Thread by @RevYinkaAdeleke

LEAVING HCC
Once I settled in my heart to say YES to the call to lead The Vineyard Assembly, I communicated my decision to the Founding Pastor, Apostle Bukki Gbenro @PsBukki.
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@PsBukki The next step was that my wife @MrsJeshurun needed to give her consent to me taking up the role, and her decision needed to be reached independently of mine, which consent she eventually gave after a couple of months of praying and weighing the decision.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun Afterwards, my siblings were consulted and they all agreed that it was God's will for me, and they all enthusiastically gave their backing to the decision.
The next step then was to inform my Pastor, Rev. Gbeminiyi Eboda @niyieboda, and to seek his blessing for the move.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda At that point of my life, I had already seen what damage the "Breakaway Syndrome" does to young ministers, and I had made up my mind that I would never leave a church under a cloud or without the explicit blessing of my pastor.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda So I told God that, if this assignment was truly His will, I needed Him to reveal that to my Pastor and have him release me and bless me wholeheartedly, otherwise, I was going to stay put where I was.
And so, I approached Rev. Eboda and narrated the whole tale to him...
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda Afterwards, he asked me what God was telling me to do.
And I was prepared for that.
So, here is another life principle I hold dear...
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda I believe that going to your Pastor/Mentor/Spiritual Father and saying, "Thus saith the Lord", or, "God told me this and that" is extremely disrespectful and is a way to box them into a decision that you already made!
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda Because if you confront a genuine man of God with a "Thus saith the Lord", do you want him to contradict God ni? A wise father confronted with such an attitude (which is usually arrogance covered with a veneer of piety) would just smile and say, "It is well!"
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda So, I told my Pastor that it was such a momentous decision with a lot of implications for my future, and with a lot of emotions surrounding it that I could not trust my own judgement about what to do. Furthermore, I told him that when I joined the church God instructed me...
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda ...to submit my life to his (my Pastor's) guidance and that whatever he told me to do, I would abide by it.
Then, my Pastor asked me, what if he said no?
And I said I would stay!
Did I mean that?
Yes! With every fibre of my being!
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda I explained to him that, at that point in my life, I was not hungry for the pulpit or public recognition -- been there, done that, got the t-shirt!
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda I was personally content doing what I was doing in the church and living a quiet life. While I was (and still am) driven to succeed in life, I had no ambition driving me to do ministry. The only thing driving me was (and still is) obedience to God's will for my life.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda I had discussed it with my wife and my mind was made up that if my Pastor said NO or expressed any hint of scepticism about the move, we would stay back and wait for God to work things out in His own time. But we would NOT break away.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda But then my Pastor said, "This is God's will for you! This is the next step in the agenda of God for your life. Everything you've been through has been to prepare you for this moment!"
And then he began to pray for me and invoke blessings on my life and ministry.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda Afterwards, he hugged me and told me that his door would always be open to me and that I would always be welcome in the @harvesthouseng family. And that was how I received my Pastor's blessing to go and take up my new assignment at @tvanigeria.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda @harvesthouseng @tvanigeria It was an incredibly generous act on his part because I was leading one of the most sensitive, public-facing departments in the church (Media & Communications), and also had my fingers in many other important projects in the ministry.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda @harvesthouseng @tvanigeria I was part of the startup team for @wearecedars_ in Lekki, and we were going to Lagos every Sunday for "An Evening with a Difference" to start up the church. But he released me anyway.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda @harvesthouseng @tvanigeria @wearecedars_ Today, Day 25 of #40DaysOfGratitude towards my 40th birthday, I am grateful to God for my smooth transition from HCC to TVA, and thankful for the large heart of Rev. Gbeminiyi Eboda @niyieboda which he exhibited in wholeheartedly releasing me into my assignment.
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@PsBukki @MrsJeshurun @niyieboda @harvesthouseng @tvanigeria @wearecedars_ Father, I am grateful!
#JourneyTo40
© Adeyinka J. Adeleke
04/05/2024
Ibadan Nigeria

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