The general overseer of The Stone Church Ibadan, Oyo State, Pastor Alex Adegboye, is a no-nonsense preacher. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on the church’s 20th anniversary and how the gospel can influence the nation. Excerpts:
The Stone Church is 20. Did you imagine it will come this far?
Yes, I must have believed we would come this far because I wasn’t doing my own thing. It is God’s calling and mandate. I think I am like Amos in the Bible who said ‘I wasn’t a prophet neither was I a prophet’s son but God called me and asked me to prophesy’. Like me, he had no pedigree; nothing to fall back on. I just stepped out in faith, trusting God will prosper His work if we remain faithfulness.
So, how has the last 20 years been?
It has been bumpy. It has not been easy at all in the sense that when you run a race like this, it will be very challenging. The devil will not just allow you to obey God. Every serious and committed minister is the devil’s worst nightmare because we help people to fulfill destiny. So, the devil will not just watch things grow.
It’ll be good to recount some of those challenges
At the very beginning, the problem was how to get a place of our own. We got a land and when we were about to build, some people came and said the land belonged to them. They were the National Council of Women; they were very powerful to the extent that the then governor sent soldiers to come and ‘capture’ us. They ‘captured’ me and took me to the governor’s house. Of course, they released me with a stern warning never to go to the land again. I took them to court; we won and got our money back.
In 2003, I was attacked by armed robbers right inside the church. We were having an evening meeting when they came. They demanded for money and shot me. Of course, that took me out of job for over two years. I was in the UK for treatment until I returned. That experience gave birth to my book Scars of Faith where I recounted the whole thing. Of course, there were challenges of building structures that work and getting people to behave well. That was never easy. But, of course, we have emerged stronger from all of these because the Lord called us. If it were not that He called us, we won’t be here today.
Can you recall remarkable divine encounters that keep swelling your heart and reminding you God is here?
In the very first year of the church, we grew by leaps and bounds. We grew to about 1,000. That was surprising to me because I remember calling my family members before the church started and my 10-year-old daughter said, ‘Daddy, what if people don’t come?’ Of course, there was always that fear somewhere in one’s heart. I answered her and said, ‘What if they come?’ She thought hard and said, ‘Well, that is true. They might come.’
We have heard many miracles here too. I remember a lady who married here. Everything about her was here. She waited on God for several years but eventually got her miracle baby. We have had people healed of terminal cancer. There had been various promotions and all that. I remember a brother who did not even have the money to buy the form for a senatorial election. People contributed the N100, 000 he needed and won the election from here.
If you were to do church again, would you do it the way you started 20 years ago?
That is a very good question. No, because I have learnt a lot. I have learnt that you have to be careful choosing people for leadership because most of the problems in church emanate from there. If I had my way again, I would be more careful. And it wasn’t as if I was careful enough but I think I now know people a lot better. I would commit responsibilities to people much longer before putting them in leadership.
I have also learnt how to trust God for money. As a businessman, a practitioner, I knew where to expect money from projects. But in church, you just have to trust God and in most cases, He will use people. Yet, you have got to learn how not to look at people but God. And that is tough, but I have learnt to do that better. If I look at people and our purse, we would not even start most projects we accomplished. An example is the new conference centre we just completed that has a 4,000- seater auditorium. Our next challenge is how to fill it up.
How is that?
That is simply because those of us in the headquarters church are not up to that. Of course, during the convention we would fill it up because our churches are coming from all over the world. After they leave, we continue using the facility.
What is the wisdom behind the theme for the convention?
The theme is life 360. Christ said I have become that they might have life in abundance. The concordance interpreted it as “life that is superior in all things; superabundant in quality”. So, it is being superior in all ramifications of life. This year, we are having the first female convention speaker in Apostle Nkechi Anayo.
Is it that the church does not believe in female preachers?
We do. We have female pastors but not as church leaders. They are departmental heads and associate pastors. We are just trying to be careful. I grew up in Foursquare Gospel Church founded by a woman. But we realise women have different issues and encumbrances and we are just trying to play safe. Some churches don’t even allow it at all but we are trying to strike a balance.
When you think about Nigeria, do you feel like giving up?
Of course I do. One is seriously tempted to. I don’t see us making progress at all. No turnaround yet. So, there is so much despondence and hopelessness in the land but because one is a Christian, we believe God’s hands are on this nation.
Is the church doing enough to take Nigeria to the Promised Land?
We can do more. The church should be preaching the uncompromised gospel but we are preaching church-friendly and people-friendly gospel. The real gospel does not have a mass attraction and appeal. We preach a need-oriented gospel because we want people to come. And it is very difficult for that kind of gospel to change a nation. The gospel that can change Nigeria is the real gospel, not people-friendly gospel. We have too many people in the church with little influence in the society. That is because of the kind of gospel we preach. When I gave my life to Christ, we had no representation in government circles. Churches were filled with people but only one or two cars. But today Christians are everywhere without impact because they have not embraced the full, real gospel. We are feeding on the gospel that tickles people’s ears.
