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
