Dr. Olumuyiwa Stephen Onabanjo is the Senior Pastor/Presiding Overseer, House of Praise Christian Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, as well as bible teacher and renowned conference speaker. Also, a Medical Director of a leading specialist hospital in Ikeja, Pastor Onabanjo in this interview, narrates to EJIKEME OMENAZU, his journey into ministry. Excerpt: 

 Could you share your early Christian life? 

I was born over 60 years ago and by God’s divine arrangement, I grew up in a fairly disciplined and Christian home. From primary to secondary school, I went to very disciplined and religiously inclined schools. I was at St. Charles Grammar School, a Catholic school in Oshogbo, where our teachers were Reverend Fathers and Nuns. Then, I attended Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, where I did my Lower Six and A Level. At the time, I was at St. Charles Grammar School when we were in Form 3 or 4, our principal allowed the Scripture Union to come to the school and every Sunday evening we attend their meetings. Later, they were permitted to take us out of the school to attend the Scripture Union retreats where I had some experience. It was at Olivet Baptist High School I had an experiential understanding of salvation. After, I was surprisingly nominated for an election and got elected to lead the fellowship on my first time of attendance. Then, we started organising programmes and I had some experiences from there. I began to read my Bible intentionally, read Christian books deliberately and those books started shaping me. By the time I got to the University of Ibadan (UI), it didn’t take more than a week or two when I located where the Ibadan Baptist University Christian Fellowship was meeting. From there, it was like a machine that took off. Ibadan Baptist Christian Fellowship was not just a Christian assembly; it was like a hub, a melting point for revival on campus for anyone who went to UI. My journey into the gospel of Jesus Christ on campus was a solid foundational advantage. Then from the University of Ibadan, we linked to the other campus fellowships, NIFES, CSSM, Barr. Emeka Nwakpa, Engr. Steve Okitika, Dr. Kole Akinboboye, and other leading lights of the gospel were with us. We went to Ife, ABU, Ilorin, and other campuses for different conferences. I went on village evangelism, taxi evangelism, bus and market evangelism. 

How was journey into the ministry? 

For those seven years as a medical student, it was when I can say I went to Bible school. The foundation, orientation, and empowerment for my kingdom service came out of the University of Ibadan. From the medical school to the pre-clinical school, I was a leader in pre-clinical fellowship. Then, from the main board of IBCU, I was a prayer secretary with about 100 to 150 prayer band members. We usually meet twice a week, on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, at a place called Woods in the University of Ibadan Chapel of Resurrection. There you will see the thick population of human beings praying, and our prayers were beyond Give me bread, give me water. We were praying for global revival, praying for the future of Nigeria, the future of Africa, and the deliverance of South Africa. I remember the time we were interceding for God to take over Uganda when Idi Amin was there. This was because we had global exposure and had a global vision. It was like a military camp, to an extent, my family never thought I was going to graduate as a doctor. From being the Prayer Secretary of the Evangelical Christian Fellowship, I passed over to UCH, and at UCH, I became the president of UCH Christian Fellowship which comprised nurses, the School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Records, all of them under one umbrella. We were part of the bigger chapel, Christ Chapel, where our senior friends were attending and as the president of the fellowship, I was permitted to preach to the whole assembly of professors and everyone. That was how the journey went. 

What other ministerial training did you get? 

I went to the School of Ministry, where we were tutored and trained. Almost everyone in that set is today around the world in the ministry. Pointedly, one of the men who molded me, being a medical person, was Dr. Izu Ibeneme of Faith Clinic, who was well known in the 80s and ’90s. He got me through the Holy Ghost with three others, Dr. Adewunmi, SOJ, and Dr. Gilbert Ekuma. All of us were with him in the Faith Clinic. I boldly say that I am a product of a very sound gospel heritage that helped me. My journey into the gospel of Jesus Christ has a solid foundation. By the time we were graduating, I was already a firebrand, ready to explode. I wanted to stay in UCH for my horsemanship, the Lord did not allow me, I heard a clear word to go to Akure. My mother was from Ondo State and she was living in Akure then after we lost our dad. When I got to Akure General Specialist Hospital,I found that there was no Christian fellowship there. God helped me, I mobilised all the Christians and started the Christian Fellowship in the hospital and it was great. At the time, we were bringing ministers who, after praying for the sick people, got healed and were discharged. 

We learnt that you were also with the Full Gospel Fellowship. Could you tell us about it? 

Yes. I was also in Full Gospel where I met Bishop Felix Adejumo, who loves me and was then our secretary with John Enebueka as the president. It was in Full Gospel that I met my wife in Akure. From Akure, Youth Service took me to Sokoto State. I went to my spiritual father, Dr. IK Ibeneme, and he encouraged me to go and that God has an assignment for you there. I left for Sokoto and thought it was going to be a one-year affair, but God kept me there for seven years and in those seven years, God did wonders in Sokoto. I became president of the Corpers Fellowship in Sokoto, they allowed me to practice and gave me a good place. 

What early experience do you have in other people’s ministries? 

After one year, I thought I would start coming back and planned to travel abroad. But, the Lord said, no. My friends were in America, my two elder brothers and everybody wanted me to travel. But, the Lord did not allow me. So, I stayed back, and that was when I found my way to Chapel of Grace to connect with the same Joseph Olaiya. My mentor, Dr. IK Ibeneme had connected me with. I laboured under him, we were very close and he became my spiritual father. Then, I started Full Gospel again in the town, Great Revolution, Sokoto Chapter, and was the president. I was organising the programme every first Saturday of every month and I was a young pastor at Chapel of Grace, also managing almost a 25-bed hospital at the same time. I eventually got married in 1991 and my wife followed me to Sokoto then, and the babies came. It was in 1996 when the Spirit of God started stirring me up and God used men like Dr. John Akpan, a most senior medical doctor who was already in the ministry, a fantastic father, and a physician like myself. We used to bring him to Full Gospel Fellowship, and he was the one who charged me, “Go and answer the call. Step out in faith,” and I was still in that process when my spiritual father, Rev. Joe Olaiya said, the Lord told him what God already told me, that I will be coming to the south to start the southern sector of the ministry. 

How did you cope with ministry and medical profession? 

I came to Lagos in 1998 to start the church. I left medical practice and did not practice for over 16 years. I was doing 100% gospel and Pastoring 100%. I left everything for the gospel. The church was established with the reinforcement of Rev. Joe Olaiya from Kaduna to have a meeting in Lagos and I was the man on the ground here. That church gave birth to about six other branches. God used me to open the Surulere Church, Victoria Island Church, Egbeda Church, Ibadan, and I opened one in Ijebu Ode, under that leadership. 

How did you go into your own ministry?

By this time, the Lord said to me in 2006 that He had something special for me. Meanwhile, I was already settled as a member of the Executive Council, the highest decision body of the ministry with Rev. Joe Olaiya. When the Lord spoke to me, I had no reason to doubt and He confirmed it severally. That was how I was released and when I was leaving the Living Faith Church, I requested for a party to be sent off properly and they did. When we started this ministry, my spiritual father was not able to come, but the wife and two executive members from the former ministry came to represent him and bless the work. The work started on ground zero, but began to grow with our first set of members mainly from the streets and people selling recharge cards. All through the years 1999 and 2012, that is 13 years, I did not hold the syringe and did not see a patient. I was preaching, fasting, praying, doing evangelism, and doing everything. People do not know my story. Those who know me when I left the former ministry were asking: how are you going to do it? In 2011 that my nephew, who is also my disciple, because, when I was born again he was always with me and I was talking to him. He is the second doctor in the family and I was the first. But, he is a superbly brilliant young man, he was the one that we teamed together as in Partnership to start Genesis Specialist Hospital (GSH). Today, God has used GSH as another awesome platform to meet many people and to touch lives. The more the spectrum of people that Genesis has given me the platform to reach out to is unbelievable. God is the master chess player. He knows how to move. He is the owner of the programme and has a perfect programme. We are just an instrument in His hand. This is how far the Lord has brought us and we are growing with many things coming up.