Bishop Olatunji Ijaola; a chartered accountant, former consultant to the US embassy and haulage businessman is set to share with fellow servants of God the tools for making greater exploits in ministry at a one -day prayer summit in Lagos.
Bishop Ijaola, the general overseer of Passion of Christ Ministry, will be joined by the cerebral general overseer of God’s Mercy Revival Ministries, Dr. James Akanbi, and the chairman of Alimosho Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. James Iyanda, to equip ministers with the effective tools for greater exploits in their ministries. Below are excerpts from Bishop Ijaola’s interview with Christian Benefits.
Please, can we know who Bishop Olatunji Ijaola is?
Bishop Olatunji Ijaola is a servant of God who came into ministry after God had dealt with him. I was much in the secular before I answered God’s call to ministry at New Life Bible Church. I’m a chartered accountant with very wide experiences. I was a consultant to the U.S embassy. I was into shipping and freight business. I worked in John Holts among other reputable companies before l left all to serve the Lord.
Do you see or consider all these as sacrifice that you made to serve the Lord?
It was not sacrifice. It was rather compelling. When I was graduating from the Baptist College of Theology, Lagos, and was asked to make a speech, all I could say was that God emptied me, and he began to reframe me. All those things I was doing before the call, like Apostle Paul said, were into the dung. I had trailers. But when God showed me and made me to understand that he was calling me but I was not yielding, so many things started going wrong. As I said, I was a consultant to the US embassy with two other consultants. Someone among us offended, and because of that offence, we were all pulled out of the embassy job. I never knew I was the Jonah in the ship. After this happened I sold my trailers at give away prices. I sold one for N250,000. I sold another one for NI87,000. That was how God started taking everything. Another instance was on September 11, 2020 when a container was stolen from me and completely went off the radar. This cost me millions of naira loses. I lost my U.S embassy job. I sold my trailers and a container was stolen from me among other setbacks happening almost at the same time. I was asking what went wrong and the Lord spoke to me: “I’m the one.”
What was your immediate response to this message, “I’m the one” from the Lord?
One of my friends who went through the same experience said to me God is compelling you to do some certain things, you can’t escape it. Then, I realized I have to yield to the call.
How did you arrive at the name of the ministry, Passion of Christ Ministry?
The name of the ministry had been given to me in my revelation long before the above encounter, but I never knew this (ministry) was what the Lord was saying until I allowed Him to have His way. In the process, I don’t know how I got into the Baptist College of Theology, Lagos. That was the beginning of my journey to the ministry.
What is the specific mandate or the assignment of your calling to ministry?
In that particular revelation, the Lord made to see people trapped in what looked like an earth tremor. And I was moved with passion to pull them out of the tremor. I had the passion to pull them out but don’t have the power to save them. It is only Christ that has the power to save. I only have the passion to pull the people out from destruction. Suddenly, the Lord spoke to me, with the same passion you have, go and save souls for me. In that same revelation I saw the name, Passion of Christ Evangelical Ministry.
Specifically, your assignment is soul-winning. What are the gifts God endowed for this assignment?
I have the gift of teaching. It is the predominant among all the gifts God has given to me. And I use that gift for discipleship. It is not enough to win souls without discipling them. There are many Christians today that are not disciples. Most of today’s Christians are half-baked. That is why many easily backslide because they are not discipled. So, teaching and discipleship are the main focus of Passion of Christ Ministry.
Please, share with us the discipleship model or programmes of the ministry
We started the ministry in 2010 with crusade and film evangelism. Film evangelism particularly achieves so many things. Whenever we organize any film evangelism in the night a lot of people come out to watch the film. Some of our members joined the ministry through our film evangelism. I know of three ministers who burst into tears in one of our film evangelism; weeping that this is their line (film evangeslism) that they had abandoned. We prayed with them and God restored them in this area that He has called them.
Tell us what your forthcoming one-day prayer summit is all about
The summit is essentially to pray to God for divine tools for greater exploits in our ministries. Many ministers of God are suffering a lot because they are not using the right tools for their individual ministries. Many ministers are working without the required tools for their specific ministry. Many do not even know they need to choose the right tools to work with. The tools of many ministers are blunt and need to be sharpened. Many ministers do not even have any tool at all to work with. When you don’t have the tools to work with, how will you succeed? Even in secular, you cannot be employed and don’t have the tools to work with you, you will end a failure. Secular tools may probably mean money or machinery to work with. In secular, including government services, many people don’t have the right tools or resources to work with and end up frustrated? The same thing happens in ministry. You may have the grace for worship and not succeed if you are not applying the right tools. That is why many ministers pack up after few years in ministry because they lacked the right tools to work with.
What should the participants expect as the features of the one -day prayer summit?
First, we are going to pray to God to release the tools that the individual ministers need for their specific assignments. As ministers, the tools I need may not be the tools you need. For some ministers, the tool for their assignment is the power of healing. For some, it is the power of prophecy. For some others, it is the power of teaching. Some ministers are into the ministry of prophecy but they don’t have the tools for prophecy; instead they are doing teaching. Until you know the right tools needed for your ministry, you will continue struggling in that ministry. Aside prayer, there will be teachings, impartations and cross pollination of experiences and ideas in ministry form the both guest ministers and the partcipating ministers.
Finally, tell us about your beautiful wife and the role she plays in your life and ministry
She has been a massive blessing of honor to me and in the hand of the Lord. To God be the glory, even when she was initially resisting, God also sent her to the Baptist College of Theology. I remember the first day I threw her into the ocean to give the message on the pulpit she shouted, aah; I have never done this before o; please pray for me so that I would be able to face the congregation (prolong laughers from him and his lovely wife). Nevertheless, she went ahead boldly, gave the message and did it marvelously well. Since then she has been a very strong, powerful and dependable vessel of the Lord both in my life and ministry.
