Joseph Imariabe Ojo Presiding Bishop of Calvary Kingdom Church

He is a protégée of the late Benson Idahosa, father of Pentecostal movement, as we know it in Nigeria today. For over two decades, he was forged under the anvil of the late firebrand preacher. Decades after his demise, Joseph Imariabe Ojo, the presiding Bishop of Badagry, Lagos-based Calvary Kingdom Church, who was recently consecrated as an Archbishop still does not think twice before telling you that he worships at the altar of the late founder of the Church of God Mission International, CGMI. And he has no apologies for it.

“Idahosa was the school I attended; and I am not joking about it. Anything I am today, I am because of Idahosa,” he says matter-of-factly.

In this interview, he talks about his life, ministry and the church in Nigeria

Growing up

I was born on April 18, 1949 in Uhen village in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. I had part of my primary education there before I left for Iguelaba, a place close to Jesse, an oil producing communities in Delta State where I completed my primary education in 1961. After that, I enrolled at St. Patrick’s Modern School Egbeta in 1962.

Growing up was very challenging. I had so many siblings because my father had several wives. But we were like one big nuclear family. From there, we learnt how to be our brothers’ keeper. And this has been one of the virtues I learnt that has helped me in the running up of my ministry.

When did you decide to become a man of God?

I have always been a man of God, but maybe you want to ask when I became a pastor. My birth is peculiar. In a nutshell, I got saved in 1972. I have been a Christian before then but I wasn’t born again. When I knew Christ as my lord and personal saviour, I became committed to the work of the ministry and I served in various capacities between 1972 and 1978 at the Church of God Mission, Benin City. First, I was the chief usher and president of the ushers. Secondly, I was a Sunday school teacher and also the vice president of the Christian Youth Association, the youth organ of the Church. In 1976, I was ordained a Deacon. I became a pastor in 1979.

Did your parents react negatively to your decision to go into the ministry?

They didn’t oppose it because of what they knew that I did not know until after some years. I am the second son of my mother and the third by my father. When I got born-again, I took the gospel first to my family preaching to my father, mother and siblings. Some accepted and some didn’t initially, but anytime I tried to present the gospel to my mother she was always saying, ‘it is not your own, just keep doing what you are doing and leave us alone.’ I kept asking her what she was talking about. One day she sat me down and told me that my becoming a Christian and child of God was not strange to her. She explained that before I was born, she had been told that I would be a pastor. She said when she was pregnant with me, she went to the native doctors as was their custom in those days to find out what she needed to do in order to have a safe delivery. The man put down his implements of divination and hurriedly packed them and said to her, ‘You are carrying a boy and he is going to be a pastor and he hates anything fetish. All you are doing now he doesn’t like it and don’t ever come here again.’

She went to the second native doctor and she was told the same thing. She began to ponder if the native doctors knew what they were doing. Then, she went to the third one and as soon as that one put the implement down, he packed it hurriedly and said in anger:  ‘Woman, you have been warned. The child in your womb is cursing me for admitting you, please leave here and don’t come here again.”

Then my mother resigned to her fate and went home. Every morning she would fetch water in a cup and pray over it and drink. That was all the antenatal clinic she ever had. So, when I became a pastor I didn’t know what was on ground but she knew that my being called of God was a divine assignment.

If you were not a man of God, what other thing would you have loved to become?

I have some natural talents and gifts that would have made me do well in my life. I would have been a very powerful and influential artist. I would have been in the entertainment industry as a comedian, and a perfect one for that matter. I would have made a solid living from it.

What have your ministerial challenges been?

One of my major challenge was when Bishop Benson Idahosa, my father in the lord, died. His call to glory was a shock. It was a challenge because when I became a pastor in 1979, I didn’t want to be a pastor but Idahosa saw it already. I was serving him as head usher, I was serving him as a deacon, and I was also serving God as Sunday School teacher, and youth leader. One day in 1979, I went to his office and he gave me a letter of appointment as a Pastor. I told him, ‘Sir, I am not a pastor, I am a deacon and I am contented being a deacon. I love serving you and I want to remain in that capacity.’ He said; ‘No, God has told me that you are a pastor and that I should not withhold you from what God wants to do with you life.’ He asked me to go and pastor the branch that had just been built. He asked the pastor there to be my assistant. I reluctantly accepted. It became a matter of common knowledge because of the way God began to bless my ministry and expand the church. After the visible work of God in the first church, he sent me to the United States of America in February, 1983 to Christ for All Nations Bible Institute in Dallas, Texas for further studies because of what he believed and what he saw in me. When I returned, he transferred me to another branch. I was there for about one year before he transferred me to another church where there were challenges. So, when he died, I received one of the greatest challenges of my life. It was like I was at a dead end and I began asking myself, ‘Where do I go from here?’ It was such a big challenge to be able to know where to go and what next to do. The second challenge was when I was beginning this ministry, Calvary Kingdom Church in 2002 after serving in Church of God Mission for 30.  At 53, without adequate planning, to begin a church was not a child’s play. It was a huge challenge. There was nothing I could do because I had no plans of starting a church. I have said it and I will keep saying it that if Church of God Mission leadership had allowed me to remain there fulfilling my promise, fulfilling my dreams and mission, I would have had no need starting my own church. But they felt otherwise. So, I began speaking to God and God spoke to me in 2002 that I need not stay anymore. I tried staying in Church of God Mission for four years after Papa Idahosa died. Some of the leaders did not just like me. We were in a meeting one day when one of them stood up in a meeting tagged, ‘Moving the Church Forward’ and told Mama Idahosa that he will be speaking the minds of 60-70 percent of people there and that she cannot succeed in leading the ministry except Bishop Ojo left. I sprang up to challenge the elder but Mama said I should leave him, that everybody had a right to their own opinion. I sat down and almost urinated on my body because I didn’t know I was invited to the meeting to be embarrassed. That was in 1999, a year after papa died. I didn’t plan anything so I couldn’t just jump out. I prayerfully waited on God till December 2011 when God released me in the spirit before I even thought of starting a ministry.

What was your experience like working with Papa Idahosa, and what were some of the things you learnt?

I will put it like the way John the Apostle wrote it in the gospel, that all the things that Jesus did, if the whole world was a book it cannot contain it. All I learnt and impartations I had with Idahosa, if the whole world was a book it cannot contain it. I think Idahosa was the school I attended; and I am not joking about it. Anything I am today, I am because of Idahosa. Idahosa taught me courage, faithfulness, boldness, how to do big things with little things. He also taught me that being a pastor is not about mounting the pulpit and preaching; you must have some building engineering skills. So, most of the things you see here (his church), I learnt them from Idahosa. I also learnt how to ensure that no architect or engineer misinterpret my vision and that whatever vision God Gives you structure-wise is personal to you. God was saying to Moses in the bible, build according to the pattern I showed you on the holy mountain. No architect can draw for Moses what God showed him on the mountain. It is only him that God showed that can tell the architect what to draw for him. I learnt all those things from Idahosa. I must say today that he had impacted my life positively.

What is your advice for those intending to go into the ministry?

First thing I would advice them is on the need to hear from God. The foundation of a successful ministry and minister, first and foremost, is to hear from God. Nobody should go into ministry if he/she is not called. One shouldn’t go into the ministry because he/she has written series of application and did not get through and the last resort is to just start a church with the hope that if the church grows, offerings and tithes will come. The first thing I will tell them is, have you heard from God, did God sent you? If God sends you, he pays the bill, if you send yourself, you will pay the bill. Let me explain this further, God called Jonah and he told Jonah go to Nineveh and preach to the city and let them turn from their evil ways. The bible says Jonah went to a seaport and he entered a ship going to the opposite direction, he paid the fare. If he was to go where God sent him, he wouldn’t have paid but because he was going to the opposite direction, he had to pay. If God didn’t send you, same thing will happen to you. Secondly, ask God where. These days, most of them want to start Church where they think there are prominent people, where they can get good tithe payers. No, a soul is a soul. If you hear from God and God tells you where to go, then definitely you will stand to rejoice and testify. Thirdly, for those of them who have already started, they should work and walk patiently. They shouldn’t just want to be prominent over-night. They shouldn’t be gunning after big cars and big titles. You see many of them today saying they are Bishops and every other thing without a church building and congregation. Titles and others will come but they need to work and walk and patiently wait on God so they can have something to show that their apostleship is not a fluke.

What are some of the issues you think is eating deep into the Christian body in Nigeria?

The world has entered church. Let me put it simply, worldliness. I was watching a Christian children programme and if you see the way the children were dancing you cannot distinguish between the world and the church. They were dancing like Michael Jackson inside the Church and their parents were there watching and applauding them. What kind of generation do we have? The corruption that is in the government has entered the church. Many Christian leaders are looking for mundane things. They love to ride the most expensive cars that even corrupt politicians fear to ride. And because of that you see many of the church leaders today going with armed policemen. If you are not a thief why use police to protect yourself? Who is pursuing you? If you live the kind of life Jesus lived, all these things are not necessary. But if you are living that flamboyant life, that larger than thou life, immediately they put their hand on these things, it becomes difficult for them to depend on the little income; so they have to cut corners. I believe the church in Nigeria and its leaders need prayers. I am not saying this because I hate them but I am saying it because many of them have derailed.

Idahosa preached prosperity, but never to this extent. Idahosa was dashed an aircraft and he said no, but today, some pastors have one, two or even three.  They buy houses in South Africa, in New York, in Nevada, in London but they forget that we brought nothing into this world and we are not taking anything away. May God save Nigeria, may God save the Church in Nigeria.

What are those things that inspire you?

God’s faithfulness. That is my theme for this year. Anytime I am down or challenged by one trouble or another, and I remember his faithfulness, I am always happy. God’s faithfulness inspires me.

What was the happiest day of your life?

I can categorically say that the happiest day of my life was when I gave my life to Christ because that was the day I found God. Without that day I won’t be what I am today.

And your saddest day?

The saddest day of my life was the day I lost my first son in 1977. It was on February10. I was a young man; it was painful and I felt it. But God is faithful because we have had children after then.

Tell us about your coronation as an Archbishop?

The bible says no one taketh this calling for himself except he who is called of God. Naturally, in life people aspire to move ahead. The reasons for my moving into the office of the Archbishop are numerous. First is that I was concentrated a Bishop 20 years ago by Idahosa. Secondly, I lead a group of bishops, about 30 who are General Overseer of their different ministries. I am the presiding bishop. In other words, I am a Bishop of Bishops. I have children that are bishops. So, it became necessary that that next step for me is to be an Archbishop because even in every organization you have the head of the organizations. Moreso, my church is growing and we have branches. Beginning from this year, we are beginning to consecrate our own bishops.

What are the schools you attended and the qualifications you have?

I have a Master’s in Christian education, a Bachelors degree in Theology from Logos Bible College in Temper, America and an honorary doctorate from all Nations for Christ International Institute, Oral Robert University.

Tell us your leadership position presently now and that of younger pastors?

I was the National Secretary of PFN for 10 years (1999 to 2009). Presently, I am the national chairman PFN State inauguration. I am also a member of National Executive Council (NEC) and National Advisory Council (NAC) of PFN. Moreso, by the grace of God, there are very many pastors in the neighborhood and also outside (Ijanikin and Badagry, Lagos) that come to me for fatherly counsel and mentoring. God has given me the grace to counsel and mentor them and ensure they are not derailing, especially nowadays that anything goes in many churches. When they kept coming, I started a fellowship called the Able Ministers Association about seven years ago. The members are General Overseers and pastors from other ministries. I have about 60-70 members and there have been calls now that we should extend it to other cities, towns and states. God has helped us to translate and equip upcoming leaders and generations with the kind of experience we got from Papa Idahosa.

– Sun Newspaper