Church Leaders Celebrate Archbishop Ojo At 66

CHURCH leaders, worshippers, family and friends gathered at the Calvary Kingdom Church, Okoko over the weekend in a three-in-one celebration to honour Archbishop Joseph Imariabe Ojo, who turned 66th, his wife 59 and launched his new book.

The book, which is titled, ‘Once upon a Joseph’, is a biography of Archbishop Ojo, who considers his life a lesson for young people.

“My life is like that of the Biblical Joseph, who was sold out of envy and people thought he was dead. It is the story of a Joseph that once lived. When people read my book, they will learn and know that it pays to serve. I served in the Church of God Mission for 30 years. But in this present dispensation, you can hardly find anyone that will serve another that long at an old age. I began this ministry 13 years ago at the age of 53, and I have put all my youthful life in the service of another man,” he said.

He urged people to learn to wait upon the Lord rather than jumping to get established.

“When you are rooted and formed in a solid apprenticeship, it becomes easy to gather useful experiences and stand strong. You also learn that though you may be down today, but you are not out. At the age of 13, I was tapping rubber to pay my secondary school fees. I was also a taxi driver. Young and upcoming ministers of God should learn patience. They should learn to serve and understand that the future belongs to the servants. The problem we have today, especially in the Pentecostal ministries, is that very many who are masters have never served. But if you have not served, you will be a boss and in the ministries, bosses are not needed. Servant leaders are needed and you can only become one, if you have served.”

Archbishop Ojo noted that the book would have been launched last year, because he “intended marking his 65th birthday with it, but due to production issues from the publishers, it fell on his 66th birthday.”

Speaking on the just-concluded elections, the cleric said: “we prayed for God’s will and I think this is God’s will. I am not saying that it is God’s will for Jonathan to lose, because if he had won, the other party would not have accepted it and there would have been chaos. If God used Jonathan to give Nigeria peace by his acceptance of the results even before final declarations, Nigeria should appreciate God because He heard our prayers.”