?
We do not form the conference themes. Each year God inspires the conference theme. Every theme you see at God’s Mercy Revival Ministries’ programmes is Rhema from God; God’s major word for that particular season. For this year’s power conference, God said I want a new dimension of me to be revealed to the people. He is the same God, but in a new dimension. That new dimension is the unlimitedness of God; different from the way people perceive Him before now. Unlimited God is an irregular God. Irregular God deals with irregular cases and irreversible matters. He deals with impossible cases. Now, we are coming into a situation where God cannot be boxed in irreversible, impossibilities and in cases that have been completely written off. These are the cases, situations or circumstances that the unlimited God is set to handle at this year’s power conference.
With this theme, what should the participants expect at this year’s conference?
The participants should expect the unlimited God reversing irreversible cases. They should expect the unlimited God reversing health issues that the medical world has written off as incurable; financial issues the financial world has declared bankrupt forever. The unlimited God will come forth at this conference for the hopeless, the despair and those who have completely written themselves off. This is a time of recovery and restoration. It is a time the hopeless will become hopeful with God coming in a new dimension that is not regular to handle irregular cases.
What should the participants do to experience all this at the conference?
I have never seen people so excited for the conference like this year. People are already mobilized. The excitement and eagerness are there. The sky itself shows that something is in the air. The expectation is very high. When you have this kind of atmosphere, be rest assured that God is about doing the impossible and the irreversible in the lives of as many that attend the conference . The atmosphere sets the tune for the miracles.
Like previous conferences, this year’s conference will also feature an Int’l ministers conference on “Building the Builders.”Tell us about the expectations from this year’s ministers’ conference.
I must not say that the ministers’ conference at the annual power conference is almost overshadowing the entire conference. The revelation and the burden that birthed the ministers’ conference are too heavy. Many people calling themselves performers are non-initiates. It is an anathema to call yourself a professional, a performer or a coach in a field that you know nothing about. You see the un-built building people; apprentices calling themselves professionals and experts. Those who never went to school calling themselves professors. It is an aberration! And this is the cause of the discordant tune in the work of ministry in Nigeria today. The complications, abuses and insults that ministers are receiving from the world are as a result of the ministers who are not trained but want to reign and train others. They make mockery of us all the ministers of God before the world. The world insults, abuses, ridicules and rebukes us because of those untrained and charlatan ministers among us. Frankly speaking, the way the untrained ministers do ministry call for abuses.
Tell us about the profiles of the guest ministers that will speak at the ministers’ conference
There are general and specific callings. When you see the calibre of ministers that will speak at the conference, you will know the calibre of the shape, equipping, impact and impartation that will happen in the lives of the conference participants. We have invited professionals, consultants and experts in different fields of ministry. In the medical field, it is one thing to graduate in medicine and be called a doctor, it is another thing to move upward in practice to become a consultant. So, for the speakers at this year’s ministers’ conference we are talking about specialists in different fields of ministry. They are generals and consultants in their different fields of ministry. They have reached the level that they are recognized as specialists in different areas of ministry. We prayerfully and selectively picked them as guest speakers at this year’s conference, so that one will build one side and the other will build another side, and at the end of the conference we are going to have fully built ministers. One will mould the head, another will fix the eyes, another will fix the nose and ears, another will put the arms and the legs etc; together they will come up with fully built ministers of the gospel. By the time we finish the conference, there will be fully formed ministers of the gospel that will be able to see, ear, smell, speak and walk etc. That is exactly what the conference aims to achieve with the rainbow of specialists coming to build fellow ministers of the gospel at this year’s int’l ministers’ conference.
Aside the ZION annual power conference, what are other programmes of God’s Mercy Revival Ministries (GOMERM) where God imparts and touches people with the mercy power?
Aside the ZION annual power conference, we also hold a monthly miracle service. We run a regular broadcast, “The Voice of Mercy” on Dove TV and EKO F.M. We also broadcast Achievers Hours on various social media platforms. We also run Church Social Responsibility (CSR) activities that include widows’ programme where we impart widows, giving them foods, money, materials and setting them up in businesses. We also have a scholarship foundation for brilliant but indigent students from primary level to tertiary institutions. We also support upcoming ministers, giving them some stipends for their sustenance, instead of going into some negative practices that will tamper with, or affect their integrity in ministry. We also impart all cadres of ministers of the gospel spiritually as well as in ministry under our RAPONET ministers platform. (Continues).
