“Nothing in God’s word encourages you to deny the fact that you will face adversity or that it brings sadness and grief. While you are not grateful for the storm you are going through, you can be grateful in the midst of the storm knowing that it will all work out for your good.”
The above quote was the last evangelical tweet of 2019 shared by Lagos charismatic preacher and founder of House On The Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin with thousands of his flock and almost 800,000 Twitter followers in December 2019. But it appears some staff/members didn’t really believe in this admonition of their leader and Shepherd as they had to quit the church in search of greener pasture overseas.
It was learnt that Adefarasin, fondly called ‘Pastor Paul’, during the sermon of his Church’s first Sunday of the Year service held at The Rock Cathedral in Lekki, Lagos, announced to the congregation that about 300 workers of the church have so far tendered their resignation letters.
According to the Pastor, these hundreds of his members took that decision simply because of the present economic challenges in Nigeria. He said most of those who quit the assembly are relocating to Canada to be precise.
During the sermon, Pastor Paul was quoted to have said to his vibrant multi-ethnic congregation: “Stop blaming Government and political parties, the blame game is the first symptom of irresponsibility.”
The suave clergy told his members that if there is anything they have to stop doing in year 2020, it’s the blame game.
According to him, “It is called irresponsibility. Irresponsibility is the ignorance of accountability. This is the year to take full responsibility for all your actions and inaction…Until God gives you challenges that seem bigger than you, you may never find out what treasure you have on the inside.”
As part of the steps to ameliorate some of the challenges facing the people, Pastor Paul was said to have decided to take it upon himself the responsibility of assisting the government to fix some basic needs of the populace within and outside his vicinity.
He was said to have called upon other privileged individuals and corporate bodies to step up their readiness to assist since it appears government is not ready to make life easy for its citizens.
Pastor Paul, who would be 57 on January 25, is one of Nigerian billionaire pastors. From the living room of his parents in Ikeja, Lagos, he set up House on The Rock Church in 1994 and his ministry has blossomed over the years to about 40 branches with over 50,000 worshippers spread across Nigeria and abroad. Currently, the buoyant and vibrant church is worth about N50 billion, with a cathedral worth close to N5 billion. It rakes in a tithe of about N5 billion, offering of close to N3 billion annually, amongst other funds.
Pastor Paul, a keen follower of Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House, a mega assembly in Dallas, Texas, United States, collaborates with his mentor and many other famous gospel artistes to stage the popular annual Gospel music concert, The Experience at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Nigeria.
He is said to shell out over N1 billion for the concert annually with a large chunk of the money going into settling artistes’ fee, and accommodation of the international artistes, crew and guests, logistics, among others.
The House On The Rock head pastor is also the Founder and President of the Rock Foundation; a charity organization committed to social reformation, education, provision of healthcare and relief work for the downtrodden and disadvantaged in Nigeria and West Africa.
Pastor Paul is married to charming Ifeanyi Adefarasin, who is the Co-Pastor of The House On The Rock; a vibrant multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic congregation with daughter churches spread over Africa and Europe at present.
She is also the founder of Woman To Woman Ministry, which is committed to social reformation, education, provision of healthcare and relief work amongst the downtrodden and underprivileged in Nigeria and West Africa.
Pastor Ifeanyi, a former banker before her call to the ministry, has a burning passion to see the empowerment of women in her generation, her nation and her continent.
Meanwhile, sources within the church told this writer that Pastor Paul has allegedly placed an embargo on the release of the video of the Sunday sermon where he revealed the resignation of those staff until further notice.
Olalekan Ajimoti – Blogger, Content Writer, and Digital Marketer helping brands and retailers build 8-figure e-commerce since 2016.
As a corporate trainer, brand communications expert, and brand consultant, I help people start, stay and grow in business leveraging digital skills and traditional expertise.
