Pastor Wole Oladiyun; Celebrating 65 Years Of A Life Devoted To Serving God And Touching Lives

In this explosive, no-holds-barred interview with Ademola Akinbola, Pastor (Dr) Wole Oladiyun, the Senior Pastor of CLAM Global discussed how he started his ministry, the challenges that confronted him, the milestone achievements of CLAM, and his vision for the ministry. Enjoy …

What defines you? What’s your philosophy of life? Your generic values as a man of God?

(Laughs). There was something inside of me while in Ile-Oluji. I would write at the back of my books, No king as God, One with God is a Majority. My friends would call me, Joseph Olawole Oladiyun alias No King as God, when they hail me, I would say, No King as God, One with God is a Majority. I would mobilise my mates and they would be drumming for me, calling me Jagunlabi, eni to jagun la ibi koja. I am an embodiment of grace, hyper-grace, I know, because my life is not normal. Two, I believe that with God, everything will happen, if you want it. I over-trust God, I over-depend on God. I like hard work and smart work. I believe in continuity. I believe in nurturing people, I believe in human capital development. I was doing that when I didn’t know that anything would come out of me. During the summer holiday in Ile-Oluji, I would mobilise my friends and go to all the secondary schools, teaching them Physics, Maths, Additional Mathematics, etc.
I believe in benevolence. Giving is the easiest thing for me in my life. Money, service, myself, that’s my life. I don’t look down on people, I believe that tomorrow is a weapon that can make the table turn, so for the person you look down on today, anything can happen. I also believe that there’s no age that God cannot lift you. At 50, I had my Master’s degree, I could have had that when I had a scholarship for Structural Engineering when I was practising Engineering, but because I was training my siblings, I decided to forgo it. I wanted to do a Master’s in Structural Engineering and a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering, to lecture and to practice. So having my PhD now, makes me happy, fulfilled. I know when I am not doing well, and I quickly adjust. I am a learner, and I am willing to be corrected in love.

Awesome! What does success look like to you?

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(Laughs) My brother, success is sweet o. Success is sweet, it is also a dynamite, it can blow you if it’s not well managed. Success is good, if you are selfish about it, it will blow you, if you mismanage it, it will blow you up but success is good and it’s given by God.

I know you’ve said this several times but maybe there are new things you want to add. The impact of your parents in your life, especially growing up, because we want people to learn from your success story

I want to thank God for my parents. I didn’t have that choice, I found myself there. I want to thank God for what my father witnessed in his family, the Fagbamiye family that made him leave for his maternal lineage. He then embraced Christ so early, at a time when being born again was not popular. I thank God for being born into that family. It was tough, it was like a punishment, it was a harrowing experience, but we didn’t know they were building our future. I met my parents as business people in their little way, buying and selling, which has influenced me to date. I have a penchant for multiplying money even as I am here now (laughs). Then I thank God that before my dad went to be with the Lord, he handed me over to Chief David Adedimeji Adewakun, popularly called Jawando, the father of Pastor Tade Adewakun. He taught me ethics, etiquette, money management, bookkeeping, and all other things. I thank God for my parents for embracing Christ. They gave us good values, that’s why I honoured them with that Samuel and Dorcas Maternity, I thank God. According to Psalm 16: 5-8, the lines are falling unto me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage.

So, if you were to come to this world again, would you still choose this path?

By the grace of God, I will choose the path of being a minister because it’s something I enjoy doing. I will choose the path of Engineering, I just love engineering, and I don’t know why. I will choose the path of blessing the whole world, yeah, I love blessing people, blessing cities, blessing nations.

Congratulations on your 65th birthday and CLAM’s 26th anniversary. How do you feel, Sir?

I feel thankful to God. Grateful, and thankful because God has done well, making great things out of what looked so ordinary at that time. To me, it’s a big deal. It can only be God for the enablement He has given right from day one till now. Just like one of my workers, Pastor Joy Ebora, observed during a recent ministration in the UK, she said, sir, the intensity of your ministration that I have been seeing over 20 years ago has not reduced. It’s even more and you see, it can only be God. So, I feel thankful to God, I appreciate him for everything He has done. I feel so happy.

How has the journey been? Full of ups and downs?

Of course. The ups and downs must be there because, without the ups and downs, one would not appreciate God. Two, there wouldn’t be any achievement because during those times you need to overcome challenges, you need to confront situations, you need to proffer solutions, you need to depend on God, you need to come out in your element to survive, and ensure that the vision God has given you does not just fizzle away. So God allowed the ups and downs for training and to remind me in particular that He is the one doing it. In the beginning, many people didn’t believe the call and the vision. They were very sceptical. What is this man up to? Ok, we know him as an engineer, yeah, we know he loves God, but let us see.
I remember Barrister Wole Olufon who met me in my wife’s Nursery and Primary School. He said, Wole? I said, Sir? He said, I have not been seeing you in our meetings, and someone told me you went into ministry. I said, yes sir. He said, what do you mean by that? What is ministry? I explained to him. He said, do you know what you are doing? I said, I know what I am doing, sir by the grace of God. He said you’ve left Engineering? I said, yes sir. He said, do you know what you are doing? I am asking you for the third time, do you know what you are doing? I said, yes sir. He said we shall see. Today, he is the lawyer of CLAM to the glory of God.

When you started, were you not daunted by the challenges ahead? Were you not doubtful at any point? You never said, I know God has called me but is there no escape route for me? Can’t I dodge it?

The beginning was extremely rough, very very rough. As at the time I surrendered to God, I was in a battered stage because it had been a big struggle for me. I married Bukola at age 31 and my Engineering firm was flourishing. In addition to that, I had a Chemical marketing firm, JNISSI Chemicals. I was also into bulk spare parts sales. I would send people to France to knock Peugeot parts and import them. I would then sell to the Igbo guys. I was making good money. Then my cousin, Gbenga Akintomide (of blessed memory), who was a Pharmacist, I had an investment of close to $10,000 with him. I was equally a partner in his Pharmacy in Kano. I was also into the wood business. So, for a young man of my age, having his hands in those businesses, and the businesses at that time were thriving, at the back of my mind, I knew I would work for God, but I thought that would be when I was 68 or 70. I must not lie, that was what was at the back of my mind. Then, God started talking to me, but leaving those businesses was very difficult for me, that was where the struggle started.
So, it got to a stage where I couldn’t resist God any longer. I was battered and bruised, and I had to surrender. I was in a tattered state. It was so bad that I couldn’t pay my house rent, I was embarrassed and taken to the police station. It was so bad that we depended on my wife’s family members for survival. So, in it all, and through the gracious help of Mrs Adun Akinyemiju, one day, she said to me, Wole, we have always known that you will do well in ministry, why don’t you obey God, so that all these struggles will end? Then I told her, where is the money to rent a space? She said to me, that in Dansol Tutorial, where currently, you currently have Tripple Cross, there is a man of God there called Pa Ige, who uses the hall. Meet him, discuss the days that are free for him, and use the other days. That was how she gave us that place to start.
On getting there, could you imagine, starting a ministry without one single chair, without a lectern, without any musical equipment, only the bible in my hand and the grace of God upon my life; that was the beginning. But anything that God has a hand in must survive. That was how I started. It was a herculean task at the beginning, people could not see the future of the ministry, but one thing is that, having hindsight of the various visions that God had shown me, I had that confidence that tomorrow would be wonderful. I was using my small car to bring people for vigils. God said I should not start with any Sunday service, that I should be doing vigils on Fridays and another revival service on Thursdays; so, it was quite unusual. So going after the people, managing them, and people telling me, yes we will come but we can’t leave our church, I said, don’t worry, it’s an interdenominational ministry, and that was how the thing started.

Let me ask you a hypothetical question; if your businesses were still flourishing, and you had not run into that stormy weather, would you still have listened to God?

Hmm … it would have been very difficult, so God himself preserved me. Humanly speaking, I negotiated with God to give me about seven young people or old people who are into soul-winning and evangelism. I saw one or two, I was pumping money into their ministries, trying to bribe God. But, God said, I need what I have put inside of you, if you don’t do it, I will not change what I want to do but I am going to change you as a vessel, I will raise someone else who will receive every detail of the vision, who will run with it and everything I have packaged there for you will be for that person. At that point, I surrendered. God himself disciplined me.

How were you able to convince your wife?

My wife was confused at a stage. So she sought counsel. She was told that I had the call of God upon me and that she should prevail on me to obey God. When she came home, she said, excuse me, do you have the call of God? I said yes. She said, but you haven’t told me? I said well, I couldn’t have told you at the beginning so that you would not run away. She said, ah, a pastor said this and that, I said yes. She said, please, you know what you are going to do? Hear God very well, the way you see the marks on my palm, ensure you have details from the Lord, anything He says, please do. Where you go, I will go. That was her statement till we moved into it and God helped us.

So, what were the success principles you put in place from the beginning? I know that everything wouldn’t have happened just by prayers. There would have been administration, management, etc. For the benefit of young ministers, what were those success principles you put in place early in your ministerial career?

By my nature, nomenclature, and configuration, I have this winning attitude and mentality. Right from childhood, I have been an optimist. I don’t believe that there’s nothing I can’t do once I have been led by God. Perhaps the sudden demise of my dad helped me in a way. When I was in Ibadan as a houseboy, and through the grace of God and providence, the Adewakuns and Akintomides asked me to attend Gboluji Grammar School. When I got there, I realised that my mates had gone far ahead. I started reading and studying aggressively to catch up. That was how I inculcated the studious nature you see in me today. I kept saying to myself, I must make it, I must make it, till I graduated.
So, apart from prayers, my Engineering training helped me to be detailed. In my secular work, I was detailed, structured, and meticulous. We were well organised, and each business had a section manned by competent hands. We had managers, accountants, administrators, etc. Those things prepared me for the ministry you are seeing today. I was on top of many things and I was managing them in Lagos effectively. I would have meetings with my engineers, have meetings with people in the chemical section, you know sectional meetings like that, I would demand for executive summaries from them; so, God was using those things to prepare me for ministry.
When I started the ministry, I told God, don’t let this ministry be like the conventional CAC ministry whereby the pastor would go to church if he wanted to see anyone, he would see them in front of the altar, then he would go to the vicarage and he would lock the church until next service. I said, Lord, mi o fe se CAC onipako, sugbon fun mi ni CAC ti gbogbo agbaye ma wa ko ogbon ati adura (Lord, I don’t want a ramshackle, struggling Ministry, give me the CAC where people from all over the world would come to learn prayers, power, and wisdom). God did His part and I did my part. That is 1 Corinthians 1: 24, to the Jews and the Greeks, Jesus, the power of God and the wisdom of God. I demanded from God that I wanted a ministry that would be a hybrid of the power dimension of God and the wisdom dimension of God. I wanted a ministry that would be a prayer ministry, coupled with practising the principles of God. I wanted a ministry where God would do His part and that will enable me to do my part, to have a cosmopolitan ministry. So, that was how I started applying all those business and managerial principles.

You have a very unique apostolic brand. Was it by design or default? Because, and I say this with all humility. I don’t think there’s another Pastor Wole Oladiyun, all over the world today. Your style is unique, direct, and very impactful. Was it part of what you prepared for, or did you find yourself evolving into that role?

I placed a demand on God that I didn’t want to be a conventional CAC Minister. As a result of my business management experience, I asked God to help me integrate that part. So, it was by design and I progressively evolved into it. That was how I started applying the management tenets –work ethics, communication, office culture, etc. I can’t stand doing the work of God from the vicarage, because my brain is too active.

How has the journey been? What are the milestones you want to celebrate in the last 26 years?

The first and primary milestone is God starting me from level Zero. The ministry started without money; I wanted to borrow money from one Mr Otedola, my lawyer (now deceased). God said no, I am sending you into this ministry empty, obey me and you will see what I will do. I want us to celebrate God for that. Another major milestone was when it was extremely difficult for us to secure a place. The parents of the students in the boarding house in Dansol asked Mrs. Adun Akinyemiju to please choose between her church and the boarding house. It was difficult for my aunty but I understood. We moved from that place to Omole. At Omole, the community said, they’ve never seen this kind of prayer before, that we were disturbing them. We were chased from that place. I moved to ICC, Solid Rock. When we were at ICC, Solid Rock, people in Redeem didn’t want to come for their Bible Studies again, they would rush there, and they chased us from that place. At a point, I was ministering by the roadside, until I called on God and the Lord said, Go back to Mrs Akinyemiju, and she returned us to Dansol. It was then that the Lord said, there is a place for you at the border of Omole. In the third year of the ministry, God took us to this present place, that’s a milestone. We moved in here 22 years ago and the Lord said He would give us the whole place and He has given us.
Another milestone is the grace that the Lord gave me to make the right choice in marriage. Everything you are seeing today wouldn’t have been possible if I had not married Pastor Bukola Oladiyun. Forget it. That must be celebrated, it’s a great milestone because all along she has been there, as an intercessor for me till today, and the kind of well-adjusted children God has given us.
Another milestone was when the Lord instructed me to start the Wednesday morning prayer service and I started struggling with God. I said, Lord, this is Lagos, Morning Prayer? And He said, just the way your father was taking you to CAC at 5 am in Ile-Oluji, go and start. Wouldn’t people go to work? The Lord said, don’t argue with me, go and start, I will tell you what to do. Today, the Wednesday service has become our flagship service with people attending from all over the world. So, hearing from God for divine direction has been working for me from the beginning till today. On the first day of our Wednesday service, God told me he would show me a sign. I briefed my followers about what God said. They retorted: Sir, 7’0 clock? I said yes, God has spoken to me, the Lord said He will show me a sign.
While I was in my office on that day, they brought a man who could not speak, a pastor. The Lord said that’s the sign that I have asked you to come and do this meeting. The family members were panicking and the Lord said this man would speak and he did. That was the beginning of the Wednesday service. The Lord said the man was disobedient. They normally would write on paper for him to read and respond. The Lord said, don’t do that, tell him to hear in the realm of the spirit, repent, obey what God is doing, and you will speak in the name of Jesus. So, I asked the man, will you obey God? The man nodded. I said, in the name of Jesus, begin to speak now, say Hallelujah. The man shouted Hallelujah. The family members fell, and they were rolling on the floor, a miracle happened on the first day of the Wednesday service. The man is my disciple till today, he’s a General Overseer in Oshogbo. So, we must celebrate that.
I can’t also forget how God acquired these premises for us. Till today, CLAM does not owe any bank one naira. In my private life, I do not owe anyone, the ministry, we are not owing anyone, and we need to celebrate that. How about God’s preservation and security? We need to celebrate that. Another landmark is CLAM Global Outreach, the crusade. Then we need to celebrate the way God arranged the workers per season. The first set of disciples I had were my enemies, God just fizzled them out. The second set was taken away by a close friend of mine, God fizzled them out until God started stabilizing the ministry. Too many things that we have to celebrate, and there are too many landmarks in the ministry, to the glory of God. In the ministry, in 25 years, no sexual scandal, no financial scandal, no scandal of any sort, we need to thank God, it’s not by our power.
Let’s talk about the people factor. I know there have been a lot of disappointments, betrayals, and backstabbing. In all of these, how have you coped, I know it’s difficult to train, mentor, and disciple people only for them to leave suddenly.
Well, at the beginning, I wasn’t coping well. The hurt was getting to me. I was a very poor manager then, please, let it be recorded, I was a very horrible manager. I was too vengeful; vendetta was just a core part of me. If you hit me once, I would hit you seven times until God told me that the battle wasn’t one I could fight on my own. He said, hand over everything to me. The people backstabbing me were very close to me. I had a particular friend, he’s still alive. He took away 95% of my workers. Some of those I trained, were not even saying hello to me. He took them away, they are just all over the place, they are not doing well, and I am not happy about that. So, I was too veng