Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is clocked 78 today, March 2.
Here are some facts about him
- He joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1973 after he became born again.
- He was ordained as one of the pastors in the Church in 1977.
- He was an interpreter to Pa Josiah Akindayomi who was the founder of the RCCG.
- He and Pastor Williams Kumuyi used to go receive Bible lessons from Pa Akindayomi at Ebute Meta, Oyingbo, though Pa Akindayomi was an illiterate.
- He is sports man. His preference is boxing. He actually trained as a boxer.
- He is the first to have MSc Mathematics of the University of Lagos.
- He is the first to have PhD Mathematics of the University of Lagos.
- He is also the first to have three post graduate degrees of the University of Lagos. He worked for two and was awarded one as honorary.
Until he became born again, his wife Folu had her children through Caesarean Section but after he became born again, he trusted God for divine intervention. His wife had her subsequent baby naturally. He is blessed with four children: Two males, two females.
- He became the General Overseer of the RCCG in 1981.
- He started his undergraduate degree programme at the University of Nigeria Nsukka but completed it at the University of Ife because of the civil war.
- He married in 1967, the same year he graduated from the University of Ife. He is blessed with four children.
The controversies trailing him are basically on doctrinal and church issues:
- He once preached that those who don’t pay tithe will not make heaven. That earned him a lot of criticism.
- He courted controversy when he declared that he won’t die until he builds a camp site that is as large as Ibadan the capital city of Oyo State.
- He has also been criticized for saying a man should not marry a woman that can’t cook.
- He attracted a lot of opprobrium when he said he won’t die until he builds a church auditorium the size of Ibadan.
The 3 by 3 km auditorium of the RCCG is the fifth attempt at building massive auditorium. The first auditorium which has since been demolished was by the express road before it was demolished.
The RCCG under his purview used to be stratified into two camps: The Model Parishes and the Classical Parishes. But recently those two camps seem to have fizzled into one.
- He came from a poor background. He once said the poor used to call his family poor.
When he left the university for missions he first lived in a boy’s quarter kind of a house in Mushin, Lagos from where God promised to build him a city.
- The RCCG under his leadership has grown and spread to about 189 countries of the world.
- He is not the founder of Redeemed Christian Church of God. But he is the founder of Christ Redeemers Ministries. CRM.
- The CRM is responsible for the schools, hospitals and businesses owned by RCCG.
- He has several awards and recognitions from all over the world.
- In 2009, he was named one of the 50 most important people in the world by Newsweek magazine.
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