How God Orders My Steps to Have Solid Spiritual Foundation – Pastor Olumuyiwa Onabanjo 

Dr. Olumuyiwa Stephen Onabanjo is the Senior Pastor/Presiding Overseer, of the House of Praise Christian Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, as well as a bible teacher, renowned conference speaker, and author. Also, a Medical Director of a leading specialist hospital in Lagos, Genesis Specialist Hospital, Ikeja. 

In this interview, Dr. Onabanjo narrates to Gracious Akintayo, his over 20-year journey into the 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. I went to disciplined and religiously inclined schools from primary to secondary school. 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 attended their meetings. Later, they were permitted to take us out of the school to participate in the Scripture Union retreats where I had some experience. At Olivet Baptist High School, I had an experiential understanding of salvation. Afterwards, I was nominated surprisingly for an election and got elected to lead the fellowship for the first time in 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. When 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. 

Most great men of God today, like Moses Aransiola, Gbile Akanni, Dr. Friday Beeke, and Charles Adegoke were all in UI at different times. Then we had senior friends like Prof. Lawson, Dr. Durojaiye (late), Prof. Adesope, Professor Sunday Isenwa, (our prayer leader), Pastor Femi Agiri (now in the U.S), Pastor Yemi Ayodele, and Rev. Emiko Amotsuka that came to monitor us. 

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, and Barr. Emeka Nwakpa, Engr. Steve Okitika, Dr. Kole Akinboboye, and other leading lights of the gospel were with us. We visited Ife, ABU, Ilorin, and other campus conferences. I went on village evangelism, taxi evangelism, bus and market evangelism. 

How was your journey into the ministry?

For seven years as a medical student, it was when I can say I went to Bible school. My kingdom service foundation, orientation, and empowerment came from the University of Ibadan. From medical school to becoming a leader in the pre-clinical school fellowship. Then, I was a prayer secretary on the main board of IBCU, with about 100 to 150 prayer band members. Usually, we meet twice weekly, on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, at 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, 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 would graduate as a doctor. From being the Prayer Secretary of the Evangelical Christian Fellowship, I passed over to UCH, where I became the president of UCH Christian Fellowship which comprised nurses, the School of Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Records, under one umbrella. We were part of the bigger chapel, Christ Chapel, where our senior friends were attending 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. Today, almost everyone in that set around the world is in the ministry. One of the men who moulded me, as 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, but 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. Getting to Akure General Specialist Hospital, I discovered they have no Christian fellowship there. God helped me, I mobilised all the Christians and started the Christian Fellowship in the hospital. At the time, we invited ministers to pray for the sick people, who were healed and were discharged. 

You were also in Full Gospel Fellowship. Would you share your experience with us?

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 me 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 are your early experiences in other ministries that prepared you? 

After one year, I planned to come back and 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 the 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 at the same time, managing almost a 25-bed hospital. 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 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,” I was still in that process when my spiritual father, Rev. Joe Olaiya said, the Lord told him what God has already told me, that I will be coming to the South to start the southern sector of the ministry. 

I came to Lagos in 1998 to start the church. 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, and Ibadan, and I opened one in Ijebu Ode, under that leadership. 

How did you combine the ministry work with your medical practice? 

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 rigorous medical training, especially those who went to medical school in the 80s, and the rigorous training, that orientated us or prepared us for the life we have today. Our lives were organized, you have time for everything. The time to meet this person, to go to this place, and to do other things. That was the orientation we had and by the time I got into the ministry and had the family, there was a time for family, time for the church, and time for hospital work. That was how it is, the training of a medical doctor and my training at the University of Ibadan. The orientation, discipline, time management, and sense of purpose we were taught helped me to organize myself, my family, my ministry, and my business. That’s why God has been able to help me to have been happily married for over 30 years, and made me raise four beautiful, God-fearing professionals. Christ’s abundance has helped me.

How did you start your ministry?

By this time, the Lord said 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 could not come, but the wife and two executive members from my former ministry came to represent him and bless the work. The work started on ground zero but grew with our first set of members mainly from the streets and people selling recharge cards. All through 1999 and 2012, that is 13 years, I did not hold the syringe or see a patient. I was preaching, fasting, praying, evangelizing, and doing everything. Those who knew me when I left the former ministry were asking: how do you want to do it? In 2011 when I was born again, my nephew, a superbly brilliant young man, was also my disciple, because, he was always with me and I was talking to him. He is the second doctor in the family and I was the first. Together we formed a partnership to start Genesis Specialist Hospital (GSH). Today, God has used GSH as another awesome platform to meet many people and touch lives. Genesis has given me an unbelievable spectrum of people and a platform to reach out to. 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 an instrument in His hand. And we are growing with many things coming up, this is how far the Lord has brought us.