The story all started on the 27th of September,
1954. On this fateful day, Dr. David was born to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ibrahim Oyedepo in the
town called Osogbo in Osun state. He is a native of Omu Aran in Kwara State.
His father was a Muslim healer, while his mother by the name, Dorcas, was a
member of the Eternal Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement, a branch of
the Aladura church.
But as fate would have it, he grew up instead with his
grandmother who then lived in Osogbo town. She was the one who exposed him to
Christianity. She taught him how to pray and also to believe in himself. With
this exposure to God from his grandma’, giving his life to God wasn’t a
difficult thing to do after all. Soon a teacher in his school who was also a
Christian picked interest in him and was able to lead him to Christ in 1969,
otherwise known as being ‘Born Again’.
After his high school, he proceeded to the tertiary
institution where he studied Architecture in Kwara State Polytechnic after
which he worked for a little while at the Federal Ministry of Housing in
Ilorin. He later resigned from his job in order to go fully into the gospel.
Being a man that derives pleasure from acquiring knowledge, he went further in
his education by acquiring a PH.D in Human Development from Honolulu
University, Hawaii, United States.
His call to ministry started on the 2nd of May,
1981 where he saw a life vision that lasted for 18hrs. In this vision, he saw a
mixed multitude that consist of the beaten, the afflicted, the battered, the
tattered, the deformed and all that one could ever imagine, groaning and agonizing,
as a result of pains and pangs, crying as it were for rescue. It was a moving
sight that made him to sob profusely non-stop.
In the course of the vision, he got a clear message from God
to liberate man-kind from the oppression of the devil through the preaching of
the Word of Faith. This was how the
ministry got started. But it didn’t take off big. It started with a weekly
programme known as Faith Liberation Hour
in conjunction with a prayer meeting tagged The Power House. The authenticity of a thing is when the results
are obvious. Today, the testimonies that the Word of Faith has produced are most humbling.
The ministry started in the most humbling way. It had no
befitting structure at the beginning but a Grass
Cathedral (a little structure made with grass). But today, there is the Faith Tabernacle, the
50,000-seater sanctuary reported to be the largest church auditorium in the
world. It also stands as one of the largest single congregation in the
world. In addition, the Living
Faith Church has a large staff strength with over 2,000 employees in
Nigeria alone with a
network of hundreds of flourishing churches spread across all the states and in
every major city and town in the country.
The ministry with time also went
into education as a way of contributing to the Nigerian Education. Its
contributions to this sector brought about Kingdom
Heritage, Faith Academy, Covenant University and Land Mark University. Today,
Kingdom Heritage and Faith Academy are in most cities of the
country.
No doubt Dr. Oyedepo was bold and confident enough to follow
the path laid before him and today that singular step has made such a great
impact on the world.
What would have
happened if he had given up? What would have happened to the lives that have
been changed as a result of their contact with this great man?
It’s no more
news the waves being made by graduates of Covenant University in the economy.
What would have happened to these youths if this man had chickened out when the
going was very rough and uncertain? But No! He didn’t give up! He held on even
when all odds were against him. Today he’s been celebrated worldwide.
So friends, if you have a goal or a dream, believe in it,
fight for it and pursue it. Great men struggle through obstacles to reach their
destination. They don’t follow where the path may lead but instead they create
a path and leave a trail where others can follow.
So then, go after that dream and don’t give up. You might
just be the saving grace the world has been waiting for. Cheers(*_*)
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