In redeemed Church, there is a group of parishes known as the classical parishes which belongs to the old and conservative people while there are some parishes known as model parishes which was started like 3 decades ago aiming at target the vibrant youth thereby increasing followership by winning young souls to christ.The face of redeemed church changed from what it used to be back then by some unrelentless and potential driven pastors.Though some have left redeemed Church but their impact will never be forgotten and the history of the model parishes which turned redeemed church to what is has become now will not be told without mentioning them.City People Society Editor, TAYO FAJORIN-OYEDIJI chronicles some of the pastors who changedthe face of redeemed church.
PASTOR TUNDE BAKARE
When he was a young pastor with Redeemed Church, he introduced the Model Parish, a development which church experts say has given the church its meteoric rise. The first model parish was inaugurated in May 1988 at 1, Ladipo Oluwole Street, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos with Pastor Tunde Bakare, now of the Latter Rain Assembly as the first pastor. There were reports that few months to the first anniversary of the church, Pastor Bakare said God had led him to start his own ministry. Majority of the members followed him to start the new work for God leaving only about 18 people according to a mission’s publication of the RCCG.Pastor Bakare narrated how it all started,’I left for the Redeemed My first visit to the Redeemed Church was on the first Sunday of March, 1984. It was my Photographer who invited me. At that point in time, I had reached the point where I said I was tired of churches. I didn’t get born-again in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. I didn’t get baptised in the Holy Ghost in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. I had served in leadership capacity in different churches ever before I came to the Redeemed Church. That’s why I say you can’t say I am one of the youths that started this. That is one.Two, the first day I got to RCCG, Pastor Adeboye was looking for professionals. And when they said all God’s children should wait, I told my fiancee, now my wife, that they were talking to their members. And she said we should wait till the end. I sat there, at the back. Pastor Adeboye said: ‘That brother in blue white blue.’ I said: ‘Me?’ He said: ‘What’s your profession?’ I said: ‘I’m a lawyer.’ He told me to see him that day.I was running away from responsibilities in the church and I ran into another one. I went to see him and he said the church had some cases in court. I handled them free of charge. His approach was really gentlemanly and I thought I should give him a chance. That was how I started in that church. The first house I ever built in my life is at the Redemption Camp. I built it in 1986-87. I built it to just live there and serve God. I didn’t want to be a pastor. I asked how we could reach the next generation and suggested that we should call this Model Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The concept then was to have one Model Parish in every city. So, we did one in Lagos and we did one in Ibadan until 1 October 1988, when God said my time was up.
PASTOR TONY RAPU
It is interesting to note that the 2nd model parish was established in Ikoyi in August 1989 while the 3rd was established in Apapa, Lagos on May 5 1991 by Pastor Tony Rapu after pastor Tunde Bakare left. Tony Rapu who is now 60 was a young pastor then. The Church publication notes, “Pastor Tony Rapu, a medical doctor was one of the three young professionals called by pastor Adeboye in the beginning. Pastor Rapu gave all he had including selling his car and other valuables to bring the model parish vision into reality. He worked tirelessly to plant many other parishes and his efforts were rewarded but sadly he too left the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1997.While he was working as a Medical Doctor at Eko Hospital, in 1986, he gave his life to Christ at a Friendship Bible Study meeting in the Ikoyi residence of his eldest sister, Mrs Bridget Itsueli. Shortly after his conversion he had an epiphany and in a bid to make sense of it, his sister introduced him to a doctor of mathematics-turned-preacher called Pastor E.A. Adeboye.
Pastor Adeboye describes this meeting as a divine one. He explained that the day Tony Rapu stepped into his office, God told him the young man was one of three men who would be instrumental to the realisation of the vision of the RCCG to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
He became an active member of the then hardly known RCCG and worshiped at the Head Quarters Church in Ebute Metta. They also held a house fellowship in the Rapu family home, at 27 Ekololu Street, Surulere, where they lived. This home ‘church’ consisted mainly of young, upwardly mobile professionals from different denominations. Here, Tony Rapu would also hold prayer meetings that would sometimes last through the night or for what seemed like unending hours during the day.
In 1991, under the direction of Pastor Adeboye, Dr. Rapu led a team of some 50 newly converted born- again Christians, mainly members of the Ekololu house fellowship, to begin the Apapa Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Pastor Tony preached an intelligent yet uncompromising gospel attracting professionals and recruiting them into the service of the Lord. From hours spent in daily personal study and prayer, he developed training material with which he would disciple the church workers. These intense discipleship sessions comprised hours of worship, bible study, prayer and frequent seasons of fasting. He gave the worker training groups prophetic names: Pioneer, Elisha, Freedom, Frontline, Reformer, Government, Missionaries, and Territorial Workers. Many of these professionals would pastor RCCG churches alongside their regular employment.
The church was aggressive in winning souls. Evangelism was avant-garde and unconventional. He planted churches in night clubs, cinema halls and restaurants. It was he who began the giving of individual names to RCCG parishes. He came up with then unusual names like Jesus House, City of David, Courage Centre, Hope Hall and also named the London Holy Ghost Service Festival of Life. He began the first Bible School for graduates outside the Redemption Camp, the first model school (The Redeemers International School), a financial institution (Haggai Institute), a drug rehabilitation home (Hebron House), an outreach to area boys, a French church, and a hospital (House of Hope).In the five years of this work, the church had grown in leaps and bounds and he had planted churches like Jesus House London in 1994, Jesus House DC in 1995 and City of David, Lagos in 1996. This passion, creativity and excellence, have been the hall mark of the 1116 churches spread over 110 countries that make up the Apapa family now under the leadership of Pastor Idowu Iluyomade.God used this movement to trigger off the unprecedented church-growth that would transform the Redeemed Christian Church of God to what is perhaps the fastest growing denomination in the world today. Pastor Adeboye described Pastor Tony Rapu as ‘‘…a great man of God…a man of awesome potential, intelligent, articulate, a man passionately in love with God…” He added “If I have a thousand boys like Tony Rapu I will deliver the world to Jesus Christ in less than 5 years.
PASTOR REMI MORGAN
He pastors the parish popularly known as Christ Church Parish, It is a parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God located in the heart of Gbagada under province 35. The church was birthed in 1994 as part of Apapa family.
The Church started in October 1994 as an outreach mission of the then Apapa Parish of the R.C.C.G. known as Freedom Hall, initially known as Courage Centre. He took on the baton from Pastor Ituah Ighodalo. He has been in charge of the parish for over 3 years and he is doing well at it. The church is very popular and full of beehive of activities, the population keeps increasing by the day with its youth’s empowerment and motivational activities. In a short space of time, the church was promoted to a provincial headquarter which have almost 15 parishes under it. The aim is to take the church to a higher level and allow it to maximize its potential since its one of the richest and fastest growing RCCG parishes. He used to be the Pastor-in-Charge of Province 24, RCCG Master’s Court, Olosa Street, Victoria Island, Lagos before he was transferred to the RCCG, Christ Church Parish which has now been named Province 35.
PASTOR ITUAH IGHODALO
Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, a Pastor, an Accountant and a writer gave his life to Christ in 1993 and was ordained an Assistant Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in 1995 while in City of David, Victoria Island and full pastor in 2000 while Pastoring RCCG Christ Church, Gbagada.
While with the RCCG, he was actively involved in the settling up of International missions, helping to pioneer several RCCG Parishes locally and abroad.He is a Christian of great repute, who practices what he preaches and is very passionate about the transformation of the nations through the active renewal of the mind with the WORD. He is presently the Pastor in Charge of Trinity House, a non-denominational, free flow Christian worship centre and is married to Ibidunni Ighodalo, CEO of Elizabeth R, a leading event management company.was born in Ibadan on April 6, 1961. He attended the King’s College Lagos and the International School, University of Ibadan. He obtained a combined honours degree in Economics and Accounting in 1982 from the University of Hull, England, and attended a Business Certification Course at Harvard Business School in 2011.
PASTOR IDOWU ILUYOMADE
When the Provincial Pastor of Lagos Province 4, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade (fondly called Pastor ID) assumed the leadership of the Apapa Family and took over as Pastor of the church, ably supported by his wife, Pastor (Mrs) Siju Iluyomade.
God gave Pastor ID a vision of exceeding greatness and the church has been growing in leaps and bounds with signs and wonders. Surely, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.The church now has two services, the Sunrise and Sunshine Services, and under Pastor ID’s leadership, the numerical growth of the church has increased from 1,800 in September 2007 to 4,300 in August 2010.
Pastor Idowu Iluyomade graduated in 1981 from the faculty of law at the University of Ife with LLB Hons. degree. He presently combines his legal practice together with his ministerial responsibilities as the Pastor in Charge of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (City of David). He is also the Provincial Pastor of Lagos Province 4.
PASTOR KALEJAIYE
PASTOR Johnson Oluwatomisin (Tomisin) Kalejaiye, a Regional Evangelist of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, believes there is nothing any man of God can do without the God of man. By his Anointing Service programme, God has used him to liberate thousands from the oppression of the devil. The Ilaje-born fisherman- turned-accountant and a Fellow of two professional bodies.He pastors the RCCG provincial parish at Idimu.He gave his life to Christ in 1983. in his words”It was not that I wanted to. I play drums. I approached someone to take me to his church, Cherubim & Seraphim, so that I could be playing drums there. He said he wanted to introduce me to their pastor so that I could be playing for them. I compose songs even till date. So I went to him in his house and suddenly I saw a stick in his hand, this stick used by C&S, then I asked him, ‘Sir, are you up to that level?’ He said I should forget that, everyone uses it. I said to myself, ‘No, no, this is not the kind of church I want to attend’. I pretended as if I wanted to greet someone and I just left. I never went to that church. I went to his house for us to go to the church but when I saw that stick, that was the saving grace because if they had introduced me to that pastor and they gave me the grace to play drums, that would have been it for me. Someone now led me to the Redeemed Christian Church of God. I was working in WAEC then. I started my career there. They told a lie against me; so I went to church. Not that I wanted to surrender my life, but because I wanted the pastor to pray for me. Daddy G.O. was the one ministering. It was a Thursday. He made an altar call. And as we were about to kneel down on the altar, he said the Lord told him that all our problems were solved. I was shocked because he had not even listened to my problem. Lo and behold, I got to the office on Monday and then my boss recommended me that what he said was false and that gave me back my job. When God solved that problem, I said, ‘Lord, I will serve you’. And since then, no going back.
PASTOR GHANDI OLAOYE
He ia another fire brand pastor who is incharge of RCCG, North America.Pastor Ghandi Olaoye is a visionary, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. He is fondly called “Pastor G” and is known for his servant’s heart and leadership skills. Called to the ministry in 1992, Pastor Ghandi is passionate about helping others develop to their fullest potential, because with God “there are no limitations or barriers.” His experience traveling and speaking internationally has helped shape his commitment to showcasing a ministry where people of all racial and ethnic groups worship God in a loving and caring atmosphere.
PASTOR YEMI OSINBAJO
Yemi Osinbajo was also the Pastor in charge of the Lagos Province 48 (Olive Tree provincial headquarter) of The Reedeemed Christian Church of God, Ikoyi before his inauguration into office as the Vice President of Nigeria. He however still insists that he remains the pastor-in-charge of the said province and he is only on loan to the Federal Government. In his words, “Just like Pastor Ibitayo has said we are on loan. I am still the pastor-in-charge of Province 48 in Lagos.He started with redeemed church in 1993.He was also one of the Pastors that contributed to the growth of the model parishes.
