For Rev Bolade Oke, the supervisor of TREM in Southwest Zone 3, it has been a good experience in the past 40 years.

“It has been a huge blessing being under the ministry of the man of God, Bishop Mike Okonkwo whom God has chosen to be the father of us all. Working with him for these 40 years has been of great impact on my life, ministry and family. We have travelled together, fasted and prayed together.”

Though a tough beginning, Oke is grateful to God for seeing the mission through.

“I have been with the Presiding Bishop before TREM started, so I was a part of the ministry from inception. The quality of the word attracted me to the ministry. The passion, love and commitment of our man of God to the work kept me,” she said.
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Recalling her early days with the church, she hinted, “I joined this ministry as a pastor and was ordained as a Reverend in the year 1981. However, I have served in various capacities as a chorister, usher, children’s teacher, counsellor, intercessor amongst others, both in the headquarters and my local church. I am currently the supervisor of the churches in Southwest Zone 3.”

While listing financial constraint as one of the major challenges in the beginning, she, “It was difficult trying to build a ministry with very little resources at our disposal. Sometimes, when the Presiding Bishop had a meeting to attend, he would have to wait for church members who had cars to drop him off. We all lived by faith at the time, managing resources, but we worked with all out hearts. We had to do a lot of consistent follow-up in order to remind our members to come to church.”

Looking back to that humble start, Oke said, “God has indeed transformed the ministry from glory to glory. From Akoka to Obanikoro, to all the states in Nigeria, we now have churches in other African countries, Europe, Asia and America… all over the world. God has increased the ministry spiritually, physically, numerically and financially. Indeed, God has been faithful to us and it is all to the glory of God.”
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