Pastor Adeboye Warns Redeemed’s Pastors ...*No Mercy For Adulterers ...*Splashes Nbillions On Church Project

Think of a man of God, who has assumed a fatherly figure in the country, an apostle of holiness, a consistent preacher of the word of God respected in Nigeria and all over the world. A man well loved by people from all religions and Christian denominations.

Then the name of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, comes to your mind.

Adeboye is no doubt a busy man, apart from overseeing a large congregation; the lecturer-turned-preacher is regularly invited to minister at church programmes and special events within the country and abroad, yet he has been able to hold the mission together and put the pastors under check to ensure the church does not derail.

He is blessed with a rare anointing, which has even endeared him to the high and mighty, and this tends to give him little time to attend to all that he would have wished to do within 24 hours.

RCCG churches are found in almost every part of the country and the mission is one of the few churches with branches in all the continents of the world.

The gigantic and imposing camp ground of the mission located at Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which has gulped billions of naira, is a product of the tenacity of purpose and determination of the elderly man of God to expand the church and provide a more conducive atmosphere for regular worship.

No wonder, the monthly Holy Ghost service of the church, which holds at the camp ground every first Friday of the month, has continued to attract attention as a place, where prayers are answered.

The respected cleric and widely traveled man of God, who recently celebrated his 71st birthday, is not oblivious of what the administration of such a large congregation entails and he has devised easy and pragmatic means of running the church to ensure steady progress and keep the flag of the church flying.

Working closely with this apostle of holiness are several Assistant General Overseers (AGOs), Regional Evangelists, Provincial Pastors, Special Assistants, Special Advisers amongst others.

Sources said that that there are AGOs for sensitive areas like Finance, Administration, Training and Church Growth amongst others.

The AGOs are responsible for activities under their jurisdictions and they report regularly to Pastor Adeboye and the Governing Council of the church.

The Regional Evangelists, we learnt, are distributed into regions as demarcated by the mission and they conduct regular revival programmes within their areas of coverage. This is closely monitored through their monthly reports to the GO and any pastor, who fails to live up to expectation, is queried or given the boot by the unassuming but no-nonsense man of God.

On their part, the Provincial Pastors (PP) represent the General Overseer in their bases and they are saddled with much responsibility. The provinces are created almost on a yearly basis as new parishes are being created in different parts of the world.

For instance, a state in Nigeria can have as many provinces as possible and the pastors-in-charge of the provinces must have served meritoriously in the mission on full time basis for many years.

Each provincial pastor is expected to plant churches regularly, especially during the church's Let's-Go-A-Fishing Programmes during Easter in April and in December during Christmas celebration, and this paves way for creation of more provinces, which is why a state like Lagos boasts of almost 50 provinces.

This is replicated in all the states of the country and in other parts of the world to fulfill one of the missions of the church to have at least a member of every family of the world in the mission.

Sources revealed that the PP collates monthly reports through a universal red form from the parishes indicating attendance and tithes amongst others for onward transfer to the National headquarters.

A percentage of the tithe is remitted to the province, which deducts a certain percentage and takes the rest to the National.

“The reports are very vital; a Provincial Pastor from Ogun State was almost suspended because he did not produce a red form of just one parish. It was his colleagues that pleaded with the GO before he was left off the hook,” said a source.

Sources revealed that the GO is so meticulous such that he goes through the records and makes comments, where necessary.

The Governing Council handles issues affecting the mission generally with Pastor Adeboye as Chairman and no significant decision is taken without the approval of the Governing Council.

“The man of God has now directed that any case of adultery by any worker in the mission should not be handled by the province any more, but should be brought to the national. That tells you that the man is fully in control of what is happening in the mission despite his tight schedules,” a source informed.

Pastor Adeboye is also known for tall dreams and this has transformed into what is now happening at the Redemption Camp along Kilometer 46, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the establishment of parishes in many parts of the country and in the world.

Pastor Adeboye is yet to give up on this as he is planning to further extend the main auditorium at the expansive camp in the coming years.

Billions of naira has already been spent to develop the camp ground and Pastor Adeboye is set to extend it to link Ikorodu area of Lagos with well tarred and motorable roads.

Sources also revealed that more housing estates are being built at the camp, and works are on-going at the permanent site of the Redeemers University of Nigeria (RUN) owned by the mission and situated in Ede, Osun State.

A visit to the camp ground recently indicated that works are on-going at the camp, apart from residential structures, roads are being constructed, toilets, bathrooms and hostels are being increased to cater for the large number of people that throng the place of worship on a monthly basis and the massive number of people that go there from within Nigeria and abroad every August during the church's convention and every December during their week-long Holy Ghost Congress.