HE never dreamt of becoming a pastor or had the inkling of opening a church, because as a successful businessman then, he was quite comfortable. Even when it was obvious that God was calling him into the ministry, the late Apostle Gabriel Olusegun Oduyemi, a multimillionaire ran away for three years, the wife recounted.
Rev. Roselyn Oduyemi, who now wears the shoes of her late husband, as General Overseer of Bethel Ministries, Lekki, Lagos, revealed that her late husband only wanted to support God’s work with his finances, but God had a different plan for him.
According to her, when it became obvious that he could no longer run away from God, he yielded to the call, whose product is Bethel Ministries Inc, Worldwide.
Born February 24, 1939 and died in 2005, the church he founded would be celebrating10th anniversary of his demise on December 9.
As the president of Gabriel Oduyemi World Crusades, he raised the bar of Pentecostalism in Nigeria and Africa. He was the first pastor to air a church programme known as ‘Miracle Night’ live on NTA in Nigeria. The first pastor to build an air-conditioned church in Nigeria and the first preacher to own a private jet in Africa. God also used him to open up the Lekki axis for other churches to come in.
The turning point in his ministry was when he attended Morris Cerrulo World Conference in the early 90s, and from there God gave him a mandate for 50 million souls in Africa.
And according to the wife, he achieved this through the last Friday of the month miracle nights held at the church premises and crusades across nations in Africa.
