•It Is Called Transformer’s International Christian Centre
Transformer’s International Christian Centre is one of the ministries that God is using now to widen His Kingdom. It’s a ministry God started through His handmaiden, Pastor Bunmi Salami, 18 years ago. People residing at Gbagada area of Lagos are testifying to how God has been using the ministry and the Pastor in charge to propagate His work, with a strong mission to give voice to people’s purpose, gifts and potential by liberty in Christ, setting men free to send them forth into destiny by Christian living and the Prophetic mandate of liberation. And with a vision to Build World Changers, to change their world, to fulfil their purposes in accordance with Rom.12:2.
Transformer’s International Christian Centre is also popularly known for its annual programme “A day with Jesus”, a programme that has been in existence for the past 18years and has recorded several testimonies to the glory of God. According to the convener, Pastor Bunmi Salami, “The testimonies have been awesome. We have had lives transformed and changed to the glory of God. There had been outstanding miracles of healing and breakthroughs. I remember the case of a woman, an Alhaja, who became a Christian, who got the key holders we distributed as a point of contact for those believing in God for their own house. She had lived in a particular house for 14 years. But after prayers at the programme, her son got a breakthrough and was able to build a house for her. Somebody came from London for the programme. She got the baby basket which we also distributed to those trusting God for the fruit of the womb as a point of contact. God answered her miraculously. There was another case of a friend, who collected a baby basket for her friend, who was trusting God for the fruit of the womb. Both the friend and the woman got pregnant thereafter and had babies. Another one had four babies after collecting a baby basket. She stood for hours to get the basket and the Lord said to her “for standing, I will give you extra. There was one who had lost several pregnancies and the Lord blessed her with the fruit of the womb. The cases are too numerous to mention. There was an interesting case of a man, who lost a trailer load of goods to armed robbers. He had visited a herbalist whom he gave money. But the herbalist told him later that the goods couldn’t be found. But the Lord gave me a word for him when he came for our meeting that the goods would be found. By the following Sunday morning, the Police announced on the radio that the trailer had been found close to the border area. No single thing was stolen from the trailer. These and many more testimonies have been recorded through this great ministry.
Pastor Bunmi Salami’s journey into ministry 18years ago wasn’t a coincidence. It was pre-ordained by God. God has prepared her for the assignment right from her tender age. She has been active in God’s vineyard ever since her younger days. Having been born to a military father, who wanted her to be a lawyer, and severally prepared her on how to address the judge in the court. Whenever young Bunmi came back from school he would lecture her on how to behave in the courtroom. “Generally my father was always teaching us and trying to mould us, his children, for the right path. I remember my brother once took my father’s car away for two days trying to play the truant. He handled him in a way that my mum started crying. He asked soldiers to deal with him. That incident made all of us to be careful at home. Beyond being strict, my dad was so strong in faith. I remember he was speaking in tongues in the place of prayer and I interpreted the tongues in which he was speaking. He was shocked that I could interpret tongues. He was so excited by the gift of God in my life that he only gave me a Bible before he died as an inheritance. He said I had already got my own portion, which was the gift of God in my life. He said I was like his mum. His mother was so gifted. He said he had been praying that God would give him a child who would be strong and that I was the child he had prayed for”.
Young Bunmi became an Evangelist from her teens. She was ordained an Evangelist at Faith in Christ Mission, a ministry where she became a Pastor before God laid the foundation of her ministry in her heart, And she started 18 years ago, after series of encounter with Jesus, and tutelage from her former Pastor/Boss.
“I encountered Christ in a vivid way when I was in secondary school. I began seeing things when I was young. I was an unusual child. I started walking at six or seven months. A man once prophesied to my mum that I was a special child. Growing up I have truly seen the hand of God upon my ministry. The Lord spoke to me and said I should follow him and He would use me. But then my father had introduced me to praying at a very early age. I used to attend one Catholic Church. When I was in form 2, I joined a group in the church and used to go out to pray for sick people. But then I became sick at a time and I followed my sister to the office of Pastor Bamiro the founder and General Overseer of Faith in Christ Mission. He was to pray for me. He was the one who first told me that God would use me apart from the personal encounter I had with God. But then I had an inclination towards the prophetic. I used to interpret dreams when I was young. I joined Faith in Christ Mission after meeting with Pastor Bamiro. That was where the Lord further confirmed what Pastor Bamiro had earlier told me. I joined the prayer warriors. I used to talk to people on my feet sometimes for one hour, giving them prophetic insight into their problems and praying along with them. We used to fast a lot. And I still do fast. We had dry fast for seven days and used to break with orange. We went through some rigorous spiritual training under Pastor Bamiro. He exposed us further to the prophetic method. There was a time we had some challenges after I had married and had children and we had to move to live in a church compound. Then, we were really down financially. But then I made myself available to God. There were many times I was called upon to minister without prior notice and God took charge. When ReinhardBonnke came to Nigeria, I got involved in the preparation because my G.O was active in the CAN and PFN. Then, they used to hold meetings in preparation for the crusade. I was asked to man the ushering department from our unit that will officiate at the crusade. But the gift of God in me came alive during one of our meetings. It was at the ReinhandBonnke Crusade that the Lord spoke to me about the One-day with Jesus programme. That was long before I started my ministry. The programme has since become a phenomenon. One of the top pastors in the team of ReinhardBonnke had expressed so much delight at the way God was using me in the ushering department, while we were preparing for the crusade that he was wondering what I was doing in that department. I was quite close to my G.O. He always took me along to preaching engagements. He would want me to minister alongside with him wherever he was called to preach”.
Talking about many challenges, Pastor Bunmi Salami was faced with before the commencement of her ministry 18years ago, she said: “The day, I announced to my G.O that we were coming to the church he was surprised. We got to the church anyway. That night, armed robbers came to our house. That was after we had moved to the church. But then it was some economic challenge that pushed us out to go to the church. We lived in the church premises under challenging atmosphere. I had a few clothes to wear then. The poverty was excruciating. There was a day I was putting on faded Ankara that was torn at the shoulder end while in the church premises unfortunately for me, I had to preach in one of the emergency ministrations in my torn clothe because I was not told I would minister that day. Even then if I was told there was no other cloth to change to. I ministered powerfully that day and the name of the Lord was glorified. In fewer than 24 hours, my story got to my siblings in the US that I wore a torn cloth to the altar to minister. My siblings were alarmed and wondered why I did not reach out to them. Today, the story has changed for me and my family. Well-known clothing designers now handle my wardrobe. But now the story has changed, we have been running our own ministry now for close to 20 years. We have our headquarters at Gbagada. I remember an outstanding miracle at the Gbagada centre. God said to me in one of our meetings that there was a boy who could not walk. The boy was 8 years old when the parents brought him to our meeting. That day the boy miraculously walked after prayer ministration in the course of the meeting. The whole place went up in applause. We have had cases of mentioning names in the course of ministration and we see the reality of what God asked us to do. We don’t go beyond our boundaries. Anybody who will be elevated in life might have been relegated earlier. In the corridors of royalty, we pass through the way of stewardship. All these made-pastors have a history in ministry. You can’t be something in ministry without going through the process”.
This year’s one-day with Jesus of the ministry was awesome, backed up with outstanding testimonies. Divers illnesses were healed. Business breakthroughs and wisdom from the above made an impact on participants. The ministry empowered 1000 widows and distributed items as points of contacts for people to get their miracles. It was a life-changing experience for all those who participated.
–SUNDAY ADIGUN
